A couple guys on my timeline have been raving about the Temple Run app for some time now so I decided to download it a few weeks ago and I have to admit I got hooked on it for a few days. I believe the point of the game is to run through a temple (constantly) without getting jumped by the scary birds, scorched by the fire or fall in the cracks all why trying to gather coins for points.
I felt this game was a crazy metaphor or at least an interesting parallel to most of our lives. Every time I chased the coins I found myself dying a lot faster but when I concentrated on the journey and the path of the game, I found myself lasting a lot longer. Don’t get me wrong I am sure there are some people who can accurately achieve both but I think it is a lot harder than we think. Sacrifices have to be made and you might miss out on winning because you want to grab those coins.
I started thinking about my own life and how I’ve been able to navigate through life on my journey without necessarily chasing the “COINS” but by staying focus on what it was I wanted to achieve. The “Coins” represented all the distraction and everything else that kept you off your track. For some people the “coins” are the money, women (men), fame or anything else that could be considered a distraction.
Why can’t we chase both? Can we successfully chase both? Should we be trying to chase both? Don’t you end up getting those things anyway? Aren’t those “coins” a result or a byproduct of successfully completing the journey? I believe that the “COINS” will always be there, you might not finish the game with the most amounts of coins but at least you survive the game and get the spoils of winning. Then a flash of Jay-Z lyrics ran across my brain: “I ain’t tryin’ to survive I’m tryin’ to live it to the limit an’ love it a lot …”
While playing the game I saw the “coins” as our greedy nature to want the coins over everything else and as soon as you paid too much attention to the coins and not where you were running, oops you landed in the ditch an died.
{From my thoughts on my Iphone}
My parents used to read this to me:
Take it in!
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
The Seed
Come see my seed, the kids scream… “This is going to grow into the most beautiful flower”
I get these premature emails from eager and ambitious people with half-baked ideas. They want to pitch me on how we can work together and how we should meet up because they have this amazing thing or idea. After reading through the entire email all I end up with is just their seed that they have not even planted yet.
Hit me when you have a flower, a tree or even a garden. Seeds excite no one. Why? You might have the best seed in the world and you can even go as far as planting it, but what happens if you don’t take care of it? It won’t grow. A lot of times, our ideas are just seeds and are not worth sharing before we actually show personal discipline in making sure it grows.
There is value in taking your time before you release ideas or concepts into the universe. There is value in fully baking your ideas before you approach your mentor, investor, friend or idol. Seeds are never really attractive. You know what is attractive? A garden. Even if the garden needs work, nurturing and some help, people are more often willing to help you fix things that you have built rather than help you plant YOUR seed.
“Come see my beautiful seed” should transform into “come see my beautiful garden”.
Just my thoughts, about what I was feeling at the time.
Marcus Troy
Daniel Ratcliff’s (harry potter
actor) salary since the 1st harry potter
Salary
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) $1,000,000 USD
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) $3,000,000
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) $14,000,000
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) $20,000,000
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) $33.000,000 USD
I believe there is reward in patience. A lot of people want the gifts and the rewards right away, but I believe if you put in the work and you are patience, the chances of the big rewards are greater.
Imagine embarking on a project (like harry Potter) and because of you and other factors the Project blows up out of the gate. Most people start feeling like I need more money, look how much money I made for you… Then the next project you only get a slight bump in salary…I think most people would quit. They want the instant gratification and they want it now. I am not sure of the specifics of Daniel’s deal but it looked like he stuck it out and the big pay off came this year with a salary of 33 million usd. All that in the span of 10 years. Would you stick around a project for 10 years for a possible big pay out?
Click this link to hear my thoughts
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I would love to have a conversation about this so leave your comments and I will respond.
The Weeknd – Unconventional Success
I am a true fan of music in the traditional sense. Most diehard music fans, such as myself, like to discover new music on our own. We sometimes take referrals from friends who we feel have good taste but for the most part, it is all about the personal hunt. The Internet (obviously) has made it a lot easier to share and discover new music and, of course, our favorite blogs may post a thing or two we might like.
I still believe there is that undeniable psychology that makes people gravitate towards new artists and their music. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I believe that it exists. I think a lot of new artists don’t understand that psychology, so they think it is a good idea to spam their way to the top (which never works), using social media to contact every single person they know and don’t know to force-feed them their music. It is quite aggravating and disrespectful at times.
I believe music should be discovered organically, but today’s artist feels the need to bombard you with their tracks and if you don’t want to pay attention you get labeled as a hater. Weird right? Yeah, I know… I wasn’t buying the shit people were peddling.
I’ve had my fair amount of “beefs” with new artists and managers who feel that they have to be put on by me. To be honest, I just like finding things on my own or through referrals from friends. I don’t care much for the spam, or the emails, or the tweets about your new artist. I think most of my friends who run successful music blogs feel the exact same way I do.
Most of us like music we feel no one else knows about as well. That impression of having it all to yourself and your circle of friends is a big part of the music we truly love. When it gets big we still love it, but we remember the good ol’ days when we shared it amongst one another first.
Obviously, blogging has now become a real business and most bloggers have to post what’s going to get them the most amount of hits or traffic so they can satisfy the advertisers. That’s why mostly big artists get love on the main blogs, because it naturally casts a wider net. You might also see a new artist getting love if they were able to create an undeniable buzz that forces people to pay attention, which brings me to my point.
How did the Weeknd (apparently pronounced ‘weakened’, not ‘week-end’) do it? I’ve never received an email or spam promoting The Weeknd from any spam list and trust me: with the amount of spam I get, I am on just about every list. Not many people outside of his circle knew what he looked like, what his style was or even if they were a band, a group or a solo artist.
He declined interviews from some major publications and has never done any interviews that you can find online, yet his song ends up as the trailer for a major HBO show, Entourage.
How did he do it? Some will argue that Drake’s tweet(s) is the reason. Well, I have to disagree. It did, however, make people pay attention (i.e. the blogosphere). The streets have been playing the Weeknd for some time now. My brother put me onto to him back in December and young girls from LA have been posting his songs on Tumblr, months before the hype machine really took off.
Last night, he had a sold-out show in Toronto and the lineup started at 10am. Mind you, it was his very first show ever and it was packed with people singing word-for-word. How was he able to achieve all of this without spamming music executives, email blasts and tweets begging to be heard? I think it boils back down to the psychology of the music fan that I mentioned earlier. They loved discovering it on their own, they love the mystery behind the artist and they allowed the music to speak for itself. Yes, the Drake co-sign helped, but I don’t think a Drake tweet could help a Bow Wow, for example, to get back to where he once was. I don’t even think a Drake tweet could even help another new artist become successful in any short amount of time. I think there is so much more at play and it comes down to the approach, the organic way of communicating the message.
What made The Weeknd sticky? He wasn’t in our faces like so many other new artists try to be. He kept to himself and his craft, and made good music. He did not spam, did not tweet execs, did not have marketing teams reach out on his behalf and all that other shit everyone else is doing. It feels like he took us back to how music was discovered and heard before the Internet. I believe it kind of all happened trough word of mouth and good planning. Drake’s tweet did shed light on him for the most part, but that is no different than Janet Jackson going on Letterman back in the day and telling him how she loved a new artist by the name of Glenn Lewis. The major co-sign can only bring you so far. The rest is up to you and your ability as an artist. Some artists are special. Others, no matter how hard they try, just aren’t.
I have to say that I am really proud of the OVO gang for doing this for a second time. First Drake, now with Abel. Maybe these guys have psychology degrees, or perhaps they just understand human nature really well.
Oh yeah: apparently, he killed the show and had a great performance, which means they’ve learned from the small mistakes they’d made with Drake on this one.
I am really looking forward to see where they take this. Canada, you no longer have an excuse.
Someone read this passage and it touched me so I wanted to share it. I think this applies to daily life.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
I am in Chicago for a few days and I am loving it. The city is really taking care of me. Thanks Chicago.
So strange that people Identify more with struggle than success.
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