The overnight success myth

I have been trying to get into consulting for the past two years. My effort has landed me interviews with McKinsey, BCG and other boutique consulting firms. I have reached the final round with some of these firms. Yet, I am still unable to secure an offer.

A few weeks ago, I decided to go through a Google Sheet that was created during the recruiting cycle. It was one of those sheets that was created by self motivated applicants like myself during one of those "Get to know McKinsey" events. And oh boy, the content in that sheet grew! It had names of advanced degree students from different institutions who were all recruiting for the famous MBBs. There was a particular column that caught my attention. It contained how many mock live cases each person had completed. I scrolled through the list, matching names to their LinkedIn profiles to see where they ended up. I wanted to see if those with many mock cases eventually got into the MBBs.

I was right. A whole lot of them did.

Of course, you could argue that some people did not do so many cases and still got in. You could also argue that some did many cases and still did not get in. You could probe further and ask if those who did many cases actually reviewed their mistakes after each one or just moved on to the next. That I do not know.

But looking at that spreadsheet reminded me of something I have noticed over the years. I have made it a point to meet exceptionally smart people. It is a way to constantly motivate and push myself. And one thing I have realized is that they all share something in common. They work extremely hard in private. In public, they downplay their effort. Some make it look easy, replicable, like something you could do in a weekend if you just had the right mindset. Others make it look like God's miracle.

It is never a weekend. It is months of unseen work that nobody talks about.

I think about this whenever I see someone announce a new job or a big win. I remind myself that I am only seeing the result. I am not seeing the spreadsheet with two hundred mock cases. I am not seeing the rejections that came before. I am not seeing the nights they questioned if it was worth it.