Scott Adams, author of the Dilbert Comic strip has a really interesting post at his blog about all the things he’s tried which seemed unlikely to be successful but worked out anyway. Here’s an example:
A few years into cartooning, an editor for a major publishing company approached me about writing a humorous business book. I had never taken any writing courses. I hadn’t even read many books. But I said I’d give it a try.
That book was The Dilbert Principle. It became a #1 New York Times Bestseller. So I pumped out a second book right away, and the two of them occupied #1 and #2 on the non-fiction list.
Adams adds this at the end:
I must confess that I fail miserably about ten times for every one success. (That’s an accurate estimate. I’ve literally kept score.) But interestingly, the failures always involved activities that seemed entirely feasible. I was completely qualified for all of the things that failed. Ironically, I couldn’t even “keep my day job.”
I’m not sure what conclusions to draw from all this but I found it strangely encouraging. Check it out here.