by Carol
I LOVE to hear people tell their stories. I like to see the paths that people travel to the places where they end up. I don't care if it's in the classics, or in People Magazine, if it's in a documentary or in a TV show - when someone starts to philosophize about their life, I'm hooked. Because I like people and I believe everyone has something to teach us. And you can learn....if you'll only take the time to listen.
Today, I was inspired by an interview with Goldie Hahn. Are all (or any) of you old enough to remember her start in "Laugh-In?" Here is how that career-making character really happened, according to Goldie.
Goldie was not a comedienne, nor a stand-up. She hadn't acted. Her self-identity was as a dancer. When her agent told her she had a chance to audition for a new show "Laugh-in," she didn't see at all where or how she could fit in. But - and here's my point - she went anyway. Walking down the long hallway in, she was a nervous wreck - not a clue in her head about what she should be showing the producer.
She started out honestly, telling him how outside her skill set this experience was. He told her to read anyway. In those days, before prompters, a man with hand-written cue cards knelt just below the camera. Although Goldie was undiagnosed at that point, it turns out that she is somewhat dyslexic. As she read the cue cards, she flubbed one after the other and giggled nervously. She stopped and shouted up to the producer's box - I'm not good at this - I'm making a mess of it." And that's when he said - "that's what I love about it ! Keep going!"
And that was the genesis of that crazy, lovable, but unmistakably ditzy character that sent Goldie off into a career, that made her one of the most powerful and accomplished women in media, as a star, a producer, an Academy Award winner.
So do you see? Begin Try Even if you doubt yourself.
And who knows where your journey will take you?
Just as Lao-tzu, the Chinese philosopher says;
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
I couldn't agree more.
