Today's post is not related to Obama. Although I thank him greatly for teaching Japan the English potential form. Makes my job a little easier. Only a teaspoon, but I'll take whatever I can get.
In the West these days, anybody can be anything. That's what they tell us as kids, and that's what the media drum into our heads. For years, the PGA Tour told us that "Anything's Possible." And Disney's been telling us for 60 years, that "When you wish upon a star your dreams come true."
And we feel entitled. These dreams and hopes floating around in the air, they should be ours. Shouldn't they?
But notice the use of the potential form.
Yes we CAN not Yes we WILL
Anything's POSSIBLE
Even Disney's revised their position,
"I remember Daddy told me
Fairy Tales can come true,
But you gotta make them happen,
It all depends on you."
Almost there, Princess and the Frog.
Everybody doesn't get their dream life just because they want it. A lot of people dream about the same things, and there's only so much room for certain dreams to come true.
So you have to work at it. And work hard.
Success = Talent + Effort + Luck
You can't do anything to control the Luck factor, but you can't deny it's there. There are B-list actors who are gorgeous and act well and work hard, and they're still on the B-list. That's because they haven't been lucky enough to score a role that will catapult them to the A-list.
You can't do much about talent either. You have it or you don't.
But you can change the amount of effort you put in, and a large enough effort can make you more skilful than people who have more natural talent. And in the social media world that we live in, effort can even cut down the Luck side of the equation.
So if you want the fairy tale, don't just dream it, WORK IT!
That's what's on my mind this Monday!
Of course, also on my mind is INSANITY Day 1.
Here's a quick reminder of the rules:
1. You have to be a follower to win.
2. You have until Monday 11.59 pm EST to enter.
3. You can win a max of 2 prizes in the week.
The Interview Packet!
Once again, many thank you's to Dianne Salerni and Linda Villarosa for agreeing to be interviewed.
To win these two awesometacular books, all you have to do is tell me what author you'd love to have a conversation with!
Good luck to all!
3 comments:
Claire,
I like that Disney has revised their motto a little, although if you check out the Disney Channel's line-up for kids, they are still plugging "stardom" as the be-all-end-all goal for young people. They present a lot of success stories about kids making it big: Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, Sunny with a Chance, iCarly, Victorious .... but they are a little short on the "hard-working" side.
Disney doesn't really teach persistence, unfortunately. Anything you really want, you should be able to get by the end of a montage, according to them.
It'a shame that they are missing the much more important message.
I agree that Disney and really everyone should stress to kids that with hard work and persistance your dreams can come true. I think we forget to teach a work ethic when we tell our children they can be whatever they want.
I also would love to have a conversation with Stephen King. In my head I imagine that I will be funny and charming and he will want to be my BFF. In reality I suspect I will be frozen in stunned admiration and forget my own name.
Oh man I missed the deadline and I was really interested in these books too. Oh well, I'll keep my head up for the other contests
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