I did my first guest post in well over a year-and-a-half for Leo’s Zen Habits. Those of you who have read the Teaching Sells report will recognize the story, but it’s got a modified, more explicit ending.
Check it out here, and if you’re a fan of The Smiths, Joy Division and vintage New Order, make sure to click through the links at the band names for some way cool 80s alternative videos.
P.S. Give it a Digg if you like it. 🙂
Reader Comments (5)
Brian,
No one every made anything happen eating Ho Hos, sitting in an arm chair channel surfing. Well maybe they helped someone’s neilsen ratings.
Take action.
Leo has great blog. Glad to see you over there guest posting. I am so happy for him and what he has created.
Hi Brian,
Love the message. More people should stop reading it and start using it.
I had a friend drop by last night who said, “You don’t know anything different than I do, do you?”
I said, “No.”
My friend replied, “You’re not any smarter or more intelligent than me. You just take consistent action and do what you say you will do.”
I couldn’t argue with him. That’s the secret formula. Take action.
After so many fantastic posts, this one was surprisingly odd. First it sounded like a synopsis of the music documentary: 24 Hour Party People. Then it just ends abruptly with advice to take action. The example did not sufficiently explain to prove the point.
With the point to take action, I agree. Action is absolutely the difference between the successful and the dreamers.
In what one chooses to take action is a matter of opinion and preference. One does not have to like punk rock or even orchestral. Success can be found in any genre or any new ground-breaking or even old thing. Action is one serious deciding factor, but it doesn’t matter in what.
Look at coffee or burgers… I mean how many more chains do we really need? Yet new ones open all the time to find success because, yes, they take action, but not because it is something cutting edge, rather because they have a business model that works.
Does action = Success? Yes, it can.
Does jumping on the bandwagon of something new equal success? Definitely not!
There are millions of copycats (musicians, writers, filmmakers, painters) who spend their life in action to achieve no success. Action alone is not enough.
A successful marketing and business plan (whether it be a clever name or setting up a world tour or whatever) is far more important than trend-spotting and copycatting, whether it is new or not, in any field. Action must be joined with intelligent planning and smart business unions.
“The Future is Unwritten” is an excellent music documentary that illustrates these points. It is about The Clash (also in the same time as the Sex Pistols) with details of their manager who brought them such huge world acclaim.
When I was in college, I worked in a nightclub. The first time Korn played there, the only people in the huge place were a handful of my heavy metal friends who were always there hanging out with me and could dig on the new sound that until this point had never been heard (heavy bass with screaming angry vocals contrasted with gentle whispering vocals).
Several months later, Korn played the exact same show to a full house spilling over with 2,000 + people. Why? Because they did a publicity stunt with the local radio station announcing a cheap $3 entrance. Their song and this ad ran every day, many times a day for a month. Next thing I knew, Korn became a huge success.
A band called Far who played the same sound and shows with Korn, with debatably more talent, fell into obscurity. Why? No marketing.
Who else came through? No Doubt, Marilyn Manson, and many more who also started out with no following. What catapulted them to great success? Not necessarily their action of playing music, but rather great gimmicks, good managers and marketing angles.
It is often the people behind the scenes working their magick who make the creative intoxicated attention-thriving front-men look so good. Success and fame are not accidents, they come from calculated plans created by hard-working driven intelligent business-minded people who take their winnings to the bank.
(I apologize if this comes off as too intense of a comment… I am passionate about both punk rock and the How To Achieve Success topic! Maybe I drank too much coffee today.)
Jaden, you’re focusing on results, not action.
Without action, there is no chance for results–good or bad. And that’s where a lot of people are stuck.
The post was for a blog called Zen Habits. It’s funny how many of the readers over there who didn’t “get it” consider themselves students of Zen. 🙂
Thanks Brian for your valid discernment. (results -vs- action) Interesting observation. It is true, I am concerned with results more than actions. And you are absolutely right, people are unfortunately frozen in fear and inaction, therefore, they have no chance for any results.
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