The great ones make it look so easy.
While watching the recent Masters tournament my wife turned to me and said, “He looks like you.” She’s trying to give my golf game some much needed inspiration by pointing out the resemblance between Tiger Woods’ golf swing and mine. Yeah, right!
I’m occasionally in meetings when someone will say something simplistic like, “Let’s just sound like them” – referencing some notably successful station like Z88.3, KLTY or a Fish or two.
How do they do Christmas music programming? What is their morning show like? How many songs do they play?
If we only play THEIR music, copy THEIR jingles, and make our bumper sticker the same shape, Presto! Success will be ours!
The problem with the good ones is they make it look so easy.
Whether it’s swinging the golf club like Tiger Woods or playing the guitar like James Taylor, their skill appears effortless.
One of my favorite actors, Jimmy Stewart, never looked as though he was acting, whether in his comedic role as Elwood P. Dowd in “Harvey,” or the wheelchair bound photographer in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”
Movie reel footage of one of Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs looks as effortless as our chubby uncle chasing the kids around the back yard.
We desire the instant success of others without really understanding the years of tedious practice that goes into achieving that success.
We tend to view as simple that which we do not yet understand.
“What is familiar to us gives us the illusion of understanding it. It’s the forest, the trees, and all that. The more you know, the less you do.”
Sportswriter Will Leitch
The things we understand are the things we tend to perceive as important. “Let’s just sound like them” is the poster child of NOT UNDERSTANDING.
Transforming a radio station into a market leader is hard work. In fact, if the work isn’t hard you’re probably not doing the right things.
Everything is hard before it is easy. Embrace it.
*The wonderful photo of Tiger Woods is from Jason Getz, the cousin of my friend Taylor Scott.
