Who said this first is endlessly debated, but whether you believe it was famed educator Marva Collins or motivational speaker Zig Ziggler, there is an important lesson to be learned from this often-repeated quote.

Success is something we strive for. Whether it is business success or that souffle coming out of the oven perfectly, we all want to achieve the things we set out to do. But success doesn’t just happen, it is something we have to work for. In business, that means the right idea, the right people, the right infrastructure, marketing and so on. To succeed you need to make sure all of that is right, and only then can you achieve business success.

It’s the same with any aspect of life. Take that souffle, you need to make sure the egg whites are mixed to just the right consistency. Not enough mixing and they will be too heavy and never rise, overwhip the egg whites and the souffle will collapse. It takes practice, and lots of hard work, to get it right.

In both cases though, once you have the business infrastructure in place, or you have mastered the right mix for the eggs in your souffle, then success will look simple for those just seeing that end product. What we must never forget though, is that there is a lot of work going on that leads up to any success, it is never something that just comes to you.