This isn't my normal blog post, but I wanted to talk about something for a second.
Something that I know can be a problem, and something that I have struggled with as well. And I wanted to get this out there.
The line of work that I'm going into is full of egos. Big egos. Huge egos. And that's just a fact of life. But I want to say something about the poster above.
In my opinion, the best people to work with, the ones I would love to hire onto my crew or the ones I suggest when someone needs help, are the ones that do just what the poster says.
They work hard, and they stay humble.
First part of the rant: working hard.
Now, we all know that hard work will get you places. I don't care how much raw talent you have, if you aren't working your butt off, you will get nowhere. That is a solid fact of life.
Simply put, you can have whatever you are willing to struggle for.
How bad do you want it? How determined are you to better your skills and get yourself in the right place and be ready at the right time?
And yes, I said get yourself. You have to do the work. No one is going to come by your garage the first day you pick up you guitar and offer you a contract. It doesn't work like that. You make your luck.
Here's a story to help illustrate my point:
I know a woman who literally got handed a job directing a motion picture. She got the money and the gig and it turned out to be an awesome film that went to theaters and everything. And I heard this story and thought, "Dang! How does that even happen?"
Now, I agree that there is a bit of luck that factors into things. But those people who were "in the right place at the right time" all have something in common: they worked.
Mrs. Smith probably got the job because somebody told someone that she was a good worker. And if she did happen to just be blindly handed the job, she kept it because after she got it, she worked.
In her case, it happened to be both. She did the work before hand that was needed to get her in the position to be an option to get the job, and then when she had it (and even after the fact) she worked extremely hard at it. She doesn't rest back on the fact that she has made a few motion pictures now.
She works.
We all need to work.
That's it. I don't care who you are, you have to work. Michael Jordan did it, Christopher Nolan does it, and everyone who's made a name for themselves has too.
You are not above them. You need to work.
Ok and now for the slightly nicer bit of my rant: staying humble.
Being humble means that no matter how good you become at whatever it is you do, you don't become a jerk about it. You probably deserve what you've gotten and you've worked to become freaking great at what you do.
Good. I'm glad. Seriously, that's awesome.
But don't be a douche.
I saw a quote once (and sadly I can't find who it belongs to) that says:
"Be confident, but have humility. Anyone deserves it, it's not a big deal. Go for it. Just don't, y'know, don't be an asshole."
(sorry mom, it was part of the quote)
That being said, I want to mention something that I think is a main problem with people's thinking.
Humility does not mean putting yourself down.
If someone asks you if you're good at something, tell them you are. When you get a compliment, thank them and accept it.
You don't have to belittle yourself because you don't want to come off as cocky. Admitting you're good at something if you are is not cocky, it's confident. Confidence is good.
You are cocky when you start comparing yourself to others. Telling someone you're better then all those other people, yeah that's the jerk part.
This post is getting longer than I was thinking it would be, and I don't want to keep you here too much longer. So I'll just end with one last thought.
This world is full of a lot of complaining people and a lot of people worth complaining about. Let's not add your name to those lists. Be above that.
I honestly believe that one of the best ways to succeed in this life, and succeed in being a person, is to follow the simple rules on that poster.
Work hard, stay humble.
