“We overestimate what we can accomplish in one year and underestimate what we can achieve in 10 years.” – Bill Gates

Several years ago, my coach at the time shared the above wisdom nugget. It has inspired me ever since.

I was working on a new business idea and was frustrated with my progress. I was in a rush to bring my idea to life. But when I reflected on the possibility that I was being both over- and under-ambitious with my planning, I came to realize that everything of significance I’d ever created or achieved took longer than I’d expected at the outset, and was ultimately more momentous than I’d imagined.

Example: When I started Out & About, my LGBTQ travel publishing company, I thought we’d be profitable in two years and raking in the dough by year four. In fact it took almost three years before we could take a teensy salary, and eight until we sold it … for more than we’d ever imagined, made possible by the totally unexpected dot.com boom. We’d overestimated our speed to success but underestimated both the final payout and the amazing stuff that would happen along the way: the friends made, the places visited, the learning, and the fun.

Overestimating your speed to success is not all bad. Whether learning a new language or starting a new business, a certain unfettered exuberance helps get us going. And if we can trust that perseverance will lead to far greater outcomes than imagined at the outset, we become more willing to keep going, even when the going gets tough.

Our challenge when taking on something new is to maintain that initial excitement when things take longer and are harder than expected, while also trusting that if we can stay connected to our vision and manage the twists and turns along the way, we have a good shot of totally blowing ourselves away at the place we ultimately arrive.

So think about something you’re working on or considering. What is it that you hope you can achieve in year one? With that in mind, recognize that you might not get there quite that quickly. See if you can trust that all the richness that happens along the path will be so much more than you can imagine at this early stage. Hopefully, you’re still good to press play!