The Myth of Overnight Success

I was watching Shark Tank the other night and heard Mark Cuban say that it took him 10 years to become an overnight success.

And I laughed when I heard it, but I haven’t been able to forget it. Because in our culture where we can follow so many people (famous or otherwise) and social media gives us the beautiful ability to curate a life that we want to share with the world, we usually only see the end of their story.

We fill in the blanks about how they got to where they are and assume it came easily for them. We get frustrated when we’re spending days and weeks and months putting in hard, unseen work for something we assume was been handed to someone else – but we never take the time to hear their story.

How they worked hard and unseen and unknown for years.

How they suffered and succeeded.

How their faith grew or how God answered prayers – or how He didn’t answer some, yet.

We see fame and opportunity and we crave to have it too. In a world where we can pass judgement or connect with someone with the double tap of a finger we miss the story. I don’t want to miss the story anymore.

I was watching a little mini series on Sagi Kalev yesterday. If you’ve done any kind of Beachbody workout or are into fitness at all, he’s “The Beast” – the guy behind “Body Beast” and “Hammer & Chisel.” Good looking, funny, personality for days, build like a … well .. beast. And if all you know about him is that he is a celebrity fitness instructor who has graced dozens of magazines and is easily searchable on Google, you might assume that it all came easily for him.

I cried hearing his story. Because it didn’t – not even a little bit. And the way that he honors God through his story is powerful. The authenticity he shares, the hard stories, the lessons he’s learned – it’s beautiful. He is passionate about helping people and it’s because of where he came from and how he got to this point. He’s not an overnight success, but he has been successful.

Honestly, let’s just go ahead & be done with the myth of the overnight success. Sure, some people can find overnight fame (I’m looking at you, Chewbacca mask lady) or have a viral blog post one day or do something that gets them in the news. But I don’t think we’re created to be able to sustain that kind of life.

I think we’re created to work hard, to hustle after the holy things that bring God glory, and to connect meaningfully with others. And that takes time. It takes boring, ordinary, everyday, unseen work. It takes believing that God will continue to work in and through you – right where you are – until He sees fit to call our work on earth complete.

Let’s learn about one other’s stories. Let’s do the work in front of us and trust that God will do exactly what he wants with it to bring glory to Himself (and not us). Let’s see the people behind the pictures on social media and treat one another with dignity and respect and assume the best of everyone.

If you want to watch Sagi’s story you can find it on