The other night as I was washing my hair and brushing my teeth and playing piano, I started thinking about being ordinary. A lot of times I get through hard or unpleasant things (like the flu, a fight with my parents, stepping in poo, etc.) by reminding myself that billions of people before me have gone through the same things and survived, so I can too. I’m a normal human being, capable of all the normal things we go through. Ordinary is good!
But wait.
I want to be extraordinary too. I want a long, successful career as an author, and as we all know (or if you don’t, I’m telling you now) the odds of that are not high. For all the Stephen Kings, Amy Tans, and JK Rowlings, there are hundreds if not thousands of unknowns sitting at their desks, typing/writing out what they believe to be The Next Great Book.
Just like there are tons of programmers who want to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, tons of film students who want to be the next Steven Spielberg or Ang Lee, tons of athletes who want to be the next Derek Jeter or LeBron James.
So who gets there? Who rises to the top, while the rest toil anonymously?
Think about it before you read the rest. I really do want to know your thoughts, so please leave them in a comment.