Why Not You?

Bernie was destined to be a farmer.

He wasn't particularly smart, and he wasn't particularly motivated.

It was the 1950s in Lincolnshire, England—Not exactly a mecca of economic growth.

So farming or some other manual, tedious work made sense.

As he put it: "Lincolnshire is the Idaho of England — you were either going to drive a tractor for the rest of your life or head for the city to work in a factory."

And for a long time, Bernie walked down that path. Starting at the age of 15, he quit school, worked at a print shop, quit the print shop, worked at a poultry farm, and quit that too.

He had no direction. He had no job.

But one day, as he passed the kitchen table, he glanced at the newspaper lying between the toast and coffee. The page was turned to the sports section, but what caught his eye was the ad next to the day's scores. Liberty Records in London were looking for talent in the music industry.

Bernie couldn't sing, and he certainly couldn't read music. But he had always dabbled with poetry.

So he took his poems, molded and twisted them into a form that could vaguely be described as lyrics, and sent them down to London.

Maybe Bernie had more talent than he thought, maybe the application pool was light, or maybe he just got lucky. Whatever the reason, Bernie received a letter back from Liberty Records asking him to come down and chat with the record label.

At this moment, the sensible thing to do would have been to shrug it off and focus on getting a better job. He had zero experience, lived in the middle of nowhere, and had no money.

Why waste a day traveling to London? Why did he bother responding to the ad at all? It was foolish, immature, and naive.

But at the same time, what did he have to lose?

So he took a train to London and met with the record label. It didn't go much of anywhere, and he headed home.

A few days later, a different man crossed through the door of Liberty Records. Reg Dwight couldn't write lyrics, but he knew how to sing.

Like Bernie, Reg's audition didn't go anywhere. As he walked out the door, he expressed his struggle with writing lyrics to the receptionist. The receptionist sifted through a stack of lyric submissions from the newspaper ad, randomly selected an envelope, and handed it to Reg. Maybe he would be able to find a songwriter here.

As he got in his cab, Reg opened the envelope which contained Bernie's lyrics. They met a few days later, and the rest is history. Bernie Taupin became the famous writing partner for Reg Dwight, better known as Elton John.

Taupin is responsible for some of the most famous pop songs of the last century. "Rocket Man," "Bennie and the Jets," and so many more. All thanks to one newspaper ad, one receptionist, and one decision to give luck a chance.

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Someone is going to get lucky. The next famous YouTuber is out there. The next author. The next chef. Someone is going to make it big.

Why not you?

You might fall flat on your face… but you might not.

If you want to be a successful songwriter, you probably only have a 0.01% chance.

But at least, if you try, you'll have a chance.

Someone will get lucky. Someone will make it. Why not you?

Luck can't do much if you don't give it a chance.

If you want luck to favor you, you have to befriend it. Invite it into your home, put out the nice silverware, and let it kick its feet up on the coffee table.

This means taking shots, committing to bold ideas, and going on adventures.

It's foolish, immature, and naive. But for the person who succeeds, none of that matters. There's a slot for someone, and it will only go to the person who ignores the "smart" way of doing things.

I'm not saying you'll achieve your dreams because you probably won't. But every success story starts with someone looking that reality in the face and running past it.

Fail because you made the wrong moves. Fail because the timing wasn't right. Fail due to inexperience. But don't fail because you didn't try.

Talk to you later,
Alex

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