“I Just Want To Be Successful” is a series here at Michelle-Huxtable.com. It’s not only on how to be successful but how to be a reliable and decent human being in general. To read the rest of the series just click here.
Some of us, if not most of us, have at one point in our life watched an episode of American Idol. If you’re like me, you probably only watch the auditions and once they get to Hollywood you stop watching. Watching a bunch of ordinary people since Michael McDonald songs just isn’t my thing.
So you’ve seen the auditions. We laugh at the horrible ones.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggwmoc5OksQ
Oh goodness. But the ones that actually shock me(and kind of make me sad) are the ones where they’re so completely and obviously horrible and after the audition they say, “Well, I mean, my mama and my brothers and my friends at work all said I could sing so…” Like this guy:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehJWErf9smM
This guy’s coworkers either hate him or they haven’t learned this weeks lesson of how to be successful. Lesson number two is: Learn the difference between hype and help. Gas and guidance.[1] This is important because if you hype somebody up too much or gas them they end up with what I like to call American Idol Syndrome.
As displayed by that guy in the audition video, American Idol Syndrome is simply when a person has been gassed up so much that they think they are amazing and are soon brought down by the realization that they aren’t – usually by a much harsher source than if you had simply been honest to begin with.
Hype/Gas
For those of you that haven’t seen the movie Friday Night Lights there is a character Boobie Miles played by Derek Luke. As the guy talking in the video explains that Boobie can do everything when it comes to football.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCy2Kyv52Tw
So according to Derek Luke, “Hype is something that’s not for real.”
Another word for hype is gas. According to Urban Dictionary it means, “To make someone believe something, often an untrue statement.” Don’t gas your friends. It will make them end up like the guy in the American Idol video. Believing they are so much better than they really are because the compliment came from a reliable source.
Example One: Ricky[2] comes to you and asks you to listen to his demo. His demo is horrible. He can’t ride a beat. He can’t flow. He’s barely rhyming. What do you say?
Help/Guidance
Help is giving the person confidence by encouraging them but not to the point where you’re hyping them up. Guidance is how you do that. You point out the positives of what they do and then you show them how to improve.
Example Two: Ronnie[2] wants to be a basketball player but can’t make a layup or shoot from the charity stripe to save his life.
The Cure for American Idol Syndrome aka The Difference Between Hype/Gas and Help/Guidance
Back to Example One with Ricky and his mixtape. If you hype him up you say, “Yo! This is like the Blueprint 4! You the next Lil Wayne!” This is the wrong way to go about things.
The right way to go about this is listen to his demo. Give him some feedback. Tell him it’s not really your thing but if he wants to work on it he should study his craft some more. Plenty of hit rappers now did not start out too fantastic. Lil Wayne was laughed at for awhile being in the background of Cash Money. Young Jeezy didn’t start out with amazing flow.
Example Two with Ronnie and his basketball.
The wrong way: “Wow. You’re practically like Mike. Kobe who? LeBron who?!”
The right way: “You dribble to your left all the time. Shoot 500 free throws a day until your percentage starts to increase. Work on your jump shot. Look at how Ray Allen shoots and mimic that.” Guide him in the direction of a person that can help him. A coach, a how-to video or guide, etc. That way he doesn’t get clowned on the court and think everyone’s hating on him.
Friends don’t give friends American Idol Syndrome. Be that person who is there for them. Any one is susceptible. Don’t be one of millions of people who cause AIS.
[1] I know you like the whole alliteration thing I got going on there.
[2]Where are this week’s names from?
good article. People gotta stop gassin people and hypin them up. It's pointless. If you gas sum1, they believe they dont have to improve. Everyone has room to improve. No one is perfect.
That's a great analysis. A major problem with gassing people is not just the rejection part they're inevitably going to face but also that they don't feel the need to improve.
The names are from New Edition……..lol Ronnie, Rickey, Bobby, Mike, Ralph, and Johnny…..
I was hoping someone would take the bait! It's actually from Bell Biv Devoe! But since they came out of New Edition you get the points haha and you named the rest of the members!
Guess I’m too late. I knew it was BBD! This was a good article. I like the shizzle you have to say (so far).
Thank you, thank you! BBD rocks.
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