How To Become An Overnight Success

Taylor Hicks, Evelyn Adams, William "Bud" Post, Eldrick Woods, Suzanne Mullins, and Joanne "Jo" Rowling all have something in common. For at least one time in each of their lives, they were an overnight success.

Many Americans, at least, will recognize Taylor Hicks as a 2006 winner of the popular TV show, "American Idol". British subjects have cause to be proud of Joanne "Jo" Rowling who is more easily recognized by her pen name, J. K. Rowling. Those who still don't recognize her have almost certainly heard of the boy wizard she created who goes by the simple name of Harry Potter. Harry's a bit of an overnight success himself, and he has taken J. K. Rowling along on a magical ride. Who's Eldrick Woods? Oh, if I had just said Tiger Woods, you would have picked up on it right away, and where's the fun in that?

Who are Evelyn Adams, William Post, and Suzanne Mullins? We'll get to that in a moment.

There are essentially two ways to become an overnight success. Taylor Hicks, J. K. Rowling, and Tiger Woods exemplify the first way.

Taylor Hicks became an overnight success in the middle of 2006 when he won top spot on the "American Idol" TV show. That much many "American Idol" fans and music buffs around the world now know. What many don't know, or even think about, is that Taylor Hicks spent a decade as an independent artist before his overnight success. Had you been at the Playboy Mansion, the Talledega Motor Speedway, or in Auburn, Alabama on the right night, you might have gotten to hear him perform. Over the years, he did get to perform with such legendary names as James Brown, Tom Petty, and Jackson Browne. However, up until the night he won the "American Idol" competition, HIS name was not exactly a household item.

Joanne Rowling was turned down by Oxford College in her younger days and worked variously as a researcher and secretary and also in Portugal as a teacher of English. In the early 90's, she got the initial idea for the young wizard who eventually became Harry Potter, and began writing. She completed her first novel while she was unemployed. She was living at the time on what we in America would call "welfare". When she first tried to market "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", a close friend, who was on her side, advised her to "get a day job" because he didn't feel she had a chance to make much money in children's books. The first printing run was one-thousand books and half of those were sent to libraries. Today, those first one-thousand books are each one a collector's item in itself. While this ex-secretary and English teacher must surely be pleased by the fantastic income she has made from the Harry Potter books and movies, she is possibly even more pleased by the fact that in 2006, in a poll by "The Book Magazine", J. K. Rowling was selected as "the greatest living British writer."

Okay, so how did Tiger Woods get in a list of overnight successes?

Well, you may have seen a small trend in the mini-biographies of Taylor Hicks and J. K. Rowling. Although they fit into the category, even a cursory scanning of their lives shows they paid their dues for some time before success found them. In fact, the overnight success they experienced came about after years of disappointment, standing on the bottom rung of the ladder, and in some cases, not even being near the ladder.

Tiger Woods has been called by some a "golfing prodigy", and that is not an unrealistic assessment. However, even a Tiger Woods does not get to where he is today by strapping on a set of cleats and wandering out onto a golf course with a nine iron and a dream. He learns, practices, fails, assesses, moves forward, falls down, gets up, and starts all over again.

In other words, an overnight success very seldom happens overnight. The success comes after a lot of effort on the part of the successful person.

After a memorable performance, a great pianist was approached by one of the audience. The fan spoke glowingly about the performance and finished with the remark that she wished that she could play as well. Perhaps with more truth than tact, the pianist replied to the effect that she was wrong. She could NOT genuinely wish to play as well as he. Otherwise, she would practice for hours a day year after year as he did, rather than simply "wishing" she could play as well.

Overnight success is so named from its apparently sudden appearance on one's doorstep. However, success is not too good at finding people unless they have built a pathway for it to follow, and perhaps lit a beacon as well.

I mentioned that there are essentially two ways to become an overnight success, and I have concentrated on the first group for a reason. If you wish to join that group, YOU are the one in control of the situation. If you seriously want to be in the first group, you now have an idea of what you might need to do.

So, who are Evelyn Adams, William "Bud" Post, and Suzanne Mullins? They too were overnight successes. They each won a lottery.

Evelyn Adams actually was an overnight success twice. She won the New Jersey lottery in 1985 and 1986. She won a total of 5.4 million dollars. She lost it all, donating part of it to some needy Atlantic City slot machines. "Bud" Post won 16.2 million dollars in Pennsylvania but eventually wound up living on his social security. Suzanne Mullins won 4.2 million dollars in 1993. She lost all of it and went even deeper in debt through poor decisions on its use.

There's another term sometimes used for an overnight success. That term is "flash in the pan". Many people who are seeking what they see as success will often wind up as just a flash in the pan at best unless they are willing to get out the necessary tools and prepare the pathway so that success can find them.

Tiger Woods, J. K. Rowling, and Taylor Hicks were willing to build the pathway and keep it cleared. Their names will be familiar for years to come, and they can always claim the victor's laurel wreath for becoming an overnight success.

Success Comes to Those Who Never Give Up

Do you remember the last time you saw an advert, book or movie for Harry Potter, watched or purchased an item from Disney, or switched your lights on? It's amazing how we enjoy these things, and so many other things on a daily basis, and yet they all started with a dream. A dream a person had for their life, and refused to give up on the dream, until their dream was fully realised. If you have ever felt or feel like giving up, these three real life examples demonstrate the power one has in realising their dreams, when they don't give up on them.

Thomas Edison, Inventor
Invented the phonograph, motion picture camera, and the electric light bulb. Edison was quoted as saying it would take a matter of a few weeks to invent the light bulb. In reality, it would take him almost two years of 6,000 failed attempts, in his experiments of the different carbonized plant fibers, looking for a carbon filament for his light bulb. During one of his experiments, Edison's laboratory was destroyed by an explosion. It was at this time we would think it would be all over for Edison, as he did not have the capital to build a new laboratory. It was his dear friend Henry Ford who heard about the explosion, who believed if anyone was going to find the answer it would be Edison. It was this faith, Ford had in Edison, he would loan Edison the money to build a new laboratory. Shortly, thereafter Edison would invent an entire lighting system rather than just a single light bulb.

Edison succeeded where others had failed. Edison chose to look at the big picture and created a lighting system including wiring, plugs, and connectors, to operate more than one light bulb at once. Thomas Edison's achievements include holding a world record of 1093 patents for inventions.

His most famous quote: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Walt Disney, Disneyland
Walt Disney was raised on a farm near Marceline, Missouri; he became interested in drawing at only six years of age, selling his first sketches to neighbors when he was only seven years old. At 16 Disney was sent to France to drive an ambulance for Red Cross, the ambulance was covered stem to stern in Disney cartoons. It was at the age of 21, Walt had started to create "The Alice Comedies", half way through the production, he ran out of money, and went bankrupt. Walt had discussed his financial problems with his brother Roy, who suggested they pool all their resources together; in the process of pooling all their resources together, they obtained a loan for $500 to set up shop in their uncle's garage. Shortly after they received an order from New York and expanded. Walt's life long dream was to create the "Happiest Place on Earth" which we now know as Disneyland. He had drawn up plans for his huge Disneyland fun park, and was turned down 302 times before he got financing for his dream: Disneyland. Today, due to his persistence, millions of people have shared in 'the joy of Disney'.

J.K Rowling, Harry Potter
Joanne Rowling was born and raised in England, Rowling started writing fantasy stories when she was 6 years old. Her first story, Rabbit, was filled with interesting characters such as a large bee called Miss Bee. Eventually, she graduated from school to become a bilingual secretary due her parents persisting she would make a great secretary. However, Rowling while working as a secretary found it difficult to remain attentive, and often would write ideas for stories, rather than taking company notes.

A few years later Rowling would marry and have a daughter. Unfortunately, her marriage ended in a sad divorce, where Rowling found herself unemployed and collecting welfare to survive. This caused Rowling to feel a great sense of failure and unworthiness, as a result she admits to suffering from major depression, to the point she even contemplated suicide. The only reason she did not commit suicide was due to her daughter, as she asked herself, "who will take care of her and how will this impact the rest of her life." What's amazing is Rowling in suffering such an array of difficult circumstances was able to somehow find the strength within, to go back to her childhood dream, and that was to write the Harry Potter story. In writing her first manuscript she would often go to the cafes to write, as the cafes kept her and her daughter warm during England's cold winter months. Rowling in completing her first manuscript had submitted her manuscript to a number of publishers. Her manuscript was turned down by many, who told her it would never sell due to a lack of demand for such a book. Despite, these rejections, Rowling refused to give up, she kept sending out her manuscript, and it was a smaller publishing house based in London that agreed to publish the first Harry Potter book.

Her writings in the summer of 2000, had reportedly earned over $400 million for her first three Harry Potter books, which have been printed in 35 languages and sold over 30 million copies. She is now known as the most successful writer in the world with the most sales, in the shortest amount of time.

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. ~Charles F. Kettering