I’m a big fan of Andy Lau. Growing up, I’d stay glued to the screen and watch his shows and movies. Each time his songs are played on radio, I would listen intently. I’d also pester my parents to get me his albums.
As one of the four heavenly kings in HK entertainment, he is never the most talented in any trait. Jackie Cheung is the undisputed singer, Aaron Kwok is well known for his dance moves, and Leon Lai, i don’t know what’s he’s good at but he has his fair share of fans.
Sure, he’s handsome and oozes star aura, but Andy Lau excels in another area – hard work. He’s known by many as the Asian Ironman for his relentlessness in his work, day in day out. Never resting. Never accepting mediocre work. His success is a testament to his work ethics. Displaying amazing endurance with his attitude towards his craft, he’s a class act and role model for many people.
I’d often read stories on Andy Lau’s demanding schedule. Despite his heavy workload and years of experience, he still rehearses and practices. Because he doesn’t want to lose. He said if people can score 80 marks, he believes he’s able to do it too.
When you’re at home, you’re definitely more prone to losing your temper, he continues. Because your family are more forgiving of your behaviour. Outside, you don’t behave this way as you do at home, because you know people out there are not as forgiving.
He got to where he is not because he’s talented, handsome or lucky. It’s a combination of his attitude and hard work. He said in an interview I recently saw on Facebook, that he believes he got to where he is because of his attitude. When asked to define success and failure, he said the greatest success is to accept failures. And the biggest failure is to think one has achieved success.
Profound? I think it’s about staying grounded, having the attitude to learn and to put in hard work. Many times we see famous people achieving “overnight” success. How many of these overnight successes are actually years of constant grinding with plenty of stumbles along the way?
Speaking of hard work, I’m reminded of what David Oligvy (of which I’m also a big fan of) said – “hard work never kill anyone”.