Shooting Star

This song was from the 1970s by a band named “Bad Company.” While the song’s story is close to the song we used the other day, this one was not inspired by something that really happened, although it seems like it could have been. The song tells the story of a young man still in school who was so inspired by a Beatles song that he joins a band. As he grows old enough, he says goodbye to his mom, packs up and leaves home, telling his mom, “I’m going to be a big star.”

The song goes into how he makes his first record, an immediate hit. This boy, Johnny, becomes a star, hitting the big time. But the fame and fortune takes their toll on his life, and he gets caught up in drugs and alcohol. Eventually he ends up overdosing and losing his life at a young age.

Last year I did a post about how we need to build a life that lasts. We talked about three great musicians who were all cutting-edge for their time died under the age of 30 by either suicide or drugs and alcohol. But this post is not about getting off drugs; we have a million messages about that from TV, radio and print ads. This post is about the dangers of not having the wisdom to deal with your success.

I am currently in my mid 40s and people often ask me why I didn’t start my message many years ago. They ask why I am just now getting into the field of speaking, writing and coaching. The truth is, I was a young fool for many years; I did some wild and crazy things. I am so lucky that those things did not end me and now I’m promoting the idea of living your RockStar dream. My purpose now is to help those who want to find success and to help those who are finding success early in life to keep it longer.

If you have read back through some of my posts from the beginning of this blog, you will see the story I told of how, at the young age of 13, I was asked by a Sunday School teacher what one word I would like to describe me at age 40.  My word was RockStar. At that young age I had the same dream Johnny in the song, Shooting Star, had. Today, RockStar takes on a meaning that is far different. I’m thankful that before I went for “RockStar” with this business I got to meet people who taught me how to live, not just to be successful.

So as we close out our week on RockStar Dreams, I hope you have found and defined a dream for yourself. Maybe it’s a small dream to the world – like that of Rudy Ruettiger we shared earlier this week. Maybe you have a super dream now like we mentioned of those running for president. I hope you have the vision to know that your dream is going to take work like we explained with the “Juke Box Hero” blog. Whatever your dream, it has to be your dream.

If you want a way to start planning your dream, let me give you a small piece of advice that Zig Ziglar gave me about writing. When writing, he told me to get a working title first; in my dream, it was one word: RockStar. Take this time and write a small working title to your dream, like I did with the word RockStar. Then take that title and find the way to define it with your life.

Come back next week to see our week about mentors; it’s another step to finding how important having the right mentors in life is to achieving your dream. I will be traveling next week, taking a road trip to be at the RockStar boot camp in Los Angeles with one of my mentors, Craig Duswalt. If you are in Los Angeles and would like to meet, send me an email and let’s schedule a time to find your RockStar dream.

I’m Tim Gillette the Rocker Life Coach; it’s time to live your dream to love what you do and those you share life with. Get the wisdom you need to build your RockStar Dream and make your success last.