Mika's true to his career
Interesting Irish Times interview with Mika by Tony Clayton Lea on Friday. Mika’s the guy who sings the very catchy and Queen like “Grace Kelly” song which has been number one for the last few weeks. It’s about a person trying to be different, to get some one to like them, but in the end concluding the other person only wants
“What everybody else says you should want”.
The video’s worth watching too.
Although seen as an overnight success, Mika’s been performing since the age of 12. He makes a couple of great points which are relevant to anybody trying to be happy in their career or life.
He realised because he wanted to develop his own music he’d either be a great success or a total failure. He turned down financial backing because he did not want to be
“Moderately successful, pretending to be some body else and being really unhappy”.
So he was prepared to be seen as a failure and to take a risk. Anybody who has changed careers successfully will tell you this attitude is essential. Otherwise it’s nearly impossible to leave the safety of what we’re familiar with.
Mika’s sexuality has been talked about a lot. His response
“What everybody else says you should want”.
The video’s worth watching too.
Although seen as an overnight success, Mika’s been performing since the age of 12. He makes a couple of great points which are relevant to anybody trying to be happy in their career or life.
He realised because he wanted to develop his own music he’d either be a great success or a total failure. He turned down financial backing because he did not want to be
“Moderately successful, pretending to be some body else and being really unhappy”.
So he was prepared to be seen as a failure and to take a risk. Anybody who has changed careers successfully will tell you this attitude is essential. Otherwise it’s nearly impossible to leave the safety of what we’re familiar with.
Mika’s sexuality has been talked about a lot. His response
“It’s interesting how every one talks about tolerance and yet every one is so desperate to pigeon hole”.
This tendency to pigeon hole is a real problem in our society. We put labels on people and on ourselves. Dropping out of college means you’re a failure-not that you’ve taken a brave decision to rethink your career. Being over looked for promotion means you’re a failure not that your employer has decided some one else is more suitable at this point in time.
I do this labelling myself. I’m not into cars so I drive a small 7 year old car. Yet when meeting new clients I always wonder am I creating the right impression as I pull into their office car park. I think a bigger newer car would show I’m successful (i.e. make load’s of money) at what I do. Yet money is not the main motivation for me, otherwise I’d have remained in freelance consultancy. Yet I’m concerned I’m not projecting a successful image….
So we need to stop labelling ourselves and feel what going’s on beneath the surface both in ourselves and others. That way we can focus on what’s really important.
And if Mika were to be a Queen Song, he would choose
“Don’t stop me now; I’m having such a good time”
Proving being true to you can work.
This tendency to pigeon hole is a real problem in our society. We put labels on people and on ourselves. Dropping out of college means you’re a failure-not that you’ve taken a brave decision to rethink your career. Being over looked for promotion means you’re a failure not that your employer has decided some one else is more suitable at this point in time.
I do this labelling myself. I’m not into cars so I drive a small 7 year old car. Yet when meeting new clients I always wonder am I creating the right impression as I pull into their office car park. I think a bigger newer car would show I’m successful (i.e. make load’s of money) at what I do. Yet money is not the main motivation for me, otherwise I’d have remained in freelance consultancy. Yet I’m concerned I’m not projecting a successful image….
So we need to stop labelling ourselves and feel what going’s on beneath the surface both in ourselves and others. That way we can focus on what’s really important.
And if Mika were to be a Queen Song, he would choose
“Don’t stop me now; I’m having such a good time”
Proving being true to you can work.
Keywords
career change
career advice
mika
fear of failure
posted by Carol @ 20:22
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