If you want to be a singer, you've got to concentrate on it twenty-four hours a day. You can't be a well driller, too. You've got to concentrate on the business of entertaining and writing songs. Always think different from the next person. Don't ever do a song as you heard somebody else do it.
Interpretation
Success in any field requires total focus and originality.
Otis Redding emphasizes the importance of dedication and unique creativity in pursuing a career in music. By highlighting that one must fully commit to their passion for singing and songwriting, he suggests that trying to balance multiple careers or imitating others will hinder true success in the industry.
In practice
During a motivational speech at a music school about the importance of originality.
As I was growing up, I did a lot of talent shows. I won fifteen Sunday nights straight in a series of talent shows in Macon. I showed up the sixteenth night, and they wouldn't let me go on any more. Whatever success I had was through the help of the good Lord.
Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it.
Wealth is only a benefit of the game of money. If you win, the money will be there.
Conditioning is essential to success in basketball.
I think people have learned that Herbie Hancock can be defined as someone that you won't be able to figure out what he's going to do next. The sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned.
Your ability to set goals is the master skill of success. Goals unlock your positive mind and release ideas and energy for goal attainment. Without goals, you simply drift and flow on the currents of life. With goals, you fly like an arrow, straight and true to your target.
The last thing you do the best is what you have the most joy doing.
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