So, I Suppose We're Talking About Legacy: Remembering Sir Patrick Moore

 

Hey Guys!

Today’s a kinda special post on Graceland Ontario. For me, it might be one of the saddest ones. One of my childhood heroes, the British astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore, died today at the age of 89. His program, The Sky at Night’s been running since 1957. His last episode was Monday.

So, what I suppose I’m writing to you about today is legacy.

The focus of this blog is, of course, Elvis’s success lessons −the ones you can learn from to take and improve your life.

Well, legacy’s as proven by Elvis as it was by Sir Patrick Moore, even if in a different way.

Elvis had roughly a twenty three year career, from 1954 to 1977. You might be able to add a bit to the beginning there… in short, for a man who died in his early forties, he’d already compiled nearly a quarter century’s worth of work.

Elvis recorded somewhere between 665 and 988 songs in his life.

Those aren’t the rough drafts, the unheard tapes, the live performances. Those are just the different songs he put out. Compared with the complete output of the Beatles (at about 213 and 288), it’s a large number for a musician to put out.

And, even now, those songs are still heard − some like the early Sun recordings stuff, others prefer when his voice became all big and operatic. But one things for sure, there’s a legacy for people to listen to.

Same thing with Patrick Moore − there are hundreds of episodes of his show out there (over 700). Even with his passing, he, like Elvis, will never really pass. Not for a long time. There’s just too much he’s left behind for people to forget him.

 

God knows when you go the way of Sir Patrick or Elvis. God knows how much or how little time you have left. But you better get moving. People remember others for their output. Sure, some people are better thought of during their life than others, but if you have a product to sell, books to be read, songs to be heard, then you’re a heck of a lot better off than those who haven’t started. And those objects can continue to sell long after you die, giving you a sort of immortality.

 

Those who don’t do any work out of fear, stand no chance of being remembered.

And, even if you think you don’t care about being remembered, there is a financial aspect to be considered − the work you do now will be rewarded, if marketed properly, for financial compensation on your part. And when you’re gone, it’s the best death insurance policy you can by for your friends and family.

Sometimes it takes someone to kick you before you get moving. Now it’s my turn − for me, nothing’s more rewarding than a reader telling me they were inspired by something I said to action. I’d like to hear your success stories. But you gotta give it your all to earn that success. Otherwise, there’ll be no legacy, and you will fade to obscurity. Action or inertia: it’s your choice.

 

Elvis’s Lessons:

Sir Patrick Moore passed away today. He had a show on British television, The Sky at Night, for over fifty years. He left a legacy, like Elvis with his hundreds of recordings. Legacies give you a kind of immortality −your work will last even after you pass. And people’ll remember you. Plus, it’ll make you money now and for your estate when you’re gone. But you’ve gotta get started somewhere. If you don’t know how, let this post kick you to action. I want to see you be successful, but it’s your choice whether you decide to give it a shot.

P.S. If you want to read one of Sir Patrick's Obituaries, here's the one off CTV.

P.P.S. If you'd like to see an episode of The Sky at Night, here's one off Youtube.

If you enjoyed this post, here are other Graceland Ontario updates you might like:

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• Elvis, Sir Isaac Brock and the Success Constant
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The Time Trap

Helloo0O Ladies and Gentlemen!

Welcome back to Graceland Ontario where we discuss the success lessons of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and see how we can apply these lessons in your life. Today, we’ll be talking about something I call ‘The Time Trap”.

Sounds kinda like the name of some 60’s TV series (anyone else watch The Time Tunnel from 1966-1967, co-starring James Darren and Robert Colbert with Whit Bissell, John Zaremba and the beautiful Lee Meriwether? Man that was good… but anyways…). What we’re saying here is that people know something’s coming in the future. It’s big, it’s scary, and it might be career changing (for better if you do it right, for worse if you flub it). But because it’s so scary, people won’t start it. They won’t even touch it. They’ll procrastinate about it because they’re scared they’re going to mess up. But they don’t think this. Instead, they pretend they have more time than they do. “I’ve still got a month,” they’ll say.

“I’ve still got a week,” they’ll say.

“I’ve still got an hour.”

They put it off until they cannot possibly avoid it anymore. Either it never gets done or it gets done really badly and it blows the toes off their career (and relationship with their superiors). They trick themselves into thinking there’s more time than there is until they’re ‘trapped’ and have to do something disasterous (if they do anything at all) to make up for lost time. Yea, and that’s right − doing a bad job isn’t going to win you any medals. It’s not going to make you more successful or any money either. It might burn you, though.

Burn you bad.

So, this paradox of imagining extra time when you don’t have it is called “The Time Trap”.

“But what can I do about this?”

Well, let’s look at our pal Elvis Presley and see whether The Time Trap hurt him; possibly, but it’s hardly noticeable. Elvis was constantly producing new records, new songs, new movies − The Time Trap is a form of procrastination that prevents you from producing, or makes you produce badly. As Elvis didn’t do too much stuff that we hate, it seems The Time Trap didn’t hurt him too much.

Why is this? Perhaps Colonel Parker, his manager, was on his back about working, perhaps crazy record/ movie execs pushed Elvis to work in a wheelchair every morning to get him going. Or maybe one of the reasons Elvis was so incredibly successful was simply because he was good at overcoming The Time Trap. Perhaps he was one of those incredible individuals who loved their job and could have enough fun doing their job that they would get to work despite The Time Trap. He acted differently to 99% of the population and was therefore more successful than 99% of the population.

So, first you need to know if this applies to you. That’s answered simply: do you produce as much as you should or would like to? And if you don’t, is it because you keep putting it off, because of procrastination?

Then this’s for you.

Next, how do you deal with this?

One, you can get ‘a crazy record exec’ to help you − if you have somebody, a friend, your spouse, pushing you to do something, you’ll be less likely to procrastinate. That’s how my Mum got my brother to clean his room all that time ago − she kept pressuring him until he got sick of it and finished it. Another method I learnt from David DeAngelo (a dating coach who also works as a business coach under his real name, Eben Pagan) was to put something you didn’t want to lose on the line. You’d tell a friend about your goal and say that if you didn’t get it done you’d have to give them, say, $20 to pay for not doing it. This might work even better if the money goes to an enemy. You don't want to be paying your enemy with your money. That way it will further inspire you beat The Time Trap.

Two, get a job you like. It was the second article I wrote on Graceland Ontario and I stand by the message as much now as I did then. If you like writing, try journalism. If you like music, try to become a soundman (or a full out musician if you’re really brave). If you like being a salesman, be a corporate salesman. The truth is the more you want a certain job and enjoy the work, the less likely you are to procrastinate. Why? Because you want to do well with the work, not with your boss. If they didn’t pay you, you’d still do the work because you enjoy it so much. Then, The Time Trap and nobody else will stop you from working.

Three, if you can’t give up your current job, find the fun in it. If it’s fun wrapping up burgers in McDonald's, then you’ll like the job more. If it’s fun working on high pressure assignments because you feel like James Bond or something, then you’re more likely to try it than wait around for The Time Trap to get you. This is like step two, minus the job you like. If you have to do something you don’t like, at least making it fun will make it bearable. And, hopefully, you'll be more successful in business and life.

Thanks for reading this article! I hope it will help you become more successful and productive in your daily life. Now get to work!

Elvis’s Lessons:

People often kid themselves they have more time than they do. Then, a deadline sneaks up on you and you mess up. This form of procrastination is something I call The Time Trap. To overcome this, you can get someone to force you to acknowledge your work, you can choose a job you like and enjoy it enough to work through procrastination or you can find the fun in your current job. Thanks for reading, now go get to work!

P.S. If you're interested seeing Elvis in one of his 60's movie songs (when he was fighting the time trap all the time with those crazy movie execs), here's a Youtube video of him singing "I'll Take Love" from Easy Come, Easy Go in 1967... I mean, what a great song!

P.P.S. Remember to leave a comment or story either underneath this post or send it to my email, alexghilson@gmail.com to continue the conversation.

It's Quicker with Experience

Hey Guys,

Coming back at you from Graceland, Ontario, this week’s article is in some ways the opposite of last week’s article, but both are essential to your success. Last week, I talked about having a standard and going over something until it reached that standard, however long it took. An example of this being the 31 takes it took Elvis to record the single version of “Hound Dog”. Though it might be empowering to think that you are good enough to have a standard, it’s daunting to constantly be going over things, proofreading for the rest of your life instead of enjoying the exciting, creative part of your work.

This is the second part of this lesson. Like the previous one, it seems simple but people too often overlook it to escape short term pain. They worry that they will always be on the wire and instead they start letting things go, dropping their standard. And they become inferior.

In 1959, three years after “Hound Dog” was recorded, Elvis went into the studio to record “Big Hunk O’ Love”. Elvis was still in the army but these recording sessions during his leave were his way of staying in the record-buying public’s radar while he was in army fatigues. The final take of the song is full of rock ‘n’ rolling energy. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. It was a big hit.

And how long do you think it took Elvis to record? Considering the amount of time he put into “Hound Dog”, was it 40 takes? 50 takes? 100 takes!?

Nope.

It took Elvis four takes. The final recording was a splicing of the third and four takes. And though perhaps not as iconic as “Hound Dog”, it did well. It did very well.

Then, years later, in 1968 during his comeback from the movies to the music industry, Elvis walked into the recording studio with a different track; an older, more mature Elvis with larger sideboards went in with a different track. Elvis sang the song that changed his mind about music, his comments being that, “I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in”.

Francis K. Green, a reviewer of Elvis’s ’68 TV Special, mentioned Elvis’s “…three unflagging takes of "If I can Dream"". The song that changed Elvis’s mind about the music he would sing for the rest of his career was done in three takes. Impressive.

Even “Suspicious Minds”, possibly Elvis’s most well know single of the sixties was recorded in six takes. Not 31, six. Both “Hound Dog” and “Suspicious Minds” are examples of Elvis’s best music but the recording he did all those years later took so much less time than the earlier one.

So, what am I saying? Elvis had to put a lot less effort to achieve the standard he wanted later in his career than earlier on. Sure, people will say that technology played a part in this, and it’s true. But Elvis recorded “Big Hunk O’ Love” only three years after “Hound Dog”, not much time for technological innovation to take root. And he recorded the former track in 27 less takes.

Experience does count for something, even in the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s case. The more he practiced recording in a studio, the less effort it took to achieve the same results. And boy, could Elvis create results.

So, are you going to give up on your dreams because of the amount of time it takes to enjoy them at the moment? Hell no, because you know that it’s getting better. It’s getting better all the time and the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Elvis’s Lessons:

Ø After years of practice, life gets easier (or at least work gets done quicker). Experience does count for something. Take it from Elvis.

P.S. If you're interesting in hearing the original recording of "Big Hunk O' Love", here's a link to it on Youtube.