Two posts ago, I described the little white lie I told about being the real Forrest Gump … the one they made the movie about. I mentioned that I told this fib hundreds of thousands of times.
Often, a person would approach me quietly after I’ve declared my Gumpness and say, “So, how’d you get this gig?” I’d confidently repeat my fib – most times that would end our conversation. But some small percentage of the people wouldn’t buy it. They’d demand more and say, “No really, how’d you get this job?” At that point, I’d lean in and whisper, “Genetic luck, a bad haircut, and the idiot part comes natural.”
My last post focused on genetic luck… today, we’ll take a look at the bad haircut part of the equation.
A bad haircut in simply doing the thing you need to do – even if it’s unpleasant – to get the job done.
In my case, I needed to cut my hair, in a rather unusual style, in order to properly play the part of Forrest Gump. It was non-negotiable. I didn’t have any choice. I couldn’t say, “I’ll play the part of Forrest but I’m going to cut my hair in a more traditional style.” It would not have worked. A huge part of Forrest was his unusual haircut.
In every job, there are things you need to do to get the job done properly. They are unpleasant. They are non-negotiable. You don’t have any choice. You can’t say, “I’ll just skip that little detail and do it my way.” It doesn’t work. You need to suck it up and get your own bad haircut in order to properly do your job.
Now ironically, many people don’t suck it up and do what’s required. They don’t understand the concept of doing what is necessary. They try to do it their way. When they hear you can’t fight City Hall, they say, “Who says?” and start fighting.
The problem is they eventually fail. They aren’t willing to do what’s necessary.
If someone asks you to do a job … if someone is paying you to do a job … if your husband or wife is asking you to do what’s necessary to make your marriage work … it seems to me that getting a bad haircut is not such a bad option.
For the first year, I would explain to people why I had such an unusual haircut … I was self-conscious. I didn’t want people to think I was weird – despite the fact that they thought I was weird.
And then one day I accepted it and stopped explaining.
Now I sometimes explain if my hair grows for more than two weeks.
What’s the bad haircut you have to get in order to do your job?
Are you willing to give up worrying about how you’ll look?
Are you willing to keep a bad haircut long enough for it to actually start looking good?
Next Blog Title: The Idiot Part Comes Natural
Next Blog Date: April 12, 2012