Don't make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.

Thomas J Watson

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I was ready, and I couldn't wait.

My office at Heathrow Airport many years ago was on high alert because Eddie Murphy could be arriving in 2 days time for a whirlwind unannounced visit to London. His stay would be a short one, but he'd need some help getting out to his limousine when he landed on the Concorde from JFK. The company I worked for at the time, would get these heads up so it could be ready for the arrival of business people, political figures, and celebrities that could use our services

Did I say I was ready? Well, I was.

To this day Eddie remains one of the talented actors that I truly admire for fighting the establishment and representing the black experience in action, sci-fi, horror and comedy films. Vampire in Brooklyn is just one of his many brilliant contributions to genre films, and I was in awe of the man.

If I could just get to meet him and he was as cool in real life as he was on the big screen, then who knows the connections I could make. At that time I had written my first book - Dancehall, but I also knew he was a lover of Reggae music because he had done some work with Dancehall icon Shabba Ranks. So my crime thriller could sit well with him.

I got to work.

I created a little package for him. It had a Dancehall mixtape produced especially for him - it was cassettes at the time, a paperback version of my novel - signed of course and an A4 Image of a Dancehall scene with the synopsis of the book on it. I was thinking outside of the box; I was calling in favors and working hard. It was amazing how excited I was and what I was getting done in such a short window.

When the day came around, I was at the airport early, my package was stored away in my locker, and I'm doing my job with a spring in my step but just a bit anxious about Eddie's arrival. 

Three hours before Concorde's arrival in London we hear, he's going to Paris instead.

Damn bro!

I was gutted, but on reflection, I had stretched myself and that felt good. I started wondering if I could reproduce that motivation without the prospect of meeting a superstar actor. I could and I did for a time but back then maintaining focus wasn't my forte.

I'm older and wiser, and the lessons from this are significant especially on hindsight.

• Think Outside the Box
• Find What Interests you
• Set Goals
• Visualize Your Outcome
• Plot Your Process
• Keep Working

Peace, Love and Power

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