The "Slog-It-Out" Method Is the Best for Slow but Extremely Sustainable Growth

Even though it suuuuuuuucks

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

No one wants to slog, do they?

That’s boring. Long. Completely the opposite of what modern life is all about - fast-moving growth. You only have to look at TikTok to see how fast people can go from zero to millions of views, likes, and followers (apparently our only metric of growth these days).

If the internet is to be believed, slogging it out is for losers.

I’ve been thinking about our modern-day obsession with fast-paced growth and the lengths to which people will go to get it, from obsessively spending every moment on *insert social media platform here* to spending an inordinate amount of money on influencer courses in the hope their success will rub off.

But the longer I’m on this earth, the more convinced I am that sustainable growth cannot exist alongside our obsession for fast growth.

You may be thinking No shit, Charlie, everyone knows that the most sustainable way to grow is slowly.

We may know it in our hearts, but it’s certainly not what we’re told, or what we outwardly see. We see people making it big, fast. What we see less of is burnout, the disappearing acts of people who do too much, too fast. And we ignore a whole swathe of people who engage in what I call the slogging-it-out method. The far less flashy, much slower but far more sustainable way to growth.

Today, I’m the slog-it-out champion. You should be too.

The stages of slog

Stage #1 - the fun bit

When you start out on any journey - be it a new career, a side hustle, a new life in the countryside or something else - it’s fun. If you’re anything like me, it might keep you up at night. You can’t wait to get back into it so you spend your weekends, nights, and almost any other time engaged in it. You want to blog about it, Instagram it, and make it your thing.

I love this stage, I think most people do. Some people love it so much they never want to leave its confines. They never even get to the slog bit because they’re onto the next new thing that makes their soul sing.

This is when growth can be fast because when you start from zero, anything is growth. If I go from zero to 10 Substack subscribers, I’ve 10x’d in possibly minutes. That’s what makes it so fun.

I see this all the time with new Medium writers who gain a bit of traction and then smash out 10 articles a week. They’re so excited about making money for their writing, even if it’s just cents, they become like machines.

For a while.

Stage #2 - the slog bites (and you have a choice)