3 Myths of Overnight Success Exposed By Tanzanian Millionaire Miner
A small artisanal miner in Tanzania, East Africa has become an overnight millionaire after unearthing 3 large Tanzanite stones. Saniniu Laizer, 52, found Tanzanite stones, gemstones only found in the East African nation, weighing a total of 19.2kg netting him $5.4m overnight. From zero to hero in an instant.
Except, hold on a moment — why is it that every time we hear of an “overnight” millionaire when you dig a bit deeper there seems more to it?.
The way most of the international press have portrayed this story is of a plucky former cattle herder who stumbled upon some rare gemstones and went from nothing to multi-millionaire in the blink of an eye. Yet look a bit closer and the reality appears to be somewhat different.
#1 — It Only Takes One Night To Change Your Life
Pretty much every news article I could find on this topic mentioned how the miner became rich beyond his wildest dreams overnight. It’s alluring, isn’t it? In the blink of an eye, your whole life could change.
What most of the reports ignore, however, is that Laizer had been working at the process of mining for over 10 years before making the discoveries -
“I have spent over 10 years doing this business.” Saniniu Laizer
This is typical of how instant millionaires are covered.
Rather than give a more balanced view of the time involved to make it, it’s easier to sell a dream of an easy overnight fix.
Key Takeaways For You & I: Success rarely happens overnight — it most often takes years of dogged persistence to make a breakthrough.
When you’ve been fed a diet of the apparent instant success of others, it can be easy to feel discouraged when you don’t make progress even when it may be too early.
When you are starting out, it’s probably best to think in increments of years rather than weeks and months. As Tony Robbins puts it so well:
Most people overestimate what they can…
