Inspired by Derek Sivers post on how he became Ryuichi Sakamoto’s guitarist, I contemplated on how attitude affects opportunities & success in life. He conclude with the statements below.

My personal lessons learned from this story:

  • being in the middle of things increases your chances for opportunities (in NYC with a roommate working at a big studio)
  • everything great that happens in your career starts with someone you know (my roommate)
  • when you hear of an opportunity you want, you have to go for it completely, over-the-top, not casual, and work your ass off to get it

Derek Sivers

After some reflection, I realized that even though seizing opportunities leads to success; it’s passion that creates those opportunities in the first place. Mix that in with a positive attitude and just faithfully producing something, with time I’m pretty sure you won’t live your life unnoticed.

Many times, I have been paralyzed by many irrelevant constraints whenever I try to venture into something new. This always stops me from getting things done. The list is long and it always seem so important in ensuring success.

  1. I don’t have the right contacts
  2. I don’t know anyone who can teach me
  3. I dont have enough money
  4. I’m not as good as “[INSERT SUPERSTAR HERE]“

All these obstacles are very real, and if you are betting your life on being successful the very first try, then the odds are against you. However, you don’t have to be a genius or have the stars align for you to get better at something. The current “you” might be lacking but in time you will be able to knock off those obstacles one by one. To remind myself what I need to do, I made a list.

  1. Just keep getting better (with tenacity)
  2. Produce something often (even though its nothing great)
  3. Share it
  4. Be with people of the same passion

Opportunities will slowly present itself with time. When that happens, don’t hold back and go over-the-top. Who knows, one day you could one day be called a genius.