One of the most ironic things about overnight success stories is that most of them didn’t happen overnight. It’s easy to think of Google as an overnight success — or Microsoft, or Twitter or Facebook. They weren’t. It took Google years to find a business model for their extraordinary search engine. Facebook was the also-ran little brother of MySpace for years.
Then something happened. There was a little tip and suddenly everyone was Googling and Twittering and Facebooking. Microsoft became a household name after years of struggling to build an operating system that was both easy to use and stable enough to work.
I love this post from Seth Godin about his 3,000th blog post. Whether you’re starting a blog, building a business, writing a book, developing a new product or running for public office, you need to ask yourself if you’re really in it for the long term.
Because if you want to be an overnight success you probably need to plan on a few years (at least) to get there. If your reason for blogging is to make money today, you’re going to be disappointed. If you’re writing a book for the instant fame and fortune, you’re going to be disappointed. If you’re joining an MLM company because you need to make an extra few thousand dollars next month, you’re going to be disappointed.
Read Seth’s post again and then hunker down and build your dream. You’ll know you’re on the right track when you keep working even though nothing seems to be happening — when the idea itself is so compelling to you that you can’t be diverted by “the next big thing” or the frustrating setbacks that naturally occur.
Surround yourself with successful people to keep yourself motivated. Many of my personal friends have amazing stories and I look forward to their success because it reminds me that success happens. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen.
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