Fashion Mode

How long can you dance to someone else's tune, it's time that you try dancing to your own tune. Go through the records of most successful people and you would see a common thread; all of them were branded as failures at one or another time in their life's journey.

They could have sulked, cried and taken the opinion of the few zombies to their heart and relinquished their filed. The victorious choose a different way; they see failure as an opinion and not a reality.

Susan Boyle is a story of a commoner - not highly educated middle-aged woman in an ordinary dress, unknown outside her small village in Scotland, who by her sheer determination catapulted herself in five minutes onto an international arena mostly reserved for those who meet a carefully promoted standard of elegance, glamour & fashion.

The clip of her audition in Britain's Got Talent has been viewed 360 million times, more than any other video in history. Her debut album titled "I Dreamed a Dream" was a super hit, along with her subsequent releases she has sold more than 14 million albums worldwide.

Who is Susan Boyle?

Susan Boyle was a small town girl raised in the unknown town of Blackburn, Scotland. Her Father was a miner and veteran of the Second World and her mother was a shorthand typist. Susan Boyle was the youngest of nine siblings - four brothers and five sisters.

It is said that Susan was briefly deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth resulting in a learning disability. Boyle says she was bullied as a child, and was nicknamed "Susie Simple" at school. In an interview she told one newspaper that her classmates' jibes left behind the kind of scars that don't heal.

She had not had an easy life, for most of her adult life she was unemployed and earned a living by performing at local churches and pubs. Nevertheless she won numerous awards at the local level. Boyle never married, and she dedicated herself to care for her ageing mother until she died in 2007 at the age of 91.

It is said that Boyle abandoned an audition for The X Factor because she believed people were being chosen for their looks. She almost abandoned her plan to enter Britain's Got Talent believing she was too old, but her coach O'Neil persuaded her to audition.

Susan Boyle says that she entered the musical career to make her mom's wishes come true and pay tribute to her. That was her calling - so it didn't matter what other were saying about her looks, age or societal status. She was focused on what she wanted and overturned all the odds to make a new life for herself.

If you watch the audition video you would notice the sneers, looks, judgments, and assumptions that nearly everyone makes - including the respective judges when Susan Boyle comes to stage. Susan Boyle in her audition declared to the judges and audience that her dream was to become a professional singer. Everyone frowned including the judges. This does not unnerve her, in fact it makes her will stronger to give her best!

Within 7 days her audition video had been watched more than 66 million times. Within three years she had sold 14 million records and earned more than US $25m. Is anybody laughing at her now?

7 lessons from Susan Boyle's story

1. Don't make age an excuse for not doing something great
2. Never give up, never give up, never give up
3. Believe in yourself from deep within
4. Find yourself a coach
5. Dream big and make it big!
6. Be focused on what you are doing, don't let other's comments derail your plans
7. God gives everybody talent, all of us are gifted one way or another - discover it

Human spirit is indomitable by design; we set our targets high or low. What is stopping you from dreaming and making it big in life like Susan Boyle?

Thanks

Jappreet Sethi