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Sing your own chorus

Biz Markie is famous for the hit song, Just a Friend.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with the artist you will immediately recognize his song once it’s played. Specifically the big chorus, “OH BABY YOU…”

Here’s the kicker, Biz was not meant to sing the chorus himself. Unfortunately, when recording, none of his backup singers showed up to the studio. Running on limited time, he had two options; drop the song or sing it himself. 

What happened next surprised everyone. Biz’s off-key chorus went on to propel the song to become a classic. It makes your wonder, even if he were able to re-record it with the right vocalists, would it even be as good? My guess is no. There’s something about the raw individualism that makes Biz’s rendition feel so pure. It’s almost impossible to even think about it any other way. 

For fun, here’s the original the song is based on. 

There’s a neat lesson in Biz’s story – sometimes the wrench thrown in our plans actually makes our plans. Seems really bizarre, but perhaps it’s less about following through and more about adjusting. 

Next time a curveball comes your way, slow down, adjust your swing and make contact with the ball anyway. Who knows, your hit may become a classic. 

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When a wave comes

A wise man was once asked to share one piece of advice to a large group of people.

“When a wave comes, go deep,” he said.

The crowd stared back at him puzzled, so he continued. 

“There are three things you can do when life sends a wave at you.

You can run from it, but then it’s going to catch up and knock you down. You can fall back on your ego or try to stand your ground, but then it’s going to clobber you. 

Or you can use it as an opportunity to go deep, and transform yourself to match the circumstances… and that’s how you get through the wave.”

There will be times in your life where an unexpected event may happen. Your reality is changed, you may feel uncertain about how to move forward. During these times, there’s only one true way to get through:

Embrace the riptide and go deep.

Because when we match the depths of our challenges, we come out even stronger.

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Is failure holding you back?

“If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial.

If you want to become straight, let yourself be crooked.

If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.

If you want to be reborn, let yourself die.

If you want to be given everything, give everything up.”

– Lao Tzu

Who turned setbacks into success?

J.K. Rowling spent her post-college years lost.

Since her parents grew up poor, they strongly encouraged her to get a vocational degree instead of studying Literature in college. When she decided to ignore their advice, J.K developed a fear that her parents were right and she would end up a failure.

It was seven years after graduating when she hit rock bottom; her short marriage ended, she lost her job, and she was a single parent (not to mention nearly homeless).

“The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew,”

-J.K. Rowling

Yet it was experiencing this failure, which freed her to write Harry Potter.

Fifteen years later, Rowling highlighted this integral life moment in her commencement speech delivered to Harvard graduates:

“So why do I talk about the benefits of failure?

Simply because failure meant a stripping away of all the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed at the one area I believed I truly belonged.

I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized and I was still alive… And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

-J.K. Rowling
WATCH HER SPEECH HERE.

Is your obstacle instead an advantage?

Our instinct is to run away from uncomfortable experiences but that’s a mistake.

It’s our journey that informs us of our true selves; including the downs as much as the ups.

It isn’t until you lose that you realize how badly you wanted to win… or, perhaps, that the score never mattered at all.

To succeed, let yourself fail.

When we hit rock bottom we have the opportunity to remodel and embrace our full potential.

Are you striving towards yours?

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Do you need this to succeed?

In 1987, Paulo Coelho had something special to share; he had completed a story which followed a boy searching for his destiny.

After pitching the book to various publishing houses, it was accepted and printed to sell that same year.

Over the next 6 months, he would go on to sell……. 2 books.

The publishing company revoked the rights, and the books were removed from their untouched shelves.

But Coelho was convinced it was a great book, “It was written from my soul,” he said. So, instead of giving up, he started knocking on doors.

A year later, he was given a break; a new publisher decided to give Paulo a second chance and the book was published again. Slowly, through word of mouth, it finally began selling; first one-thousand, then three-thousand, then ten-thousand book by book.

Today, The Alchemist has sold more than 115 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 71 languages.

Paulo Coelho later said, “I’ve been rejected many times (from publishers to girlfriends). This lead me to the best publishers in the world, and to the perfect wife.”

We tend to focus on the strengths of those who succeed, but what about their setbacks?

  • A young entrepreneur has a coding gift, but what about the times investors laughed at their pitch?
  • An olympic athlete has the perfect body-type, but what about the countless personal injuries they trained through?

Perhaps, it’s really the obstacles that are the most critical component to our success.

Not one, not two, but many, many obstacles.

The setbacks we encounter give us the opportunity for our true selves to develop. When we tough it out, we end up learning new lessons, which are applied in the final act of our stories.

There’s a tremendous power to feeling something deep within your soul. It’s only when we keep moving forward, over and over again, that we achieve our full destiny.

What’s your setback?

Believe in yourself – get out there and start knocking on doors.

You’re just one break away from becoming a worldwide hit.