Ladder

A few days ago, a young woman in her twenties asked me what was the most important thing I've learned in life.

After thinking for half a minute, I told her: "That everything is a ladder.”

She frowned. "A ladder?”

Progress

Maybe you, random reader, belong to that cult that wants everything perfect, right now. I know it well — I've been a member for forty years, still trying to cancel my subscription.

We crave instant results. We lack patience to build the steps that lead upward. We want the leap from bottom to top — fast, clean, painless.

Quantum leaps

Sure, the idea of quantum leaps is seductive. And sometimes, it works. But most of life doesn't move that way.

It's about stacking small, uneven pieces that eventually — and often unexpectedly — connect.

Focus

If I could teach my twenty-year-old self one thing, it would be this: Focus only on the next step.

Climb a ladder while staring three steps ahead, and you'll likely slip. Stay anchored on this step — this one action, this one day — and you'll keep rising.

Steps

Maybe that business you started five years ago wasn't the success you hoped for. But it gave you capital, or scars, or skill — the foundation for your next one.

Maybe that relationship you thought was "the one" wasn’t. But it shaped you into someone your real partner could actually love.

Maybe that mentor who disappointed you taught you what not to become.

Maybe that friend who betrayed you taught you what kind of friend you must be.

Every step counts — even the rotten ones.

Bravery

You need to be brave. It's hard, sometimes unbearably so. But go into the forest anyway. Be unsure. Be insecure. Be scared. Go anyway.

At the beginning, you'll suck at almost everything — and that's the price. Learn to be comfortable with it. Better yet, learn to enjoy it. Believe in yourself, even when you can't yet prove it.

Trust that each step — no matter how small, ugly, or uncertain — is building something within you.

A ladder

That's why I see life as a ladder. Not every step needs to be perfect or final — it only needs to support the next.

Yes, the cliché is true: happiness is in the climb, not the summit. One step. One rung. Then another.

Keep climbing.