It seems to be one of those pervasive questions in life... one that many people wander around looking for the answer to: "What is the secret to success?"
Forgetting, for a moment, the reality the "success" is a fluid and ambiguous idea that varies from person to person, the reality emerges that there most likely isn't any secret anywhere.
What's on YOUR horizon?
Luck, Skill, Brilliance, Talent, Genius...?
I'm not going to pretend that there aren't a few people out there who achieve great success as a result of one of the above... but they are few, and their paths are seldom reproducible.
Last week, I finished editing and proofreading a friend's book proposal and partial manuscript. Sure Gabe has a decent idea and a pretty well constructed outline... but I know he's going to succeed in getting a publisher and most likely doing quite well with the book. In fact, I knew that even before taking a look at the manuscript.
You see, he succeeds at pretty much everything he gets involved in.
Only a couple of days after handing him back the "cleaned up" manuscript, the evidence already started showing up: He'd already submitted the book proposal and sample chapters to sixty eight agents and publishers, and had had three "pingbacks" asking for more information and invitations to submit the complete book.
Hear Snoqualmie Pass, Washington — summer
Seize the Opportunity... and WORK it!
Gabe reminds me of a number (if not all?) the really successful people I have known: He's ambitious, driven and gets things done, mostly through sheer determination and hard work.
And he only "plays the high percentage game," meaning that he doesn't tend to gamble wildly on things that "sound great" but he doesn't really know much about... even though he's seen as a pioneer in his industry. Everything he undertakes is the result of a carefully calculated risk/reward analysis, followed up by a sort of relentlessness that makes most other people look like "dabblers."
We have some good examples here in the world of Steem: 
Now — with no disrespect to the these two awesome people (OR to my friend Gabe) — none of them are actually doing anything particularly pioneering or ground breaking... they are taking "excellent/really good ideas" and then tirelessly driving them forward with more energy than anyone else. But they didn't "invent cold fusion" in their basements... they merely chose niches and filled a space really, really, really well.
Bougainvillea near my parents' old apartment....
Yeah... but That's Just TOO MUCH!
I do believe one of the reasons a lot of people fail with their ventures is that they get caught up in terminology like "whatever it takes" without really having much of a grip on exactly what that implies.
I also know that a lot of people fail because they are "married" to the idea that they are bringing something "new and revolutionary" to the world... and they start off with plenty of energy and ambition, but soon discover that they aren't really cut out for the 90% of building success that is — in essence — little more than an ongoing investment in relentless "sweat equity."
In my almost 40 years in business, I have seen far more people succeed by taking "good" ideas and working the hell out of them, than I have seen people with "brilliant" ideas succeed primarily in the shoulders of their genius.
Sadly, that's not a message most people want to hear. We want there to be some "secret" we can use to get us to the top of the mountain...
Thanks for reading!
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(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190404 00:52 PST
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