…3,000 failed experiments…

Success doesn’t just happen.  It’s part of a process that usually begins with a lot of hard work – the kind that most people aren’t willing to do.  This is the unglamorous side of success that’s often referred to as “paying your dues.”  Paying your dues is necessary because this is where you gain the necessary knowledge that eventually enables you to become successful.  Behind every success story is a story about someone paying his or her dues.  Thomas Edison’s 3,000 failed experiments before he came up with a commercially successful light bulb is a classic example of this.  The lesson here is that if you want to become successful, you have to be prepared to pay your dues first.  On the other hand, if you are willing to pay your dues, your success becomes a foregone conclusion.  As Jerry Rice, probably the all-time best receiver ever to play in the National Football League put it, “Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.”