On the 29th day of December 2009, I watched Wyclef perform live in Calabar, the cleanest city in Nigeria and the city where the biggest carnival and street party in Africa holds every year.
Wyclef was expectedly off the hook, he got the crowd so thrilled and excited.
His performance and that of other mega stars and local Nigerian artist were part of the Calabar Christmas holiday carnival festivities that usually culminates in a display of fire works on the 1st day of the next year.
He was definitely great and I was glad I came to the show.
The highest point of his performance for me was when he told us a little story on one of his instrumentals.
This Was His Story
I came to America at the age of 10. I couldn’t even speak English. They People asked us to go back to our country.
At age 13, I got a job at Burger King. My boss told me I was never going to be anything except flip burgers at Burger King for the rest of my life. But at age 19, I met a group of other singers and we formed a group called the FUGEES.
We worked hard in the studio and I became a ghetto super star.
One day, I drove in my brand new BMW to Burger king where I used to work and ordered a Burger.
I was served by my former boss he could not recognize me from the drive through.
He ended his story by saying that he worked hard and that we had no excuse whatsoever to fail.
It wasn’t the first time I had heard stuff like this. In fact I had read it in many books and it is one of my guiding principles in life.
But it was the first time I heard it in a live concert from a world class entertainer. The truth is, it wasn’t the hard work part of the story that touched me, it was the story. The story struck a cord and brought a new meaning to the phrase, hard work is the secret to success.
(Even the crazy crowd kept silent while he told his story, he connected to them all. He got all our attention)
So What Are The Lessons From This Story?
1. Work Hard (obviously)
Whether, you are a blogger who is learning the ropes or doing any form of online business, the only road to success is hard work (smart work if you like).Nothing happens till we move, till we act, till we work, till we work hard.
I have always believed that “information is not power”. You can have all the information in the world but it is only when you act that it becomes power.
2. Learn To Tell Good Stories
Wyclef could have just said in a few words “work hard so that you will become what you want to become” but no, he decided to tell a story. A story that connected us all and stressed the point he finally made.
In future, whenever I remember that story (frankly I will never forget it), I will always remember that I need to work hard.
Finally, the art of telling good stories is something all bloggers should learn and use. It is seriously advocated and used by Seth Godin , read another post by him , Darren Rowse of problogger, copyblogger and many other top bloggers.
It is a very effective tool of communication.
Hard work never killed anybody and a good story teller connects to everybody
Great post – and so true …
Everything of the best to you in 2010
Let’s show the world that African Bloggers rock!
Thank you and i wish all your dreams come true in 2010. African bloggers rock for real …
You’re so lucky I would love to see Wyclef in concert. I know that my story telling is something I need to work on. In person I tell great stories, but when I try to write them, the tone is different. Thanks for the encouragement.
@Ileane
.-= Ileane @ Ms. Ileane Speaks´s last blog ..Blogging Legacy – Have You Considered Yours? =-.
Wycelf was awesome…i must be really lucky…story telling is great.i try to do it as much as i can.thanks for the comments