You know the Mona Lisa right?

Painted in 1519 by Leonardo da Vinci, it’s considered one of the world’s most famous paintings because of the woman’s unproven identity, the atmospheric illusion, and the theft of 1911 that helped put Mona Lisa on the map.

But if you’re still struggling to picture Mona’s smiling face, here you go. . .

Now that you can see her, how long do you think it took da Vinci to paint it?

A couple days?

A few weeks?

A year?

Before I tell you, I genuinely thought it took him an afternoon so however long you thought I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as my guess.

It took him 16 years to paint the Mona Lisa.

Some might view him as the ultimate procrastinator or a raging perfectionist, but what I see is someone who took pride in their craft and realized that success doesn’t come overnight.

But for a lot of us, we tend to forget the cost of success. We live in this type of microwave era where we want everything immediately.

We want to graduate college now.

We want to have our dream job now.

We want the perfect partner now.

And who can blame us? It’s the 21st century and everything we could ever want is right at our fingertips.

But we can’t let it take away the fact that achieving anything worthwhile takes time.

Graduating college takes years of studying, reading, and test-taking.

It takes years to work your way up to achieve your dream job.

And it can take a lifetime to find that one person where everything seems to just click.

As the stoic philosopher Epictetus says, “No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

In other words, nothing great happens overnight.

So next time whenever you’re holding a fruit—or looking at the Mona Lisa—think about the time and patience it took to create it.

Whatever it is that you’re looking for, whatever it is that you’re working towards, look at it as if you’re painting your own Mona Lisa.

Over time the picture will eventually reveal itself.

Whether that’s your soulmate or your dream home, it’s coming.

Just remember to take your time just like our friend da Vinci did. And I’m not saying it’s going to take you 16 years to achieve what you’re looking for, but what I am saying is that you can create something just as beautiful if you’re willing to be patient.

And if you ever reach a point to where you’re thinking about quitting, do what our mystery woman in the Mona Lisa had to do for 16 years. . .

Just keep smiling.

Until next time,
Isaiah Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I’m Currently Reading - I’m now reading The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal. A book on how self-control works, why it matters, and what you can do to get more of it.

Quote Of The Week - “A year from now you will wish you had started today.” — Unknown