When you see a new artist you’ve never heard of sweep the top honors at an awards show, it’s easy to wonder where they came from. We all want to know the secret to their overnight rise to stardom.

What we don’t see on the highlight reel of the award show is all the late nights spent begging to sing in dive bars, or the countless tattered notebooks filled with scribbled lyrics. We don’t hear them singing heartfelt solos in the shower as a roommate bangs on the door telling them to pipe down.

The truth is there is no such thing as overnight success. Or if there is, it never happens overnight.