Yesterday I started reading Hugh MacLeod’s book ‘Ignore Everybody’; he makes some good points about the genesis of ideas, that ‘good ideas have lonely childhoods’ because people just don’t get them at first so you have to ignore resistance and just persevere.
The same principle applies with any other dreams or goals you may have; ignore anyone who says they can’t be achieved. It was like the time I wanted to apply for a promotion to be a manager in a company I was working for at the time. My boss memo’d back that he didn’t think I was up to the job, I didn’t have enough experience. But I persevered and over a pub lunch persuaded him that I was the right guy for the job. I had the same tenacity when I was trying to get my first book published; some people said that’s its so tough trying to get published, don’t bother. Someone else said my chances of working with a company were ‘1 in 100’. But that didn’t deter me trying; it motivated me to prove the naysayers wrong.
And it reminds me of a chapter in my book 'Leap!' about a discussion I had with my head teacher in my last year at school:
"When I was in my final year at school I told my headmaster I wanted to study media at university and planned to pursue a career in broadcasting. Sitting in his office the headmaster suggested that was an impractical goal and brought out a prospectus on a course in company secretaryship and said ‘here, you should do this course instead’.
To this day I have no idea why he did that, it seemed an odd piece of advice. But I ignored him anyway.
6 months later I was presenting the gig guide on local radio.
12 months later I was co-presenting a show on local radio.
10 years later I was asked to return to the school to advise students on careers in the media. Part of me felt like not supporting the school that had failed to support my own ambition; but a bigger part of me realised the students probably needed all the help they could get.
My booth had the biggest queues".
As Hugh MacLeod said to me yesterday on Twitter, ‘a dream is only as good as the number of naysayers who come out of the woodwork’.
So whatever you do, never give up.
The same principle applies with any other dreams or goals you may have; ignore anyone who says they can’t be achieved. It was like the time I wanted to apply for a promotion to be a manager in a company I was working for at the time. My boss memo’d back that he didn’t think I was up to the job, I didn’t have enough experience. But I persevered and over a pub lunch persuaded him that I was the right guy for the job. I had the same tenacity when I was trying to get my first book published; some people said that’s its so tough trying to get published, don’t bother. Someone else said my chances of working with a company were ‘1 in 100’. But that didn’t deter me trying; it motivated me to prove the naysayers wrong.
And it reminds me of a chapter in my book 'Leap!' about a discussion I had with my head teacher in my last year at school:
"When I was in my final year at school I told my headmaster I wanted to study media at university and planned to pursue a career in broadcasting. Sitting in his office the headmaster suggested that was an impractical goal and brought out a prospectus on a course in company secretaryship and said ‘here, you should do this course instead’.
To this day I have no idea why he did that, it seemed an odd piece of advice. But I ignored him anyway.
6 months later I was presenting the gig guide on local radio.
12 months later I was co-presenting a show on local radio.
10 years later I was asked to return to the school to advise students on careers in the media. Part of me felt like not supporting the school that had failed to support my own ambition; but a bigger part of me realised the students probably needed all the help they could get.
My booth had the biggest queues".
As Hugh MacLeod said to me yesterday on Twitter, ‘a dream is only as good as the number of naysayers who come out of the woodwork’.
So whatever you do, never give up.
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