Elon Musk today is considered a visionary, an innovator that is changing the world with projects such as Tesla Energy. He’s worth over $12 billion, someone who seems to be in total control.

But just 7 years ago, he was broke and at his lowest mentally. With SpaceX failing its launches, Tesla hemorrhaging money, his eBay payout gone and facing a divorce, he was far from what we see today. The path to success is not linear, although it is easy to say that in retrospect. Musk continued to believe in the process, and his fortunes turned around.

The same can be said about the success of another individual, Steph Curry. The son of an NBA player, Curry had the natural advantage of being around the game. But that didn’t lead to a clear path to the league. He was only a three-star prospect out of high school, playing for Davidson in the Southern Conference. The Warriors nearly traded him on draft night, and he suffered from ankle issues his second season. Yet, he kept working on his game, putting in the repetitions every day so his shots seem almost automatic.

It’s the failures that people don’t see; it’s the shot after shot in practice that people don’t see. Those don’t bring glory, but that is success.