No Overnight Success Stories — Hallelujah Anyway

The phrase overnight success cracks me up. I am sure someone out there has been an overnight success at some point in life, but for most of us the road to success if littered with failure and defeat. I know it has been for me.

My friend Lela Barker has a business called Lucky Break Consulting. She came up with the name because people thought she got a lucky break in life to be so successful at her business Bella Lucce. Now she offers her guidance and support to others who want to build empires. Lela and I have shared war stories so I know there were no lucky breaks and no overnight successes. And if we are being honest, even in success we have both fallen on our faces at different times.

Failure and defeat are part of the equation of life, especially in business. We tend to hide those parts of the journey and feel ashamed. I often quietly walk through a difficult time and when I am ready I probably over share about it. I retell my failures, defeats and flaws as a beacon to those who are stuck in the muck of it. Even when I was a young reader I loved to read stories about people who faced enormous adversity and overcame it despite everything.

We all have that in us to be overcomers. When you are totally deflated, running on empty, refueling with coffee, and even then still feeling defeated I hope you find comfort in knowing you are not alone. You are not as defeated as you feel. I know the feeling intimately. When you are there do purposeful things to remind yourself that everything is temporary.

I have encouraging reminders set in my phone. One of them says, “Hallelujah Anyway!” It is set to go off before I go to bed to remind me to set aside the tasks that didn’t get done, to let go of the hurts that didn’t get healed, to set aside feelings that don’t match the sentiment of Hallelujah Anyway. Some nights the reminder annoys me—yes, I even annoy myself sometimes with attempts at encouragement—but do it anyway.

I recently read a story about Project Semicolon. The project has a much larger meaning that what the semicolon means to me. Project Semicolon tattoos are meant to start a conversation about mental illness, suicide, depression, addiction and self-injury. I’ve never been tempted to get a tattoo, but there is something so powerful in the reminder that we haven’t reached the end of our story. The semicolon is used to signify a pause, not a stop. A semicolon represents a sentence an author could have ended, but instead chose to continue. I love that!

I failed; hallelujah anyway. Failure, disappointment, defeat — they all happen. Just get back up. This morning I read a post written on Facebook that asked, “Is there a Success Call that can help me wrap my head around a huge disappointment while continuing to move forward and not be so consumed with said disappointment.” I will be doing a Success Call next month on September 17th for Indie Business Members — feel free to ask the hard questions. I am also launching services for business owners and authors over the next few weeks. You can take sneak peek.

For a follow up blog post on hallelujah anyway read Even So.