Many people think that some of the very lucky chosen few have and can get “rich overnight.” We are shown from a very young age that we can pull up to a building window and yell some instructions into a box, and move to the next window where food is delivered at high speed into our car. We then can eat the food as we drive to our next engagements. Instant weight loss plans, surgery, and technology feed the hungry monster of instant satisfaction. Why can’t we just type a few keystrokes and pull up to the bank window and get the cash tossed into our car like grass from the lawn mower?
Overnight success:
I remember watching TV to hear about a teenager or young 20’s individual was a multi-millionaire
because of something they developed or created with their computer and the Internet. The TV only tuned into seeing the inventor on the courthouse steps, a simple wiz kid that put a few pieces of code together and was instantly rich. It broke my heart to find out it was all a facade. Yes, the younger gentleman did get rich. But it took them years to succeed. They sacrificed their childhood, and many events they can never get back. Often, they were called a geek, nerd, or whiz kid. Bullies picked on them for being smart. Many of them were and still, lack the common social skills assumed by the rest of society. I was a geek that didn’t get rich, yet. I spent thousands of hours on hundreds of programs, but I lacked the focus to finish. But I have and had the same drive they do to continue regardless of what others said about me.
Marathon, not a race:
A race implies you can see the finish line. It’s just ahead, or only a few days away. In all reality, it takes months or years for many large projects. The same as it would if you were working on the same project for a company or business. Almost no one just hands people money unless they see a potential value or they are just plain crazy. Therefore, one must plan and work on the long-term project. Preferably a set amount of time should be dedicated to the project every day. However, I know people who simply show up and do their job. There are many rich people, who never intended to be rich, but they also had a clear understanding that they couldn’t work for anyone else. On the other hand, there are some people who actually set out to get rich. They plan like crazy, and still never get the brass ring. So, what is it that they are missing that others aren’t? Frankly, I’ve met people who can barely string a series of words into a sentence, and probably can’t cross a street without a disaster. Yet they are still self-made multi-millionaires. What is it that they have that others don’t?
Now here is an ironic fact… Many extremely large and successful companies us a process called a business sprint. A work or business sprint is used during product planning and development, where a specific “Sprint” time period is created, where the members can create as much of the product as physically possible during the limited time duration. A production meeting is held where the customer describes exactly what the anticipates the outcome to include. The sprint is then packaged (time-boxed) with very specific parameters for an outcome that should not be deviated from. Once the parameters are designed the production team focuses as hard as they can to create exactly what the sprint requires. The goal is not to fall short of the overall goal, but in some cases, the sprint team accidentally finds unexpected results that are outside the pre-existing parameters of the sprint. The sprint allows the normally distracted development team to be able to focus on one subject effectively.
The focus is the key:
I have read case study after case study, I found that virtually all of the overnight successes had two 
things in common. They persevered no matter what friends, family or coworkers said. Their commitment was over the top. It didn’t matter if all signs pointed the other direction they continued to move forward no matter what. They moved just a little further every day. Slow methodical changes. Coupled with this unstoppable perseverance was laser focus. The pursuers of excellence focused entirely on the one thing that would create massive change in their industry.
Simply as with any successful business, the young computer geniuses simply did what came to them naturally. Many of them started at 10 years old (as I did) or even younger. They are not a miracle incarnate. They saw a problem and mapped out the solution. Many of them first did it in their head. Once they knew the direction to reach their goal, they then focused on creating the solution. Just as with any program or project, they worked on each section, one at a time. They put hundreds upon hundreds if not thousands of unpaid man hours into the project. They invested extreme amounts of money and other resources to reach their goal. Once it was completed they usually seek advice and sometimes investors for legal advice to negotiate the sale of the project. Fortunately for them, intellectual property in the form of a program or application is protected by copyright.
In the new give it away economy, there are many new products, but they are still just solving problems or creating entertainment. It’s funny that almost no one ever heard of the producers of Angry Birds until they created Angry Birds. Now everyone and their brother tried to ride the coattails of their success, and it’s almost impossible to understand exactly why it is so popular. The overnight success stories the news chooses to give attention to just did the work ahead of time, then they were paid for their work when it’s completed. Granted their concepts cashed in for millions, they not only made sacrifices, and invested time to complete them.