Susan Boyle, My Professional Role Model

I know that millions have seen the YouTube clip and that the story of Susan Boyle is, in many ways, so last year.

But I stumbled onto the audition footage again last week and was as taken by the improbable superstar this time as I was when her story first broke. (For those of you who live under a rock, the clip can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eOV2Pt_F-E&feature=related).

It all started with a question that is easy to ask, difficult to answer, and seemingly impossible to achieve. “What’s the dream?”

Difficult to hear over the rising laughter from the audience, Susan Boyle said she was, “trying to be a professional singer.”

“Why hasn’t it worked out so far, Susan?”

And this is the part that really struck me. At the age of 47, with years of disappointment behind her, Susan Boyle said, and still really believed, that she had not succeeded because she had “never been given the chance before, but here is hoping it will change.”

When the footage was first shown on TV, and then picked up by YouTube, I will admit it - I was one of the saps who watched the audition too many times in a row. Even more embarrassing is admitting that I again watched the clip back to back to back when I came across it last week.

I watch the clip on repeat because this is, I believe, the moment we all want to experience just once in our lives. The moment when what we have always wanted to do, what we are capable of doing, and what we are currently doing, intersect so beautifully.

A 47-year-old woman with an unfortunate hair cut made me tear up because we lived the moment in which she was given the chance to showcase her talent with her and she made the most of both her talent and her moment. The live audience, the judges, and I initially doubted her, just like she must have doubted herself millions of times throughout her life.

But, unlike so many of us, Susan Boyle had the strength and the belief that kept her moving forward.

We all wake up each morning and do something. My hope for myself is that I continue to move forward each day, just as Susan Boyle did, so that at some point I will also be able to reach the moment when my talents, my aspirations, and my current work combine to create a perfect storm of success and fulfillment.

And that is why I watch again and again and again. Because Susan Boyle is proof that there is a place where success and passion and talent meet and that this place is worth working towards no matter how long and bumpy the road.

I Wanna Be, I Wanna Be, I Wanna Be Like Mike

Growing up in the nineties, you may have heard of a guy named Michael Jordan. You know, the basketball player who made long shorts, a bald head, and Nikes must-haves for every basketball toting kid in the world.

While millions of people spent their childhoods aspiring to be like Mike because of the Gatorade commercials, the Air Jordans, or the hangtime, I have a different reason for being envious of the iconic athlete.

I wanna be like Mike (I would also settle for being like Serena or Tom or Tiger – I am not picky) because he made his living in a line of work (i.e., sports) in which goals and measures of success are everywhere.

A basket is made or missed, a serve is in or out, a pass is caught or dropped, a putt is long or short - the goal is clear, the result is immediate, and success or failure is easily determined.

Yesterday I set out for a three mile run. In an amount of time I will not share with this audience (more than 15 minutes and less than an hour), I finished my run and felt good about meeting my goal. I had done something productive and I had bettered myself - in no time at all (well, if I am to be honest, it was a moderate amount of time).

I have left the office after more than one eight hour day only sure of the fact that I had successfully jammed the photocopy machine yet again. A game winning jumper or a 125 mph ace a jammed photocopy machine is not.

If I stand to be corrected and there are those of you who have created short-term goals that have helped you to be successful at your jobs, please pass along some tips. I clearly need the help.

Until then, I will continue to want to be like Mike. Why? In sports, games are played every week, if not everyday, and they are won or lost. I am a few years into my professional career and still have no sense of how to gauge my success. Am I winning? I would like to say yes, but the truth is I am not even sure how to determine the score.