Andrew Miller qualifies as an exception. He didn’t win a lottery or an inheritance, but what he did is just as extraordinary. Miller won the world’s richest prize for a single work of fiction, and he did it with his very first novel, which he titled Ingenious Pain.
The great poet e.e. cummings followed a path that was more the rule.
When a dozen publishers turned down a collection of his poems, cummings published them himself. His dedication page read “No thanks to...,” and then he proceeded to list all twelve publishers who had rejected his book.
If at first you don’t succeed you’re running about average.
M.H. Alderson
Walt Disney’s career, too, was the rule and not the exception. When Disney submitted his first drawings for publication, he was told he had no artistic talent.
No, instant success definitely is the exception, not the rule.
That’s probably a good thing, because it’s been my experience that things produced instantly are never quite as good as those produced patiently, over time—whether it’s coffee, photographs, relationships, or success.
Success is measured not by the speed of achievement but by the depth of our commitment and the length of our patience.
