Well, it’s been about 10 years since I’ve written anything intended for public consumption, so read charitably...
I had the opportunity last Monday to be in close quarters with a motivational speaker. I’m not talking about a Chris Farley-esque, “van-down-by-the-river”-style motivational speaker — that would have been a nightmare. He wasn’t trying to inspire anybody. It was just a byproduct of his story. I always find that kind of motivational speech more powerful.
Former Fergus resident Jeff Craig (more widely known as J. Marshall Craig for his work in books, movies and music), stopped by the Fergus-Elora News Express office for an interview, and as he told his story, he inadvertently sparked several emotional reactions within me.
Craig was a reporter years ago in Fergus. From there, he negotiated his way through Erin and Grand Valley, Kirkland Lake and then Ottawa, where he became the entertainment editor.
Then, through a process that seems miraculous to me, he managed to actually get himself into the entertainment industry. Since then, he’s written books, written and directed movies and music videos, and has an album coming out soon. He’s got his own page on Wikipedia.
I managed to parlay my career in journalism into a career in newspaper production, taking a four-year sabbatical to build car seats. Wiki doesn’t know about me.
So I was a raging ball of jealousy. I waited patiently until the interview had been wrapped up, then asked Craig how he’d managed to do it. And as he answered with the factual details of his journey, the real answer came to the surface — drive, determination, and hard work.
We’ve all heard hundreds of times that you can do anything if you put your mind to it, and despite the fact most of us know this to be true, the majority simply don’t do it. We have a natural disposition to put aside wild and glorious dreams as we get on with the slog of everyday life, believing while it might be nice to do whatever it is we’d really like to do, when do we have time between work and family?
And that, to me at least, seems to be the major mental difference between the truly successful and the rest of us, whatever field someone’s in. Anyone who reaches the lofty position of Prime Minister, for example, has done so with perseverance and dedication to the task, deaf to the voice in the back of their head saying, “Really? You? You can’t do that!”
Same goes for professional athletes. With the vast majority of voices telling any child with a dream just how hard it would be to break in, it must take such incredible willpower to stay on track with the goal.
I had an epiphany of sorts. There’s really no use complaining, or going green with envy — just do it. Just decide what it is you want to do, and get on with it. The question really does become ‘how bad do you want it?’
As Craig was leaving the office, he casually said he was going home to finish writing a book he was working on. Now, when I say I’m going home to finish writing a book I’m working on, I really mean I’m going home to play with the Wii for a bit, surf the Internet, have a few cigarettes and maybe, perhaps, put a page-worth of words together. But when Craig said it, I really believed him. And such was the power of his own drive, I became motivated. The seed had been planted — no more procrastination, no more letting self-doubt get in the way of desire.
As soon as I finish Mario Kart...
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Chris Holden is production manager of the Elmira Independent and the Fergus-Elora News Express.