I'm Gonna Die MY Way

My wife says I have the strangest taste in movies. You see, there are movies I can watch again and again, which she couldn't sit through once. One of them is Rhinestone, starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton.

Dolly plays a country-and-western singer from Tennessee (I know, big stretch, right?) and Sly plays a New York City cabbie.

Dolly is under contract to one Freddie Ugo, a low-life with only two things on his mind (speaking of stretch, you guys have to see the dress she's wearing to start the film). After an argument, Dolly bets Freddie that she can turn any ordinary person into the next "Rhinestone cowboy."

The stakes are high. If Dolly wins, she gets the last years on her contract voided. If F.U. wins, Dolly extends the contract by three years and Dolly has to sleep with him. So let's say both are very motivated.

Now, wouldn't you know, Freddie doesn't play fair. He parades a variety of street people past Dolly as potential candidates. Finally, they agree on Stallone's cab driver.

Dolly figures out that the only way a New York cab driver can become a country singer is to start with the basics. He has to learn to walk, talk, eat and breathe country. So she loads him on the bus and they head for the hills. Of Tennessee.

Stallone goes through some serious culture shock in the Smoky Mountains. After some funny misadventures, Dolly finally gets him on stage in her home town to break the ice. The crowd responds, and Sly is hooked. Goodbye cab driver, hello country crooner.

The night before Stallone's big debut in New York, he has the requisite big fight with Dolly. Then comes the big scene, and the whole reason I'm telling you this story...

To win the bet, Stallone has to make it through one song during the nightclub's amateur night...

Remember Freddie? He's the owner of the Rhinestone, and he's packed the audience with the worst hecklers he can find. As Dolly finishes the warm-up for Amateur Night, the crowd starts to chant...

"Meat! Meat! We want fresh meat!"

Dolly introduces Sly. Sly walk on stage in an Elvis-like black glitter suit. He starts doing exactly as Dolly taught him to do-- strumming his guitar, bobbing gently in time to the music...

And gets heckled into silence before the first chorus!

Oh. No. Dolly goes pale. Freddie starts rubbing his hands together and licking his chops. Sly stares at the crowd, and turns away...

He puts down the guitar. Tells the band to pick up their tempo. Pulls the microphone from the stand and looks out at the rowdy crowd...

"If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die MY way!"

The band kicks in, up-tempo...

"If you all want to act up a little, let's act up a little..."

Moments later, the crowd is completely on his side. Sly sings the song, his way. By the end, the crowd is stomping and clapping and whistling.

You can probably guess the ending...

Every time I feel like I'm following the right steps, working a formula that has worked for others, and I'm not getting the results I want, I pop that tape into the machine.

At the end, I'm ready to turn around and face the crowd. If I'm going to fail at something, I'm going to fail my way. I urge you to do the same.

Learn the basics, the mechanics of whatever you attempt. Whether that's taking on rabid hecklers at Amateur Night at the Rhinestone, or building a business on the Internet. Then stamp your own unique personality on whatever you do. Take a cue from Stallone's character, face the crowd and say...

"If I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail MY way..."

Here's what you get with John McCabe's Success Letter: Original articles that accelerate your business growth... Proven tools and resources to explode your success... Special offers that make your life and work More and Better... Part of John McCabe's Web Guides.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Coaching Information:

Related Articles

Get Coached!
Coaching is a hot trend at a growing number of companies, from IBM and Dow Chemical to entrepreneurial start ups. According to a recent survey by The Hay Group, an international human resources consultancy, between 25 percent and 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use executive coaches.
Using Audio Programs to Increase Your Knowledge and Productivity
If you do any significant amount of driving, a simple thing you can do to increase your productivity is to listen to audio programs in your car. If your commute time to work is 45 - 60 minutes each way, you can easily listen to at least 1 book each week.
Business Career, Executive Coaching Article - Leadership: Understanding the Human Condition
"Nothing is more practical than for people to deepen themselves. The more you understand the human condition the more effective you are as a businessperson.
Good Communication is Easy - Isn't It?
My name is Steve Brummet and my business is to speak to businesses, teams, schools, churches, non profit organizations and just people about improving their communication skills. Most communication experts agree that good communication starts with understanding.
Diverse Marketing Strategies for Those Living with Disabilities
Imagine yourself as the only means of financially supporting you. A little scary isn't it? In today's economy, it is difficult living on a single income.
Do You Want to Impress Others? Then Don't Talk ?Listen
Recently my friend Michelle was concerned about a professional conference she was planning to attend with her husband, a veterinarian. She has no background in veterinary science, so she did not think she would be able to effectively communicate with the people at the conference.
Top Ten Things You Would Never Hear a Coach Say (or then again?!)
When coaching, it's all about the client, be that as a professional coach, or a line manager/business owner using coaching skills in their own business, with their own people. But it's so easy sometimes to turn the tables and be the client.
Make Progress Now: Take the Hand Brakes Off Your Life!
Do you find yourself striving upward in life yet making little or no progress?Are you high on activity but low on achievement?Very clearly, it's time to stop, look and listen.You're obviously not doing something right.
Feeling Self-Conscious? 6 Tips to Turn it Around Fast!
When you feel self-conscious it means you are putting too much attention on your self, too much focus on what you are doing and how you are doing it. And this is a formula for poor performance.
New Definition of Retirement
A new definition of retirement is evolving. It's one that's focused on continual exploration, learning and growth.
Success: Cant Achieve It By Yourself? Pay A Professional!
So many people go through the motions of trying to achieve success. But just going through the motions doesn't work.
Take Responsibility for Reshaping Your Life
We say we want to eat better, feel better, and look better. But in order to make our goals materialize, we have to take responsibility for what we want by taking the appropriate actions.
Nourishing Your Network
It takes less effort to keep an existing customer than to gain a new customer.This is Business 101.
Mindfulness and Multiple Intelligences: 8 Ways to Pay Attention
How are you smart?Let me count the ways.Harvard professor Howard Gardner was the first to describe the concept of Multiple Intelligences.
Should I Get A Coach?
Why should or would someone hire a life coach? Well, why would anyone purchase the services of a personal trainer, and interior designer or a sports coach - any professional "assistant" for that matter? After all, we all know how to exercise, how to hang a curtain and how to play our own game. But we hire a professional because we know that they will hold us accountable on our goals and objectives - and since we're paying good money for them to be there, often whether we show up or not, we have an added incentive to do so ourselves.
Tips for Writing Great Coaching E-Books
Never understimate the power of a well-written word. Tens of thousands of readers of coaching ebooks have had their lives changed for the better by a well written ebook.
How to Solve Disputes with the Helicopter Talk Technique
Do you ever find that when a friend asks for your opinion on a problem it is a lot easier for you to see a solution than it is for your friend?And do you also find that sometimes you feel completely stuck when it comes to your own problems?The same applies to disputes, relationship issues and disagreements.When you are part of the problem it can be very difficult to see a solution.
Coaching for Success
Coaching is perhaps the most effective method of increasing performance available to managers, team leaders, and colleagues. This article defines coaching and outlines a process for effective coaching.
Unhook From The Perpetual Progress Grid
I have been a member of a group called the Women in BusinessConnection (WIBC for short) in Cambridge, MA for about fouryears. We get together for lunch meetings once a month.
What in the World is Life Coaching?
In my speaking engagements I have often compared coaching today to psychotherapy in the 1920s. The level of public understanding of coaching, outside of people in a certain socio-demographic category, is still in its infancy.