Being a Savage (Blog)

[cacheborn]

Originally Posted by Savage

Read the book The Talent Code if you want to learn more about the concept, as well as related concepts.

Copy that.

[cacheborn]

Originally Posted by Savage

Read the book The Talent Code if you want to learn more about the concept, as well as related concepts.

Just finished reading The Talent Code and had a paradigm shift in my understanding. Thank you so much.

Here's a teaser of the book, for those interested.

YouTube - The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle

[C33]

Ironically I printed parts of this post at a dull assignment. Lifesaving!

The recession is a good excuse for employers to wag their fingers at the people who have been spitted out by the system - something thatI thought was due to self-sabotage - hating the job so much that you fire yourself from it. Or, in my masochistic case, thinking that I must be a failure to not even be able to get a job I hate. Ha ha! Muchas gracias Steve!

Long period of unemployment are becoming the norm, you must hide them or have a good explanation for them, even though the system creates high unemployment in the first place.

That system also makes you feel like a loser if you do not find employment - but can also make you feel like a loser for finding it ( entering the rat race is an act of desperation, in my book and a failure at having found an alternative that allows more fulfillment and independence.) Even when it's to save for travel or something worthwhile, I can never really feel good about that route.

Failure attracts failure and it can become impossible to see oneself as a successful anything, especially successful at reaching one's dreams. At least that has been my experience. My life being dull, I have nothing to contribute to my art, no passion, no juice, nothing. All the energy is spent trying to escape reality: daydreaming at work for example.

On top of having to work at a job you hate, you also have - to pretend you enjoy it- to pretend you care-to pretend you will forever be loyal to the company, even though the company doesn't contract you permanently.

The time spent looking for a job, can be longer than the time you will hold that job.

The system doesn't need rebellious people who have no respect for employment. Now, employment has become a God, an unattainable God.

Thank you for pointing out that it' s normal for some people to be kicked out of employment.

About the Talent Code and Outliers premises. ( I read Outliers but not the Talent Code)

One thing that I think is very important when it comes to talent and especially to make money at using your talents, which is a very different thing than just knowing you have or possessing talent, is environment.

By that, I'm thinking being with peers that are equally talented. I think what the schools that train the top artists/athletes have is that people are driven and compete against the best of the best. This is also why children of successful artists end up in the business as very successful, it's the connections but also the fact that they get their start with high caliber talent.
Imagine being an extra in a Robert De Niro movie, in close proximity of Mr.De Niro or the star of a university short film? What if you could see one of the best actors up close and see how they prepare versus being directed by a student director who has 1% chance of ever making a film that paying audiences will come to see?

You can't learn how to play tennis well if you have a bad partner.
I think that being surrounded by the best: best peers, best teachers, has more impact then the time spent on practice.

When I studied acting, I had a lot of peers who were coming from the Method Acting school. They were very good at Method Acting but for the majority, not very good at acting. It's just no viable in a professional situation, unless you are actually working for a director who can afford long rehearsal time before the actual play is performed in front of an audience, or the actual script is shot. I studied for a number of years, but was never as good as when I was working towards performance. You get better when you work in real life conditions.

It's not the 8 hours of practice that made the Beatles progress, it's the fact that they were in front of an audience and got instant feedback on what worked and what didn't. There is nothing like a paying audience. At that time, without the Internet and social networking, that was the only way to test their songs and see what the public liked

ALSO , they were all pretty motivated ( you would have to be to play in strip clubs for 8 hours straight and not quitting), they had a manager who believed in them ( I think ), they had at least 2 of the members ( John and Paul) who took performing seriously.

They were all very talented.

And - their personal lives were not in the way, as they were quite young and didn't have a family to feed or were not in complicated relationships.( Interestingly the one who quit the Beatles during that tour was the guy who fell in love)- unfortunately he died , so it's impossible to know if he would have lived to regret his decision. What if the love story had ended in a sour marriage, then divorce, or having to give up music to feed unplanned children? Can you imagine your partner telling you that if it was not for falling in love with you he would still be in the Beatles, one of the greatest bands ever?

I find that people who have no "distractions" and treat their art as their partner, are way more successful than people who have to take time away from their family/partners/friends to rehearse or tour.

[alexb5784]

Originally Posted by C33

Point #1: The recession is a good excuse for employers to wag their fingers at the people who have been spitted out by the system - something that I thought was due to self-sabotage - hating the job so much that you fire yourself from it. Or, in my masochistic case, thinking that I must be a failure to not even be able to get a job I hate. Ha ha! Muchas gracias Steve!


Point #2: That system also makes you feel like a loser if you do not find employment - but can also make you feel like a loser for finding it ( entering the rat race is an act of desperation, in my book and a failure at having found an alternative that allows more fulfillment and independence.) Even when it's to save for travel or something worthwhile, I can never really feel good about that route.

Point #3: On top of having to work at a job you hate, you also have - to pretend you enjoy it- to pretend you care-to pretend you will forever be loyal to the company, even though the company doesn't contract you permanently.


Point #4: The system doesn't need rebellious people who have no respect for employment. Now, employment has become a God, an unattainable God. Thank you for pointing out that it' s normal for some people to be kicked out of employment.

What you've just brilliantly pointed out is EXACTLY how most people feel today but they don't want to admit it. Bad employment is addictive.

Once they start feeding you Scobbie Snacks, you get addicted to what the money can buy to soothe your pain. People repeatedly show up at work to keep the cable TV, food, clothes, toys and the like rolling in. All of that helps them forget about how much their life sucks, but only temporarily. Then it's back to the rat race. Rinse repeat.

I'm so glad I don't have that problem anymore. The system has spit me out three times. I've learned the lesson that I'm not welcome where I'm not wanted.