Hard work, achievement, victory, and defeat all come in waves.
Consider how a sand castle gets knocked down. It doesn’t happen slowly and evenly as the tide comes in. One wave after another gets closer and closer until a monster wave comes out of nowhere and washes over the sand castle how an army only dreams of.
Things turn for better just when they look worse and worse just when they look better, then back to better and then back to worse or even better. Progress and decline both swing and leap. They are never linear, but always rewarding foresight.