"Successful people don't get lucky. Mozart at a young age didn't sit down on a piano and just get it. That is a bullshit lie that people like to hear because it takes their excuses away"
**To be clear, when success is mentioned in this post it is referring to the attainment of the highest level of achievement in a given field.
Mozart, Beethoven, Tiger Woods, Ralph W. Emerson, Tony Hawk, Michael Jordan - just a few of the most successful and influential people that have ever lived. These people have reached the highest level of achievement in their chosen walks of life, and have had a significant impact on the world. The most successful people do not get "lucky". I'm not saying that luck doesn't play a role in certain situations in life, but when it comes to being the best at something, luck is not a factor. Nobody that becomes the best in anything is gifted with a god-given affinity for favorable events. These people are not born as the human equivalent of lucky pennies, and they have no better chance of winning the lottery than you or I do. There have been numerous studies and comparisons conducted on many of the highest achieving men and women who have ever lived, and among them all there is always one theme that remains constant. One characteristic that all of these people share, which has enabled them to reach the highest levels of personal achievement, is massive amounts of hard work and defeat.
Michael Jordan once said: "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Abraham Lincoln, one the greatest leaders of men, failed in several businesses. He was then also defeated in 8 elections until he became president. Babe Ruth, the greatest home run hitter of all time (without steroids), was also defeated more times than any Major Leaguer at that time; he held the major league record in strike outs. "Every strike out brings me closer to a home run" he said. J. K. Rowling, one of the most successful writers of our time, came from a life full of defeat. She went through many years of depression, was a divorced single mother living on welfare until she published the first Harry Potter book, after 12 publishing houses denied it. Good thing for her that she didn't quit trying after the 11th.
We could go on and on, but the reality is there aren't too many other factors that decide the best from the rest. There is a great book titled "Talent Is Overrated" written by Geoff Colvin. Colvin, a man who dedicated his life to studying successful people's careers, created this book, which carries the take home message that there is no such thing as talent (talent being described as an innate gift). The best in the world become that way by practicing, and practicing to get better. They do what is necessary to succeed by the use of what Colvin calls "deliberate practice". Deliberate practice is defined as practicing the hard and f****** annoying stuff. For example, consider playing pickup soccer for 10 hours a week with your buddies versus going to the field alone for 10 hours a week to work on juggling, footwork drills, ball skills, hard core conditioning workouts, and your on-the-run passing accuracy. In other words, deliberate practice is doing all the boring things that suck. If you have ever played a musical instrument, that means working on your scales until you are blue in the face, and practicing your charts to perfection - not just playing to enjoy yourself.
Mozart didn't just sit down on a piano and just "get it". That is a bullshit lie that people like to hear because it takes their excuses away. "Well I can't ever be great at the piano when there are kids who can just sit down at 9 years old and play Boulez's Second Sonata". Most people don't know that Mozart's father was an accomplished composer and successful musician who put Mozart through a demanding music program as early as age 3. Mozart became the best because - without distractions - all he did was play the piano (or harpsichord to be more accurate) and deliberately practiced music under the tutelage of his father. Through Colvin's research, he found that it takes most people approximately 10 years of deliberate practice and a singleness of purpose to reach the point where they "breakout" and begin to reach high levels of financial success, fame, notoriety, and all that good stuff. Check out the book. I give it a solid 8 out of 10 on the whole.
"Try, try, try again", "If at first you don't succeed", and "What happens when you fall of the horse?", are all examples of cliché phrases used (surprisingly often) throughout society. We all are taught these lessons of achievement when we are younger and we are constantly reminded of them as adults. Sadly, however, as we get older and as we stop listening to our hearts and our true passions more and more, we begin to let these ideas brush off of us until we totally stop believing in them altogether. Moreover, how can we expect to instill these ideas into our children if we ourselves don't truly pay homage to them? It's not too surprising then that we have 4rd generation welfare recipients. Middle class breeds middle class, insecurity raises insecurity, and mediocrity is the rule. The exceptions to the rule are the truly successful people who do what others aren't willing to do.
Had Michael Jordan given up on his dream, he could have very well ended up being an average, slightly overweight accountant living in the suburbs with a mortgage and participating in an intramural basketball league with his buddies on Sunday morning, right before sitting down to watch football while begrudgingly looking forward to work on Monday. In other words, Michael Jordan could have taken the easy route and given into the defeat of not making his high school basketball team and turned it into failure. What made Tony Hawk the first guy to ever land a 900 in competition? He practiced it and missed it more times than anyone else. Anybody who plays an instrument knows that they need to practice, but what they really need to do is make the most mistakes practicing until they can play better than anyone else.
Many people would argue that they are not failures, and by their own right - they are not. Success has many faces and doesn't always equate to financial gain, fame, or changing the world. Everybody wants different things in life. Many people aren't willing to make the sacrifices that being the best demands, and that is totally fine. However, if deep down you are one of those people who wants to make waves and impact the world, you must learn to accept defeat and build off of it. Better yet, learn to welcome it, for defeat is a necessary pre-requisite to success. If you desire to be the best, dream of the day when you reach your goals. Until then, you must pay your dues. Get good at losing and enjoy the ride. Our time will come.
"Successful people don't get lucky. Mozart at a young age didn't sit down on a piano and just get it. That is a bullshit lie that people like to hear because it takes their excuses away"
**To be clear, when success is mentioned in this post it is referring to the attainment of the highest level of achievement in a given field.
We could go on and on, but the reality is there aren't too many other factors that decide the best from the rest. There is a great book titled "Talent Is Overrated" written by Geoff Colvin. Colvin, a man who dedicated his life to studying successful people's careers, created this book, which carries the take home message that there is no such thing as talent (talent being described as an innate gift). The best in the world become that way by practicing, and practicing to get better. They do what is necessary to succeed by the use of what Colvin calls "deliberate practice". Deliberate practice is defined as practicing the hard and f****** annoying stuff. For example, consider playing pickup soccer for 10 hours a week with your buddies versus going to the field alone for 10 hours a week to work on juggling, footwork drills, ball skills, hard core conditioning workouts, and your on-the-run passing accuracy. In other words, deliberate practice is doing all the boring things that suck. If you have ever played a musical instrument, that means working on your scales until you are blue in the face, and practicing your charts to perfection - not just playing to enjoy yourself.
Mozart didn't just sit down on a piano and just "get it". That is a bullshit lie that people like to hear because it takes their excuses away. "Well I can't ever be great at the piano when there are kids who can just sit down at 9 years old and play Boulez's Second Sonata". Most people don't know that Mozart's father was an accomplished composer and successful musician who put Mozart through a demanding music program as early as age 3. Mozart became the best because - without distractions - all he did was play the piano (or harpsichord to be more accurate) and deliberately practiced music under the tutelage of his father. Through Colvin's research, he found that it takes most people approximately 10 years of deliberate practice and a singleness of purpose to reach the point where they "breakout" and begin to reach high levels of financial success, fame, notoriety, and all that good stuff. Check out the book. I give it a solid 8 out of 10 on the whole.
"Try, try, try again", "If at first you don't succeed", and "What happens when you fall of the horse?", are all examples of cliché phrases used (surprisingly often) throughout society. We all are taught these lessons of achievement when we are younger and we are constantly reminded of them as adults. Sadly, however, as we get older and as we stop listening to our hearts and our true passions more and more, we begin to let these ideas brush off of us until we totally stop believing in them altogether. Moreover, how can we expect to instill these ideas into our children if we ourselves don't truly pay homage to them? It's not too surprising then that we have 4rd generation welfare recipients. Middle class breeds middle class, insecurity raises insecurity, and mediocrity is the rule. The exceptions to the rule are the truly successful people who do what others aren't willing to do.
Had Michael Jordan given up on his dream, he could have very well ended up being an average, slightly overweight accountant living in the suburbs with a mortgage and participating in an intramural basketball league with his buddies on Sunday morning, right before sitting down to watch football while begrudgingly looking forward to work on Monday. In other words, Michael Jordan could have taken the easy route and given into the defeat of not making his high school basketball team and turned it into failure. What made Tony Hawk the first guy to ever land a 900 in competition? He practiced it and missed it more times than anyone else. Anybody who plays an instrument knows that they need to practice, but what they really need to do is make the most mistakes practicing until they can play better than anyone else.
Many people would argue that they are not failures, and by their own right - they are not. Success has many faces and doesn't always equate to financial gain, fame, or changing the world. Everybody wants different things in life. Many people aren't willing to make the sacrifices that being the best demands, and that is totally fine. However, if deep down you are one of those people who wants to make waves and impact the world, you must learn to accept defeat and build off of it. Better yet, learn to welcome it, for defeat is a necessary pre-requisite to success. If you desire to be the best, dream of the day when you reach your goals. Until then, you must pay your dues. Get good at losing and enjoy the ride. Our time will come.
Many people would argue that they are not failures, and by their own right - they are not. Success has many faces and doesn't always equate to financial gain, fame, or changing the world. Everybody wants different things in life. Many people aren't willing to make the sacrifices that being the best demands, and that is totally fine. However, if deep down you are one of those people who wants to make waves and impact the world, you must learn to accept defeat and build off of it. Better yet, learn to welcome it, for defeat is a necessary pre-requisite to success. If you desire to be the best, dream of the day when you reach your goals. Until then, you must pay your dues. Get good at losing and enjoy the ride. Our time will come.
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