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what I needed to write, and for that, I’m grateful.” [2]
The book exploded in popularity. It stayed on the New York Times best-seller
list for over 230 weeks. It sold 8 million copies. It was translated into 40
languages. A few years later, Hollywood came calling and turned The Book
Thief into a major motion picture.
The Simple Secret to Having Good Luck
We often think that blockbuster successes are luck. Maybe it’s easier to explain
success that way—as a chance happening, a fortunate outlier. No doubt, there is
always some element of luck involved in every success story.
But Markus Zusak is proof that if you revise your work 200 times—if you find
200 ways to reinvent your self, to get better at your craft—then luck seems to
have a way of finding you.
How do creative geniuses come ups with great ideas? They work and edit and
rewrite and retry and pull out their genius through sheer force of will and
perseverance. They earn the chance to be lucky because they keep showing up.
In her Dartmouth Commencement Address, Shonda Rimes shares a strategy
that echoes Zusak’s approach…
Dreams do not come true just because you dream
them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s
hard work that creates change…
Ditch the dream and be a doer, not a dreamer.