American Idol

American Idol: What We Can Learn From America’s Favorite Reality Show

By Joe Marchelewski ⋅ April 24, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Subscribe By Email ⋅ Post a comment

Although it’s sometimes a car wreck, American Idol holds quite a few powerful and positive lessons for life, even for those of us who don’t aspire to be the next William Hung. Here are five helpful hints and tips from American Idol that translate into everyday life:

1. Don’t give up on your dreams. Granted, when a 19-year-old sings about heartache I find it painful, but these are kids who refuse to compromise. While reality television may have dumbed down and already dumbed down medium, it has brought us waves of young people unwilling to quit their passions in order to pay the mortgage. We should spend some time being enchanted by passionate people pursuing their dreams and allow that to sink in deep with us.

2. Not all judgment is bad. I’d probably either break down in tears or throw my shoe at Simon if he critiqued any part of my life, but it’s not as if he’s ever that off base. We need people in our lives who are willing to hammer us with criticism and help us become stronger, better people. Our talents often need stress and hardship in order to bring out the best.

3. Know when people are laughing at you. Sometimes we can get so caught up in our pursuits that we can become the butt of people’s jokes without knowing it. The first three or four episodes of American Idol every season are painful to watch, but dozens of contestants swear they have talent and the rest of the world is crazy for not realizing it. Honestly, not every writer is a good writer, not every musician should make an album and not every accountant can balance a check book. Know when to get out of a situation with grace, rather than forcing your ideas or perceived talent down someone else’s throat.

4. Competition brings out the best in us. We live in a society where competition is frowned upon, and where little league moms worry every time their child strikes out, that maybe his mistakes in little league will haunt him for life. Failure is good, it brings out new sides of us. Some of the most successful Idol contestants didn’t win the whole thing. Chris Daultry has a chart topping band and he fell out fairly early, Clay Aiken is on Broadway and Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar. All of these “lost” on American Idol but used the opportunities given to them in order to achieve far more than even the winners.

5. Be upfront and honest. Every season there’s a sex scandal, an arrest scandal and a “professional” scandal. Someone has nude pictures of them on the net, or they were arrested for something dumb, or they completely forgot they already had an album out. Whether it’s during an interview, during a date or whatever, honesty isn’t the best policy, it’s the only policy.