Little Billy
Hello Little Billy,
Do grown-ups ask you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a very important question. Do you know the answer, Little Billy? I bet some of your friends know. They probably want to be rockstars, presidents, actors, FBI agents, or someone that has lots of friends and money. That’s good. Do any of them want to be writers? I didn’t either. When I was your age, I wanted to be a rockstar. I imagined myself playing my electric guitar in front of thousands of my screaming fans. The first thing I had to do was learn to play a guitar. My mom bought me one for my birthday, and I played it all day long. If I was going to be a rockstar, I needed to practice. Have you heard someone say, “Practice makes perfect”? If you want to become good at anything, that’s what you need to do. Practice, practice, practice, and more practice. But there’s more to it than that.
Little Billy, I’m going to share a secret with you. I bet grown-ups tell you, “You have to work hard to be successful.” That’s true, but hard work isn’t everything. Successful people are naturally good at what they do, and this is called “talent”. If you work hard enough, you can do anything. But if you want to be great, you need to have talent. Everyone has one, but most people don’t know it, or they don’t see it. Remember that, Little Billy.
When I wanted to be a rockstar I practiced all day long. When I got good enough I joined a band. We made a CD, played some concerts, and went on tour. But nobody told me that I was good guitar player. Do you know why nobody told me that, Little Billy? It was because I was a bad musician. I knew how to play the guitar, but I didn’t know how to make music. Believe me, there’s a difference.
After a few years, I stopped playing the guitar, and tried to be a lot of other things. I was a chef, a DJ, a nightclub manager, a farmer, a butcher, an accountant, a salesperson, and I even went to school to be a doctor. I spent a few years working in each of these professions, but I noticed that other people (who worked as hard as I did) got all the compliments. People liked what they did because they were using their talents. I never thought about what my talents were before I noticed that.
When I was a little boy, my teachers used to tell me that I was a good writer. One of my teachers even called my parents to tell them I should become a writer. I didn’t think about it too much. When I got older, and got a job, sometimes I would have to write. During the times when I was in college (there were a few), I had to write all the time. The pages that I wrote always got more attention than anything else that I did. This confused me. I spent my time practicing anything but writing, but people knew me for what I wrote, not what I practiced. I never wanted to be a writer. I wanted to do something fun and exciting. If I couldn’t get dirty, stay up late, using bad language, or work myself to the brink of insanity I didn’t how I could enjoy myself. Writing was really boring. But it was also the only thing I seemed to have any talent for.
There will be a day when you hear the phrase, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Do you know what “bullshit” is, Little Billy? I loved every career I had but it always became work. If you can’t beat the last level of a video game, no matter how hard you try, then you know what I felt like. I kept working, harder and harder, but I could never reach the point that I wanted to get to.
People love to do the activity that feels right to them. There are lots of reasons why someone could feel that way, but most people won’t be able to see it when it happens. They expect that it will look like something that it isn’t. They will think that they want to do something more exciting, something that will make them famous, or maybe something that will make them rich. Very few people will do something because they are talented at it. Many people told me that I needed to write, but I never wanted to. When I finally tried it, everything made sense. Do you know what confusion is, Little Billy? It’s what you feel when you put on your sister’s clothes and look into the mirror. Well… I suppose it could be what you feel when you put on yourclothes. I’m going to let you figure that one out. You’ve got options.
Just keep one thing in mind; Successful people do the things that they are good at. They do it over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over…….
