life is uphill
I won't go into details, but I'm trying to get a
new company up and running with my partners. It's a new way to make and promote
music, a new way to harness talent and a new way to train engineers. It's all
new, the record industry is going through massive changes and technology and
culture and economics are forcing a shift. I can see it coming, so we're
preparing for the flood so to speak. Preparing to surf the greatest tidal wave
ever. And it's hard. Reid sent me an email with a quote that said
basically:
"don't worry about people
ripping off your ideas, if you genuinely have a new idea you will have to cram
it down their throats".
Getting people to
catch vision is tough. I've been doing it all my life. Everything I've ever
done I started and it's been uphill all the way. It took us 3 years to find the
right people to launch superchick. 3 years without an income and just a dream.
I remember when I decided to build a home studio and people thought that was
ridiculous. Digital photography too, pretty much everything I've done I've
leaped out into the air and someone always thought I was nuts. And you pretty
much have to be.
But the hardest part is
not the way people don't understand. I don't mind that, I take their doubt and
disbelief and turn it into little nuggets of coal that I burn as fuel. When
someone tells me it can't be done I just get more determined to do it. It
drives me. I keep that little nugget and burn it at midnight when I want to
quit working.
No, the hardest part is
me. The hardest part is change. The hardest part is fighting the desire to
coast. To not try.
In the end, any
change at all you make in your life is scary and hard. Whether it's getting
healthier or quitting an addiction or getting a grip on your temper or learning
to play violin, 99% of the time it's hard. If it's not, understand you've won
the lottery and count your blessings. For everyone else, keep
reading.
It's not just hard the one time.
It's not the big effort. It's the little effort every single day. It's showing
up every day, it's pushing just that little bit harder every day, it's the
moment when you decide between sitting on the couch of life and getting up and
going for a run.
It's hard all the
time. if you're trying to do something and it's hard and you're having trouble
and want to quit then good. You are in the right place. If you're enjoying the
last 5 minutes of your workout you're doing it
wrong.
That's life. Life is hard. The
good news though, is that if you push long and hard enough, you can make things
happen. I live my life by this
quote:
"what I cannot do through trying,
I can do through training".
If I want to
bench press 220, no matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I want it, it's
not going up off my chest. But if I want it every day, every single freaking
day, eventually it goes up. And I guess right now, starting this company feels
like day 5 of training for the boston marathon. I'd hoped we'd be looking at a
sprint, but in reality, it's gonna be a long haul to get this all moving. I'm
dragging a 747 with my teeth. It's going slow. But I'm gonna get
it.
In some words of advice to graduating
seniors, Gene Simmons once told students (I'm going to paraphrase here from
memory):
"you will want to party on
weekends and in your spare time... don't. Work in your spare time". and he
went on to break down how much money you could make in the time your friends
were partying and how fast it would add up. He was talking about money, and
used his work ethic with kiss as an example. I think it could just as well mean
working towards a dream. He ended his advice by saying: "and if you think
what's saying is a bunch of bull then don't listen to me.. there's always going
to be a need for people who can ask: 'would you like fries with that
sir?'"
I have to agree with what he's
saying. We all have a natural tendency to want to just sit on the couch, be
comfortable, do what we know, not push. But greatness was never born out of
that. Most people rise to great heights on work. Not talent and not luck, but
simple dedication. Day after day after day. We can all learn that. It's not
complicated... pick a dream, break it down into small approachable things you
can do today. Do them. Every day. Repeat. Succeed. Even little baby steps.
Push a bit today... try something new...try something small... work towards a
dream. Sit down and write a chapter of that novel...work out....
I'm not saying it's easy and I'm writing
this from the trenches of yet another uphill and lengthy battle. I'm tired of
always struggling uphill. But I've been so blessed in my life, so blessed to
define my own destiny and I've had such an amazing life, that I couldn't not ask
that you try it yourself. Pick a goal. Chase it every day. Push yourself
every day. Don't stop till you succeed. Try, Fail,
Repeat.
Join
me
and as father and
son,
we will rule the
galaxy.
peace
max
Posted: Wed - June 14, 2006 at 01:33 PM
