I don’t usually talk much about my work, too busy doing it; and I like to pour my energy into the process rather than explaining what I’m working on. But last month, after telling my friend in no uncertain terms (for the umpteenth time and for seven million reasons), “Not happening! Not going to do it!” … I went and did it!
When I took a break from radio at the end of last year, I fully intended to be hosting again toward the end of this year. I planned to take my time looking for a new executive producer (EP)to team up with. I wanted to wait until I found someone with a good match of goals, values, and vision; and was willing to be patient.
So even I was surprised, when early in May, I found myself calling several stations to talk about airtime and studio and production costs.
Information gathered, meetings held, discussions clarified, contracts reviewed … now all I had to do was decide. Did I want to do ‘it’?
Well I did want to do it. And without analyzing it to death, I trusted my instinct and took a huge leap of faith—with the stroke a pen, I became my new EP. Done and dusted.
I spent the next week on a roller coaster: It’s thrilling, horrifying. Exciting, daunting. Energizing, terrifying.
But life truly is what we make it.
No matter how you define success, there are many times in life when we must be willing to leap without knowing what’s in front of us. We have to push through our fears, our doubts, and self-prescribed limitations. We have to close our ears to those who say it can’t be done and who try to drag us into their misery pit. We have to fill our minds with the belief that we can accomplish whatever we set out to do; and our hearts with the courage to do it.
And that's what I'm doing; jumping right off that cliff, and building my wings on the way down. See you safely on the ground!
OTHERS WHO JUMPED OF A CLIFF and kept on jumping!)
Composer Oscar Hammerstein had 5 bombed shows lasting less than 6 weeks in total before Oklahoma! It grossed $7million and ran for 269 weeks.
Author Tawni O’Dell had 6 unpublished novels and 300 rejection slips over a 13-year period before her first novel was published. When it became an Oprah book club selection, it made the New York Times bestseller list for 8 weeks.
Admiral Robert Peary reached the North Pole on his 8th attempt.
Stephen King got so fed up of receiving rejections on his novel Carrie that he threw it in the trash. His wife, Tabitha, retrieved it and sent it back out … we all know what happened next.
Model/actress Angie Everhart was told by Eileen Ford that redheads don’t sell. Everhart later became the first redhead in history to appear on Glamour magazine. She's appeared in more than 27 films and now has her own show.
Vicki is a professional writer, producer, and talk radio host based near Seattle, Washington. Born and raised in England, she's worked in the US for 20 years, successfully creating and managing an extensive range of projects. See her radio schedule at http://www.conversationslive.net/schedule.html