Anatomy of Great Outcomes

I have this habit—whenever a thought hits me, I make it a point to open my journal and jot it down before it fades.

Last night, flying back to KL on a red-eye, somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, a sentence flashed through my mind: “Anatomy of great outcomes.”

I reached for my phone and captured what followed. Not a structured note—just raw reflections that came tumbling out. I’m sharing them here as they were written:

1. It starts with a goal that feels impossible.
2. A creeping doubt: Maybe I’m not enough for this.
3. A few heartbreaks—sometimes more than a few.
4. Fights with people close to you about how things should be done.
5. Telling others something great is coming, while secretly feeling like a liar.
6. Everyone wants certainty, and you just want them to see what you see…..the promise and opportunity.
7. You think it’s within reach, only to realise it was an illusion.
8. You get there… and feel strangely empty. Was it worth the pain?
9. Then comes quiet confidence. A new path has revealed itself.
10. And finally, a lasting sense that you’ve done something incredible.

That was my mid-air journal entry. Felt right to post it today, as a reminder to myself, and maybe to you—that great outcomes are rarely clean or linear. But they’re worth chasing.