the untold secret behind immediate success

The Untold Secret behind Immediate Success
Success and Beyond: Letter of Progression #3
January 22nd, 2024

Why do we want immediate success?

A creator I’ve been following for a long time made a bold claim that she’ll hit 1000 followers in a month.

(Some of you might know who this is)

This was on a post she made celebrating her reaching 200 followers. 

1 week later, she’s now proudly sitting at 500.

I was obviously super motivated by this success story, but a part of me was annoyed I wasn’t growing this quickly too.

“I live in the present moment 24/7. I strongly believe I’ll succeed. I don’t have self-limiting beliefs and I put in the work. If anything, I deserve such quick success more than anyone else.”

This was my mind speaking.

Normally I have little to no thoughts ‘cause I know that I’m not the one thinking, but this time I fell into its trap.

My mind made me think that I was entitled to immediate success, and so, I was a little annoyed due to being stuck at 195 followers today.

Here’s a post I made a week ago.

Apart from doubling my follower count overnight, there’s something this post did really well.

It reminded me that I don’t need immediate success. 

I always talk about how success won’t bring us true happiness, yet I keep falling for that same trap again and again, before I come back to my senses (like how I thankfully am right now).

When we accomplish great things, we feel this sense of ecstatic joy.

This joy is similar to what “real happiness” feels like, but there’s a catch.

It doesn’t last forever, and it keeps us craving more.

All of us believe that once we achieve a certain goal: more money, better physique, more followers, a better relationship, you name it, we’ll feel fulfilled and won’t need anything more.

This is the biggest lie your mind tells you.

It told me that I’ll be a real authority in the space if I can quickly amass 100 followers in under a month of starting 𝕏.

After my post blew up and I hit 140 followers, I felt great.

The feeling lasted for a day, maybe two, before my mind told me to chase even more success, because now I had the momentum.

It said: “If you can reach 500 followers, you’ll show everyone that you have what it takes.”

But I thought getting 100 followers in a month is all I needed.

Before I knew it, my mind put me into a toxic desire loop for even more followers.

Now, let’s answer the question I posed at the start of this letter.

Here is the Desire Loop, an extension of the Duality Loop that we visited last week.

We desire immediate success, because we believe that the false feeling of elation it gives us will last forever.

I thought hitting 100, and then 500 would make me happy forever.

But if I were to hit 500 today, the elation will eventually disappear in some days, and my mind will make 1k the next big target.

Of course it’s good to set goals, but it’s even more important to enjoy the sport, not the trophy.

The true eternal happiness we keep looking for lies in playing the “eternal game of badminton” that I talked about in last week’s letter.

Enjoying and living fully in the present moment:

• Makes us accept life

• Focuses all our senses in the Now

• Alleviates all worries that are bound to time

• Stops us from craving anything other than what is in the present

The key to success and happiness lies in enjoying the journey to the top.

Enjoying it will:

• Make us show up every day

• Prevent us from desiring a false sense of happiness from success

Unfortunately, even this isn’t something that’ll come to most immediately.

The skill of enjoying life in the present moment is one that takes time to master.

For me, it took me around 4-6 months. Not a lot of time, but our instant-pleasure seeking minds will hate that.

And that’s a good thing, because the journey of cultivating this skill involves rejecting the mind’s tendencies and trusting life instead.

So how do we cultivate this skill?

I’m honestly surprised this is my first time covering this practice in my newsletter (well technically I sorta covered it in my first letter, but anyway).

The easiest way (that I know of) for cultivating this skill is by practicing:

• Self-Inquiry Meditation

• & Surrender

The first one will help you disidentify from your mind, its thoughts, emotions, feelings, self-limiting beliefs, etc.

And the second is all about accepting everything that comes your way, making the journey of self-inquiry a lot more enjoyable and smoother.

Self-inquiry meditation is simple but not easy.

To practice it, sit down in silence for 20 mins twice a day, and try to retain the silence by focusing on the fact that you’re aware.

It’s hard at first to not give into thoughts, but what helps is looking for “where” your awareness is coming from, and stabilizing it.

Trust me, it took me months to finally get the hang of it. So, just spend the time trying to meditate every day and it’ll eventually click.

Even when you think it isn’t working though, it definitely is, just that the changes are happening behind the scenes.

When I first started 6 months ago, I felt like I was genuinely wasting my time.

Today, my meditation sessions are when I feel the strongest sense of pure happiness and oneness in my entire day.

You can’t even fathom what such happiness feels like unless you get on S-I meditation.

And trust me, getting 1000 more followers will never give you that insane feeling.

With that, I’ll be ending this letter.

But before I bid you farewell, I have a special BONUS for you if you stuck around this far.

I’ve already mentioned how self-inquiry meditation is the key to changing your life.

It’ll help you:

• Have bulletproof confidence

• Enjoy the journey to the top

• Achieve your goals effortlessly

• Say goodbye to self-limiting beliefs forever

• Instantly dissolve negative emotions at will

And SO MUCH MORE…

Now, if you want personalized help with implementing this in your daily life

I have 2 more slots left for a pack of 4 weekly consulting calls that are COMPLETELY FREE.

In these calls, I’ll help you achieve all these benefits and more in under one month.

If you’re serious about taking your life to the next level, reply to this email with “Inquiry” and let’s talk.

Or DM me on 𝕏 @thekishorek

Have a good one!

Kishore out!