I get these little motivational emails in my box every morning; an admittedly lame way of giving myself a little shot of emotional adrenaline to get the day started. Sometimes it provides a nice little reflection... other times it serves the task I have really set for it, namely creating a synchronistic event that might work to shake up my psyche and break loose some sort of creative energy.This morning was one of the moments when it did the later.
The message this morning went like this: "It's not the dazzling voice that makes a singer, Thom. Nor clever stories that make a writer. And it's not piles of money that make a tycoon.
It's having a dream and wanting to live it so greatly, that one would rather move with it, and "fail," than succeed in another realm."
The thing is... it coincides with a quote from JFK that I heard on the ABC show "Brothers & Sisters" last night. Calista Flockhart's character, Kitty Walker, corrects her boss (played by Rob Lowe) when he misquotes Kennedy.
The quote is: "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly."
After two years of working on these blogs and the attendant life experience (the good, the bad, and the ugly) they represent, I am standing right now in a place where I feel the most important in my life is to clarify that thing that I am willing to fail at in order to succeed and to take on the task.
There is a poster from the New York School of Art that sits in the entry way of Perry's Restaurant on Union Street in San Francisco that has captured my imagination since the first time I saw it. As I remember it, it's an image of a black and white zebra casting a rainbow colored shadow (sort of the opposite of what I have here, but it was the only one I could track down).
This image (and its accompanying phrase) have haunted me since the first day I saw it, nearly 30 years ago.
To Be Good Is Not Enough When You Dream Of Being Great.
It's taken me that 30 years (and especially the last two). But I think I'm ready now...
Ready to risk failing miserably in order to achieve greatly.
