How to become an overnight success

How to become an overnight success?
Work for 10 years

This is 10 years in 10 seconds.
Each dot is 1 day.

It doesn’t look like it, but it is.

Jeff Bezos has a famous quote: “It takes 10 years to build an overnight success”

Overnight success stories captivate us. Deep down, we know it's not all magic, but every time a success story hits, we're like, "they just exploded overnight."

Some of the best built over 10 years… or more.

Some Examples:

James Dyson: Founder of Dyson Corporation [15 years]

He build 5,127 prototype iterations before getting it right.

• 1970: Dyson becomes frustrated with the performance of his vacuum cleaner and begins to experiment with alternative designs.

• 1978: Dyson builds his first prototype vacuum cleaner, which uses a cyclone to separate dust from the air.

• 1986: Dyson's first vacuum cleaner, the G-Force, is released in Japan.

Walt Disney: Founder of Disney [32 years]

He was obsessed with animation and make it his life goal.

• 1923: Disney moves to Hollywood with his brother Roy to start their own animation company, the Disney Brothers Studio.

• 1941: The Disney Brothers Studio goes bankrupt due to financial difficulties during World War II.

• 1955: Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.

Soichiro Honda: Founder of Honda Motor Company [22 years]

His first company manufactured piston rings for Toyota. It failed because of quality issues.

• 1937: Starts Tokai Seiki, a company that manufactures piston rings.

• 1946: Honda Motor Company is founded.

• 1959: Honda introduces the Super Cub, which becomes the best-selling motorcycle in history.

JK Rowling: Author of Harry Potter [7 years]

She was famously rejected by 12 different publishers before getting signed.

• 1990: Rowling begins writing the first Harry Potter book while she is a single mom, living on welfare.

• 1995: Rowling finishes the first Harry Potter book and sends it to 12 different publishers, all of which reject it.

• 1996: Bloomsbury, a small British publisher, agrees to publish the first Harry Potter book.

• 1997: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is published in the United Kingdom.

The consistent theme: Nothing, nothing, everything.

You want to become an overnight success?

Start asking yourself important questions: What does success look like? Are you on the right path? What am I willing to sacrifice?

Map out your end game and work backward from a 10-year plan.

Think in decades, act in days.

Track progress daily, measure results yearly, but define success every ten years.

What day are you on?

Keep going.

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