Often times it’s not what you do to meet the goal that’s hard, it’s what you have to give up.
It’s hard to give up Netflix
It’s hard to give up dinner parties
It’s hard to give up the sure thing
It’s hard to give up security
You probably have a pretty good idea of what you need to do. So why aren’t you doing it? Not because of what you have to do, but because of what you have to give up.
It’s hard to give up being certain that people aren’t snickering at you
It’s hard to give up pats on the back in order to keep your head down
It’s hard to give up having nice things right now
It’s hard to give up the notion that people understand what you’re doing
It’s hard to give up the peace and quiet that comes with doing things that will for sure not rustle feathers, that will for sure work out ok, that people will understand and not criticize.
You might not have the whole plan, but you know the one thing you need to do next.
If you live in Nashville you’ve probably heard about the high school kid who is going to get to job-shadow Jimmy Fallon tomorrow (Wednesday).
Pretty crazy story. The kid, Andrew, is buddies with my nephew, Walker…so it’s basically like I’m job-shadowing Jimmy Fallon tomorrow.
A few things…
…None of what Andrew did cost any money (that I can tell). He tweeted about wanting to shadow Jimmy for his senior year project and asked people to retweet. They did. Then more did. Then a lot more tweeted…using the hashtag #AndrewShadowJimmy
Then Andrew made a short video about wanting to job shadow Jimmy. Lots of people watched it and shared it…quickly.
The hard part, the exceptional part, was not the tweet or the video…it was being a person that other people wanted to see win. It was the last 18 years of Andrew’s life, unknowingly developing into someone that people could attach to and cheer for.
Mean people and cheaters don’t get this kind of support.
Also the cause…he wasn’t asking people to fund his album on Kickstarter or donate to his new non-profit, he was shooting for a goal that was unique and yet familiar to people.
Job-shadowing. We all know that term and associate with high school. A necessary awkward day following around an adult doing something we only kind of are interested in. But looking back on it, everyone kinda smirks and relishes in the nostalgia of it.
Jimmy Fallon. Everyone knows who he is, wants to be his friend and believes he’s a good guy. He also has a reputation for doing nice things, off the wall things, breaking the conventional mold of late night TV.
So maybe, juuuuuuuust maybe, this could work.
You need to take a second and think about the million reasons why this shouldn’t of worked, why he shouldn’t have tried this. The million reasons, you, me and everyone else would have given an 18 year old not to do this. We would have told him it’s a really neat idea, but do you REALLY think it’s gonna happen…
My guess is when Andrew first tweeted that tweet, he was the only one on planet earth who believed it was actually, literally possible for him to achieve his goal.
A lot of stars aligned just right in order for this to be happening. But Andrew put it on the line, and it worked. If he wouldn’t have put it on the line, it wouldn’t have worked.
It’s easy to sing the praises of someone like Andrew when it has a happy ending, when someone beats the odds. We can all say “we knew it would happen!!!!!!”
But after tomorrow over and the job shadow senior project is complete, Andrew will go on (just like he was doing last week and last month and last year) believing that he CAN.
Can you? Will you?
p.s. Everyone who knows Andrew, or doesn’t even know him but has a nephew who does, is winning because of Andrew. Everyone who retweeted the tweet or watched the video or tweeted Jimmy about this feels directly associated and will carry it as a badge of coolness and a great story of their OWN forever.
I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com
The Foo Fighters played in Nashville last week. It was a long time coming after the tickets went on sale and sold out almost an entire year ago.
But I missed the show. I was out of town.
I talked with a bunch of people who went though. They all said it was absolutely, completely, insanely awesome. The reason all of them gave…
Dave.
He’s the man.
He commands all the attention.
He knows what to do with it.
Even after Dave Grohl broke his leg a few months ago and now sits down the whole time on a giant rock n roll throne…he’s still the man. And the band is still selling out arenas everywhere.
And I haven’t heard of one single person asking for their money back because Dave wasn’t running all over the stage like usual.
The show sold out a year ago. Dave broke his leg and is sitting down. Everyone still came and had the night of their lives.
Don’t get me wrong, all the other dudes in the band are important too. But 25,000 people a night come to see Uncle Dave.
(The truth is that Dave needs the other guys in the band to support and fuel him and then he fuels and supports the audience.)
To put it tritely…there’s just something about Dave.
But then again, there’s just something about Dave when he isn’t in front of 25,000 people too.
He’s pretty much always THAT guy who everyone likes, everyone wants to be around. And even though he says the F-swear a lot, Moms even think he’s ok.
He just cranks up these knobs when he is, in fact, on stage…not becoming a new person, just an amped up version for a couple of hours of who he already is.
Dave gets it. He knows what to do, how to do it and why to do it.
I talked with one a while back. Older guy, late 70’s. You probably don’t know who he is, but you definitely know the things he owns.
We were watching a football game.
Toward the end of the conversation I asked him if he’d been reading any good books lately…hoping for a recommendation. He said “not really”. He said he mainly just reads some science fiction every once and a while because it’s entertaining to him.
I said, “Really? You don’t get into all of the great leadership, business and marketing books that have been coming out in the past 10 years?”.
He said “Not really, there isn’t anything new in those books. It’s just a rehash.”
I was really surprised. In my opinion there’s been so much good stuff coming out lately. But then again here’s a guy who is almost 80 years old, hasn’t slowed down, founded and built a giant international business from scratch over the course of 50 years…I guess he doesn’t need to read about it, because he’s lived it.
But surely he’s read SOMETHING that he’d recommend to me.
“What about the book like Think And Grow Rich?” (written by Napoleon Hill in the 1930’s).
He looked surprised that I asked. “Now there’s a book you should read”.
Yes!
I was fishing and I hit a sweet spot…
“And how about How To Win Friends And Influence People?” (written by Dale Carnegie in the 1930’s).
He said, “I think that may even be a better book.”
So there you have it. Two recommendations from a guy who has lived it, who obviously plays his recommendations close to the chest.
If the titles of those two books make you roll your eyes, you might not be ready for them yet. However, if you’re the least bit curious, dive in right away.
There’s a lot of elements in the music business that you can’t know or understand until you get there and experience them.
Questions like “How do I make it” “How do I write a hit song” “How do I get to play at the next Pope rally”…can’t be answered in a nice neat concise way that will help solve that particular problem.
However…
It’s worth it to spend time with people who know more than you do.
When is the last time you sought someone out…not to talk with them, but to LISTEN to them??
It’s true: When you’re listening, you’re learning.
Be teachable. Talk less. Yes, you have a million thoughts/worries/fears/dreams, but can you come up with one or two good questions?
Seeking someone out for this reason is scary. It requires you to admit to yourself and to others that you can’t do it alone. You have to put yourself beneath someone. You have to let yourself be lead.
Make a list of five people who definitely know more than you and ask them to meet.
Have a few specific questions and then just listen.
But you probably won’t do this, because you’d rather complain about the questions than seek out the people who can breathe life into them.
You know that last trip out to the van or bus before you go on stage for the show that you don’t think is important or you don’t think there’s gonna be a good crowd for…
…put on THE clothes for those gigs too…same as you would for the gigs you perceive as the giant and awesome ones.
Why? Because that’s what you’re doing that night. And what you’re doing that night is of the utmost importance.
