Ever watch “Behind the Music” back in the day? I loved seeing what happened with rock bands. How they got started but the real entertainment was when they told the story of how they crashed.
Anything that shows the background of how something happened and also has lots of interviews will get my attention. Especially if the subject of the interview has overcome huge odds or some massive screw-up.
I’ve learned a lot from watching interview with folks like John Daly, Darrius Rucker, and others. The main reason is these guys and others like them, answered every question honestly and didn’t try to gloss over their mistakes and areas where they had to change. There’s something to be learned from this.
Every so often, everybody needs to answer some tough questions about how they’re living their lives. But most of us are not famous enough to get interviewed by MTV or Barbara Walters, so you’ll have to interview yourself. I’m not saying you should talk to yourself, but you do need to ask yourself some really serious questions and answer them HONESTLY. This is really not all that difficult, because deep down every guy knows when he’s being honest and when he’s full of crap. Here’s a few questions to get you started
- What do I really believe in?
- What do I count on for my security?
- What bugs me, and what am I doing about it?
- What worries me and what am I doing about it?
- If I knew I had one year left to live, how would I spend it?
This is not an interview that you’ll do quickly, in fact it will probably take you few days or maybe a few weeks and that’s OK. Don’t rush this, because the answers are going to help you figure how you’re going to live your life for the next several years. There’s also a good chance that these questions will cause to you confront some junk in your life and make some significant changes. But you know what? That’s not a bad thing.
Periodic interviews of yourself is good discipline that will help give you sense of identity and direction.
