The Timing of Success
A winner 27 years in the making, by Robert Bealle
Today there is such pressure to be perfect in an instant. I know everyone feels it–we must know everything about everything to be worth anything. The feeling is self-imposed and reinforced by society at every turn, creating a cycle of unrealistic expectations no reasonable person can meet.
I always feel this pressure. My constant complaint about myself is that I’m not working hard enough, so I stress myself out thinking about how I can work harder in between work, grad school, and the rest of my life. So I felt especially lucky to run across three seemingly random items that all whispered “relax” in my ear.
First I randomly grabbed an old O-The Oprah Magazine from December 2007 and found myself reading the contributors pages, where I ran across a blurb about photographer Joshua Jordan. He became a full time photographer in 1992, and there he was, doing his first shoot for O Mag, a short 15 years later.
Then on Facebook, I read Peter Shankman’s status update that today was the 11th anniversary of him incorporating The Geek Factory, his communications firm. Everyone knows him for HARO, which has blown up over the past few years, but he’s been at it for a long time.
Then I stumbled across a story in today’s Washington Post about Robert Bealle, a wildlife artist who entered the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest for 27 YEARS,before winning this year. His work is gorgeous, and yet it took him nearly 30 years to get past second place.
My inspiration moment came when I realized what all these three things were telling me–success takes time. When what we hear is that you need to be a superstar today, that can so easily be forgotten. Our culture is obviously one of instant gratification, so seeing people toil over a dream and reach a certain level of success more than 10, or 15, or nearly 30 years later, is actually exciting! It gives me something to look forward to, and work toward, and grow in to.
So I’m taking some time to step out of the stress and into the enjoyment of my craft, taking a cue from these guys–the practice can only pay off down the road, and I hope it doesn’t take 30 years, but if it does I’ll be patient.
Lesly, I couldn’t agree more. With my own work in the beer industry, I am such a newcomer that I know I have to work doubly hard to make a name for myself. Add to that the relatively few women in this male craft, and it can feel really daunting at times! But taking time to “step out of the stress and into the enjoyment” of the craft while working diligently is all we can do. Great post!