Surpassed by the greenhorn

No-one really cares about what it took you to get to where you’re at … whether it took you years of blood, sweat, and tears, a huge investment, and many sacrifices to arrive there.

When someone comes along with a story that resonates better than yours, the audience couldn’t care less about who of you invested more to arrive at that story. Even if the other party just started out, even if it was pure luck for them to reach that point without these years of experience you have, the audience has every right to prefer their story over yours.

Past effort is sunk cost. It’s gone.

The more you embrace this, the easier it becomes to adapt to the present and the future. What worked to get you to now, is not necessarily what works to get you to tomorrow. Adapting to changing environments such as the needs and desires of your audience, will position you to continue resonating well with your audience (while others might still lament the sunk costs).