Ben Horowitz is known for his love of hip hop. He makes references to lyrics from various artists in his book Hard Things About Hard Things. Also, he begins his blog posts with a few lines from rap songs.
For some people, music creates a harmony of emotional connections of a particular moment you’re in. From songs you listened to with your first love (or perhaps even a breakup), to songs that makes you happy. The reason for this is simple, it’s because humans are known to associate memory with emotions. Think of songs as a feedback loop to bring back memories and the particular “mental state” that you were in.
That’s why you often see athletes wearing headphones or having entrance music before a match. It’s to get themselves in the right mind-set to perform to win. Because who doesn’t like winning (and the emotions that it brings). To them, music is a motivational ritual [i] as they’ve associated winning with listening to certain songs. Ed Latimore, a retired professional boxer took advantage of this and he came to the point where his concentration went up by putting on his headphones [ibid].
I’m sure that everybody loves music, and the best thing about the music that we enjoy is that it transcends throughout time. One song I want to share which is filled with great lyrics is The Winner — by Coolio. Some of my favorite lines below:
From Verse 1:You can do anything that you want to do
All you got to do is to put your brain into it
Take your time and educate your mind
In the long run I’m sure you’ll find
That if you walk the walk you can talk the talk
But don’t wait too long “Cause’ life is short
And remember, no matter what they tellin’ you
If you try, you can be a winner too
From Verse 2:When opportunity knocks you better let him in and sit him on down
And try to be his friend
In order to be a professional first you got to be a beginner
But if you keep on pushing you can be a winner
From Verse 3:Be a leader and if you can’t be a leader
Make sure your leader is a damn good teacher
If Albert was an Einstein
And Phillis was a Diller
And Michael Jackson was a thriller
Then you could be a winner
What are your favorite songs, and why?
References:
[i] James Clear, Atomic Habits, https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
