You are not behind.
You’re just early in a chapter you haven’t mastered yet.
Most people quit during the part where:
- effort is high
- clarity is low
- validation is zero
That phase isn’t punishment.
It’s initiation.
Every confident leader you admire once looked exactly like you do now — uncertain, inconsistent, and invisible.
The difference?
They didn’t interpret confusion as failure.
They treated it as tuition.
Stay long enough and chaos becomes competence.