Life Lessons from "The Beatles"

With "The Beatles: Rock Band" all the rage for music video gamers, why not ride this wave of piqued interest to reinforce some character traits that propelled The Beatles to mega success? I think you'll find these stories useful in your classroom, home and work with youth in the community.

Below, you'll find a couple of motivational Beatles stories based on our research. Were they perfect moral examples? No. But to be fair, neither were most of the other great athletes and political figures and writers we revere. By telling the stories of what they did right along their path to success, we imbed memorable character motivators in the minds of young people. We're writing our illustrations primarily based upon our reading of one of the most respected biographies of The Beatles: Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, by Philip Norman .

Press On Despite Criticism
(Beatles Succeed Despite Discouraging Comments)

Don't let discouraging comments get you down. Sometimes we simply need to ignore them and press forward with our passion.

Fifteen-year-old John fell in love with his guitar, playing it night and day. His Aunt Mimi, who was raising him, couldn't see the point of his obsession and would try to discourage him. Do you know what it's like to hear discouraging comments, over and over, from those you really respect and want to please? Well, John's Aunt Mimi put it it this way,

"To me, it was just so much waste of time. I used to tell him so. 'The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it.'"

But John kept right on playing, putting his heart into the music he loved. In fact he grew up to play guitar, sing and write music with one of the most popular bands ever - The Beatles. That's right, that 15-year-old boy was John Lennon. And yes, Aunt Mimi, he did manage to eek out a living with the millions he made from that guitar.

Aunt Mimi wouldn't be the last to put down The Beatles along the way. Here were some other negative comments they endured:

• While John attended Art College, he, Paul and George played together but apparently weren't very good. A member of another band suggested that they "weren't worth a carrot." (p. 68)
• They managed to get a gig playing between sets at a club, but were so bad that they were ordered off stage after two songs. (p. 69)
• When they decided to change their name to The Beatles, their promoter assured them that nobody would ever take a band with that name seriously. (p. 74)
• They auditioned for a recording contract with Decca, but were turned down. Bands with guitars "were on the way out," the experts at Decca explained. (p. 144)
  
• Their relentless manager, Brian Epstein, approached every record label he could find in the catalogue, only to be rejected at every turn. (pp. 146, 152)
  
• When they finally landed a contract, it was with a small label with a mediocre track record, obligating the label to pay the band and Epstein a mere penny per album sold. (pp. 154-158)
  

But The Beatles kept playing despite all the negative comments and rejections, becoming so wildly popular that they sold more albums in the United States than any other band or artist. Almost four decades after their breakup in 1970, their fan base continues to grow through games like The Beatles: Rock Band.

[Copyright December, 2009, J. Steve Miller and Legacy Educational Resources ( www.character-education.info ). Feel free to post with this attribution. Not for resale. Sources: Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, by Philip Norman (New York: MJF Books, 1981) p. 35; Wikipedia, The Beatles.]

Discussion:

1) Why do you think Aunt Mimi tried to discourage John?
2) Why do you think so many people put The Beatles down and failed to recognize their talent?
3) When should we take criticism to heart?
4) When should we move forward in spite of criticism?
5) In what area of life do you need to move forward, despite discouraging comments?

Don't Let Poverty and Bad Breaks Define You
(Lennon and McCartney Endure)

Some kids seem to get all the breaks. Not only do they get the coolest and most expensive gifts for Christmas and birthdays, but they also get those little extras to give them the edge in life – like the best guitars, professional athletic equipment, or expensive lessons from the pros. How can regular young people – those whose parents struggle just to put food on the table – compete with that?

Well, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the chief songwriters and vocalists for one of the top-selling bands of all time, The Beatles, refused to allow humble beginnings to get in their way.

John Lennon's Humble Beginnings

Let's take John first. Do you know what it's like to grow up without a dad? John's dad left his mom the year after they married. And he didn't just move next door – he sailed from England to America, putting an ocean between them! Soon his mom started a new life with a new man, but she didn’t bring her son into the new family. John was raised by his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George, although he had a great relationship with his mom and visited with her regularly (p. 18). But George died suddenly of a hemorrhage when John was 12, leaving him once again fatherless. (p. 23) Later, his real mom would be taken from him suddenly when she was hit by a car. (p. 56)

By age 13 John majored in troublemaking – ever in detention or the principle’s office. (p. 24.) But at age 15 he fell in love with the new rock and roll music he heard at night on alternative radio, with a very weak signal from the continent that kept fading in and out. Soon, he was pestering Aunt Mimi to buy him a guitar. When she finally gave in, he became almost attached to the instrument, strumming it endlessly. (pp. 34-36)

Not being able to afford lessons, his mom would teach him banjo chords, which he could play with the first four strings, leaving the final two strings untuned. He put together a band and they would practice standing in the bath because of the superior acoustics.

His poverty posed another problem - the only way to learn the words to the songs they wanted to play was to buy a record, but none of them could afford to buy records. No matter. John made up his own words to go with the tunes.

Paul McCartney's Humble Beginnings

Now let's look at Paul’s hardships. His parents worked jobs that didn't pay well, so that they could only make ends meet with both parents working. But when Paul was 14, his mom died of breast cancer, devastating both he and his dad. When Paul heard that his mom had died, he asked, "What are we going to do without her money?" (pp. 25-30)

Money Troubles for Their Band

In their mid teens, John and Paul began playing in a band together, called The Quarrymen, playing anywhere people would listen. But their lack of money continued to pose problems, such as:

When they went to electric guitars, they had no money to buy amps. If the organizers couldn't provide one, they'd have to settle for a crappy sound by hooking up through the microphone system.(p. 59)If they played a church event, the church would have to pay for broken strings. They lost an opportunity to be "discovered" when they entered a talent competition. After passing the local heats in Liverpool, they were invited to the semifinals at the Hippodrome in Manchester. It was their big chance to get on TV and let the world view their talents! But their poverty robbed them of the opportunity. They had enough money for the bus trip to Manchester, but had to leave before the evening finals, because the only bus home left before the finals. They had no money to book an overnight stay. (p. 59)

The Power of Perseverance

Many would have gotten discouraged and quit, assuming that only those with money could make it in the music business. But John and Paul kept right on playing and singing. It would take them five more years before they were able to cut an album and start to get some serious recognition. (p. 167) But perhaps, in the end, it was best to take the long, harder road to success. During those years of obscurity, they lost some band members but added George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Time on the road allowed them to sharpen their skills at writing, playing their instruments and performing, so that when they became famous, they were ready to take the world by storm.

Do money problems and family problems get you down? Do you feel everybody else gets the breaks, whether it be in academics, sports, music, or wherever you're trying to excel? The next time you feel discouraged, maybe you'll hear a Beatles song and remember that over 40 years ago, a couple of guys decided not to let family set-backs and lack of money define them. Instead, they co-wrote and published an astounding 180 songs, many of which are riding a new wave of popularity today.

Discussion

1. What disadvantages did John and Paul grow up with? (poverty, loss of family members, lack of formal musical training, not being able to buy the records to get the words right, etc.)
2. Do you think their heartaches and struggles contributed to their ability to write heart-felt lyrics that so many people identify with?
3. What do you think kept them moving forward when others might have given up?
4. In what area of life do you need to keep pressing on, despite your hardships?

[Copyright December, 2009, J. Steve Miller and Legacy Educational Resources ( www.character-education.info ). Feel free to post with this attribution. Not for resale. Sources: Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, by Philip Norman (New York: MJF Books, 1981) p. 35; Wikipedia, The Beatles.]

Other Resources

For hundreds of quotes, activities and real-life stories to build character and enhance life skills, visit us at www.character-education.info . Check out our new section on teaching personal finances ( www.enjoyyourmoney.org ), and our new, award-winning book on personal money management: http://wisdomcreekpress.com/press_kits.html . E-mail us if you'd like a discounted copy for review as a text.

Thanks for your work with character and life skills! As always, let us know how we can improve and how we can serve you better.

Top Athletes Show Up for Practice

Michael Jordan and Practice

Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the best basketball player to ever play the game. But it wasn’t all just raw talent. He trained relentlessly. Even at the top of his career, when everyone saw him as the best, most valuable player on his team, he didn’t use his fame as an excuse to get sloppy in practice. According to Stacy King, one of his teammates with the Chicago Bulls:

“He came to work every day. He didn’t use his superstar status to skip practice. MJ was always at practice. For someone like myself, I couldn’t call in sick with a toe injury. If Michael Jordan could get pounded on every night and then come to practice to run sprints and go through a full practice the next day, guys like myself and B.J. Armstrong couldn’t think about missing practice. He had tremendous talent, but he was ultra competitive and had a great work ethic.”

http://newsok.com/article/3401884

Tom Brady and Matt Ryan at Practice

In football, you see this work ethic in successful players like Quarterbacks Tom Brady for New England and Matt Ryan for the Atlanta Falcons. They show up for all the optional, off-season conditioning. They keep practicing plays after the regular practice. Ryan has the game plan sent to him before the first day of practice, so that he can start studying it early.
A part of success is simply showing up. That goes for school too. I know that you have those days when you can think of a million things you’d rather do than hop on that bus. But I challenge you to do it anyway. Keep showing up. For successful people, that’s a huge part of their success.

For more character stories, visit Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

Led Zeppelin and Jack Welch Show Up On Time

Led Zeppelin took the 1970’s by storm, rising quickly to become, not only one of the most popular bands of their time, but of all time. Their song, Stairway to Heaven, remains one of the most played songs on radio. They’ve sold over 200 million albums worldwide. VH1 ranks them #1 on their chart of “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.”

Although they got into their fair share of craziness along the way, they were professional when it came to their music. They determined that they would let nothing come before their music. Here’s an example: according to their manager, during their twelve years of performing, they never missed a performance. Never. Neither were they ever late.

Think of it this way, had they been performing throughout your school career of 12 grades, they would have never been late for a performance. Not once.

You’ll find this as a characteristic of many highly successful people. They show up. On time. Every time.

Jack Welch lead one the largest, most successful companies in the world – General Electric. GE is worth more than the total domestic product of entire countries. Because of Welch’s performance there, he’s considered one of the greatest business leaders of his time.

But before he became president, while he was working his way up through the company, he found ways to separate himself out from the pack. Here’s one thing he did: if he had a business meeting scheduled the next day in another city, but he was afraid that bad weather might delay his flight, he’d fly in the day before.

That attention to showing up, on time and prepared, was a part of what made people know that he could one day lead the company.

From Led Zeppelin to Jack Welch, success people find ways to make their meetings on time. Do you want to get a good education? Now’s a great time to overcome whatever hurdles keep you from showing up from school. Hey, it’s not always easy. But find ways to make it happen and it just might make you successful, whether you want to be a rock star or a business leader.

(Sources: Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin, Uncensored, by Richard Cole, with Richard Trubo, HarperCollinsPublishers, 1992, p. 377.)

Find Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

When Character Seems Inconsistent

Does a person's character permeate his life, flowing consistently from work to leisure to family? Not necessarily, say Psychologists. A NY Times op ed piece reports that Psychologists often find students being honest at school, but dishonest at home. A jock may be bold on the playing field, but a wimp at verbally presenting a project to a small group. In other words, for many, character isn't something that people tend to have, regardless of their situation or activity. It may shift when given different contexts.

This makes sense from my observations. People who would otherwise be considered incredibly virtuous feel no remorse at misleading a potential car buyer about the imminent demise of your clunker's transmission.

If we feel (and I do) that good character traits should to be applied consistently in all aspects of life, we may need to take a closer look at areas of life we've tended to ignore. After all, when a child sees a parent bragging about cheating the government out of a bit of taxes, the child concludes, not that merely that the parent cheats on taxes, but that cheating can be OK. Don't believe me? Warn your child about cheating at school and see if the tax thing comes up.

Find Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

Teaching Millennials More Effectively

Are you passionate about teaching, but often distraught with the lack of student motivation and engagement? Perhaps, by failing to understand your students, you've either failed to push the right buttons, or are pushing the wrong buttons.

Yesterday I attended a thought-provoking, yet practical seminar at Kennesaw State University. It was lead by Dr. Christy Price, professor of Psychology at Dalton State College, and researcher in the area of understanding and teaching millennials. (If you'd like to read her essay on this subject, click HERE.)

Here are some of my take-aways:

1. Be relevant. Show students how what you're teaching will help them be successful in the areas they want to be successful. Don't teach knowledge for knowledge's sake.

2. Be relational. Millennials are all about relationships. Within sane limits (you can't be their parent or best buddy!) communicate with them via e-mail, one-on-one, etc. One of my sons communicates much better via e-mail than face-to-face. Use whatever means is most comfortable to them. Take an interest in their world, and they may take in interest in your subject matter and your world.

When teaching a one-time seminar or class, I like to start by asking students about their interests and where they're headed vocationally. Then, as I teach, I keep referring to how my content could help several of the class members with their specific goals. [After all, their primary motivation for being at school isn't to become wise (shocking), but to get a good job. So it makes sense to engage them by appealing to their felt needs.] Dr. Price used this technique in her seminar, talking to individuals before the seminar about what they do and referring back to them during the seminar.

3. Care. Students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Although this is so often said as to be trite, it's so seldom applied that students are wowed when they sense a professor really cares. One poll found students putting "knowledgable" last on their list of what they look for in a professor. Perhaps it's because they expect that any teacher should know her subject. Whatever the case, don't think you can impress them or hook them by knowing all the dates of important historical events. If you're simply dispensing facts that they can look up on the internet, you're irrelevant.

4. Chill. They live in an informal world. They wear flip-flops and pants that hang off their butts. Is it surprising that they're uncomfortable around uptight, immaculately dressed, formal types? Perhaps because they're more buddy-buddy with their parents than former generations, they come across less respectful when addressing other adults. They'll often treat you more as an equal than is comfortable to you.

Rather than bemoan their sloppiness and sometimes irritating remarks, harness that openness to get them discussing and thinking. Whereas former generations might have been too scared of their authorities to routinely challenge opinions or add to discussions, this generation will often dive right in.

One professor commented after the seminar, "I think the reason that most history professors lecture the entire hour is that they're afraid that if they allow for questions, students will ask them things they can't answer, especially when they're covering areas outside of their dissertation." I'd respond, "Get over it. They know you're not omniscient - why not admit it?"

So, chill.

I remember one of my college philosophy professors saying, "The older I get, the more comfortable I get with that little phrase, 'I don't know.'" I respected him for that. Still do. Get used to that phrase, followed by this comment, "but that's a great question! Maybe we can figure that out together!"

If you come across approachable, you'll learn so much together with your students.

5. Be open minded and flexible - not rigid. One teacher wanted students to not wear hats. Perhaps he felt it was important for his students to get used to a professional environment or whatever. One student approached him privately about his hat making him feel more comfortable. Additionally, (and probably the real issue) his hair was thinning, which was an embarrassment. The teacher bent and let the class wear hats. When it makes sense to change, change.

6. Don't talk down to them. Many millennials are overconfident (a condition shared by most Americans, for that matter), leading them to think they're smarter and more knowledgeable than they are. When you're looking at your class, realize that most of them think they're above average. If your mission in life is to take them down a notch by showing them how dumb they really are, it probably won't work. They'll simply conclude, "That teacher thinks he knows so much - but he doesn't know anything that I can't find with a Google search. He's so full of himself!"

Instead, harness that audacity by getting their input. Ask them if they agree or disagree. Ask them how the principle applies to real life. Back in the late 70's one of my colleges scheduled a session for students to give their input into the curriculum. Lots of students showed up and gave valuable input. That's called respecting students. But how many teachers are humble enough learners to listen to students' ideas?

Use informal, rather than technical language. Don't try to impress them with big words.

7. Minimize lecture - 20 minutes max at a time. They don't hate lecture - just exclusive lecture. Inject discussions, video clips, etc. - anything to give them time to digest important concepts and appeal to the students who don't learn best by lecture.

8. Allow yourself to be fun and use humor. If you're not funny, find funny stuff (u-tube, etc.) that relates to your subject. Your students could help you to find it!

9. Enhance your teaching with new technology. Dr. Price gave us all hand-held devices (i clickers) at the first of the seminar, by which we could anonymously answer questions throughout the presentation. We quickly learned how many age-groups were represented, what attendees thought of certain concepts, etc., by choosing A) B) C) or D) in response to her questions. Her students each buy one to use in class.

This one device would be invaluable for getting helpful student input. In Math: "The concept we just presented - do you a) now fully understand it b) kind of get it or c) don't get it at all? If 90% don't understand it, you back up and discover what they missed.

10. Emphasize group work and allow students to get to know one another. After all, isn't one of the most important things you can come out of college with is the ability to network through your connections?

11. Let them know exactly what they need to do to succeed in your class. A rubric is a great idea. Make sure they thoroughly understand it.

12. Give them options. Some would do better with a long-term project, others with weekly tests. As long as they meet your objectives by the end of the term, who cares how they got there, as long as it's fair to all?

13. Consider giving earlier tests that count less, in order for them to get acclimated. Some students will wait until after to first test to see if they can get by without buying the text. Basing an entire grade on a midterm and a final can be devastating.

14. Allow them time to process information. You might use games, exercises, or application activities.

15. Use illustrations and jokes from their world. Not only are these more interesting to your students, but using them shows that you're interested in their world.

16. Use case studies - either shared by you, on video, or with a panel of experts.

17. Grade stuff. Remember, most aren't primarily after the knowledge; they're after grades. So if you ask them to do something and they do it, but they don't get a grade for it, they feel cheated. They're used to little rewards (like a few points here and a few points there) for completing tasks. Give points for participating in class, perfect attendance, etc. Make it clear from the start what behaviors will be rewarded.

18. Treat them as individuals. The millennial profile probably fits none of your students completely, and some of your students not at all. This informative and thought-provoking article warns us to not put millennials, or any other generation, in a tidy box -

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Millennial-Muddle-How/48772/

Is this helpful? Are these workable ideas, or are some of them taking the millennial thing too far?


Find Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

Eric Clapton Makes Good Use of Time

Character/Life Skills Traits: Work Ethic, Time Management

Eric Clapton is heralded by many as one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. In fact, he's the only person to be inducted three times into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. How did he become so successful? Well, one thing was that he spent a lot of time with his guitar. I'll give you an example.

One evening Clapton was getting a bit frustrated. He'd been ready to go out to dinner for some time, but his girlfriend, Patty, was making him late. It wasn't the first time. She typically had a hard time getting ready for outings.

So he played his guitar for awhile to kill time, then checked back to find her still trying to decide what to wear. He told her, "Look, you look wonderful, okay? Please don't change again. We must go or we'll be late."

Now, many men at this point would have proceeded to stomp around - frustrated, hungry and steaming. But Clapton returned to his guitar and within about 10 minutes had composed a song about his predicament entitled "Wonderful Tonight." Good thing he used his time wisely. The song became one of his all-time most famous hits.

The point? Most successful people seem to carve out time for what matters, where the unsuccessful waste it. As Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor, once said, "Good things come to those who hustle while they wait."

(Source: Clapton: The Autobiography, by Eric Clapton, pp. 173, 174.)

Discussion

1. How did Eric Clapton make good use of his time?

2. How do you think prioritizing his time with the guitar contributed to his success?

3. What are some things you could do to get more out of your time?

4. What's something you could do this week to make more of your time?

Share your ideas below. How do you use your time wisely? How can we get that across to our students?

Find more character stories at Legacy Educational Resources: www.character-education.info .

What Quarterback Tom Brady Teaches Us About Work

Work Can Be Fun – Even Hard Work

Imagine that you’re set financially – you’ve achieved financial independence beyond 99% of the world’s dreams. I mean, you’ve got multiple millions of dollars – plenty of money to buy lots of cool things and still live on the beach and chill for the rest of your life.

Now imagine that someone offers you a job – a hard job. A job that requires you to work-out to the point of exhaustion each day. When you fail, no matter how hard you tried, you’ll probably get yelled at. And besides the physical challenge of the job, you’ll have to digest tons of new information every week. Besides all that, it’s dangerous. There’s a high possibility of serious injuries, some of which could plague you the rest of your life.

Now, would you take the job?

Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, does that each year. He’s already wealthy beyond most people’s imagination. Yet, each year that he chooses to endure grueling practices, study film of the opposing teams, memorize thick, complicated playbooks, and risk injury. (Last year he had to undergo serious knee surgery, followed up with two surgeries to flush out staph infection.)

Why does he keep playing? Because he loves his job.

According to Brady,

• "I want to play another 10 years."
• “ I want to play until I'm 41. And if I get to that point and still feel good, I'll keep playing. I mean, what …else am I going to do? I don't like anything else.”
• “Why would I ever want to do anything else?”
  

My point? Work isn’t so bad, as long as you can find fulfilling work that matches your strengths and interests. Believe it or not, lots of accountants, professors, builders and small business owners love their jobs so much that, even when they’ve made plenty of money, they choose not to retire.

So as you take part time jobs, reflect on what you like about them and what you hate about them. Get to know yourself. Most people don’t . The more accurately you can pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses, your loves and your hates, the better you’ll be at finding work that you love; work that you love so much that you’d never trade it for leisure years at the beach.

(Quotes from Sports Illustrated, June 1, 2009, The Season Can’t Come Soon Enough for a Healthy Tom Brady, interview with Tom Brady by Peter King)

Discussion

1) What are some of the difficulties Tom Brady faces in his work?

2) If you had Brady’s job and Brady’s money, would you get out now, or keep playing?

3) Why do you think he keeps playing?

4) Do you think that, given the same talent as Brady, that everyone would love his job?

5) Do you think other people can be just as passionate at their jobs, even when their work is difficult?

6) How can we find jobs that we love?

Find more life skills and character stories at Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .