Do you want to be an overnight success?

Last week me and my wife were chilling at a beach in north Goa. Suddenly my wife screamed for me to look towards the sea. A little surprised at her sense of urgency, I immediately got up from my beach bed and looked. I too was shocked. It was a couple swimming in the sea along with their selfie stick along!

Nowadays my son has been fascinated by whirlwinds and tornadoes. As I was looking for videos to show him on Youtube, I stumbled upon someone fascinating and crazy. A young man had rushed into the dangerous centre of a tornado along with his phone, in order to click his selfie!

I got intrigued with this thought of people doing crazy things to take selfies. As I did a little research today I found that just a few days earlier, a father in Denver took a selfie of his wife’s expression in the delivery room as she was giving birth to their daughter. Apparently, the selfie has gone viral on social media!

I discovered that selfies are not a new idea. Buzz Aldrin took the first ever selfie in outer space in 1966! The first known selfie was a daguerrotype (the predecessor to modern day photography) taken by pioneering photographer Robert Cornelius in 1839.

According to Wikipedia, the Grand Duchess Anastasia, was 13 when she took what was probably one of the first ever selfies taken by a teenager, way back in 1914. She took her own photo in a mirror and sent it to her friend!

Yet, it is only since 2012 that selfies have become a kind of a global phenomenon. In 2012, the use of the word selfie increased by 17,000% in one year. Time Magazine, did a cover story saying that the word ‘Selfie’ was one of the top 10 buzzwords of the year. By November 13, the Oxford dictionary recognised ‘selfie’ as the ‘word of the year’. Today, according to Phandroid.com, approximately 93 million selfies are taken every day!

The sudden rise of selfies is a brilliant example of the concept of a ‘tipping point’, explained in Malcom Gladwell’s book in 2000. He says “Ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread like viruses do".

Now, the question I’ve been asking myself is this - “what behaviours of mine have been building up and accumulating, and its only a question of time when they will reach a tipping point?"

Could it be my sleep habits? Could it be my eating habits? Could it be the time I spend on whatsapp and Facebook? Could it be my daily exercise? Could it be the way I make efforts in relationships? Could it be the way I take a few minutes to keep a gratitude diary everyday?

The American comedian Eddie Cantor famously that said “It takes 20 years to be an overnight success."

Well, I have begun my journey. I have started writing this weekly blog. This week I will start making a weekly video. I am also starting by making a weekly cartoon about youth and parenting. I have realised that success is a marathon, not a 100m sprint.