On a recent 15 hour flight from the US to Melbourne I was surfing through the in flight entertainment and came across an interview with Jerry Seinfeld.
The interviewer asked Jerry for his keys to being successful and Jerry answered with three points (I’m sure I’ve heard him talk about these before in other contexts also). The three points are simple – yet challenging and as I listened to him talk about them it struck me that they were three great tips for bloggers wanting to be successful.
Here they are (paraphrased):
- bust your ass – whatever you do, work at it with everything you have. He talked about doing things that you enjoy and are passionate about but then working your ass off.
- pay attention – be attentive and learn from everything around you. Ask lots of questions in every situation you find yourself in.
- fall in love – if you find something good in life, stop and enjoy the moment. Learn to see the good around you and celebrate it!
Three great lessons for life and for blogging.
This advice strikes me as superficial. Many people do all 3 things mentioned above, and are still struggling. I know many people who are in love with what they do, listen to people, and work hard, and they are still living paycheck to paycheck, or have other challenges. I have also met people who are really terrible listeners, don’t work particularly hard, and don’t especially like what they do, and yet are still doing fairly well by economic standards. Also, don’t you think you need to define “success?” Are we talking about financial success, or personal fulfillment? I think those who live in “Hamptons” glass houses/mansions shouldn’t throw stones…