“Don’t know. Sorta feels good. Sorta stiff and that, but once I get going… then I like, forget everything. And… sorta disappear. Sorta disappear. Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I’ve got this fire in my body. I’m just there. Flyin’ like a bird”.
Billy Elliot
Each day I’m more convinced that my way of working, so structured and programmed, meets that characteristic of flexibility that I usually explain to my students. This week, Billy Elliot’s quote has made me think in the way the E.P. has to work. I will have to reschedule once again the presentation of one of the entrepreneurs that, I assure you, are worth it.
I don’t know if you have ever heard of Billy Elliot (the protagonist of a successful musical). Billy is a 11-year-old boy who lives in the County Durham (England) and whose passion for dancing is so big that, without his parents knowing about it, makes everything he can to become a professional ballet dancer (which has nothing to do with the boxer his parents hoped him to be).
Billy is, for many, a symbol of the fight against prejudices and constraining beliefs not only of everyone else towards oneself, but every single one we have about ourselves.
In the specific case of Billy Elliot, it’s when he starts to move that his will to live, happiness, hope and strength emerge in all its glory. That allows him to, little by little, find his place beyond what’s “predestined”, the clichés, the “conventionality” and the prejudices that hurt us so much and stop a lot of people from achieving their dreams.
And you, as an entrepreneur:
How many times happened to you that the ideas and opinions of the others towards what YOU want to do have made you stop at YOUR EFFORT and dedicate yourself to WHAT it REALLY MATTERS (according to other’s opinion)?- Why are the beliefs of others sometimes stronger than yours?
- Have you stopped to think about who is the person who has to dedicate themselves to make your dreams come true? Is that you or another person? It all depends on your answer.
Sometimes, especially in those occasions when, like many other people, we feel without strength, will or illusion, usually think that whatever we are doing isn’t worth it, that so much effort won’t take us anywhere. And our dreams? Where are they in that moment?
I think that each step we take must be aimed to achieving something (THE DREAM) and that that something has to be driven by PASSION, which makes us move, which makes everything we do be full of meaning. Because without passion, strength, perseverance, daily fight and support, of course, support understood as belief in oneself and support of the people who surround us, the path will be more pleasant, less difficult, don’t you think so?
Let me finish this thought with another quote, in this case of the movie The Pursuit of Happiness:
“Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.”
If you believe in that and bet on it, FIGHT for it and WORK for it every day, because I’m sure that, at the end, if you think it’s worthy and make it move forward, why isn’t it going to be that way?
I wish you wonderful days.
Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.