You may have woke up this morning and wondered if you should keep going? Is it worth it to keep plowing your time and effort into your writing, photography or whatever creative work you do?

You’ve been at it for a while and feel like you’ve put in a lot of work. But things seem to be moving so slowly. Actually, for some of you, things may not seem to be moving at all.

Whether you should continue boils down to one thing: whether or not you want to achieve results.

See Also: Are You Confusing Time and Effort

If you started just to get a taste of the game, thinking maybe you’d get lucky and rise to the top, but now you’re tired, it’s a good time to move on.

If you analyze what’s involved in getting to where you want to be and realize you’re in love with the result but don’t feel like doing the work, it’s a good time for you to exit too.

There’s a process involved in succeeding and it’s not meant to work in your favor.

But, if you set out with a mission to build a business and that’s what you intend to do, there isn’t any question about whether you stop or continue. Only one of those answers is logical.

Take a moment, get your mind right, and be thankful that you’re feeling adversity because adversity is all it takes to vastly reduce the competition.

The process that’s agonizing you is actually your friend. It’s what filters out the weak players and prevents others from jumping ahead of you in line.

Plenty of people can do what you do. Perhaps that’s hard to swallow, but it’s a fact. It’s also a fact that many of those people would be doing what you do right now if all they had to do was get started.

If being successful as a blogger, author or photographer was as simple as creating some content and exposing it online, the Internet would be a cesspool of so-called professional creators. The creative field would be so overcrowded that those of us who are willing to invest blood, sweat, and tears would get less in return, not more.

And worse than that, if the process was easy enough that you just had to show up with a few pieces of writing or a few pretty images, there’s nothing that would stop an influx of newbies from constantly showing up and shoving you aside without paying their dues.

We’re at a time where half of the world has the ability and willpower to establish an Internet presence. But far fewer have the grit and the strategy to withstand the process to turn that online presence into a viable business.

Call it a blessing in disguise, but it’s a good thing that there isn’t a wealth of rewards in the beginning.

So, on those days where it seems like the odds are against you, ask yourself if where you’re heading is where you’re really meant to be. If so, stay the course and claim your place. Remember that the process is there to vet and protect the people who are willing to earn what they’re after.