Dare To Be Delusional

I can’t seem to find it now, but I once heard a quote about players that make it in the NFL.

It was something like this: “No one makes it to the NFL without being at least a little delusional”

This blew me away. It makes perfect sense.

It is delusional to believe you can be one of the very few people in the world that can make one of the 53-man rosters of the 32 NFL teams.

You’d have to be one of the 1,696 best players in the world (or at least the country).

No matter how talented and skilled you are, it’s delusional to think you’ll ever make it to the NFL.You have a better shot of being struck by lightning. You have an even better shot of being struck by lightning twice.

But children everywhere run around talking about how they’re going to play in the NFL someday.

And, you know what? In order to be one of the elite few to make it, you need to believe you can, against all odds, make it to the NFL.

What are our takeaways as songwriters?

Confidence Is Everything

You’ve probably heard the Henry Ford quote “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”

It’s true. Think about it, how many truly impressive things can people accomplish that they don’t even believe they can do. 

I’m not talking about graduating college or passing a test. Those aren’t truly impressive things. A ton of people do that.

I’m talking about “one of the few” things. Becoming a multimillionaire, becoming a professional athlete, making millions from your art or music, becoming a famous author or Hollywood actor.

The reality is that, with all those things, there are many people competing for the very few spots. 

If the next person is confident and you aren’t, your chances of getting there over them just plummeted. 

If you’ve ever watched sports, you’ve probably heard someone say something like “they need to get their confidence back”. This is usually at the point in the game when a team is hanging their heads and you can sense that even they believe they won’t win.

The only time this team wins is if they get their confidence back.

In my years of watching way-too-much football, I’ve never seen the head-hangers come back and win a game unless they stop hanging their heads.

And I don’t think that will ever change.

Not everyone who’s confident will make it. Just like the confident guy doesn’t always get the girl.

The confident guy just has a much much better shot than Mr. But-why-would-she-like-me?.

Someone Has To Be Great, Why Not You?

We all love underdog stories.

We cheer for the “little guy”.

We cheer for the “Cinderella team” of the NCAA basketball tournament every year.

So why do we not cheer for ourselves as the perceived underdog?

Someone has to be great. Someone has to accomplish something awesome against all odds.

Why not you? Why not me?

Hope is in the belief that you can do something. Not being defeatist and assuming you can’t.

Do you believe in what you’re trying to do?

Do you believe in your message and themes?

Do you believe in your stories and songs?

Do you believe that your songs can impact people in a positive way?

Then aren’t you obligated to at least believe in yourself enough to try?

If you can impact even a single person’s life for the positive, why not?

You’ve been given a gift. The gift of creativity is precious. I’d even argue it is the greatest gift that humans can give to other humans besides love.

Every moment of your life is either creating things that other people can get value and enjoyment from or consuming things that other people worked hard to create so you could get value and enjoyment from it.

Give back and give the world your creations. Let them hear your music.

Luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity. 

We can’t always control opportunity. But we can control preparation. So be a little delusional and prepare yourself for a high level of success.

Practice your craft.

Learn about your craft. 

Challenge yourself in your craft.

Dare to be delusional in how big of an impact your music could have on the world and how many lives it could change. Believe it so it at least has a chance of happening. 

Because it does have a chance.

Don’t become arrogant. Don’t become too delusional. Be humble. But humbly believe that what you create can impact other people for good.

Delusion, like other medicine, should be taken in small doses.