Do You Feel Lucky?

Sounds like Clint Eastwood doesn't it? "So, do you feel lucky kid?" Anyway, I was thinking more in terms of a general question than a specific situation. I mean in a broad sense, I've always felt lucky. No, I don't gamble. I mean life as a whole. If I listed all the bad things that have happened to me, it would look pretty bleak. Worse than some folks, not near as bad as others. But if I listed all the good things, anyone would have to say I'm blessed! And that's the way I feel.

I'm not rambling on about me to be self-centered, I'm just using myself as an example. My point is, you can see the glass half full or half empty. It's really up to you. But I not only feel lucky and grateful for what I have, but I feel lucky about the future. I see opportunity and I feel like I have just as good a shot at accomplishing a given goal as the next guy. I expect to succeed. I don't expect to fail. I think that's the difference between people who succeed and people that fail.

I haven't been successful at everything I've done, but I have with most things.

When I look back, I can see all the lucky breaks I got and times when things worked out just right so I could move along the process. But then I realize I put myself in the position to receive those ‘lucky breaks'. But even more than that, I expected to get lucky. I don't mean in an arrogant way. I just figure when I start a project that I will be successful, that I will be lucky.

I'm also grateful for the success I've had. I don't feel arrogant like "Look what I created all by myself!" I feel grateful that I had the resources I needed at the right time to accomplish whatever it was. I'm grateful for those ‘lucky breaks' along the way. I feel like I deserved the success I had and I deserve to have success in the future. This doesn't mean that success just falls in my lap. You have to work at it. But I always feel like if I work at it hard enough, I will succeed.

And the failures? Well, actually the failures are just successful projects that I never finished. For one reason or another, I decided to stop doing that project. I'm quite certain if I had continued, I'd have had success. Here's an example: When I was about 18, I decided I wanted to be a rock-n-roll star. I knew how to play guitar and I had even sang a little in my Dad's band when I was younger. But mostly, the idea of getting paid to play loud music in stadiums and get drunk and have girls chase me was what I really wanted. Isn't that every 18-year-old guy's dream?

Anyway, I started to try to find out what I needed to do. After a couple of years of playing songs with a band in a bunch of biker bars, I abandoned the idea that some guy with a big cigar was gonna come along and discover me. So, I decided to record my own music and send it to record labels. I had amassed a small recording studio with the extra money from playing in bars and I started really studying the songs of the artists I liked. I picked apart the chord progressions, the lyrics, and the melodies. I experimented with different recording techniques to get different sounds that I had heard on records I liked. I taught myself to play bass guitar, mandolin, harmonica, banjo, and violin to fill out the songs I wrote. I don't play any of them very good, but I could mimic the sounds I heard on records to accomplish the same sound on my recordings.

To make a long story (8 years) a little shorter, I recorded two cassette albums and received over 30 rave reviews for my music and song writing from local and national music publications. I also discovered I loved the process of writing and recording music. In that time I played for many, many people. I even walked out on a stage in front of 1500 people with nothing but a guitar and played 45 minutes of my own music. Yes, it was terrifying and yes, I loved it!

After all this, I did finally get a couple of small offers from two small record labels. But in that 8 year span, I also quit drinking, moved out on my own, and found that although I loved writing and recording songs, I didn't like playing live as well, and I hated to travel. I'm actually a homebody. A far cry from the dream I had at 18 years old.

Being a successful recording artist requires a lot of traveling, touring and not a very ‘normal' life. In fact, it's hard to really ever have a home life. I discovered that at 26, I had grown to actually love the music (the art) but hate the lifestyle (the dream). I had to let it go. I have no doubt in my mind that had I kept working, I'd be a successful recording artist right now. Maybe not another Bruce Springsteen, but I'd be making a living. But it was a life I no longer wanted. So in effect I failed to accomplish my goal, but only because my motivation changed.

All along though, I expected to be a success. And when I started my mail order business I did as well. Again, not in an arrogant way, but in a feeling of tenaciousness. I feel that if I try hard enough, and keep my eyes wide open, willing to learn all I can, that I will be successful. In fact, I feel there's no way I can't be if I follow through.

I've said all this about me because it's the same for you. YOU CAN SUCCEED AT ANYTHING YOU SET OUT TO DO IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH! It's really that simple. Of course being realistic plays a part as well. At 32, if I decided tomorrow that I want to be a world class tennis player, I think I'd have to look at it realistically. I've never played tennis in my life, I'm past most of the great players' prime years, and I don't look good in white shorts. I do have Andre Agassi's hairline though. The point is, it's not very realistic that I would be a success at tennis.

So I hope that this self-centered tidbit has inspired you and motivated you. If you start out doing anything and you think it won't work, it won't! But if you expect success, if you feel lucky, and you put in the effort, you can't help but succeed!