Waiting to be picked. It is an experience most of us are very familiar with. From those dreadful days of gym class to mailing out countless resumes, to be one of a faceless mass just hoping to get the job. It stinks, but the good news is, to some degree at least, you don’t have to do it anymore. Instead you can pick yourself.
A young friend of mine is about to become an “overnight sensation.” Her single dropped yesterday, and today she is number 76 on the Apple Music charts along side some of the luminaries of the pop music world. She doesn’t have a big record deal (at least at this point) she recorded a song and released it for the world to see. She didn’t wait to be picked. She picked herself. That’s the great thing about our digital world. It levels the playing field. Now you might have noticed I have “overnight sensation” in quotes. That’s because her single is doing incredible things in two days (remember I post a few days out), but this didn’t happen overnight. I met her years ago when she was just a kid, doing community theater with my son. She was always kind and polite and talented as all get out. In more recent years she has spent a lot of time performing in several bands at countless venues, honing her craft and doing the work.
That’s the thing. You no longer have to wait to be picked. You can create your art and share it with the world, but there is still no substitute for doing the work. The question then becomes are you willing to do the work? Take what you have, make the best work you can and share it with the world. Find your tribe, the people who love your work, and bless them. Then do it over and over again. To finish this post, I’m going to go back to a verse I’ve shared several times in this blog. Proverbs 22:29 “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.”
Do the work!
AMOKArts 