Is there such a thing as an overnight success, or is it a myth? If it does exist, can you somehow plan for explosive success or make it happen in your life?

We’d all like to think there are formulas to get rich quick or become an overnight success. We want to believe we can fast-track our careers or be able to play the piano well after six months of lessons. After months of working seven days a week, we try to get on good terms with the family during a brief weekend getaway.

I was going to write an elaborate, well-organized post on this topic, but let’s just get to the point.

Do you really think these strategies will work? As in, long term?

There are definitely some stories of lottery winners, risk-taking entrepreneurs, and lucky investors who found success (money, fame, status) pretty quickly. But these are so rare they are not worth studying!

If you think you can avoid the hard work of sowing and still reap the rewards, you are gravely mistaken. Every person of worth whom you admire has gone through endless failures, poverty, depression, death of loved ones, and other struggles you don’t ever want to see for yourself. You still want their success without everything which precedes it.

Overnight success? More like decades of struggles!

Remember, you work your tail off for fifteen years and you are suddenly an overnight success.
–Dave Ramsey, EntreLeadership

Winning the lottery when you turn 65 is a lousy retirement strategy. A much better one is to set aside money every paycheck so you can retire with dignity.

What? Don’t get mad at me! It’s momentum and compound interest over time. It’s cause and effect, and there is no avoiding it.

You can’t talk yourself out of a problem you’ve behaved yourself into.
–Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

And like Stephen R. Covey’s quote, you can’t easily fill in a hole you’ve been digging for years.

God introduces blessings and hardships here and there, no matter what, but you should not bet on them. You cannot blame him for your failure. You choose your own direction and intensity.

Thus, you choose to be an “overnight success.” Slowly. Daily. Consistently.

Starting now.

Whether it happens months or decades from now, you will end up somewhere. And your actions will have brought you there.