THE WHAT IF, GUITAR GUY BLOG
The Official Blog of Mike Rayburn
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What Are You About To Give Up On?
First, Consider This…
A Spearhead For Success
As a younger teenager I spent three days visiting my great Aunt Janet at her rural North Georgia home on Lake Notelly. I was excited because they said you could find Cherokee spear and arrowheads. I have Native American blood on both sides and I really wanted to find one!
For three days all day I would dig, scratch through leaves, turn back large rocks, walk the edge of the lake and search in every conceivable place on their 3-acre property.
Nothing.
It was nearly dark the end of the third day. We were leaving in the morning so I headed back to the house, unsuccessful, disappointed, but still looking as I walked.
In the gloom, on the side of the path something bright caught my eye. I pealed it out of it’s earthen bed… a dirty piece of white quartz.
My first instinct was to throw it… but hold it, this one was different. There was something unnatural and deliberate in the lines and shape.
As I pushed away the mud my teenage heart leapt for joy… I was holding a nearly perfect Cherokee spearhead!
To this day that spearhead is my reminder to keep pushing ahead, keep searching, persevere.
So let me ask you this…
What are you about to give up on?
- A career, business or promotion?
- A marriage or relationship?
- A goal?
- An approval of some sort?
- A way in or out of something?
Not that all dreams are meant to be. Circumstances or motivations can change, that’s certainly happened to me.
But honestly, I don’t see people holding on too long to impossible dreams nearly as often as I see people giving up, selling themselves short, and accepting mediocrity.
In bold stories of success it is quite common for solutions or something imperative to come through in the 11th hour, when you’re doubting it will ever happen in time.
I’ve always said it like this…
In any endeavor worthwhile sooner or later God will test you to see if you’re serious.
So, are you serious? How bad do you want it?
When I did the first-ever cross country concert tour on bicycle the headline sponsor with the money we needed didn’t come through until shortly before the launch date.
When I had committed to performing a guitar duet of Beethoven’s Fifth with a hologram of myself after a year of preparation and searching I didn’t find the right company to create the hologram until two months before the program.
More personally, Tara and I have been married for 22 1/2 years. Twice (long ago) we decided to end it… once to separate and once to divorce, neither of which happened. We stuck it out and we’re happier today than ever before.
All Life Virtuosos, regardless of the medium, have relentless drive and perseverance. They just plain refuse to give up.
Live Truly, Truly Live,
Mike
