Success Or Failure, It’s Up To You!

As a child, music was everything to me. I loved it; practicing and performing, striving to be the best. I knew my future success would define me, offering a powerful identity that would garner respect and represent quality.

This was fantasy. Nothing can define you outside of how you feel about yourself. I wasn’t ready to grow up and didn’t understand what denoted real success. I wasted my youthful energy on a vague future while neglecting my need for a solid emotional/mental framework to support my development.

After quitting music, I was lost. Untethered by a demanding routine, I swung hard to indifference. Days blurred together. Even though I made noteworthy progress in theater and writing, it wasn’t the same. I didn’t have solid goals, a real purpose. Music had been it, or so I thought.

Years later, now a grown man, I get. While I had musical talent, I didn’t have a plan, only a vague notion of living this extraordinary life full of excitement and wealth.

I didn’t understand the necessity of taking initiative and responsibility to achieve goals, nor developed the discipline to focus on the same thing, day after day, until the job gets done. 

Raised by permissive caregivers, it was easy for me to walk away when things got tough. After a while, this became a pattern that came back to haunt me when a life of hard knocks taught me otherwise. Slow to get the message, I eventually buckled down and made a conscious decision to grow up and maximize my talents. 

So I know you can change your life, but you must want it. Nothing will happen without your desire, focus, and attention to detail. 

Start by developing yourself, get good at something (being excellent is better), develop a skill and become marketable. (Yes, manhood is more than having a job, a woman and kids.)

Quality means everything, so let your results speak for themselves, while you continue to evolve. 

In fact, if you want to be exceptional, take 100% responsibility for yourself by always maintaining a solid frame despite circumstances. This is how grown men define success.

Later,

Gary