"The glory and glamour come after the grunt work."
- Jeffrey FoxMy wife recently won ribbons for a quilt she made. It looked beautiful as it was displayed at the Quilt Show. What people didn’t see was her working alone in her sewing room hour upon hour doing tedious and detailed work.
Any time you see the work of a great musician, author, or athlete - know that you are seeing the tip of the iceberg. What happens below the surface (or behind the scenes) is what really determines greatness.
When I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, I saw the original lyrics of some of the greatest songs of all time. They were hand written on a plain sheet of paper and the writing looked like chicken scratch.
Stephen King, in his book On Writing, speaks at length of the laborious process of writing a crummy first draft then editing it over and over.
John Wooden's UCLA basketball team won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years. They conditioned themselves so well in practice, that late in games when the opposing team was tired, they ran the opposition off the floor.
"When you work hard in silence, success will make the noise."
Talent is important, but not nearly as important as discipline and persistence.
In what area of life do you want to be great? How will you get there?
• Not by dawdling.
• Not by dabbling.
• Not by being distracted by trivia.
Do you want to be in great shape? It will take consistent, disciplined action over an extended period of time. Do you want to deliver a great presentation? It will take a lot of thought, preparation and practice.
Success and excellence come from training and discipline more often than talent or a lightning bolt of creativity. If you learn to be disciplined, you don’t have to wait around for motivation – just get to work.
Learn to give your best behind the scenes and you will be rewarded publicly.
"Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."
- Thomas Edison
The Game of Life is Won Behind the Scenes