“Man, look
at those celebrities! They are at the top of their career! Life is so easy for
them! Everything is handed to them on a golden platter!” some of us may think. Individuals
see blissful faces on books, TV, or movies, and envy them their lives. What we
don’t see is the years, even decades, of struggle most of them have gone
through to get where they are.
The Winding Road to Success
Most people
appreciate clear goals, distinct trails to those objectives, and victory upon
completion of the goals. However, life is rarely so convenient. Our road to
achievement is not likely to always be straight, narrow, and well defined; just
ask any famous person.
Our path may
look more like one of the images above. Our trails may be winding, obstructed
by curves, hills, rocks, or steep grades. At times, life just really has a way
of forcing us to take giant leaps backward before we take small steps forward
in a given area.
The Bible
Romans 5:3-5 says that we should rejoice in our
suffering. Why? Because it builds endurance, which builds
character, which builds hope, which
helps us to reject shame as we feel the love of
Christ.
Famous Examples of Long Roads to
Success
The image on the bottom is of Terry Fator,
America’s Got Talent, season 2 winner. The image on the top is of Paul
Zerdin, the recent winner of season 10. Both men are ventriloquists.
Both men played to small audiences for years as they built their craft. Their
road has been long and tough.
Now, Terry
Fator has a multi-million dollar contract and his own theater in Las Vegas,
Nevada. The sky is the limit for Paul Zerdin, too, since he has had
international exposure.
Other Examples of Delayed, or Unexpected,
Victory:
- Steve Jobs dropped out of college and started Apple in his garage.
- Bill Gates started Microsoft in a tiny strip mall.
- Thomas Edison “failed” anywhere from 30 to 1,000 times (depending on the source) at creating the light bulb.
- Post-it® Notes and potato chips were both created as mistakes, or as afterthoughts.
My Conclusion
Life
constantly gives us the opportunity to experiment, or practice. Even in this
dot.com age, true, lasting achievement doesn’t happen overnight. In fact,
reality says that there are no guarantees in this process of discovery that we
call “life”. The good news is that we learn
and grow through our mistakes. This makes our eventual success all the more
sweet.
How have you
found success after years of training?
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