Andy Neary argues overnight success is a myth, using his college baseball story: he lost a perfect game when Curtis Granderson hit an inside fastball, and Granderson went on to hit .500 in college and become a second-round draft pick. The point is that visible success comes from years of unseen daily work.
Questions this video answers
The Bullpen Session podcast (with Mary Henderson).
His senior season at UWM (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee).
Curtis Granderson, a left-handed hitting freshman for UIC (University of Illinois Chicago).
It states he hit .500 in college and became a second-round pick of the Detroit Tigers.
Chapters
Are you trying to become an overnight success? One thing that makes me laugh is when people talk about athletes being an overnight success. He just burst onto the scene out of nowhere really. Do you realize the work that athlete put in day in and day out, every single day, mastering his or her craft, becoming that overnight success? You see today? I had the chance to sit down with Mary Henderson yesterday for the Bullpen Session podcast and we talked about the fallacy of the overnight success. And it got me thinking about a story that I love and hate to share all at the same time. You see, it was my senior season at uwm. I was pitching against the University of Illinois Chicago and I had a perfect game going into the sixth inning of a seventh inning game. Nobody had gotten on yet. And in the sixth inning, up walks this unknown little left handed hitting freshman for uic. He didn't even register on the radar of hitters that I needed to be careful with. So I threw an inside fastball and he with his aluminum bat, dinked it over the shortstop. Perfect game, no hitter over for you baseball fans out there. Do you know who this little unknown left handed hitting freshman was? His name was Curtis Granderson. Now here's Curtis Story. He worked his butt off at uic and then all of a sudden his junior season rolled around and it clicked. He ended up hitting.500, becoming a second round pick of the Detroit Tigers and the rest is history. He's won at least a couple World Series titles in his career. Why do I share that story with you? Because it's easy to look at Curtis Granderson like this overnight success that came out of nowhere in college. Eh, eh, eh. He busted his butt in Little League in high school and at uic. And then all of a sudden it clicked. And the same holds true for you. Nobody is an overnight success. If you own a business, you're a human resource director, you're a sales professional. If you put the work in day in and day out, you enjoy the grind, the monotony, the boredom that it takes to master your craft. All of a sudden, one day it'll click and the rest will be history for you. So my advice to you today is quit buying into the fallacy of the overnight success. It doesn't exist. Put the work in, day in and day out. Go to work mastering your craft and I promise for you, at some point, someday it'll click and you will have the long term success you've been looking for. Now go make it happen.
