The Gene Wilder Secret to Success

Gene Wilder was a movie star, director and arguably one of the funniest people who ever lived.

During an interview, he gave this account of his start in comedy:

“I was 8 or 9 years old when my mother had a heart attack. When she came home, the doctor said, ‘Don’t ever get into an argument with your mother because you might kill her.’”

No pressure there, right?

“And the second thing he said was, ‘Try to make her laugh.’”

“I had never consciously tried to make anyone laugh in my life, but I did from then on. And I knew I was a success when she peed in her pants.”

Gene’s takeaway from the doctor was that his mother’s life depended on him being funny.

And obviously he loved his mother very much. His total commitment from that day forward to learning what was funny and how to make others laugh led to an extremely successful and lucrative career.

What are you totally committed to? What would you be willing to do if it meant saving the person you love most?

If you put this kind of commitment into your work, there’s no way you can fail.