Media Bistro does a great
analysis of how the innovative band OK Go pulled off their second fantastic music video, set upon perhaps the world's biggest Rube Goldberg machine. Most of us were amazed by their first video “Here It Goes Again,” now famous as the
“treadmill” video.
People invest in success, so it probably wasn’t too hard to attract support for the next project. Even a corporate giant like State Farm insurance would happily write a big check and let the musician/performers have their way.
The lesson for the rest of us: plan for success. Have a vision of your next step. That calls for a bigger vision, maybe bigger than you first imagined. But it’s amazing how lucky the well prepared are.
I once worked for a college football coach when he engineered a
winning “Hail Mary” last-play-of-the-game pass. Little did I know, good football teams actually practice the long bomb hail mary play. I though it was “luck.”
Turns out that during practice they send the receivers deep, the defenders take their position in the end zone, and the quarterback rears back and lets it fly. At the landing point of the football, the athletic training is more akin to drills for basketball rebounding: positioning, footwork, visual acuity, hand-to-eye coordination, and most of all, timing. What looks like a free-for-all is actually a well choreographed competitive event. And when it works, The spectators say, “what luck!”
Make some luck. Anticipate success and have your next play ready. OK? Go. (Sorry.)
