We have all seen the success stories of those who seemingly hit gold and gained overnight success. And yes, there are the products or services that develop in a short period of time, launch and take the market by storm. However, the vast majority of the time, these so-called overnight successes have a long trail of hard work, diligence, focus, sacrifice, and struggle behind them—even with the natural skill or bent they may carry.
I was one of those people who had to work really hard for my grades.
It didn’t come easy, and I didn’t feel like I was a successful student. There always seemed to be those who could breeze through with no real effort, all while exceeding my grade point average. This feeling can be defeating, and I am sure most have experienced it a time or two, or in my case, many more. Typically, people don’t watch someone’s life from a timeline standpoint but see the successes or failures directly in front of them. Maybe you are a skilled oil painter, pianist, welder, accountant, or any other specialized skill or trade. If you have gained an aptitude in your specialty and have become successful within a specified area, you have most likely put in some serious time. It can then be challenging to see those who have seemingly jumped the ladder or skipped a step or two. This generation gets a bad rap for not wanting to put in the time and hard work necessary to become an expert in any area. We are the generation who does not commit to a job or company and instead changes positions every one to three years—sometimes at a minimum.
I understand this.
Until my current position, I had changed jobs every two years, at most. In my mind, this gave me enough experience not to be scoffed at or deemed a job hopper but allowed me to renegotiate and increase my salary based on my experience at a faster rate.
What does this lead to, though? In building margin, you can better evaluate the benefits and consequences of your decisions to help you improve daily in how you learn, process, and apply information and experience that you receive.
Experience and education on a matter that you are trying to master is a tricky thing—most everything else is relatively instantaneous. Why can’t this also be?? Whether it’s music, art, or personal finance, you cannot substitute hard work to have a genuine masterpiece.
I consider overnight successes to be anomalies, and the resulting get-rich schemes are simply that: schemes.
I am constantly bombarded by ads for various courses that make you an immediate expert in one area or another with little to no work, no money, no skill, no contacts, and so on. The truth of the matter is, I wish it were the truth! The target marketing of Facebook and YouTube have probably found that these things catch my attention, but I have learned to filter these empty promises through multiple lenses.
One of these lenses relates to watching and emulating those who have gone before me who have successfully lived or are living a life worth following. I walk circumspectly when I see someone who has experienced success in a short period of time. If you have ever seen a meteor in the sky, you know they are viewable for a little while, gaining a lot of attention, but eventually burnout and sometimes not before causing irreparable damage, leaving debris in its path. Oftentimes, the people who represent an extravagant amount of success are a meteor that will be around long enough to get you to buy into their scheme, but not long enough to coach their followers, sustain the returns for the long-term, or truly improve the lives of those around them.
To protect against these schemes, you will want to build great offense by generating a solid annual income and defense by developing accumulated wealth and protecting it. Therefore, saving you from making rash decisions with your wealth.
More on offense and defense mechanisms to follow.
The Takeaway:
Do things that are sustainable for you and those around you. There is value in spending a short season focusing on writing a book, revamping a business, revitalizing a relationship, or creating a product or service to sell; however, this needs to be for a season. Hope and work as though you’ll be an overnight success anomaly, but plan in such a way to run the race for the long-term. There is no substitute for hard work, and yes, work smart—but hard work has a way of translating into other aspects of your life.
Call to Action: Today, write down three things:
- Your ultimate goal,
- what degree, trade school, certification, or experience do you need to eventually get there, and
- what can be done today that will move you closer to that goal line?
What do you want to become an expert at? There are a lot of areas I am interested in developing: relationships, photography, physical fitness, and writing. However, due to my personal passion and skill, I have focused dramatically on becoming an expert at personal finance and hope to impart what I have learned effectively.
