Never Judge a Book by Its Cover

Recently, I was told about Susan Boyle and her performance on Britains Got Talent, a show co-produced by Simon Cowell of American Idol. For those of you who haven't heard of her, she was an unemployed 47-year-old woman who didn't have image but had all substance. What she was going to do was sing "I Have a Dream" from Les Miserables, a tough song. And while she got herself ready, the audience was chuckling, laughing and definitely against her. She made the performance of a lifetime. And although she didn't win first place, she got second place in the competition. She landed an album produced by Simon Cowell, which has sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide, and her YouTube video has been watched over 50 million times since her performance in April of this year. That goes to show that people like to be inspired and have an ear for talent. She certainly is all substance and no image.

So, in this day and age where time is precious and first impressions are ways to judge who people are, the Susan Boyle story will hopefully have people take that extra minute to look beyond what's superficial and into what's inside. Susan has true passion and talent for what she does and that is really where it's at.

As we saw with Andre Agassi's new book, Open, that image wasn't everything for him. He was about finding himself, exploring who he was, because he really didn't know who he was. In the book the Open, it comes out that he made some mistakes in life but ultimately, he now understands how everything fits together, and he knows that substance is more important than image. Case in point, he ended up marrying Steffi Graf rather than Brooke Shields. That goes to show that he chose substance over image.

So when you are thinking about gifts for this holiday season, make sure to choose substance over image. Choose substance over image, and focus on a meaningful gift rather than something that is superficial. Happy Holidays!

Suggested Viewing:

Britains Got Talent - Susan Boyle’s 1st Performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Suggested Reading:

Open by Andre Agassi

The photo above is one I took of the two rarest books on tennis: Tratto del Givoco della Palla (on the left), Antonio Scaino, 1555. This is the first book written about tennis, published in Italian in 1555. The second book, Emblemata et Aliquot Nummi AntiqueOperis, by Johannes Sambucus, 1566, which is the first book that had drawings of the court.