I’ll use basketball as an example.
For the people playing in the pickup game down the street, there are two things that they’ve realized that are worth pointing out…
- They are never going play in the NBA. They are not on that trajectory. They are not playing the game in order to climb the ladder to one day be the next LeBron James.
- And this is the far more interesting one…there’s an understanding that the respect and admiration and name recognition of the people at the pickup game itself is enough to feel the buzz of status and value. They’re not concerned with worldwide fame but rather ‘their world’ fame.
In music there’s a lot of confusion around these ideas…
Everyone playing in the little club down the street hopes and dreams of being whisked away to Madison Square Garden.
And for all the admiration and hand clapping they receive, the recognition is never enough…it must always be expanding.
What does it mean to be famous? One definition might be to be known and respected the places you go. That said…one way to achieve fame is to simply limit (or be content with) the number of places you go. That’s what the pickup basketball players understand.
