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Nothing to Show

Did you ever have one of those dreams where you were on stage at your high school talent show and you realized you were naked?  Could there be anything more embarrassing?  What if you were on stage, fully clothed but with no talent to show? Here is an audience full of people waiting and you’ve got nothing.  The naked person was more entertaining than you.

What are You Waiting For?

Imagine if a singer/songwriter got a chance meeting with a big time record producer but had no songs to play.  Or a graphic designer met the head of a marketing firm but had no designs to show.

What I’m trying to say is there are so many people waiting for this grand opportunity to come by, but if it actually came, they wouldn’t be ready.  All they would have to show is a list of empty promises.

The Realization

It wasn’t too long ago I was sitting around thinking, and I realized I had nothing to show.  If some publisher came to me and said “I hear you’ve got some talent kid, show me what you’ve got” I would have panicked.

“Well….here are some short stories and poems I wrote during college,” I would have said.  The publisher would have laughed, I would have cried, they would have left, and I would have continued with the crying.

I was a “writer” who didn’t write.  There is a song called “Daisy” by the band Brand New (aka the best band ever) that features these lyrics:

I’m a sun that doesn’t burn hot

I’m a moon that never shows its face

I’m a mouth that doesn’t smile

I’m a word that no one ever wants to say

And that was me.  A contradiction, an inanimate object.  At best, I was inertia.

Don’t Blame God, Blame Yourself

And people say “God why is this happening?  Where am I going in life?”

The answer is nowhere.  The fault is yourself.

Why do we expect something to happen when we aren’t doing anything?  I mean really, last time I checked God was the only one who could make something out of nothing.  Maybe you have your fingers crossed that He will do that again in regards to your life.  Good luck with that.

Doing Something for Nothing (but still something)

For a lot of us, this is where it starts.  You have to build a house before you can sell it (unless you’re a really freaking good salesmen).  I work with a guy who went to school to be a sound engineer.  Right now he works as a professional driver (aka a valet attendant), but don’t think for a second that is holding him back.

He has videos on YouTube featuring all sorts of sound editing he has done, he has a list of independent movies he has worked on, he has songs that he co-wrote and produced.  For the past while, he has been hard at work mixing and mastering an album he and a friend made.  He may never make a dime off of it, but that isn’t stopping him from making it perfect.

If he had that spotlight moment, he would have plenty to show.  I have little doubt he is going to make it somewhere in the not too distant future.

My Plan

Just in case you were wondering what I was doing with my advice, I will tell you.  I created this blog in part so I could be seen and heard.  It allows me to make a name for myself in the digital community.  I am also finishing up a book I am writing.  After that, I will finish off another book I started (I’m slowly figuring out its best to do one big project at a time).

So ask yourself, what are you doing right now?  Want to be a rock star?  Make music.  Want to be a designer?  Start designing stuff for anyone who will let you.  Want to be a master baker?  Start baking some awesome stuff (and let me sample it).  Lastly, check out the song I mentioned earlier.

(New posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! See you then!)