Sunday Newscape Magazine

If you are self-employed or you work in a highly competitive industry, the hard times, when you’re working hard but nothing good seems to happen, can seem as if they’re lasting for an eternity.

I’ve spent the last twenty years of my adult life working in the entertainment in one form or another. Everyone knows how hard it is to make it in show business. So, after struggling for months, when one finally gets a little break, when something good happens, when the fruits one’s labor seem to be paying off, it is very easy for to stop everything and start celebrating.

That can be a big mistake because when you celebrate too much, all the momentum that you’ve spent months building up will evaporate. I don’t know why it works that way but it always does. My guess is that it is a wacky rule of the universe.

So, if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, inventor, singer, actor, writer or whatever, when something good finally happens, you can celebrate a little bit at the end of the business day. You might want to go somewhere nice for dinner, go visit some wild lover who you haven’t been with in a while or just have a drink, relax and listen to your favorite music. Personally, I believe that having a wild time sexually is one of the best ways to celebrate anything.

Next morning, your must start to focus again, you must continue pushing hard and networking without losing a beat because if you break the flow, things will start to fall apart.   Anyone who has ever achieved any type of success understands very well the concept of staying focussed and keeping the flow going strong. Your big pay off is directly related to all the good energy that you have created. It is a mathematical equation.

I’ve known quite a few people who struggled very hard, for a long time. They did all the right things and when something good finally happened, they went crazy with excitement and lost their grip. The next day, everything started going backwards. I don’t know if they teach this concept in any business school. Some things can’t be taught; they are life lesson and it is up to us to learn from our experiences.   It is even a better idea to learn from the mistakes of others because most likely you won’t live long enough to make all those mistakes yourself.

So, if you’re trying to hit the big time, if you’re aiming for the top of the mountain, hang in there and when something good finally happens, you must remember that it is not the end of the road. There are much greater rewards waiting for you if you stay on track.

On the flip side of this coin, you might be working hard and doing all the right things when all of a sudden something bad happens to you. You feel like giving up and spending the rest of your life, sitting on the sidelines wondering why something so horrible happened to you. I believe that it could be a spiritual debt that you owe. Maybe in another life you were a really evil person.

Maybe… the reason is before you can enjoy success, you might have to pay the emotional price for something bad that you did in the past or it could simply be God testing you to see if you will hang in there just a little bit longer. I believe that if we hang in there long enough, in the end, we get what is due to us.

“The world doesn’t owe you anything because you’re here”. I believe that is a line from a “Staple Singers” song of years ago. So, to be worthy of great success, you’re suppose to start applying the talents you were given and don’t let negative people get inside your head. You must also remember to keep your ego under control.   As soon as you’re done having a little bit of fun, get back to work so the world doesn’t leave you behind.

Now when the day comes that you hit ‘the mother load’, when you become successful and the big money starts flowing in, keep in mind there is no guarantee that big money is going to keep flowing in forever. Buy some real estate or make some smart investments so that your money starts working for you. Look at how many famous actors and singers who were earning several million dollars a year, spent their money as if the river of green was never going to dry up and then one day, it did dry up and they ended up broke. It would be wise to learn from that form of stupidity.

So keep your eye on the prize, have fun along the way but don’t lose focus, you don’t want to end up going all the way back to starting line again and again. That is no fun.

If you’re a guy be careful that you don’t work so many weeks without taking a break that you start to forget what a good night with a wild woman feels like.

If you know anyone who might benefit from this little bit of insight, cut out this column and send it to him/her or hang it on a wall where it will be seen. As always, I welcome your comments. You may write to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it