Brant Hansen “Might As Well Try to Kill It”
Might as Well Try to Kill It
Chris Rock was about to take the stage as the host of the Oscars and he looked down at his phone.
The incoming call was from… THE Michael Jackson. He was calling Rock just to wish him a good show. An interviewer asked Rock, “Did that put extra pressure on you?”
Rock’s answer was immediate and instructive:
Nope.
“I want to kill every time I do anything,” he said. “I want this interview to be better than every other interview you’ve done. Like I always tell people: you can’t always control if it’s a hit, but you can always try to be great.”
Bingo. This is how I feel about every break I do on the radio. “Why not try to make it great?”
Do all of my breaks turn out great? No, of course not. But when I fail, it’s not for lack of trying. I genuinely see each chance I’m given to connect to people as golden.
This is because:
1- Each person listening is beyond merely “important.” Each of them is an astonishing marvel, designed by God to be unceasing spiritual beings.
2- I’m not great at a lot of stuff. But this I can do: Put words together to encourage people. I’ll bet you are, too.
3- I don’t control many things in life, like how smart or tall or naturally talented or whatever I am. But passion? That I can bring.
4- The number of opportunities I get to do this is limited. I am not promised an infinite career nor an unending audience.
5- Paul wrote to the Colossians that whatever they did, they should “work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters… It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Don’t look at that as a burden, by the way, like OH NO LOOK OUT GOD IS WATCHING. Instead, it makes everything we do so much more meaningful. Everything!
6- Let’s face it, it’s a lot more fun to try to be great.
Billy Oppenheimer (from whom I got the Rock quote) also cites an interview with John Mayer, who was recounting all his odd jobs before making it big in music. Something he learned:
“Whatever job you have, just be the best at it on your way to where you want to go. Just be the best at it. I became assistant manager at the gas station. They gave me a pager! Just be great at whatever job they give you. Because it’s more fun to be great than to (stink) at it and talk about how much you don’t want to be doing it. Just ace it for fun.”
Exactly! It’s more fun to pour yourself into what you’re doing, whatever it is.
My friend and producer Sherri Lynn laughs about an odd comment/complaint she heard from a former PD (whom I believe is no longer in radio?): “Why does he prep so much? Why does he have to try to hit a home run every time he opens the mic?”
Well, there you go. He might see what I do as only mildly important, but I don’t. Others might see what you do as only mildly important, but you shouldn’t, no matter what it is you’re currently given to do.
Do I actually hit a home run, every single break? No way. Of course not.
But I going to try? Yep. Every single time. Every single morning I will ask God to help me be a blessing to people this very day. I will ask him to help me with show content. I will then throw myself into spending the time to figure out where each break is going, and I will do the work of condensing and distilling to make it as brief and effective as reasonably possible.
It might only be 34 seconds, but those are going to be 34 very worthwhile seconds if I can help it.
We only get so many, you know?
Brant thanks you for reading. He can be reached at brant@branthansen.com