Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to always be thinking about your next
Speaker 1: big idea. Yes, we want to see things through and
Speaker 1: ride the waves that they create, but your last project
Speaker 1: never completes your next one. Being willing to try things
Speaker 1: that aren't as successful as your first big idea paves
Speaker 1: the way for more success in the future. I have
Speaker 1: long been fascinated by people who have some big early success.
Speaker 1: Their careers can go in wildly different directions. Some folks
Speaker 1: managed to use that early flame to ignite a long
Speaker 1: slow burn, getting the chance to do a lot over
Speaker 1: the years. Some of those projects aren't as good as
Speaker 1: the first offering, but over time skill improves and what
Speaker 1: required luck in the beginning to achieve becomes more repeatable
Speaker 1: later on. Others, of course, experience early success and then
Speaker 1: completely flame out. The early win is the only win.
Speaker 1: This dichotomy is more readily apparent and fields like pop
Speaker 1: music and books, but even regular jobs can reveal these
Speaker 1: two paths. Someone gets a big opportunity early on, does
Speaker 1: well with it, and gets more opportunities to do bigger things.
Speaker 1: They can even shape their identity past that first job.
Speaker 1: Other folks get offered a big promotion or opportunity and
Speaker 1: then can't follow up. So how do you avoid being
Speaker 1: a one hit wonder? First, I think it helps to
Speaker 1: accept the reality that a big early success means your
Speaker 1: next offering is probably not going to go as well
Speaker 1: as the first. Every success is a combination of skill,
Speaker 1: hard work, and luck. You can repeat the first two
Speaker 1: or maybe even improve on them, but the last comes
Speaker 1: and goes. A fortuitous opening in the market means you
Speaker 1: were able to double one products revenue. You probably won't
Speaker 1: instantly do that for a bigger and more established brand,
Speaker 1: but so what you can do something. The key is
Speaker 1: to make it clear to yourself and to everyone else
Speaker 1: that you don't think your second big project is going
Speaker 1: to be your past one. You will continue to work
Speaker 1: hard and to challenge yourself to keep getting better, and
Speaker 1: you won't view a smaller success as failure. You will
Speaker 1: view it as the next step that will then allow
Speaker 1: you to move on to other possibilities. You can also
Speaker 1: increase the odds that you are not a one hit
Speaker 1: wonder by continually trying to think of new ideas. You
Speaker 1: build in time into your life to think about these ideas.
Speaker 1: You capture them, you explore them. But and this is key,
Speaker 1: I really do believe that ideas are plentiful. Success is
Speaker 1: largely about whether you are able and willing to execute
Speaker 1: on those ideas, and that means doing the work. So
Speaker 1: if you are a writer, you have to keep writing,
Speaker 1: even if you know this book won't do as well
Speaker 1: as the last one. You have to sit in your
Speaker 1: chair and finish it and make it as good as possible.
Speaker 1: If you are a painter, you have to keep going
Speaker 1: to your studio and finishing new canvases. If you have
Speaker 1: launched one wildly successful product, great, you want to make
Speaker 1: sure that is well supported, And then you probably want
Speaker 1: to keep thinking about what your customers want and what
Speaker 1: you suspect would thrill them, and keep trying things out
Speaker 1: and work every bit as hard to make the new
Speaker 1: products as important and meaningful as the first one was.
Speaker 1: Your sophomore effort probably won't be wildly successful, and some
Speaker 1: people will grumble and note this, But if you keep
Speaker 1: producing good new things, eventually some will be able to
Speaker 1: stand a lot inside that first hit, and the first
Speaker 1: hit will look less like a one hit wonder and
Speaker 1: more like a harbinger of good things to come. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's
Speaker 1: to making the moose of our time. Hey everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Ye