Keep On Keepin' On

“At age eighteen, I had absolutely no gifts. I could not sing or dance, and the only acting I did was really just shouting,” writes Steve Martin, the gifted comedian and actor. “Thankfully, perseverance is a great substitute for talent.”

I read his autobiography this past weekend, “Born Standing Up.” Despite not knowin’ nuthin’ about nuthin’, Steve had an inner sponge. When he was 10-years old he started work at Disneyland, selling pamphlets. There, he absorbed the teachings of entertainers working in the shops, including former vaudeville performers. Steve worked at magic and comedy sometimes 12 hours a day. He got on stage and did it himself, over and over and over. After 18 years he hit the big time.

In college, my drawing professor told his class a story. He told it often. Way back when he was in art school there was a classmate who was terrible at drawing. Let’s call the classmate Carl. (Because I don’t remember his name!) Carl was awful. Couldn’t draw a model’s earlobes without drawing her ire. One day, Carl told his friends he was going to be an artist. A professional artist. He would make a career of illustration. No one believed it. How could someone like Carl succeed where so many fail? But Carl moved to New York City. He drew every day, seven days a week, eight hours a day. He did this for 10 years. And he is today a famous illustrator.

For 18 years, Steve was living his dream, until the rest of the world thought so too. Some people start out life the hard way. Others have natural talent and family support. What do you do with what you got?

SteveMartin.com | 1982 image of Steve Martin in Sweden promoting the movie “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” by Towpilot (GNU free documentation license).