While I already have several books that I'm not working enough on (Ordinary People & The Road Ahead e.g.), I figured let's start a new one haha!
Well, not really...
Like the title says, this is not a book. It's a collection of random thoughts and ar...
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August 22nd, 2017
Let's get straight to the point: Find your passion. Don't be discouraged if it takes you some or even a long time to figure it out. Don't let fear make you challenge your own ideas and hopes because they do not seem practical or improbable. Only you can do this. Follow your dreams, don't waste your time. Got it?
"But Jasper, what if I fail?"
You will.
Let me give you an anecdote. In numerous interviews and speeches Jim Carry has shared the story of what he calls the big traumatic kick in the guts of his life. His father Percy had been a passionate music player in a Toronto orchestra, but gave up any aspirations to become a professional musician for a safe job as accountant when John, Patricia, Rita, and finally Jim were born.
When Jim was 12 years old, Percy's job didn't prove to be that safe after all. He was let go and the impact on the Carey family was shattering. Sinking below the poverty line, the family of 6 had to live some time in a van and all kids would help out by working 8 hr. shifts after school as janitors or security guards in factories. In the end, a troubled Jim dropped out of school on his 16th birthday.
His father urged him to follow his passion and try out for comedy clubs. So young Jim tried out his luck at Yuk Yuk's - still one of Toronto's leading comedy institutions today. It took him 12 hard years working the Toronto and later Los Angeles comedy scenes, intersected with parts in forgettable movies before he finally got his big break with 'In Living Colour'.
From that catalytic event all those years ago when he was 12, Jim distilled a simple but very powerful lesson which he shared delivering the Commencement speech for the Class of 2014 of the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa: "I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don't want. So, you might as well take a chance doing what you love."
Also in 2014, fellow comedian Charlie Day reassured the graduates of his Massachusetts alma mater, Merrimack College, during the 65th Commencement Celebration that they too will fail, but Charlie adds: "Fail where you'll be proud to fail. Don't wait for your break, make your break!"
So you will fail, what's next?
According to Homer Simpson when you tried your best and failed miserably, the lesson is never try. Steve Harris, bass player and leader of my favorite band of all time Iron Maiden, has a different take on it. When asked about his defining musical moment, he recounted a very vivid early frustration with failure, namely getting the hump while trying to play a Black Sabbath riff and throwing his guitar on the bed. "But carefully - cos I couldn't afford another." When it comes to failing Steve simply says: "Go away and come back later. It usually works"
When you are no longer afraid to fail, you build a can-do attitude.
Such a state of mind is a very powerful tool. At work and in your life. It's like Charlie said: you have to make your break. A perfect example of that is the international breakthrough of Antonio Banderas.
Already an established Spanish TV and movie star, Hollywood started to notice the 31-year-old actor at the start of the nineties. Antonio was told by his agent that the director of the upcoming movie the Mambo Kings, Arne Glimcher, wanted to meet him in London. Antonio went to the meeting, while he didn't understood a single word of English.
Well, technically that is incorrect, as he did know what 'yes' meant, and one other sentence. Whenever there was a silence in the conversation, Antonio would simple say "yes". By the end of the conversation, Banderas had learned what he in recent interviews has called the key to his career. Without understanding the questions, he was asked, Antonio would confidently say: "I can do that!"
The performance Antonio delivered for that movie was met with widespread critical acclaim. Funny when you think about it as he had memorized every line of the script phonetically.
Landing the role was one thing, but doing press events afterwards was truly horrible. One journalist asked the actor what his favourite American food was, he simply replied "Francis Ford Coppola." As an immigrant myself, I can't help but feel but feel a little sorry for the guy.
In the end, it didn't stop him from becoming one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the nineties.
Fail where you'll be proud to fail! Fail fast,and fail forward. Simple, no?
