Work hard. And have patience. Because no matter who you are, you're going to get hurt in your career and you h... — Randy Johnson

Work hard. And have patience. Because no matter who you are, you're going to get hurt in your career and you have to be patient to get through the injuries.

Author: Randy Johnson

Insight: Most of us think about career injuries as the dramatic moments—getting fired, passed over for promotion, or a project that completely fails. But the harder truth is that setbacks in work are almost inevitable, and they're rarely clean. You might get hurt by someone taking credit for your ideas, or by realizing you're not as good at something as you thought, or by watching someone less qualified get ahead. The real skill isn't avoiding these moments; it's knowing how to sit with them without quitting. This is where patience becomes something different from just waiting around. It's the ability to stay committed to your own growth even when it stings, to keep showing up even when the improvement feels invisible. Most people can work hard for a day or a week. The separation happens over months and years—when you're still focused on getting better even after you've been humbled. You won't feel motivated during these stretches. You'll feel frustrated, sometimes bitter. But that's exactly when the people who last keep going anyway. The counterintuitive part: the hurt doesn't fade because you're tough. It fades because you've done enough small things right that the sting eventually seems smaller than your progress. Patience doesn't mean accepting mediocrity. It means accepting that growth has a rhythm you don't always control.