I expected it to be one of those promotional emails when I read “The Secret Life of The Rock”… until I clicked it open. And thank god, I did! Found a gem. Thought of sharing it with you. It’s by Alex Mehr, Ph.D., best known as the founder of MentorBox. Although he does a lot more beyond MentorBox, I’d rather have you focus on his story and what he’s accomplished.
Alex knows what it takes to become a master, so the message below in a way resonates the life that he’s lived. He’s one of my favorite modern-day marketers.
I watched a documentary the other day about Dwayne, ‘The Rock’ Johnson. He seems to have an unbelievably exciting life–He’s attractive, ripped, rich, famous, gets to act in hilarious movies and hang out with Kevin Hart, and also seems like a genuinely nice guy
Think about this though: Would you trade places with The Rock? Before you answer, here’s what I learned from this documentary. He has a brutal daily workout routine and must eat about 10,000 specific calories EVERY DAY in order to maintain that Herculean physique. And, because he acts in anywhere from 2 to 4 blockbuster movies per year, he spends many hours just reading and memorizing his lines in isolation.
The unfortunate truth is that mastery is often boring behind the scenes. The Rock works hard and takes virtually no days off in order to earn his popularity and success. You can be sure that he doesn’t always have a picture-perfect social and personal life–none of us do, even the most successful and famous.
Though, here’s the good news. We live in a time where this Rock-like dedication and hard work simply isn’t going to go unnoticed. 100 or more years ago, you could be truly exceptional at your craft–a world-class master–and those outside of your community and social circle might never even learn of you. Now, the interconnectedness of the world allows for virtually anyone to make it big, just by making a single video that goes viral. Ellen DeGeneres picks it up, invites you to her show, and boom–you have an audience for the rest of your life.
Of course the Ellen DeGeneres path is a bit of an outlier, but you get the point: Now more than ever, hard work pays off. It is more likely to pay off, and it is more likely to pay off BIG.
Don’t be afraid to spend time being boring if you want to be interesting.
That’s cool, right?
Bottomline: ignore what people say about “working smart” and not “hard.” Half of them don’t have a clue what it means to be working hard. Shortcuts aren’t the answer or the preferred route of anyone who’s made it big in life. The Rock is no different.
Mastery takes time… what you and I see is the product of endless dedication to a single-minded pursuit.