The Beatles,Success Ain't Easy Until It Is

 
Success ain't easy. That's
the underlying message I'm
getting from a book I'm
currently reading called
The Beatles: The Biography,
by Bob Spitz.

As I recall from the book, the
Beatles had some gigs in Hamburg,
Germany where they were contracted
to play music for 7 hours straight
with barely any bathroom breaks.

That's 7 hours a day, which is more
than 40 hours a week of time on
stage. That's a 40-hour week
if you count weekends too. I
don't think I've ever heard
of a musician actually working a
40-hour week on stage.

Most musicians these days might work
3 hours a week in front of an audience.
Of course, conditions are very different
now. However, it doesn't surprise me
that the Beatles became so good at what
they do. They had a lot of experience.

Perhaps a better name for talent is
hard work. It takes lots of time
put in to become good at something. Of
course, time put in is not always the answer.
You have to be dedicated and curious about
what you do too. Time put in with no curiosity
about how you might become better is like
having put in no time at all.

While success ain't necessarily easy, it
does have a way of finding those who have
taken the time to develop the necessary
skills. By the time the Beatles got a
recording contract, they had the stamina
and the skills to record a whole album in
one single day.

I'm going to amend this a bit. Success
ain't easy until you've developed the
necessary stamina and skills. Once you've
done so then outsiders looking in will
think that your success was an easy one.

I'll amend this further. Success ain't easy
until it is.

Ed Abbott