"The things I've done in my life have required a lot of years of work before they took off."
Many times during our business careers, no matter what stage it's at, we start to think things should be going quicker. While there very well be times where we're doing something to hinder our progress, just as many other times it's only the time factor that is stretching things out, and there isn't much to do but keep on working with it.
How many times have we heard that overnight successes are really the culmination of years of work that are suddenly publicly or financially rewarded? It's the public that is made to think it just happened out of nowhere, because they are never around to see the quiet, behind-the-scenes work that always comes before a success.
The problem we can have is hearing others in their success, and then forgetting that nothing different has happened with them that happens to all of us: They quietly went about doing their work, until the work of many years suddenly rose up before them and became an "instant" success.
His company Apple (AAPL) has been a great example of the practicality of this.
