When you watch any of the plethora of reality TV shows in existence, it’s very tempting to believe in overnight success.

But there’s a massive problem with overnight success; there’s a lot that nobody tells you.

And it’s not just with reality TV shows; it’s with business, entrepreneurship, careers, love, relationships and just life…

Overnight success is not real. And it’s not sustainable.

Or have you never wondered why you don’t really hear a lot about reality TV fave from two years ago? Or even last year’s edition?

Yes, they had hundreds of thousands, if not millions of followers on social media.

Yes, they had a strong team of manager + PA + agent + squad of e-bullies trolling other contestants’ fans on their fave’s behalf + many stan-ers around them.

Yes, the moment they were announced winners or runner-up or disqualified contestants, they seemed to be cashing in with lots of brands falling over to sign them.

And everyone felt like, “Ahhhh, they’ve got it made, regardless…”

Here’s the major problem; it’s not real. None of it is real.

Apart from the fact that reality TV shows are SCRIPTED anyway, it’s all hype.

And no matter how much noise you make, how many flashing lights, daring publicity stunts, disingenious sharks you employ as publicists – you can’t sustain a nothing.

There’s nothing to be sustained and people will find out if they stick around long enough to. Which they don’t anyway cos crowds are fickle and have short attention spans.

Even when you’re genuinely talented, bring something real to the table and it looks like you’ve achieved overnight success, you find it difficult to sustain cos you can’t repeat it.

And you can’t repeat it yourself or replicate it for someone else cos you don’t know what mistakes to avoid, what worked and why, meaning that you’re not growing!

There’s a reason that some musicians find it impossible for their second album to match the resounding success of their first one.

They got it easy, they didn’t grow so they don’t know what actually worked and they find out the hard way that hype and clout-chasing on social media doesn’t sell albums.

Or books.
Or anything else.

Whether it’s a house (or other architectural structure), a life with someone, or a career, what looks like overnight success is actually the result of sustained and silent hard work.

And if it looks like you got overnight success in one area, the temptation is to relax there and not explore anything else – even if you might be good (or even better) at it.

Yet, you’ll never know cos you won’t have the motivation (or the time) to try or explore.

I literally fell into radio when I was trying real hard to promote Forever There For You, and found I liked it. Even if radio presenting just wasn’t something I’d ever considered before.

And when that door opened, because it was online, I was more receptive to the idea then the reality of podcasting – which I’d NEVER have done if I’d become an overnight success because of Forever There For You.

I also wouldn’t have continued developing my skill in scriptwriting, which MANY people had no reason to know I’d done for YEARS before Forever There For You came out.

One of the worst things that can happen to a person is to stop growing. Cos no, they’re not stagnant, they actually start to die.

And that’s what overnight success does for you. It sells you a pocketful of false dreams.

Overnight success also makes you more susceptible to depression cos you wonder what’s wrong with you and don’t know how to fix it, when the lights are turned off and everything created by hype all falls apart.

I know, I know, your case is different cos Joseph in the Bible was promoted overnight (Genesis 41:41), he turned out OK (Genesis 50:26) and y’all serve the same god.

So, why don’t you check out this post on the truth about getting a blessing you don’t qualify for?