Ted Nugent’s advice to this year’s graduates…
[typography font="Droid Serif" size="20" size_format="px"]NUGENT: Six rules to gain American Dream[/typography]
Tens of thousands of young people will soon toss their graduation caps into the air and begin their pursuit of their own unique American Dream. That’s cause for grand celebration.Though I’m not a college graduate, I did graduate from the School of Hard Rock and Knocks and Common Sense some 50 years ago. With my trusty Gibson Byrdland guitar and a wall of amplifiers, I hit the road and received a Magnum-Cum-Very Loud Degree in logic, work ethic, pragmatism and pure animal tenacity.
As your not-so-humble Motor City Madman, I’d like to offer a few words to these new college graduates – words that no tenured professor ensconced in an ivory tower could possibly have taught.
Rule No. 1: Success has nothing to do with money. Nothing. Success is the unrelenting, dogged persistence to be the absolute best you can be at your chosen profession. Good is never good enough. Money always comes looking for the very best. Burn that into your psyche.
Rule No. 2:There are no guarantees and there never have been. The only guarantee is the gratification that comes from relentless effort, hard work and sacrifice, and even that is difficult to lasso in this tight job market. May I recommend following the U.S. Marine Corps mantra that has served all successful Americans forever: Improvise, adapt and overcome.
In this world of instant gratification, be prepared to be shocked that success is not easy, cheap or quickly. The opposite is true. The road to success is a very steep uphill path strewn with stride-breaking obstacles, and it always has been. Only mountain climbers climb mountains.
Very refreshing, considering the types of television programs popular right now; instant money, instant fame, instant dream culmination! Real life just doesn’t work that way…
This man is correct
He usually is…
true dat
I’ve always liked The Nuge. And his music isn’t half-bad, either.
He seems to be a stand up guy.
“Money always comes looking for the very best. Burn that into your psyche.”
I must have been in the crapper taking a growler when it came looking for me…
Oh, myyyy…
Seriously, I don’t buy the bullshit line that EVERYONE can get rich by working hard and perfecting their craft. I’ve spent thirty years doing just that, and I’ve worked for rock stars and other celebrities. I’ve worked with people who worked for people with more money than god, like George Lucas, and none of us got rich, as good as we are sat what we do. When people have seen my work and exclaimed that I must be able to “write my own ticket” I just laugh. There is only a certain amount we are willing to pay for certain services. I am damn glad, in this crap economy, to have those skills and work ethic since it has allowed me to have reasonably gainful employment in an industry that has tanked big time. Maybe Teddy wants to put his money where his mouth is and pay me $100.00 an hour to build his next dream cabin.
Well of course not everyone who does their best and works hard becomes rich and/or famous. The country would be overrun with millionaires.
Right. More to the point, there is only a certain few who will attain that status, the rest of us are hired for our skills and work ethic, but not necessarily duly compensated, especially by the likes of Ted. They talk a good game.
I think he over simplifies things. There’s more than just hard work. It takes luck as well. Everyone in Hollywood and music got there by hard work and luck.
Exactly. Over the years I have encountered many talented musicians who never achieved Ted Nugent stardom…
“Rule No. 1: Success has nothing to do with money. Nothing. Success is the unrelenting, dogged persistence to be the absolute best you can be at your chosen profession. “
Nothing to do with money.
“Rule No. 2:There are no guarantees and there never have been. The only guarantee is the gratification that comes from relentless effort, hard work and sacrifice”
There are no guarantees.
My friend the musician sells water conditioning systems on the side to be able to play music, but he’s a success. He’s worked hard at music almost his entire life and is doing what he loves – and is paid for it, though of course it’s not in Ted’s range. Success is not about money.
I guess we saw different things in the story…
Naw, I saw all that too. I vacillate between thinking I have had an incredibly successful career given the work I’ve left behind and that I am an incredible failure at business. I just got kicked in the head too hard in 2008 and sometimes I’m a little bitter.
And don’t get me wrong, I think Ted Nugent is a great guy and has provided more jobs than Obama…
What is it they say? Failure is just a learning experience…
Aw, thanks!
I guess we can’t all be everything. What I can say is that I DO pride myself on having paid all my subs and material suppliers and finished the last job I did as a self-employed contractor to the complete satisfaction of the clients, so there is all that. I have a string of clients who are all willing to give me a good reference as well. So there, Obama!
That all adds up to quite a bit, actually.