Dear Success Seeker,

I don't watch much TV but one show I really do enjoy is America's Got Talent. (If you are not familiar with it, the show is essentially an elimination type of talent contest with the winner being selected through on-line voting by the TV audience.) Why do I watch it? I guess I am just a sucker for watching people dig deep and reach their full potential. After all I am a coach, right?

Recently I watched this seasons finale and the winner was Kenichi Ebina, an amazing free-style dancer who does a kind of hip hop filled with robotic moves, athleticism and stunning choreography.... combine Michael Jackson with the Peking Acrobats and you get the idea.

I was very impressed and, having never heard of Kenichi before, immediately googled his bio. I expected to learn how he had risen rapidly to the top as a result of his charisma, natural talent and lucky breaks. Not so much! I discovered that he is 39 years old and has been working his tail off as a dancer for many years. A dance troupe he created won first prize at the Apollo Theatre Amateur Night in New York back in 2001 so you can be sure he was developing his skills many years before that. This guy has clearly been around for a long time and his rise to fame has been nowhere near as rapid as I imagined.

That got me thinking and I realized that every superstar I can think of spent many long years slugging it out in obscurity before they became recognized. And that is true of virtually everyone who is successful, recognized or not. Whether they became an entrepreneur, real estate investor, success guru or champion athlete, they all paid their dues big time.

Don't take my word for it. Make a list of two or three of your favorite celebrities or talents, whether they be musicians, TV anchors or business people. Go on-line and research their stories. I guarantee that they invested far more time and effort and went through more trials and tribulations than you ever imagined.

Here's an example. I met success guru T. Harv Eker in 1999 shortly after he moved to Vancouver. When I met him he had one employee and his office was in the basement of his home. He hired me as his private business coach and I worked with him during a period when his company grew to over 100 employees and his book "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" became a New York Times #1 bestseller. Everyone thought that he was an overnight success but no. Harv began teaching seminars and workshops in California back in the mid-80s but he didn't hit the big time until over ten years later.

I've heard it said that it takes seven to ten years to become an overnight success and I have found that to be true. As Anthony Robbins says, "Most people totally overestimate what they can do in a day, week, month or year. Yet they massively underestimate what they can accomplish with a decade of focused effort."

So the bad news is that getting to the top is not easy. It requires long years of struggle, hard work and set backs. The good news is that if you apply yourself in a single direction for ten years you can achieve almost any goal. And the even better news is that there is plenty of room at the top since not many people are willing to put in the effort.

So how do you become an overnight success? It is simple, but it is not easy! You find something you are passionate about and have a burning desire to achieve and then you do what it takes to get you there. No quitting when it gets hard, no changing directions when you get bored or distracted and no following the path of least resistance.

Is it worth it? You have to decide but one thing is for sure. Ten years from now you will be ten years older than you are today. In that you have no choice. But you have a great deal of choice over where you will be in ten years. In that time you can get a degree, become an accountant, own 200 properties, become an accomplished athlete or develop yourself to be a master of almost any topic. So decide on a goal that is important to you, commit to it and work on it tirelessly. Ten years from now you to can be an overnight success!

Your Coach,

Andrew Barber-Starkey, Master Certified Coach
Founder and President, ProCoach Success System


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