Taylor Swift released 1989 against her team's pushback, changing genre and album art despite their doubts. The host argues that bold creative choices, taken as low-risk experiments rather than all-in gambles, build momentum and prevent a life of regret. Persistent experimentation and learning from failure matter more than playing it safe.
Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is turn your struggles into triumphs. Over to you, Taylor Swift. I wake up every morning, with espresso to keep me going.
The biggest challenge of this year actually was convincing members of my own team that this was a good call. I'd get kind of called in front of a group of people who have known me and worked with me for years who would sit down and say, "Are you sure you wanna call the album 1989? We think it's a weird title. Are you sure that you wanna put an album cover out that has less than half of your face on it? Are you positive that you wanna take a genre that you have, that cemented yourself in, and completely switch to a new one that you are a newcomer to?" And answering all those questions with, "Yes, I'm sure," that was, I think, something that really frustrated me at the time, like, guys, don't you understand? I promise this is what I'm dying to do. The biggest kind of struggle turned into the biggest triumph.
I think as people, and especially as entrepreneurs, we crave creativity, we crave newness, we hate doing the same thing repeatedly over and over and over and over again. The more you are asked to do the same thing again, the client wants the exact same work, the more you get bored with it. The more you wanna branch out, the more you wanna try something new, and let your creative feathers fly. And so it's natural to want to break out and try new things, and then it's natural for there to be fears and for there to be people who doubt you, people to say, "Are you sure you wanna do that? That's not really the smartest thing to do. You haven't had any experience there. Maybe you shouldn't go that way." And it's normal for you to doubt yourself too, which is the even scarier part. That's the thing that's really holding you back, 'cause you wonder, I don't know if I can do this. And so because you're so afraid, you don't try. But what's the alternative? The alternative is never doing anything new. The alternative is never reaching out. The alternative is never exploring your creativity. The alternative is having a boring life. And that's what most people do. 90% of America wakes up and drives to a job that they hate, and that shouldn't be you. I would much rather try something and fail than not know if it would work, than live the rest of my life with regret saying, I wish I just tried that thing. And so you need to branch out. If you feel yourself being pulled in a certain direction, explore in a low-risk way. It doesn't mean you have to burn all your bridges and go all in and sell the house and quit your job and put everything on the line on that. But do something. Take some kind of action. Get some momentum building in your favor. If you are pulled in a direction, even if it doesn't make any sense, you owe it to yourself to try because the alternative is a life an entire life of mediocrity. And the upside is you found something that becomes your gold. That, that's where the magic is. That's where the impact is. That's where the value is. And the funny thing about it is it doesn't always work out. Like in Taylor Swift's example, it worked out great. She took this risk and it worked out, and now she can look back on it and say, I turned that struggle into my trump. But it doesn't always work out. Like, you may fall on your face. It may not work for you. You may try and fail and try again and struggle and still fail. But what's the answer then? To go back to that job that you hate? To go back to that life that is safe but doesn't make any sense for you? To be the rest of your life unhappy because you're not willing to get back up to the table and take another hand? That's how most people live. I tried one thing, it didn't work out, and so this isn't meant for me, and I'm just gonna have this crappy job for the rest of my life. Don't expect it to work out on the first time. You have to explore, explore, explore. And the things that make you come alive until you find a way to provide value to people so that you can make it. Don't live the rest of your life regretting what could have happened if you took just one more chance on yourself. So the question of the day today is, I'm curious, when was the last time you turned one of your struggles into a triumph? Leave it in the comments, I'll join in the discussion. Thank you guys so much for watching, have an amazing day, continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot A vent espresso.
