Probably not how you remember that saying. But why is it, “one step forward, two steps back”? Nature’s way of setting things right. Can’t have too many wins. Can’t get too far ahead of anyone. Can’t have the wind on your back for too long?
Or maybe it’s a self-defeating proposition. Pride? Ego? Arrogance? I think there’s a pocket, we know what it feels like, that feeling of the wind on your back, life feels… effortless. Not too much thinking. Not too much calculating, trying to predict how to get to the next place. That pocket is flow.
But the two steps back… what is that? Maybe that thought pops into your mind “this is too good to be true”, “I don’t deserve this” or maybe subconsciously, you don’t feel like you earned it, it becomes a self-sabotage. Just those thoughts alone are enough to get you out of sync with that flow. You’re not in that pocket anymore, too far out in front of the wind, start thinking too much, losing the momentum, losing the flow, stumbling, tumbling, falling.
Here’s the secret. You don’t deserve it. It’s not about deserving it. Because if it was about earning it, nobody can do enough to earn it. Hard work. Effort. Discipline. Perseverance. Sure. All good things. But doing them without the expectation of “deserving” it, that’s on another level.