With the sad and sudden loss of Prince comes a lesson in the power of passion.
The child of divorced parents, Prince ran away from his mother’s home to live with neighbors at a young age due to issues with his step father. He was subject to epileptic seizures as a child and was teased by his peers. He was only 5’2″ tall and compensated by being flashy. Strike Three?
Not!
At age 7 Prince taught himself how to play the piano, followed by the guitar at 13 and then the drums at 14 years old at which time he joined a band called Grand Central. Not bad for a kid without a teacher. His passion for music led him to develop other talents of singing, dancing and playing multiple instruments to produce a demo tape at age eighteen that ended up in the hands of a local Minneapolis businessman who negotiated his first contract with Warner Bros.
And so a star was born………kinda sorta.
In his efforts to express and establish himself as a recording artist, his music was limited in air play due to his erotic approach resulting in controversial popularity. After experiencing his first big success with Little Red Corvette in 1983 it was not until the album Purple Rain was released in 1984 that his career catapulted into stardom.
Why should you care?
If you’re sitting at a desk all day wondering how/when you’re going to be happy, take a tip from Prince’s life: get happy NOW. Find things to love about your job NOW. Make a list of benefits you receive from your work and look at it every day to motivate you to do a great job versus just a good one. With employee engagement being at an all time low of 32% you need to fall in love with your company because just like Prince, passion + persistence pays off. Bringing your A game to work every day results in a habit of excellence that super charges productivity up to the sky.
And we all know what falls from the sky………..purple rain, right?
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