I read an article by Ben Stein last night titled “Success Is All in a Day’s Work”. In the article Ben describes the conversation he had with a new writer who had big ambitions, but not the drive & work ethic to get there. I think this article describes what I like to call the “startup dream”. Startup life has been made out to be the nerd’s version of a rock star. Usually the success of the startup/business is whats glorified, but rarely is it mentioned the undying determination and work to get there.

A Wasted Weekend

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Today, a Sunday, I had a long phone conversation with a young man who lives in Washington, D.C., my ancestral home. He’s 30 years old and a highly talented writer. He aspires to be famous, although right now he’s a humble writer for as newsletter about environmental protection legal issues. He calls me many times each day and tells me how eager he is to be famous and much better-paid.

When this man, whom I’ll call Chuck, called me on my car phone, I asked him what he’d done with his weekend. “I played tennis,” he said. “Then I swam, then I hung out at a bar in Georgetown. That was on Saturday. Today, I played tennis and swam, then watched the football game, and now I’m about to go to a movie.”

He asked me what I did with my weekend. “Well, you’re 30 and I’m 62,” I replied. “So on Saturday I researched some issues about hedge funds. Then I studied the performance of some of my investments. Then, today, I worked very hard on a research paper on basic economic issues of hedge funds, and then I did some investigation into the performance of defunct auto parts companies.”

“Wow, he said. “I wish I could have done that.”

The Truth Hurts

By then I was out of patience. “Look,” I said, “you want to be a writer. No one knows who you are now outside a tiny circle. But you’re a good writer. Why don’t you write a short freelance article every day? Just on whatever comes into your mind. Then try to get them published. Throw them against the wall. If one in three gets published, in a year you’ll be really well-known and in five years you’ll be a household name.”

“But I don’t have that many ideas,” he said.

“Well, beginning writers are required to have an unlimited stock of ideas. So either get the ideas or get out of the business.”

“I don’t want to just write garbage,” he said.

“Then don’t write garbage.”

“I don’t want to just have frivolous articles,” Chuck added.

I paused a while and broke the news to him. “You’re not really cut out for fame and success You’re making excuses instead of working. You’re hanging out at bars instead of writing.”

I continued, “The people who make it in this field work all of the time. They work weekends. They work nights. They work holidays. They’re hungry and they work like demons.”

“You don’t like me,” Chuck said. “I don’t feel well. I have to go now.”

Effort Equals Success

He hung up, but as I drove along, I had a sudden realization. I know a lot of really