Doing All You Can

Welcome back to another week at Graceland Ontario. Thanks for joining us and I hope we can improve your life today. This week we’re going to be talking about doing all you can even when people aren’t giving you the recognition you deserve, using Elvis’s life as example.

According to the book, Elvis Presley: Unseen Archives by Marie Clayton, Elvis has sold more than one billion records (more than anyone else in history) as well as,

• 32 Gold Albums
• 32 Platinum Albums
• 24 Gold Singles
• 27 Platinum Singles
• 6 gold EP singles, and,
• 10 platinum EP singles

Only in the U.S. (not including international sales)

For those who aren’t record-sales literate, gold certification is given to someone who has sold half a million units and platinum to someone who has sold a million units.

And the list goes on… Not to mention he directly influenced the music industry for all time by his influence of groups like the Beatles (for more info on Elvis’s achievements, check out the page about it at Elvis.com, Elvis Presley’s official site)

Yet, figure this, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) took years to award Elvis a Grammy of any kind. Introduced for the performers of 1958 in 1959 by NARAS the Grammies are a set of the most prestigious awards open to a recording artist. And you’d think that being Elvis was so important and did so much great work, they’d recognise it. Wrong. It took the Grammies eight years to award Elvis his first Grammy in 1967 for the album “How Great Thou Art”. Then it took them another five years to award him his second Grammy for the album “He Touched Me” in 1972. Two years later they gave him another award for his live rendition of the song “How Great Thou Art” in 1974.

Elvis won three Grammy awards but they never awarded him them for rock ‘n’ roll, only gospel music, even though he was originally better known for rock ‘n’ roll.

But did Elvis’s singing get worse because he wasn’t awarded music’s chief award for eight years. No way (despite the quality of his movie songs). He sang with the same passion; He did all he could with his songs. And, finally, someone awarded him for how awesome his work was. Even though it took years.

So here’s the point, sometimes people won’t recognize you even when you’re doing a great job. Not at first. The challenge is keeping going even when you’re seeing people who aren’t at your level taking your awards. Getting angry won’t help. It’ll only make you look jealous. And working less because you don’t see the point of working hard if no one’s recognizing you won’t help either. Then, you’ll never win anything. And deservedly so. All you can do is work with renewed vigour to produce the best product possible. And, eventually, someone will recognize you. Someone will say, “this guy knows what he’s doing”. And eventually, you’ll win out overall.

Elvis’s Lessons:

It took Elvis eight years to win music’s chief award, the Grammy. But he didn’t give up or put less work out. Then he would never have been recognized (and his record sales might have gone down, too). Instead, he did all he could and eventually he was recognized. When you don’t get the recognition you deserve, it’s your job to do all you can, keep plugging away and some day you’ll win out.

P.S. If you're interested in hearing Elvis singing the song that eventually won him a Grammy, here's a Youtube video of him with "How Great Thou Art".

P.P.S. Remember to leave a comment below or email me at alexghilson@gmail.com to continue the discussion.

Getting Others to Believe in You (the Elvis Way)

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen and thanks for tuning into Graceland Ontario. This week’s update regards being taken seriously (and you already know how important that is for your career and life). We’re going to talk about assertiveness.

Now, don’t get scared on me because of the big word. Primarily, we’re talking about how you say things. Namely, how confidently you say things. Do you remember when you were a kid and you liked the pop songs that came out? And some of those songs had ‘sexy’ lyrics that sounded good on the radio but when you read them aloud, you always felt embarrassed. You know, words like ‘baby’ (the type over three years old) or lines like ‘I love you’. There was something about them that, for whatever reason, when you went to say them, your tone changed and you never sounded as convincing as the people singing on the radio. You felt awkward saying them, you weren’t assertive, and this made you less convincing.

So, it boils down to whether you’re convincing or not. I mean, if you’re doing a presentation and you have ‘baby’ syndrome − you feel awkward saying what you’re saying − then it kills the passion you’re speaking with. It kills your assertiveness. And people won’t believe you, not really. And man, that sucks when you’re trying to sell a vacuum cleaner.

The same problem comes up anytime when you’re presenting or performing. Take dancing. A lot of people get awkward when others ask them to dance. Even if they’re really good, they tend only to waddle side to side. They do this because they don’t want to embarrass themselves by pulling an all out Fred Astaire and really going for it. But, ironically, by not being assertive and not going for it, they make themselves look like a real idiot.

The key is to know what to do and when do it. Really do it, like your life depends on it. And when you go with that passion and let all the stops out, people will believe in what you’re doing. They’ll believe because you believe. And once you’ve convinced yourself, you become much more assertive and it becomes much easier to persuade others that you’re right, or good, or whatever.

Take Elvis as an example; Elvis is renowned for both dancing and, especially, singing. Take a look at anytime when he did either, even when he’s messing about with the boys in the rehearsals for That’s the Way it Is. He gives it his all. You believe he’s a good singer because he sings with all his heart. You believe he’s a good dancer because he dances with all his soul. And, man, you can’t look bad when you’re putting all your power behind what you’re doing.

Now, compare this with a high school kid (it could have been anyone) who might look great, sing great, dance great in rehearsal, but stick him in front of people and what happens? He flunks. Why? He didn’t believe in what he was doing. He felt wrong for some reason and had ‘baby’ syndrome. That made him awkward and unassertive and people didn’t appreciate his act.

In short: when you’re doing something right, with assertiveness, people think it’s good or right. If you still do something right but without assertiveness, people aren’t sure whether it’s good or right and it doesn’t work out as well.

Elvis’s Lessons:

Of course, know your stuff but make sure you present/perform it with assertiveness. What is assertiveness? Believing in what you’re doing and showing to others you believe in what you’re doing. Once you believe and give it your all (when you become assertive), it becomes much easier to come off well and persuade others that you’re right when even you didn’t believe you were. And, seriously, you want others to think you’re right!

P.S. I'd be glad to hear your feedback on my writing and the topics I cover, either through the comment box below or through my email at alexghilson@gmail.com It's OK, I won't bite.

P.P.S. If you'd like to see assertiveness in action, here's a Youtube clip of Elvis singing "I Was the One" from the Elvis: That's the Way it Is. Notice the conviction and assertiveness Elvis puts into the song even though he's forgetting the words (and notice how people love it all the same).

Learn from Elvis, Learn from a Superhero

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

So, we’re back for our fourth and final week talking about superheroes (though I’m sure they’ll return in the future), how they influenced Elvis and how their positive influences can be used to improve your life as well. Sound good? Good!

So last week, we talked about making decisions. If you missed that post, check it out. It’s worth a browse.

So, this week, the first trait we’ll be talking about is being…

Polite

Notice how superheroes are polite. I mean, not only to grandmothers and young children, but they’re even cordial to the bad guys. And we’re not talking about the guys at work that bring smelly food at lunch time; these guys are wrecking the world, and the superhero essentially says, “hey stop it… now!... Or I’ll have to blow you up (and I don’t want to do that)”. In like fashion, Elvis always came across as polite. Whenever you see him in interviews, he’s always referring to the interviewer as ‘sir’ and nodding his head. He’s shaking the man’s hand, smiling, being nice to the guy − even in the 70’s when he’s a grown man, one of the most well-known men in the world, and the interviewer’s this unknown fella. I wonder how great that unknown fella felt when he got treated like an equal, or even a better, by the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Actually, let’s be honest − how do YOU feel when you get treated good by anybody, even if they’re working the cash at Wal-Mart. Yea, that’s right − great. By being polite to others, you make them feel respected and worthy. And that makes them feel great. And people do nice things for you when you make them feel great. It never hurts to be polite. Ever.

Look Uniquely/Camouflaging Awesome!

Ok, let’s be honest − all superheroes look awesome. I mean, you might not like their style, but it’s bright and bold and easy to market. Though you might not want to go to work looking like that, it still gets you to smile when you see it and go, “I might not want to rock that, but it looks fine on him and, admittedly, he looks amazing in that Spiderman garb”.

The same is true for Elvis. Elvis had those incredible jump suits. Now sure, clothes like the Tupelo Gold Suit made their mark, but you’ve got to continually look similar to be recognized like a superhero and those jumpsuits did that job. Again, maybe you wouldn’t want to wear them to work, but you still feel that Elvis looked so awesome for wearing them.

But if he looked so awesome for wearing them, why wouldn’t you want to wear one? Mainly because you have to look not only awesome but uniquely/camouflaging awesome. This means what you wear has to be unique enough that people will recognize you as you for wearing that outfit (Elvis jumpsuit); but, the outfit also has to be awesome in a way that makes you still camouflage with others (like having a really awesome Men in Black suit −looks like other suits so you don’t stand out, but is so well-maintained you look great).

The idea here is not to look like a fruit. It’s to look great. Superheroes never look bad on a daily basis. Maybe roughed up after a tough fight, but they have to be ready to smile at those grandmothers and get on to the next bad guy and they can’t do that if their pants are ripped so badly they’re falling off. Same thing with Elvis; he looked great, even at the end of a tough concert tour. When you look great like that, people feel an affinity to your awesome clothes and they connect that to an awesome you. Seeing pictures of Elvis dressed up in those jumpsuits are so iconic, you can’t help but go “wow” when you see them. By looking awesome in your own way, you want others to say “wow” when they see you. And you know it’s good when your next boss looks at you and goes “wow. That’s one well put together guy!” If it worked for Elvis and Superman, it can work for you.

Elvis’s Lessons:

Elvis Presley, one of the most successful men in history, took inspiration from superheroes to power-boost his career and YOU can, too. Two ways to do this are to be polite and to look uniquely/camouflaging awesome. When you’re polite, you make others feel awesome and they want to help you in return, when you dress awesome, you wow people into believing into you. Be like Presley, be polite; Look like Captain America, Look awesome.

P.S. I'd love to hear your input; leave a comment below this post or email me at alexghilson@gmail.com to continue the conversation.

P.P.S. If you want to see Elvis looking awesome and being polite, here's a Youtube video of him in interview from the early 70's.