Dead ends can be progress too

Reflecting and writing so much this week about my year made me realise one thing:

2024 was a year of dead ends.

My consulting was a dead end.
My training gigs were a dead end.
My job hunt was a dead end.
My new products were dead ends.

But I realise now that dead ends can be progress too.

It’s the customers, market, life, universe, telling you: “NO”.

A definitive no is better than a half-hearted yes.
A definitive no cuts off the path, forcing you to explore something new, experiment more, or pivot to an altogether different way.
A half-hearted yes gives you false hope, makes you hold out longer than it has to, and eventually leads nowhere.

The past few years had been a series of half-hearted yeses, that’s why I kept holding on to my old career/industry for so long. At least now, I know I got to move on.

Now, I got a straight rejection, and I can move on, and progress elsewhere.

2024 might have been a year of dead ends, but it was progress, albeit painful.

Painfully sweet, hard won progress.