Montages make self-improvement look easy. It ain’t.

Oh no! Rocky is washed up. There’s no way he can win the big fight.

But wait! Rocky goes from zero to hero with a few push ups and sit ups in a two-minute musical montage.

The Montage. The yadda, yadda, yadda on hard work.

Great for movies, but a terrible example to follow in real life. It’s essentially the “Cliff’s Notes” of self-improvement. A movie montage glosses over the process at the expense of details like:

The struggle. If it was easy. Everyone would do it.

The setbacks. You never see that scene in Rocky where he needs to take a week off because he hurt his back while training.

The consistency needed – ‘cause unlike the montage, you can go from zero to hero in one song. It’s getting up, every day and doing it. Even on the days that you don’t want to.

For those truly seeking self-improvement, yes, be inspired by the idea of transformation that you see in a montage. But never forget it’s rarely quick or free. But if your true goal or desire is at the end of it all that work. It’s worth it.