Barbara Streisand said “I’ve been called many names like perfectionist, difficult, and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good.” It’s an amazing thing how many people want to live their finest life. They’ve decided they don’t want to be normal or even regular. They want to go for their dreams and hope that it will come true. The question is, how come some people make it and some people don’t?
There are many factors that we talk about every week but one of them is paying attention to detail. People who have their dreams fulfilled do just that- they pay attention to details. Details means: to concentrate, to itemize, to refine. As Barbara Streisand says, good people pay attention to details.
Michael Jackson with Suzanne De Passe
I was in Hollywood at Suzanne DePasse’s office this week. What a successful woman. In the late 60’s she helped discover the group called “The Jackson 5” when she was working at Motown Records where she would later become the president. She told me about a young Michael Jackson who stood out from the other brothers. He was not Tito, he was not Jermaine, and he was not Jackie… he was completely Michael. She said that even as a young boy he paid attention to details. He got frustrated when his dance steps didn’t go the way he thought they should or when he missed a note. You see this is more than a ‘disorder’, where someone is obsessed with keeping a house clean or has to have everything in order. I’m talking about a discipline of doing the best you can with where you’re at because someday your hard work may draw an audience.
Like many thousands of people around the world I went to go see the Michael Jackson movie “This Is It”. Quincy Jones has called Michael Jackson “a musical genius”. I sat in awe as I watched the giant movie screen. I was so immersed by the film that I didn’t leave my seat even for the restroom because I didn’t want to miss anything. The way he related to his dancers- he was able to stay in step with people who danced every day of their lives. To the way he choreographed the choreographer. But while he directed the stage, he was always gracious about it. “When that door opens. Start that piano! God bless you.” Michael Jackson paid attention to details and it showed. He said about himself, “I’m never pleased with anything. I’m a perfectionist, its part of who I am.”
Michael Jackson dreamed of becoming a designer. He wanted to bring his distinctive style to the world. It would have been a mixture of the “real” Michael Jackson and his alter ego as the King of Pop. People were already imitating his style; his fashion designs would have been amazing because of his attention to his details.
The famous designer Giorgio Armani has said, “To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.”
As I’ve often said to you, dreams are easy but working for your dreams is another thing. I believe you’re willing to work for your dreams.
Number 1- You dreamed the dream.
Number 2- You worked the dream.
Number 3- You paid attention to the little details that makes your dreams come true.
For instance, many people can play the piano, but only one person sounds like Stevie Wonder. It’s in the little things.
There’s a proverb that I love, it says: “Pay attention to small beginnings because they just might get big.”
As you work your job this week, do your thing. Don’t get discouraged. Keep dreaming the dream… Keep working the dream… Keep paying attention to details because you never know where it can take you.
I still love the Jackson 5 and 3 years ago I took a trip to Gary, Indiana because I wanted to see the house where the Jacksons were raised. I saw a very little house with a very little yard that gave birth to the Jackson 5, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson.
What an amazing thing that the life that you are living today, that sometimes seems so ordinary, could be very extraordinary. And the world is sitting there and watching it all happen. So keep living your finest life.
“You can always dream, and your dreams will come true, but you have to make them come true.”
–Michael Jackson
Psalm 37:4
Get insurance with God and do a good deed,
settle down and stick to your last.
Keep company with God,
get in on the best.
