"an honest answer to one of the most common yet under-asked questions in this industry: What happens when you give it your everything and still end up working at a gym?" (Spin)
It's by a rapper named J-Zone, who made a career in music for awhile, but isn't well known. The failure subtitle came to him when he was trying to get the book picked up and, though publishers liked it, they couldn't publish it because he was a "failure."
I looked at my career and I was like I got a chance to make a living doing what I love to do, I went to 14 different countries, I got to work with guys I grew up idolizing, we became peers. I didn't become a millionaire, it didn't last forever, I didn't get known by a whole lotta people. I had a good little run, but we're in a world of tangible results. We're in a world of numbers, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, how many downloads, how many hits, how many comments, how many YouTube views. In that world, yeah, I'm a failure. That's the way the world we live in works, but in my world it doesn't work that way. The failure part is basically a mockery of where we are today.
What is success? If I'm a failure then what is success? What's the cutoff mark? Is it a certain number of records sold? Do I have to own the Nets and marry Beyonce? What do I have to do? That's what I want people to get out of it, to enjoy things for the sake of enjoying them, to like them for the sake of liking them, and to not let other people tell you what's a success and what's a failure, and even if you don't meet expectations, in order to succeed and you have to fail, and there's nothing wrong with failing as long as you're alive to get back up and do it again. It's a failure in the eyes of the world at large, but you don't have to see it that way. (rapreview.com)
I think this is really important--maybe more so now that a large part of the world is going through a recession. The surest way to go through life feeling like a failure, is by allowing others to define success.
5 comments:
"The surest way to go through life feeling like a failure, is by allowing others to define success."
Did you say that, Mabel? Because that is fantastic. I want to write that down as a quote to keep.
sorry - that anonymous comment was me.
I did say it! Not bad eh? lol
wow, that makes me want to read the book. and excellent quote from you, too! thanks!
Thanks. - Considering that the majority of the population will never have superstar success, it's interesting to hear from people who've "failed" but still have their pride.
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