As I watched the 2011 series of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ decide who went through to the semi finals, I was struck by some great life lessons. I thought I’d share, so let’s start with that challenge of it not being fair…
Is it fair?
Of course not! That’s showbiz, but even more so, that’s life.
The format of the show was stretched this year ( an extra 30 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back), with the judges having an emotional tug of war between two dancers.
All well and good, but they had already put through some seriously bad acts, so the whole thing smacked of TV manipulation.
The show has been a life changing event for people, (Susan Boyle anyone?), so you can imagine the number of people that see it as a stepping stone for a career.
That’s great, and as part of a goal achievement journey, it’s a superb choice.
Some people, however, should not really have entered. Their family and/or friends should have had a quiet word in their ear. Now, don’t get me wrong – if they want to enter, then fair enough, anyone is entitled to take their chance. Some acts though, and this is the big turn off for me, some acts are put through precisely because they are bad.
Bad enough to get booed during the live semi final shows. Personally I think it’s terrible of the show to do it, what’s wrong with putting through all good acts?
It is abuse in my eyes, and totally unnecessary. It’s part of the formula of the show now though, so as long as the ratings stay high, these poor people will be sent like lambs to the showbiz slaughter.
As for the perfectly good acts that were not put through, in order to make way for the shocking ones? Well, that’s where one of the life lessons comes in.
Firstly, it’s often the case that there are few guarantees on the goal achievement path.
In this example, you create an act, and put in huge amounts of time, money, effort.
Then you apply to the show, get through to the theatre auditions and put in a rousing performance which the judges love, and has the audience on their feet.
Then you find out you are rejected, to make way for someone who has no act at all, but just walks around with a mask on.
It’s not fair, and it’s outside your control.
You just have to accept it, dust yourself down, and choose where you go from there.
The second life lesson goes back to the bad acts that get put through just so they can get booed. Some people will use you for their own end, and that’s what is happening here. Some of the acts don’t even know it either, and I think that makes it worse.
It’s a fact of life though, and since show business is one of the harshest, you see it a lot in that area.
So, if you find yourself shouting at the screen that Britain’s Got Talent is ’not fair!’, then of course it’s not – it does give two goal achievement illustrations though – that not everyone has your best interests at heart, and you may well get derailed through no fault of your own.
These 2 lessons are covered in my motivational book ‘Transform Your Life in 21 Days!’ Why not check it out right now! You can also grab my free 8 step goal achievement formula.
