Michael Jordan famously missed more than 9,000 shots in his career but he’s still hailed as one of the best players of all time.
Agatha Christie, the queen of mystery, penned a whopping 91 books before we met her famous detective, Hercule Poirot.
Coco Chanel didn't just wake up one day with Chanel No. 5 in her hand.
Nope, she crafted hundreds of garments and accessories and only then she became the fashion powerhouse we know today.
The Beatles had their humble beginnings, playing in strip clubs in Hamburg before they became the stuff of legend.
Stephen King?
He churned out over 60 novels, 200 short stories, and a mountain of essays.
But it wasn't until "Carrie" and "The Shining" that he truly haunted our dreams.
Steven Spielberg, before he gave us the spine-chilling "Jaws," cut his teeth directing countless short films and TV episodes.
And then there's WD-40.
Bet you didn't know this stuff went through 39 flubs before they landed on the magic formula.
Yep, the name?
Water Displacement, 40th formula or WD-40.
They nailed it on try number 40.
James Dyson went through a staggering 5,127 prototypes before he sucked up the competition with his groundbreaking vacuum cleaner.
And hey, who can forget Thomas Edison?
The guy practically wrote the book on perseverance, holding the record for the most patents with over a thousand under his belt.
And what about Bob Dylan?
Before he was crowned the "Shakespeare Of Our Time" he cranked out over 600 tunes.
That's a lot of melodies strummed and lyrics hummed.
Were all of these smashing hits?
Certainly not, but that’s exactly the point.
Success isn't about getting it right the first time.
It's about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and giving it another go.
It's hard to comprehend just how much you will improve by doing something every day.
To do better work, produce more work.
You’ll make a lot of junk, sure, but you’re also more likely to make something great.
One of my favourite stories about creative work comes from James Clear’s Atomic Habits.
James is typing now:
On the first day of class, Jerry Uelsmann, a professor at the University of Florida, divided his film photography students into two groups.
Everyone on the left side of the classroom, he explained, would be in the “quantity” group. They would be graded solely on the amount of work they produced. On the final day of class, he would tally the number of photos submitted by each student. One hundred photos would rate an A, ninety photos a B, eighty photos a C, and so on.
Meanwhile, everyone on the right side of the room would be in the “quality” group. They would be graded only on the excellence of their work. They would only need to produce one photo during the semester, but to get an A, it had to be a nearly perfect image.
At the end of the term, he was surprised to find that all the best photos were produced by the quantity group. During the semester, these students were busy taking photos, experimenting with composition and lighting, testing out various methods in the darkroom, and learning from their mistakes. In the process of creating hundreds of photos, they honed their skills. Meanwhile, the quality group sat around speculating about perfection. In the end, they had little to show for their efforts other than unverified theories and one mediocre photo.
Got a goal?
Wanna get better?
It’s not rocket science.
It’s simple, really.
Just do it.
Nope, scratch that.
Do the damn thing every single day.
PS. Do you struggle to set yourself apart from your competitors? Does your tone of voice lack a little personality? Either way, get in touch and I’ll help you become remarkable. Or get more communication advice that doesn't suck here.
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