This is one of my favorite inspirational videos. When I first saw it I was moved. Even now, after watching it so many times, I feel the intensity of emotion that I felt the first time. Watch this amazing and inspiring video and keep reading because I share with you 5 important lessons we can learn from it, and 5 important questions we should ask ourselves. Enjoy it 🙂
5 LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM THIS VIDEO:
- Each of us are born to do something in this world, we only have to find what it is.
Paul Potts found out what he was born to do: an opera singer. No one believed in him. He was alone on stage, in front of hundreds of people willing to laugh at him. What did he do? He did what he was born to do: sing opera. Have you noticed how changed his face when the music came on? When he heard the music he was transformed; his gesture changed, his eyes lost in the emptiness, and then… the caterpillar became a butterfly; the frog became a prince; and Paul Potts became an opera singer.
- We have to practice hard to achieve excellence in what we do.
You cannot build your talent overnight. I mean, Paul Potts has an incredible voice, ok, but this is not enough to sing like an opera singer. He started to sing when he was 11 years old and, in his early life, Potts sang in the school’s choir and with the choirs at several Bristol churches. He worked hard to develop his talent until he became successful. Great things take time and effort.
- Life presents us opportunities every so often to show to the world who we are and what we do. We only have to identify those opportunities.
- Identified the opportunity we have to overcome our fear of being wrong and act. Be confident, believe in yourself and go after your dreams.
Paul Potts entered Britain’s Got Talent despite not having sung in years. He told us about his lack of confidence. We only have to see his trembling face to realize how difficult it was for him to be on stage in front of hundreds of people. In front of the spotlights, the public, the jury, the TV cameras with hundreds of thousands of people watching him on TV. He could be resting in his home watching the show on TV and daydreaming about what it would be like to be there showing to the world his talent. But, instead of all that, he was brave enough to go to the casting call with literally hundreds of other people. For Paul Potts the risks paid off. So, take reasonable risks for career advancement. Overcome your fear of failure just as Potts did.
- Quality is always rewarded. If what you do is valuable, sooner or later, you will be generously rewarded. So, never give up, keep trying, keep working hard and success will be just a matter of time.
FIVE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD ASK OURSELVES
1- What are you born to do?
2- Are you working hard enough?
3- Do you identify life’s opportunities?
4- Are you taking advantage of your opportunities? Are you living with fear? Do you take risks?
5- Is your work valuable to others?
And the last and the most important question: Are you giving up on your dreams? I hope not, because your dreams come first; your life and happiness are at stake. It really is worth the effort. Isn’t it?
Paul Potts Music:
- Passione (2009)
- One Chance (2007)
Written by: David Cantone
What lesson or inspiration do you take from the video? Do you know other good inspirational videos? I would love to hear your comments… so keep them coming! 🙂
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If you liked this video, please share it on Twitter or Stumble it and help me to spread its amazing message. I would appreciate it –> Thanks a lot.
Ryan
// Oct 17, 2009 at 12:14 am
Beautiful! This is what life is about. Gave me shivers too.
Seeing someone do what God placed them here for is a striking thing. You can sense it instantly when the light goes on. It takes plenty of effort to develop a talent but a natural is a natural, and this dude has it.
.-= Ryan ´s last blog ..Ryan Biddulph Quotes: Substance =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Oct 17, 2009 at 7:48 am
Hi Ryan.
Yes you’re absolutely right: he has a natural talent. But each of us has talent, it’s just that many of us don’t discover what it is (and there may be more than one). Once discovered, we have to work hard to improve it (or them).
What are we born to do? This is a crucial question. It takes time to give our honest and sincere answer, but it really is worth the effort.
Ryan thanks for the comment.
Nicholas Cardot
// Oct 17, 2009 at 6:53 pm
That is pretty amazing. I’m friends with a girl who made it to an American Idol tryout and Simon laughed at her. I’ve seen the video. It was brutal. But even Simon smiled and commended this guy. He did an absolutely amazing job. I did not see that coming when he walked onto the stage.
.-= Nicholas Cardot´s last blog ..The Art of Blogging: Choosing Your Canvas =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Oct 17, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Hi Nicholas, nice to see you here. Welcome to ilcantone.com.
Simon laughed at her? And how did she take it?
Yes, you’re right, even Simon had to take his hat off to him. Talent is talent, that’s what this show is all about 🙂
Thanks Nicholas for your comment.
See you soon.
Nicholas Cardot
// Oct 18, 2009 at 12:10 am
She just kept on smiling. She’s very good now and she sings for a living.
.-= Nicholas Cardot´s last blog ..The Art of Blogging: Choosing Your Canvas =-.
Justin- AlittleBetter.net
// Oct 18, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Well written article. I’m not so sure quality is always rewarded, someone has to know about the quality in order for it to get out there, and for that we can learn another lesson from Paul. Put yourself out there.
.-= Justin- AlittleBetter.net´s last blog ..Best of My First 100 Posts =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Oct 18, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Hi Justin.
Well you’re right: We have to leave our safe sea and go out to the world. But, I really think quality leads to success. But there are other factors like perseverance and, the most important-> Never give up on what you love.
Thanks Justin for your contribution 🙂
Marko
// Oct 19, 2009 at 8:19 pm
You just gotta love YouTube for making it possible to anytime get a serious motivational injection.
Talent is important and it does help. 🙂
But often it can also work against you.
I’ve seen it time and time again. During my times in college studying music with some of my peers, as well as by observing many of my guitar and keyboard students.
If you don’t develop the vision for yourself and have a strong dose of dedication and perseverance, relying on your talent alone might make you complacent.
And when the first serious hurdle blocks you, where talent alone is not sufficient enough to help you jump the hurdle – you crumble and give up. 🙁
Seriously, my conclusion is that sometimes it might be better for you, to NOT have too much talent – that you have to fight at least a little bit for your achievements.
You’ll also appreciate the rewards a lot more.
.-= Marko´s last blog ..It’s Not Just About the Money =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Oct 19, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Hi Marko and thanks for visiting ilcantone.com.
What an amazing comment. I agree with you 100%. We have to be careful, we don’t want to become complacent. Dedication and perseverance make the difference between success and failure, between great and good, and a long etc. As you said, when we work hard on something we appreciate and enjoy a lot the result of this effort.
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.
Regards 🙂
Jim Hardin
// Oct 20, 2009 at 12:49 am
Hi Dave
Awesome video it gave me goose pumps.
Sometimes I think the hardest thing to do is find what you are born to do, to find your passion and to find your dream. For some people their dream seems to smack them right in the face and they drive towards their dream and don’t let anything get in their way. For others finding their dream is much harder.
I believe we all have a purpose we all have something special to give the world. This something special isn’t necessarily something on the grand scale as inventing the next new technology or internet. I believe that each one of us has a passion inside and we know we have found it when we talk about it or work on it we get totally engrossed into it that nothing else matters in the world around us. Our passion focuses us and changes us in a way nothing else can. Once we find our passion we don’t let anything get in our way to succeed and we can seem to overcome anything. Much like Paul when he got up stage and he heard the music he transformed into the opera singer that he was born to be.
Great Post Dave! It really made me think. Now if I could just find my passion maybe I could get somewhere. Let me look around I may have dropped it on the floor or maybe its in the lost and found. You haven’t seen it have you? Just kidding!
Thanks again for an inspiring post!
Jim
.-= Jim Hardin´s last blog ..Mystery Google? =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Oct 20, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Hi Jim, Thanks for commenting.
Yes, you’re right. Some people don’t need to think too much about their passions because they know it very well. But, most of the people need to try a very wide range of activities in order to find their passion and what they are born to do.
My personal advice to the second group of people would be the following:
1- I learned that a while ago from a lecture by Farrah Grey.
*Find your area of excellence
Ask yourself:
-What am I good at?
-What comes easy to me but harder to others?
– What Work would I do for years without getting paid for it?
It’s really important to answer these questions honestly. There is no hurry to answer them, some people need more time than others to answer, but it’s ok; the really important is to answer honestly and thinking carefully about the answer given. Sooner or later the answer to these questions will come to our mind.
How do you feel when you do a specific task? Do you feel comfortable and happy, or you feel bored and uncomfortable doing it?
Thanks Jim for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it. I hope my reply could help you in some way :).
See you soon.
Jim Hardin
// Oct 21, 2009 at 1:51 am
Hey Dave
Yes the reply does help. Those are great questions. Ones that I will need to think about for bit, but sooner or later the answer will be there. I think sometimes trying to think too much about what your passion can make it harder. Sometimes it is right in front of you and you don’t even see it.
.-= Jim Hardin´s last blog ..Mystery Google? =-.
David
// Nov 2, 2009 at 4:41 pm
This is a very insparational post. You have made my day and I will bw very surprised if no one coming across this post is not impacted by it.
Great post and I’ll see you in twitterville 🙂
.-= David ´s last blog ..Are You Striving For Excellence? =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Nov 3, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Hi David and welcome to ilcantonce.com
By the way, nice name :).
Thanks for your kind words David.
Yes, see you on twitterville :).