Don’t you love it when the guy who’s been knocked around, the underdog rises to the top, gets the girl and generally makes you feel good about life? You know the kind of story, it’s the kind that gets made into a movie. In fact the more the hero had to overcome the better the story, and the more we tend to admire, even love that individual when they finally succeed at something. Especially that person whose been knocked down and bullied so often they have to look up just to have poor self-confidence. Well this is just such a story. In fact when you’re done take a look at the YouTube videos referenced in the story. They’ll make the hair raise on your arms and give you goose bumps.
No matter how beaten up you may be, how much debt you might be in, how much you owe on your credit cards, how many rejections you have faced, how far away you are from your goals, I’m here to tell you…
Don’t give up. Success lies just around the corner!
Let me share a moving story about someone who never, ever gave up. In spite of great obstacles, he kept his dream alive.
Paul Potts was raised in Bristol, England, by his father, a bus driver, and his mother, a supermarket cashier. He developed a love of singing in his school choir, but he was shy and because he stayed out of the spotlight, his talents were overlooked.
Young Paul had a bit of a weight problem and he had been badly bullied in school, to the point that he had no self-confidence whatsoever.
“It was pretty bad,” he said. “They used to beat me up. I even thought of throwing myself down some stairs one day—not to kill myself, but to make people feel sorry for me.”
Growing up in a tough urban neighborhood, Paul did not dare disclose his growing love of opera for fear of being bullied even more. His passion became public only because he accepted a dare from friends to enter a local karaoke competition dressed as Luciano Pavarotti. His friends thought it would be funny to see him fumbling on stage, but the laughter stopped as soon as Paul opened his mouth.
Gaining a little confidence from his performance, Paul began to sing and even entered a local television talent contest. Although he didn’t take first place, he won enough money to pay for more voice lessons in Italy, where he actually got to sing in front of his idol, Pavarotti. The great tenor was impressed with Paul, and urged him to continue his studies, but unfortunately, fate had other plans.
Shortly after returning from Italy, Paul was stricken with a ruptured appendix and during emergency surgery, doctors found a tumor on one of his adrenal glands. They wanted to remove it right away, but Paul had no insurance and little means to pay. Although he was now singing opera with local companies, he was unpaid for these performances. He sang in the truest meaning of the word “amateur”—for the pure love of singing.
Ultimately, he had no choice but to have the surgery, and he had to sell his car to pay for it. This meant he now had to bicycle 15 miles to his “day job” as a salesman at Car Phone Warehouse, and work 13 hour days just to put food on the table for himself and his new bride.
In 2003, as if he had not had enough bad luck, Paul was knocked off his bicycle by a careless motorist and suffered a badly broken collarbone and severe whiplash.
The long and painful recuperation was made even worse by extreme financial difficulty, and Paul was so desperate that he even stopped singing for the next four years. By 2007, he was 30,000 pounds in debt, living on the brink of poverty. One day, while surfing the Internet, he came across “Britain’s Got Talent” website by accident.
It was a pop-up and he meant to close it, but instead, he maximized it. Paul filled out the application form <b>but when he reached the bottom where he could either submit or cancel, he could not decide. Was he too old? Did he have enough talent? He had not sung in four years! And so, in the end, he literally got a 10-pence piece out of his pocket and flipped it. He decided if it landed on heads, he’d go for it, and if it landed on tails, he wouldn’t. It landed on heads.</b>
With his best $35 suit, he dragged himself to the audition. Here’s a quote from Paul regarding that night: “I remember getting to the edge of the stage, and I seriously considered walking out onstage, waving to Simon Cowell, and walking off again. I didn’t know what I was doing there. It was a big risk, and I’ve never been much of a risk-taker. I just think it’s easier to think that you might have gotten something than to know that you didn’t.
You can see what happened that night by going to youtube.com and entering “Paul Potts.” It’s an incredible scene.
Paul went on to win that program and 100,000 pounds. He announced his retirement from Car Phone Warehouse, took his wife on a luxury vacation, paid off his 30,000-pound debt, and got his teeth fixed. “I’d wanted to deal with the teeth because I felt very self-conscious about them,” he said.
He went on to sing in front of the Queen of England and appeared on news programs around the world, including Oprah. He signed a million-dollar worldwide record deal and his album became number one in 17 countries, selling over two million copies.
Paul now sings around the world and is regarded as one of opera’s greatest Cinderella stories. “I still can’t believe it,” said Paul. “I keep waiting for someone to pinch me and say, ‘Wake up, Paul. It’s time for work—you’re late again!’”
If Paul Potts never gave up on his dream, why should you?
Are you tired of rejection? So was Paul.
Are you insecure about yourself? So was Paul.
Are you in debt? So was Paul.
Do some people laugh at your dreams? They laughed at Paul.
Do you have some health challenges? So did Paul.
Are you a bit overweight? Paul was.
Are your teeth a little crooked? Paul’s were.
Are you too busy working a JOB? Paul was.
The bottom line is that none of that matters, not even a little bit. All that matters is that you never give up on your dream.
Maybe we can’t sing like Paul but each of us, everyone of us has a unique and special talent that we can share with the world. What is yours? Are you afraid to let the world see it? Look how close Paul and the rest of the world was to losing out on being blessed by Paul’s incredible talent – the simple flip of a coin. My God I hate to think of how much poorer each of us would be now if Paul had not taken that risk, if he had simply decided to play it safe and not sing.
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