Now if that title hasn’t got your attention, I don’t know what will!
As some of you know, I was on holiday last week. I went on a Caribbean cruise with a bunch of my family, and had a great time. It was an interesting holiday for a couple of reasons, which I will get onto shortly.
What interested me most was how the goings on highlighted some of the most important facts about success. And that’s what I’m going to talk about today. Hopefully, I’ll also get a few smiles, at my expense. You’ll see what I mean…
It’s A Small World…
I live in a little town in England, and there I was, on a cruise ship heading out of Fort Lauderdale. I went to take a look at the gym on the ship, and the receptionist struck me as somewhat familiar. I discounted it immediately (how on earth would I know her?), but then she started talking – she was English. Curious…
She asks me where I’m from, I tell her, and she freaks out. It turns out that she went to the same school as me, three years below. What are the chances? So we caught up, I got to learn all about what it is like to work a cruise ship (it’s a crazy life), and I’m sure we’ll stay in touch in the future.
What can you take from that? By simply putting yourself out there, things can happen. If I had decided that I couldn’t be bothered to go the gym whilst on holiday, I never would have bumped into my old schoolmate.
Success does not always come through deliberate action. There are more stories about entrepreneurs stumbling into success than I can recount, but they all shared similar circumstances – they were trying something. For every minute that you are applying yourself, in any way, you are inviting the opportunity for something special to happen.
From Small Things…
I do love a bit of karaoke, although I’ve probably only done it 4-5 times in my entire life. So I thought I’d give it a go on the ship. After a couple of “performances”, my dad suggested that I audition for the “Carnival Legends” show. I didn’t really know anything about it, but I thought what the hell – life’s too short, right?
In the end, I didn’t even have to audition – I “won” my role by default. Apparently, no one else wanted to perform as my character (bad omen, anyone?). Whilst everyone else had to audition for their roles, I was a shoe-in.
Here’s the thing – you don’t always have to toil away for opportunities. Sometimes they just land on your lap. That doesn’t make them any less valuable, and you should grasp them with both hands. When it was announced in front of a good 50 or so people that I had landed the role, I stood up and gave a bow. Why the hell not. Embrace the luck you are graced with.
The Performance
You may have guessed by now what the treat is that I have for you. Me, as Ricky Martin, performing in front of perhaps a couple of hundred people:
I can honestly say that I have never done anything like that before in my life. And I took two things away from it (apart from the ridicule of friends and family).
1. Most Things Worth Doing Involve Risk
I was pretty nervous before my “performance”. I did question what the hell I was doing, quite frankly. But I’ll be honest – it was great fun. I loved it (as you might have noticed).
Success is rarely achieved without there being an element of risk. There is a good question to ask when you are trying to push yourself – does what I am doing feel risky? Does it make me feel uncomfortable? If the answer to either question is yes, there is a good chance that you are heading in the right direction. After all, if you stay within the confines of your existing knowledge base and comfort zone, how can you expect to advance?
2. Roll With The Punches
When I was first “chosen” for the role, I was handed a little package with a MP3 player and the song’s lyrics. Two problems – the lyrics were for the Spanish version of the song, and the MP3 player didn’t work. I thought I had got around those problems by downloading the English lyrics and the MP3 via the cruise ship’s woefully slow internet connection. However, that wasn’t the end of it.
On the day of the show, we had the opportunity to run through the song once. I had listened to the MP3 a couple of times and had a fairly good idea of the structure of the song and the lyrics. Unfortunately, it turned out that the live band were performing a completely different version of the song. And I only got to hear that version once – in my run-through.
On the evening of the performance, I asked the guy who was taking care of us if there was a way of getting hold of the right copy of the song. Unfortunately there was not. His response was, “don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine”. Which is understandable, coming from someone who is used to watching people making fools of themselves week in, week out.
But I was hoping not to make a complete fool of myself. I had two options:
- Completely freak out about the fact that I essentially didn’t know the structure of the song I would be singing.
- Roll with it.
Fortunately, I chose option 2. I figured that if I listened to the live band and kept my wits about me, I could figure out what I was supposed to sing. And although I cocked up a bit at the end, it didn’t go too badly, all things considered.
What can you take from this? New ventures rarely run smoothly. It makes sense if you think about it – if you are getting into an unfamiliar area, mistakes are likely to be made. It’s all part of the learning curve. If you expect your endeavors to run smoothly, you will find yourself sadly mistaken.
You’re not aiming for perfection – you’re aiming for progress. A few cock-ups along the way need not discourage you – it’s all part of the process.
Would I Do It Again?
Hell yeah! Why not? It was great fun, even if I have been mocked endlessly by my friends since I published it on Facebook. I hope you enjoyed it too 😉
Not only that, I would be better. I’ve done it once, and now I know what to expect. Even if the whole thing had gone disastrously, I would have learnt a great deal from it. That reminds me of my first niche site disaster. I was essentially left with nothing, but the experience I gained was invaluable. Results aren’t everything.
Over To You
Okay – I’ve opened myself up to ridicule here. Who else has a similarly embarrassing story to share with us? it doesn’t have to teach us any lessons – we just want a good laugh! 😉 Let’s see them in the comments section!
Creative Commons image courtesy of Cristian Castro