What a 7 year old taught me about fame.
Right now, it’s easy to self promote.
It’s tempting to spend more time and energy on promoting your idea than you actually spend on creating your idea. With social media we have a thousand ways to grab a bullhorn and tell the world what we’ve created. Which I think can be a great thing. I’ve loved the ability to tell people about the Quitter Conference or my books via social media.
But sometimes I fear the promotion of the idea has become our goal, not the idea itself.
I think it’s because a lot of us want to be famous. We want our book or our blog or our business or our whatever to wow the world. And get people talking. We want fame. But last week a 7 year old schooled me on that very subject.
I was out to dinner with my two daughters at a small Irish pub/restaurant. L.E. is seven and McRae is 5. They were talking to each other about the classes they plan to take in the fall. McRae is going to take art and L.E. is going to take gymnastics.
Thinking wistfully in the way that only a 5 year old can, McRae said, “I’ll be a famous artist when I grow up. I’ll try my best.” Without missing a beat, L.E. met her thought and said something that knocked me over:
“You don’t have to be famous to be an artist. You could do still life, comic books, children’s books. You could do anything.”
I love that idea. “You don’t have to be famous to be an artist.”
Your ability to create art is not dependent on your ability to create fame.
You don’t have to be famous to write a book.
You don’t have to be famous to record a song.
You don’t have to be famous to open a business.
You don’t have to be famous to start a blog.
It might happen. Fame might be a consequence, but don’t do whatever it is you feel called to do, just for fame. That never works out well.
Even seven year olds know that.
Question:
How would you define “fame” right now?