A Rock Star on Being Great

Should anyone ever really get there?

Have you ever heard something that made a vague idea make perfect sense in a flash?

It happened to me recently while chatting with world-class guitarist and legit rock star, Rik Emmett... We were talking about what it took to be great at anything and then Rik said this: No great artist I have ever met thinks they are great. If they ever thought they were, they would stop doing what made them great in the first place, hard work and practice.

I literally stood up and clapped.

THINK about this! I’d repeated that vague notion many times – “If you stop getting better, you stop being good” - but Rik made it real in just a few words. If you ever believed you were the best, you’d stop doing what made you the best – and it would be over.

Brilliant! And this is not just true of musicians but of all ARTISTS… in any field. Artists are those people who make magic happen whatever they do.

Great artists keep practicing until they can’t get it wrong so that they can just do, and not think. Just like Tom Cruise said in “Top Gun Mavrick”.

Think about that – so you can just do and not think. Don’t all great artists just do? Isn’t that the height of excellence? Isn’t that what we all strive to do – to do or say just the right thing without thinking? That is what it takes to be a great artist in any field and especially life insurance sales – and a rock star ought to know.

And here’s the thing, anyone can practice enough to do it…