Jackson's career shows power of hard work

Cover of Thriller

Like the rest of the world, I find it hard to believe Michael Jackson is gone. It's always difficult to see people pass away seemingly before their time. I remember when Princess Diana died, I was as glued to the news stations as I've been with Michael.

As I think about Michael Jackson, for this blog post, I will focus on the impact of his work and not the controversies or scandals. The thing that made Michael Jackson a larger-than-life figure who is known the world over was his talent and his body of work.

From the time he started performing with his brothers as the child lead of The Jackson Five to the worldwide success of Thriller and other projects, Jackson was a man whose performances could rivet those who watched.

Even as he prepared for his comeback tour to start next month, reports said he rehearsed for six hours a day, all with a mind toward rocking his fans' world. He wasn't afraid of hard work, and that showed in the career he built.

What can we take from that? For one, we can take note of the fact that no matter how talented a person is, hard work is still necessary to produce extraordinary results. If the ever-talented Michael Jackson saw the need to put in countless hours of hard work to produce a certain result, then surely we can see a need to do the same.

This also is an encouraging point. It's encouraging because it lets us know that, even if we are not as talented as Michael, with a bit of hard work, we can produce some pretty good results of our own. When we look to start a new venture -- career, business or other pursuit -- we must know it takes more than just interest. We must be willing to follow that interest with some actual doing. Think about that the next time you're ready to start a new thing.

You probably know of some really talented people who didn't nearly live up to the hype -- or to your own estimation of what they could do. That's because talent alone is simply not enough. A person can be talented but lazy. Or talented but not very smart. On the other hand, you probably know of people who didn't seem to have much innate talent, but they were able to achieve a lot because they didn't mind working hard. Hard work can compensate for a lack of talent.

So as we reflect on the loss of a man who had great talent and worked hard to showcase it, let's take from his experience the knowledge that we too can excel in our chosen areas -- if we're willing to work.

So "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'?"

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