The Realistic Journey to Success
Post written by Dayne. Follow him on Twitter.
14 Happy Comments
Luck may be around the next turn.
Do you have a dream that sometimes seems unattainable?
Do you feel discouraged because you haven’t succeeded in realizing your goals?
Do you ever consider giving up?
Being passionate about your goals isn’t the only determiner in whether they’ll come true.
Persevering in pursuit of a dream, no matter what the obstacles, can be just as important to success as passion and talent. Without a dream and a plan to achieve it, even a person with great talent and intelligence can end up unfulfilled. There are many stories of successful people who have had doors slammed in their face before things fell into place and their dreams were realized.
The 2008 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil tells the story of a heavy metal band that never really made it. Despite being known and admired by other musicians, including Slash of Guns N’ Roses, this Canadian metal band never broke through to the big time. Formed by two high school friends in the early 1970s, the band released a dozen or so albums in the 1980s and 1990s but failed to realize significant commercial success.
Forced to take other jobs to survive, they continued to tour and take whatever gigs they could get. The movie follows them on one particularly dismal European tour where they play in small pubs and have to fight to be paid.
The film is notable not so much for showing what great undiscovered talent the band has, but for focusing on their determination to keep on trying to make it to the big time.
Their love of rock n’ roll wins out over all the humiliation they face as they play to near-empty auditoriums. Through the years, they’re motivated by a belief that their big break is still to come. The optimism of the band’s lead singer, Steve “Lips” Kudlow, is exemplified in this statement, “If you go through life thinking tomorrow is going to be a better day, it will be.”
It would be great to say that because of the documentary, Anvil has become an overnight sensation. They have received a lot of attention, even appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, but it remains to be seen whether the attention will translate into sales for their new CD.
Instead of receiving accolades as a great band, they are being recognized for their stubborn determination to follow their passion and pursue success over a period of several decades.
The documentary shines a light on Anvil’s pursuit of a dream purely for the love of it, despite the lack of fame and commercial success.
The flip side of the coin is the author J.K. Rowling. While writing the first volume of her Harry Potter series, she lived as a single mother on welfare and battled clinical depression and thoughts of suicide. Her manuscript was rejected by 12 publishers before it finally was accepted by a small publishing house in London.
Rowling was advised to find a day job, since her publisher thought she had little chance of supporting herself as an author.
However, within a year an American publisher paid $105,000 for U.S. publishing rights and shortly thereafter Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was winning awards and moving to the top of the bestseller lists.
These stories illustrate two different outcomes to the pursuit of a dream.
The members of Anvil struggled for years and were finally rewarded with a different version of success than they probably first envisioned. J.K. Rowling also struggled, but within a relatively short time was rewarded with success beyond anything she could have imagined.
The outcome of each story is determined in part by the random nature of success. A stroke of luck can often make the difference between winning and losing when it comes to success. J.K. Rowling was told many times that her book wasn’t publishable, but she persevered until luck came her way in the form of a willing publisher. If you give up on your dreams, you’ll never know if a stroke of luck would have made the difference between success and failure.
What do Anvil and J.K. Rowling have in common?
They were passionate and they persevered in the pursuit of their dreams.
If you have a dream but are feeling discouraged about success and wondering if it’s time to abandon it, first try these mind-changing strategies:
- Follow your passion. A dream that’s related to something you are passionate about has a better chance of sustaining you through the struggle for success. Are you passionate about your dream? If not, maybe it’s time to rethink it.
- Prepare for the long haul. You have no way of knowing when your dream will come true, so prepare for a long journey on the road to success. Only the very lucky few have J.K. Rowling’s good fortune and even she had to pursue her dream through several very difficult years.
- Focus on your dream. Many people probably share your dream, so you can’t expect to realize it without some focus and hard work. Success requires planning, action and a steady focus.
- Celebrate small successes. Don’t downplay the small strokes of luck and success that come your way. Each is a milestone on the road to your success.
One thing is certain – success most often comes to those who pursue a dream and don’t give up.
Unless you apply yourself and keep your goals in mind, you may not be paying attentions when luck comes your way. However, nothing is guaranteed and you may find yourself after many years still on the road to success, with the realization of your dream still beyond your grasp. Then it may be time to redefine your dream or to look at it from another angle. To use Anvil as an example, after many years they came to be recognized more for their perseverance than for their music, but the success has been just as sweet.
“The road to success is always under construction.”
Lily Tomlin**************************************
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Posted on November 20, 2009
Dayne, I appreciate this post very much!
Great timing! 
everything else can be an illusion. many blessings to you, Jenn
I love how you share at the end to prepare for the long haul (there is nothing easy about the building process – it’s not supposed to be easy!) and it is certainly essential to celebrate the small successes. I am learning to give myself more credit in the latter, which I used to often overlook! Thank you for this inspirational post! I think having a clear vision and doing what one does for the right reasons makes certain that the ride is worthwhile! For example, I write for the passion of writing, not for the ratings. I write to help people, if I help even one.. there is ‘value in one’..
Jenn Z´s last blog ..It’s Not Perfect Until We’re ‘ALL-together’…
Hey Dayne.
I think it’s a combination of critical factors that gets us success. And if you miss one of those, you might not get it, unless you rely on luck. Passion is not enough, you need action and perseverance. And even that is not enough, you need a plan and the openness to see when it does not work and adapt it.
Eduard
Ideas With A Kick´s last blog ..Forget achieving life balance and try this instead
Hi Dayne,
It was interesting how you contrasted the two stories of success. In my experience, I think many people want success for all the wrong reasons. In order to be succesful, you have to really love what you are working on. For only if you love it will you be willing to slave away at it since it will not feel like work. Many people want things to happen fast but success is a process. And a person really has to be willing to fine tune their craft and to realize that there is always more to learn.
Nadia – Happy Lotus´s last blog ..Vampires, Investments and Love
“Celebrate small successes. Don’t downplay the small strokes of luck and success that come your way. Each is a milestone on the road to your success.”
Thats what Ive found to be really helpful when I take a step back and appreciate all thats happened.
Rocky | R O C K O N O V A . C O M´s last blog ..BROTHER ALI – GOOD LORD
Dayne – a simultaneously inspirational and sobering post. On one hand, it’s encouraging to see how things can come together to reward those who persevere with their dreams and ambitions. But on the other hand, it’s sobering to realize that good luck does play a role in making dreams come true.
It’s great to hear about the people who have experienced phenomenal success, but at the same time a little saddening to think of all those who just haven’t had their big break.
To some extent we create our own luck through hard work and determination (and now helped by the interconnectedness of our world), but we also have to admit that circumstances do play a part, and our task isn’t to complain or fall victim to our circumstances, but to act to the best of our abilities and let the chips fall as they may.
Jeffrey Tang´s last blog ..The Journey, The Destination, and What Comes Next
Dayne,
I really enjoyed these stories. There’s really so much that can be said about passion. Every really successful person in the world says that “you will always be more successful and happier in life if you do what you are passionate about.” Yet, for some reason we get it into our head that it’s a tough call to follow your passion because we’re so tied to the 9to5 grind. These stories teach us all that with passion and perseverance anything is possible.
Srinivas Rao´s last blog ..Surfing, Zen, and Your Inner Child
What a great post! I love to hear stories about people following their dreams. I think one important thing is to reconsider how you measure success. I measure success by my level of joy. If what I’m doing brings me joy and delight, I am not in the mindset that I am waiting for success. I am, in that moment, experiencing success. I believe the quest for worldwide acknowledgment of your success puts the cards in the hands of others. And that is enough to limit progress.
Thanks so much for this wonderful article.
Nea | Self Improvement Saga´s last blog ..Greatest Inspirational Quotes from People of Greatness
This is really a great post. You hit the key points in a straight-to-the-point and encouraging manner. Getting to where we want to be is a life-long journey, but it’s the journey that counts. I agree that we should celebrate our progress, even when it only feels like we are taking baby steps.
amanda@choosing-life-my-way.com´s last blog ..Just For Now Is All There Is
This post was wow un f**king believable. I’m Stay positive as well going towards my dreams in blogging and skateboarding. Never giving up. Because if you enjoy and love doing it that will not be an option.
Josten´s last blog ..John Demartini on Gratitude
Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! Tweeted, Stumbled, and Dugg!
Too many people give up easily because they lack of self-belief, passion, and a penchant for instant gratification. They just have no fricking idea what it takes to achieve great success. I may not have achieved great success, but I do know what it takes and I’m going to stick to it, and stick to it till the end.
Cheers~
Mark
Thanks for this Dayne. It was very inspiring to know what that band went through and what the Harry Potter author went through. I was shocked that she was on welfare, was rejected 12 times, and went through clinical depression. That’s rough, but it just shows what determination and passion can bring you if you keep on believing that your work will one day succeed.
Tristan Lee´s last blog ..Are You Having a Happy Day?
Hey Dayne,
It really is incredible what we can do when we stick to it. One of the best friends I could ever ask for once told me that the secret to success was perseverance. And I say that the secret to making perseverance worth it, is passion.
Justin Dixon- AlittleBetter.net´s last blog ..Why Its Time to Let Go of Your Expectations
Perseverance is definitely the key to success. More important than intelligence in fact. Keep up the good work with your writing:)
I remember watching Anvil last year and thinking that a lot of people would label them as unrealistic. But in a way I think this is required in order to persevere and succeed after constant failure. The ones that succeed in life are the ones that want it so bad that their determination grows the longer they don’t succeed.