I was 17 and had been playing drums for only a little over a year when I heard one sentence that would forever change my destiny.
It came from Danny Wilson, the bass player of The Jeff Lorber Fusion, one my favorite jazz-fusion bands at the time. Chances are good you’ve never heard of Danny, or his band. But that’s not the point. Go check them out.. but again, not the point.
Being a very tenacious young man, I somehow finagled my way into the concert venue where the band was doing a sound check for a show that night. Right after sound check was finished, I asked drummer Dennis Bradford if I could play his drums. I wanted to show Dennis what I could do; I figured some feedback from such a player would further my career as a drummer. Amazingly, he granted my request! When I was done playing for the band, Danny the bass player exclaimed, “Man, you’re going to be one of those superstar drummers.”
Bam! Those words sounded a bell in my heart equal to Quasimodo’s ringing bell in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I was totally blown away by what I heard. That simple little sentence lifted my spirit to a place it had never known, and those words remained etched in my heart. To this day I don’t know for certain whether Danny meant it. In retrospect, I like to think he did because he had this overwhelmingly huge and sincere grin on his face and really lit up with enthusiasm when he said it. In any case, it didn’t really matter if he was sincere or not, because at the time I believed that he meant it. And that helped me believe in myself and visualize my future success.
American soldier and author Claude M. Bristol reflected,
It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.
That, my friends, is exactly what happened to me as I replayed that one powerful sentence Danny said to me in my head countless times.
This was especially helpful in the early days of my musical pursuits when my dream of becoming a successful drummer looked rather impossible. In those times of doubt, it really helped infuse a steady stream of confidence in me.
Listen to what encouraging words did for the famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso: “My mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll become a general; if you become a monk, you’ll end up as the Pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up Picasso.”
Words carry with them great power. And throughout your life, you’ll be given ample opportunity to speak words of life to all who come across your path. Hold on to words that mean a lot to you, and that reinforce positivity, for when held closely, these words will drive you towards success, and retrain your mind to think in f positive manner. Words are free, but their meaning is priceless.
