There’s No Such Thing as Fairy Dust

At this point in my life, I don’t really believe in fairies, let alone fairy dust. As funny as this may sound, there is a lot of talk about people who succeed on a fairly fast track. There may be a small amount of luck, but I think that can be more seen as opportunity. Some maybe be more fortunate than others, but in the end, we all have the power to make the decisions to get us to where we want to be. The question is, how badly do we want it? If we really want something, we will make the decisions and sacrifices to get us there. I touched on this in my Transitions, Passions, and Sacrifices post a while back, but the point I really want to make is that in my opinion everything comes through hard work. There is no such thing as getting rich quick and in that respect how do you define rich? Money isn’t everything. It should though, a bi-product of being successful at what you do. Every successful person I’ve talked has spent years of hard work to get where they are. (typically about 10,000 hours).

In the end, creating the right career/lifestyle is a lot like creating a beautiful picture in proper exposure. The way the final image looks is all your vision, as to the lifestyle you desire to live. You have to adjust all the variables to get the desired outcome. Each variable(ISO, shutter speed, Aperture, etc.) all have cause and effects, sacrifices and features. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in certain areas to be able to do what you want in others.

In photography, part of the hard work is developing your eye to see, hence crafting your artistic vision, and that only happens through practice. As you grow, you begin to see things that you neglected to see before. That is only learned by going through the artistic journey.

That said, if you want it then make the decisions to work hard and succeed. I don’t think the fairy will come sprinkling her dust. Success is the result of putting in the time and hard work.