I was flipping channels one evening and ran across a rerun of an early episode of Rosanne. The few minutes I saw had them in a bowling alley and Rosanne was giving her sister hell for making a bet with a guy to see who was the better bowler. In that short moment in that episode stepping up to roll a bowling ball down the lane was a young actor by the name of George Clooney.
How did George Clooney go from a bit player on Rosanne to one of the most bankable actors of our current times? Perseverance.
There is no fast buck. There is no free opportunity to the land of plenty. There is no easy ride. However, there are great rewards and satisfaction when we persevere.
In studying successful people I find it isn't always the smartest people who reach the top. It isn’t always the beautiful people who reach the top. It's the people who persevere in working to improve, make a difference and are fueled by passion.
The comedian Bill Engvall bounced around the comedy club circuit for over a dozen years before joining Jeff Foxworthy’s Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Even then the tour was only moderately successful, and he was still working the clubs, but the video of the tour on Comedy Central was his big break. After years of toiling away at his craft and getting his start on Star Search, Bill Engvall became noticed by the right people and he now has movies, television shows and comedy specials. Over night success? Hardly.
Touring comedy clubs is a brutal existence. The pay is lousy, the travel is hard and the audiences can be brutal. Bill's perseverance eventually paid off, and you can bet every night he give it his best performance and persevered on to the next show.
There are times in our jobs when perseverance is the only way to keep going, and that one more step will always get us closer to the success we are driven for. To grow your business you need to take those tough steps, those steps that feel impossible but you know must be taken.
There is a fine line between success and failure and that perseverance Clooney and Engvall demonstrated to reach the top of their careers could've been skipped and where would they be now? Persevere and reach the top of your career.
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