At the risk of being grossly late on this moment in American culture I wanted to put some thoughts to paper (err -- out in cyberspace) about what Miley Cyrus has been doing lately.
Note: This is not an “open letter to Miley Cyrus.” I love reading those but quite frankly I am not funny enough for that. This is about her style, her approach to what she’s doing. In short: I love it and everyone needs to be this purposeful when going through a personal and/or professional change.
So I'll admit it, a little while ago I watched Miley’s special “The Movement” on MTV. There was too much going on about her in the media not to DVR it and late one weeknight when I should have been in bed it was calling to me from my DVR queue.
I was more than surprised and impressed at how thought-out all of her moves these last few months have been.
I watched only part of the VMSa (for the *NSYNC reunion obviously) and did see her performance live. Of course I also saw a lot of the coverage after, the controversy of her outfit, behavior, tongue, etc. I thought, “Hey you’re an artist, you’re young, you do what you want.” I thought she had gotten great exposure by this extension of her moment, but I did think to myself, “She could have been more polished. Why not have an out there but really GOOD performance that everyone talks about??”
I thought this under the assumption that she wasn’t thinking through her approach. After watching her special, boy was I wrong.
Assuming she was being truthful in her MTV special, and I will make that assumption, everything from cutting her hair, to her statements on morning talk shows, to the timing of her singles and both releases of her documentary (which is obvious), have been thought through. And perhaps more impressive -- by her, not by a management machine.
She has what I consider to be one of the most important things to go through a successful personal and/or professional change: a vision. Perhaps it’s not *totally* clear to her where she’ll end up in 1, 5, 10 years, and that’s okay. In fact it’s probably better, she’s giving herself wiggle room to continue to evolve. At a minimum she knows she wants a change and she is controlling who she becomes and how. That’s powerful. It’s inspiring and smart.
It’s how everyone should operate when going through a change. Need a few clearer steps? Here’s a recap of some things that Miley has done (I’ve also thrown in things I have done) that can be applied to your change:
1. Understand you want something to change
Like many first steps, the first step is to admit you have a problem. Sometimes you know exactly what you want to change and sometimes you just know you need *something* to change. At a minimum Miley probably knew she wanted to step away from her Hannah Montana image. At first I knew I just needed something to be different.
2. Figure out what you want to change
I assume that Miley knew she wanted a bolder image. I was able to hone in on the fact that it was time to take the next step professionally and that a different geographic location would probably do me some good.
3. Figure out how this is going to be accomplished
I’m sure Miley knew, or soon figured out, that this would mean exposing herself and her new style of music, her new haircut, her new style. I knew this would mean some job applications, interviews, and ultimately relocating.
4. Figure out what this actually means for you
Miley likely knew there would be backlash, she may have welcomed it because once the backlash hit it meant she was getting somewhere. I knew I would be thrown outside my comfort zone and have to physically move, acclimate to a new office and a new city, make new friends seemingly out of thin air, and recreate a life for myself. I think we both knew there would be ups and downs but it would be worth it.
5. Make it happen
That’s it. No one else will do it for you. Make it happen.
I’m not in any way saying to become Miley, or even that all change has to be radical. I’m simply saying there are elements in her approach we can all learn from.
Of course there are some things she’s done that we can make a point to not do. In my opinion she needs to let go of this effort to be perfect all the time. This is a waste of time. There are going to be bumps, and as best you can you need to embrace them.
Still, kudos to Miley. Become inspired by her purpose-driven approach. Realize not everything will be perfect along the way, but if you think through your moves you can control where you end up.
And finally, keep in mind what our girl says, “At the end of the say the only person who has to be happy is me."
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