"Everything has a price. It's just what you're willing to pay for it." - Anne Bishop
"Everything has a price, including both success and failure. Choose either one and be prepared to pay the price." - Larry Winget
"Everything comes with a price. You can never gain something if you don't sacrifice something of equal value." - unknown
The above quotes (or at least ideas behind the quotes) have been at forefront of a couple conversations recently. In my last post "What are you chasing?", I asked a number of questions about what you want from any given experience. The follow up to those questions then becomes, what are you willing to give to get that?
After a number of conversations, I think it boils down to one of three things. As one of my colleagues said to me, "you can buy success with money, sweat, or time; but everyone pays one of those prices for it." They are right. Everytime I have experienced success it has cost me one of those things, and for me it has almost always been time. In reality, it has almost always been a combination of the three things. So let's look at those three costs.
Money - Some would argue that this is the easiest way to success...just buy it. I definitely think there is some merit to this. We see sports teams do it all the time. They buy great talent, that talents does their jobs, and championships are won. Look at the New York Yankees. They might be the best example of this throughout sports history. Now, in music, I don't know that money will always equate to that. In the orchestral world, it probably does. The highest paying gigs attract the best players. You put the absolute best in the same room and they will achieve musical greatness. If your version of success is competitive "band" (marching band, wgi, dci), the money doesn't hurt but I don't think it can buy you championships. At the end of the day the performers still have to earn it in those circumstances. What money does do there though is give those performers the best opportunities to achieve success. More money allows for more instructional staff and better equipment, which in my opinion is just as important (probably moreso) than a great design team. But money can buy you that as well.
Sweat - Good old fashion hard work. This is what a lot of business people talk about. Work hard, save up, and live a good life. There is absolutely truth in that statement. There is also a lot of depth that is missed in that statement. You can't work hard for one year only. Maybe in business you can, but not in music. In music, you have to work hard to claw your way up the ranks. It takes a lot of work to get to good, it takes even more work to get to great, it takes more work to get to the top end of great, and it takes a whole lot of work to maintain any one of those levels. This is true for competitive ensembles, garage bands, orchestras and solo performers. "Paying" for success with sweat takes an understanding from the whole team involved - staff, performers, parents, community, etc. It really takes everyone and everything sweating to get there. Sweat is also usually paired with the next cost.
Time - Success is not something that happens overnight. It is recognized overnight by the outside world, but no one sees the process it takes to be an "overnight" success. That process usually takes years whether it is writing a book, creating a product, building an organization/business. Time is just plan perseverance. Can you outlast the amount of time everything is not great to get to when it is. Also, can you outlast the soloists or ensembles above you. Most people can't, because sometimes you can't see the other side. I know I have gone through seasons of my life where I just put my head down persist, push forward, and when it's over I don't know where I came out at. Now, that those instances are fewer and farther in between, but they still happen now.
Success has a price. The only thing that affects that price is how much of it you want. The more you want, the greater the cost. "You can buy success with money, sweat, or time; but everyone pays one of those prices for it." Unfortuantely, the price of what you want won't come down so you have to ask if you are willing to pay it.
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