Why Everyone and No One Wants to be Beyonce

There is nothing glamorous about a little black girl from Houston with box braids and a ruffle dress.  She’s cute. She matters as a person just because. But based on demographics and population numbers,  it’s incredibly normal. One could say average for that area. Sure people may have said she’s gonna be a star,  or she’s got something special.

If you shared the swing set with baby Bey, would you have known? Would you believe anyone if they told where she was going?

But that’s where it starts. Right where you are. Potential  starts conversations. Execution finishes them.

The Process

Beyonce makes it look easy because she persevered when it wasn’t. She can headline back to back world tours and dance for hours in 6 inch heels because she was in the studio when everyone was asleep. She can fall down a flight of stairs and get right back up, because she cried tears none of us will ever see. She paid a steep price for her success.  This is not random.  She spent years in obscurity so when the lights turned on, it was just another day in the office. Day after day. Her dream was worth it to her.

Is yours?

The Sacrifice

We get a lot of advice thrown in our faces. Some is good, some is bad, and some of it has no relevance to our lives or how we see the world. Even still, some of us subscribe to it, hoping that it helps us. But the reality is almost always clearer than the advice we may subscribe to: No one is going to write your story better than you.

Every single obstacle, setback, and trial, is preparation. You don’t get to be the headline because you look good. You become the headliner because you are exactly who you say you are. You are an artist. So you paint. You are a blogger, so you write meaningful content.  You are a designer, so you make things. But not overnight. You build it brick by brick, and carve out your own niche.  You toil, often in obscurity for a long time, but you know

The building process means you might have to miss out on other things on the way to you goals. But your perspective makes all the difference.  When you commit to something you decide what is a priority and what isn’t. I get scared. A lot. You might too. But that’s ok. What we do with that fear is what matters.

The Truth

You can be as great as Beyonce. But to get there, you can’t compare your today to anyone else’s tomorrow. Success is a train that never shows up when we want it to. It doesn’t run on our schedule, and it definitely won’t come find you.  You have to commit to finding it. We are the most connected generation in history, but we someones find ways to disconnect from the one thing that makes us unstoppable: our ability to see things in ways no one else has. We can be our own worst enemy.

The Challenge

Don’t read any more posts. Stop retweeting inspirational pictures.  Don’ pin anymore quotes on your motivation board. Those things are important, but not more important than the work. Take a step towards your dream.  Please. Draft that screenplay, even if it takes 8 months. Build your website, page by page. Apply for that job and follow up.

Do something. Every single day. Then build momentum, multiply it with consistency and quality, and watch what happens.

I don’t want you to be Beyonce. That’s already taken. You make a better you anyway.

You have 6 months to achieve something that you didn’t start the year with. Go get it.

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