How To Be An Overnight Success
By admin
This might be hard to believe but…
The winner of American Idol isn’t an overnight success.
Beyonce didn’t lose her baby weight 10 minutes after giving birth
And the next big actor/model/singer/etc is likely working two jobs to make ends meet.
There Is No Such Thing As Overnight Success… But that’s a good thing!
The truth is that nothing happens at the snap of a finger.
I hate looking at the covers of magazines showing stars’ transformations that appear to have happened within the blink of an eye.
It’s disheartening and of course makes you wonder:
Why do things happen so fast for everyone else? But not for me?
Well, do you want to know a secret? It didn’t happen fast for everyone else.
Anyone who wants to see a different reflection in the mirror, or wants to be a “success” has to work for it.
They have to acknowledge where they are right now and then figure out what they need to do to change. Because regardless of what the media wants us to think…
Change doesn’t just happen.
Here are some pretty incredible success stories that I just have to share:
– Columbia Pictures canceled their first contract with Marilyn Monroe, telling the sex icon that she was neither pretty or talented enough to be a big time actress.
– Steven Spielberg received 3 rejection letters from his dream college, the University of Southern California before finally getting accepted. It’s Steven Freakin’ Spielberg!
– Harland David Sanders (The Colonial) was rejected by 1,000 restaurants before finally selling his famous fried chicken recipe. Oh and he was in his 60s by the time success finally came knocking.
And my favorite…
– Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he “lacked imagination and had no ideas.”
Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall of that editor’s office after he later created Disney?
There are dozens of famous actors, singers, and entrepreneurs who lived in their cars while they continued to work towards their dreams. Never settling for a 9-5 career, because they knew that wasn’t in the cards for them. They knew all their hard work would eventually pay off.
And as for Beyonce…
Here’s what she had to say about losing the baby weight, all 60 pounds of it. You can see the full article here.
“I gained 57 pounds when I was pregnant. I didn’t have a lot of time to lose the weight, because I scheduled a show three months after I gave birth, which I would never do again,” Knowles says in the minute-and-a-half video clip. “I’m not a person that is naturally very thin. I am a person that has to work at keeping my body in shape,” she goes on to say, adding that dance is what keeps her active.
Add cardio, lunges, and a diet full of veggies and lean meat to that, according to Shape editor-at-large, Bahar Takhtehchian, who revealed to The Insider last year what Beyoncé’s post-baby fitness routine consisted of. Trainer Marco Borges said it’s one vegan meal a day that has helped Bey keep her nearly 60 pound weight gain at bay.
But while “it’s really really hard to lose your baby weight, because you don’t always have the time,” as Kraft admits, it’s easy to work it into your lifestyle the way Beyoncé does, she says. “She’s not setting the bar too high, she’s helping everyone feel like they can get there.”
Beyoncé, on the other hand, says that where she is, isn’t necessarily where everyone else needs to be. “Not everyone is supposed to be the same. Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.”
She may have lost it fast, but she is 100% open about the fact that it wasn’t easy. And that for women that don’t have a trainer, chef and career where you have to dance around in a barely there outfit, her results are likely not comparable.
How To Become Your Own Overnight Success
So what can you take from all of this?
Realize that you won’t be an overnight success.
Know that ‘wanting’ to change, whether that’s your body, your job, family, etc… isn’t going to just happen.
You’re going to have to look at yourself and your life and determine what’s got to happen.
But hey, you’re reading this so clearly you’re up to a new challenge!
Plan it out!
Seriously, write it out on paper.
What do you want out of your life right now?
Then, just like a recipe for a batch of dark chocolate chip cookies, write out the steps.
Without directions, what will you accomplish?
Going back to baking cookies… what would happen if you didn’t have that recipe? Likely, not a lot. You’ll end up with flat, ugly cookies that kind of resemble what you had in mind but are clearly lacking something.
Same thing goes for life. Trust me, this is something that I’ve been working on and I’ve learned first hand that the “recipe” for success is vital.
Stay motivated even when you’re not.
There are going to be days when you want to throw in the towel or you just want to rest.
Don’t give in.
Stay. Motivated.
I just finished listening to “If You’re Not First, You’re Last” by Grant Cardone and one of the points he stresses is to remember that when you take a day off, that’s one extra day for your competitors to surpass you.
This doesn’t mean you have to be 100% ALL THE TIME, but when you’re working towards a specific goal and you’re really itching for it, then yes at that particular time in your life you do have to just keep pushing ahead. Just continuously remind yourself that the work you put in now is all worth it when you do get to the stage where you can relax.
My friend Lindsey just wrote a great post on the different phases of life, this one being one of them. Right now Dan and I work 7 days a week often from 6am – 10pm. Why? Because we want it… bad.
Patience truly is a virtue.
I feel like “patience” is a word that gets tossed around. We all want patience, we all know we lack patience, but do we ever actually work at it?
Just like being kinder, more assertive, and more productive; patience is a skill that needs fine tuning.
If your goal is to drop 15 pounds then every day remind yourself while taking a giant deep breath:
I didn’t gain 15 pounds overnight, and if I want to do this the right way, I am not going to lose it overnight.
Or instead of becoming obsessed with instant results, remind yourself that you’re following a plan and that it will work. It’s not going to be the “flash” success you want but as long as you stay consistent and motivated then it will happen.
And finally…
The Award Will Taste Sweeter
Accidental success kind of sucks. The best part of achieving something is looking back and appreciating the journey.
Yes, you’ll have periods of struggle and at times you’ll want to give up. But those moments will make your achievements that much more sweeter.
You’ll look back and say… “Wow, I didn’t think I could do it but I did”.
#NowIsTheTime Update
I have to end with my update for you guys for our July Challenge.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about check it out here: What can you accomplish in 3 months?
If you recall, one of my goals was to do 7 Turkish Getups with my 35-pound kettlebell.
Well, I can’t do 7 yet. However, I did manage to do 2 in a row with my right side! And 1 with my left.
Each week is one step closer to crossing the goal off my list. But like above, I know it will take longer than just 4-weeks which is why it’s my 3-month goal.
Q: Are you a patient person?
I am not, but continuously working on it.
If you’re interested in reading more success stories of some incredible public figures, here is a great article: