Being “bound to” is a popular idiom in American culture. I have no idea the origin and on a quick google search, not able to find anything compelling. However, I was listening to a documentary on a famous rock band and one of the very talented musicians said the following, “if you do something everyday, you are bound to be good at it.” That summarizes this groups rise to success. They spent everyday for a long period of time, working 12 hour days trying to figure out how to play a certain style of music. Overtime they perfected it. None of them were really any good at playing their instruments either, but they became good.
How many times have we heard ourselves or someone around us say, ‘Oh, I could not do that, I am not that good at that.” Is that really true? The evidence points to the contrary. In actuality you CAN be good at almost anything, you just have to do it everyday. It is really that simple. Now you may not have certain elements that will cause you to rise to instant stardom, you may lack some physical characteristics that might prevent you to rival the best in the NBA, but the point is you can become pretty darn good at something just by doing it consistently. Most of the time, in this society, slightly good is good enough.
Look at some of the emerging musicians of our day, good? Perhaps but awesome, definitely not. There are a few that seems to have a raw talent, a rasp to their voice that makes them unique, a look about them that screams celebrity but at the end of the day they all start the same way. A lonely day banging away on the keyboard or plucking loose and broken strings – we all pay the price to become better. That price is everyday.
The famous rock band, for which this documentary was about, was successful very quickly. Starting when most were in their early 20s, and had risen to the pinnacle of their success when the lead singer turned 29 and yes, died tragically, as is the stereotype. The point is their success has very little to do with raw talent and almost everything to do with just getting up everyday and doing it. Their hard work got them their first contract, the road made them awesome.
The recipe for success, in rock n roll, and just about everything else in life is good ol fashioned hard work, focused on a directional goal, with emphasis everyday. Follow that pattern and one day you will be diving into crowd of people as they hoist you up and celebrate your success.
Or not.
Perhaps you will just lead a rich, rewarding life, and die surrounded by the ones you love. Good enough for me.
Guy Reams (604)
