 The Magic Starts With You:
Last week, J.K. Rowling turned the book publishing world on its side with the
release of her latest installment of the wildly popular Harry Potter series.
According to media reports, the book sold almost 7 million copies in the first
few days alone, smashing all previous records (which, of course, were held by
Rowling).
In a nutshell, this woman is the Michael Jordan of commercial fiction. Every
aspiring writer wants to be just like J.K. They want the acclaim, the fame and,
of course, the fortune. By most estimates, the Harry Potter series has made
Rowling a billionaire. And, of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting this
kind of success. Yet, I wonder how many of these people are willing to pay the
price because, as Ms. Rowling has illustrated, success comes at a price - a huge
price.
With the seemingly overnight success of the Harry Potter series, it's easy to
overlook that the journey must have seemed anything but overnight to Ms.
Rowling. It took her five years to complete the first book in the series. Think
about that for a moment. Five years.
That is five years without adoring fans. Five years without requests for
interviews and public appearances. Five years without those huge advances and
royalty checks. For five long years, Ms. Rowling toiled in obscurity without any
tangible benefits for her efforts. In fact, during the last year, she was forced
to live on welfare and work part-time as a clerical secretary.
There are very few people who would have been willing to follow their dream
while living this kind of nightmare. Yet, Rowling was one of those rare people
who could block out the distractions of the present to focus on the promise of
the future. Despite living the dreary life of a impoverished single mother, she
was able to conjure up a world of fantasy.
The Magic Starts With You (PART II)
And while you may not have any desire to make your mark as a novelist, there
are lessons that we can all learn from Rowling as we attempt to write the next
chapters of our dashes. The first of these lessons is to keep the dream alive no
matter what. This means even when circumstances conspire to make your dream seem
unreachable, keep dreaming anyway. This is what Rowling did. Even though she
could barely write a check for her rent every month, she still believed that she
could write a book that practically the entire world would read. Now, that's
keeping the faith.
Of course, keeping the faith isn't enough. All of the hopes and dreams would
have remained just that if Rowling didn't act on her dream. As you know, the
first Harry Potter book didn't write itself. She had to write it. And in this
case, she had to write it under very trying circumstances. She had to write it
while raising a child on her own. She had to write it while trying to find a way
to make ends meet. Yet, she didn't let her challenges prevent her from realizing
her promise. And neither should you.
Far too often, people let their circumstances dictate their possibilities. They
have great ideas for a product, a service, a book, a movie, or what have you.
Yet, they never act on these ideas because of the "timing." They say, "The time
just isn't right for me to get started on my dream. I have this to do and that
to do." Well, I have some news for you; the timing will never be right. There is
never going to be a time when you won't have responsiblities at work, at home,
at church or in the community. Therefore, if you're ever going to make the most
out of your dash, you must learn to be like Rowling and go to work despite the
circumstances
The final lesson to learn from Rowling is patience. I must confess that, by
nature, I am not a very patient man. The thought of spending five years on a
single book is almost unfathomable to me. Yet, as Rowling has proven, sometimes
good things take time. The lesson for us is to not rush the finished product. I
can't imagine that millions of people would flock to Rowling's books if they
didn't have well-conceived plots and fully developed characters.
In the same way, people aren't going to flock to buy your new invention if it
has shoddy workmanship or design. Nor will people flock to work for your company
if it's undercapitalized or poorly managed. If you want Rowlings like success,
then you must be willing to put in the extra effort to get it right. You must be
willing to delay immediate gratification for ultimate long-term happiness.
The good news is that if you can do these things - keep the faith, work on
your dream, and be patient - your life can be more fantastasical than Harry
Potter's. And the best part is that you won't have to wait two or three years
for the next adventure to begin because the magic is within you right now. Go to
it!
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