30 Year Overnight Success
Story time! I watched a music award show a few years back and a musician won best new artist. He was clearly pushing 50. In his acceptance speech he said, "Thank you for this best new artist award! I've only been making music for 30 years. I guess I’m an overnight 30-year success story."
There's pretty much only one important skill to be a successful artist, musician, creative, or what have you. Or really successful at almost anything. It's not talent, or luck, or some instagram algorithm hack, it's this one thing:
Persistence.
It's doing the thing, and then doing it again the next day. And then doing it again every day for years. That goes for having a good relationship, being successful at your job, or being healthy. And certainly, for being a a great artist.
Before attending a concert featuring guitarist Leo Kottke, a friend of mine found herself in an elevator with the musician himself. She wistfully told him, "I wish I could play the guitar like you". He replied, “Oh, you could. You just have to be a dorky, lonely teenager and sit alone in your bedroom for hours and weeks and months and years fiddling around with your guitar. You'll get just as good.”
I don't think talent exists the way we usually think of it. Someone pops on the scene suddenly and is called an overnight success, but we don't see the 15 years of prep, hard work, and ramen that went into that "overnight". Here's my equation for success in almost any field:
10 parts hard work + 10 parts luck + 1-part innate ability = success
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