I love this turn of phrase from Twitter founder Biz Stone on his blog:

“Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.”

If you look at the trajectories of successful individuals and businesses, very few of them hit home runs with the first swing. They worked hard, won some, lost some, learned along the way, and just kept going.

High school students, if you want to be successful, it’s not going to happen overnight, and it certainly won’t be determined by an admission or denial from one college.

Work hard, enjoy your successes, learn from your failures, and just keep going. Do that long enough and eventually you’ll be an overnight success.

It’ll happen sooner if you start now.