The 101st Hit

dailyblog.scottdclary.com

Consider the tale of the stone cutter.

He taps a stone. Once. Twice. A hundred times.

Nothing.

Then, on his 101st attempt, the rock splits open.

At first glance, the final tap seems like the hero. But in truth, Every single tap was necessary. Every strike, a step towards that break.

This isn’t a tale of a magic hit. It’s a story of consistent effort.

Think of a dripping faucet filling a bucket. Drip by drip, it seems endless. Yet, eventually, it overflows. Each drop, as crucial as the last.

Now, let’s bring this into our world.

Start-ups don’t become industry giants after a single product launch. It’s trial after trial. Iteration on iteration. Feedback, adaptation, perseverance.

Ever heard of the band The Beatles? Before their meteoric rise, they performed 1,200 times in 4 years. Every performance, every gig, every rehearsal? A tap on their stone.

The digital marketer, running multiple ad campaigns. Most might underperform.
But data is gathered. Insights formed. Strategies refined. Each ad, each click, a tap leading to that one viral campaign.

In the realm of science, Thomas Edison didn’t perfect the light bulb on his first try, or his tenth, or even his hundredth. It was one of thousands of prototypes.

Every failure, every tweak, every experiment — a tap.

Yet here’s where many of us divert from the stone cutter’s path: We expect immediate results. A couple of taps, no cracks, and we assume the stone won’t break.

In this rapid age of technology, We’re accustomed to swift outcomes.
Fast food, fast internet, fast feedback. But real progress? That demands patience.

Economists have a term for this: The Law of Diminishing Returns. Early efforts might not show much. But compounded over time? That’s where the real growth emerges.

So, when you’re neck-deep in a project, and there’s no end in sight, Or when you’ve been working tirelessly and can’t see any tangible results,

Pause. Reflect. Recall the stone cutter’s journey.

Know that your 101st tap might be looming, waiting for its moment.

And remember: When that stone finally cracks, it isn’t due to the magic of the last hit. It’s the culmination of every single tap that came before. It’s in the unyielding faith in the process and the recognition that perseverance is your most potent tool.