I took the opportunity recently to rent out the DVD’s of the first season of the TV show ‘Fame‘, and it took me right back to those Thursday nights when I’d watch and wonder if I could go to drama school so I could be just like them, and all those afternoons singing along to the songs in my bedroom.

Hey, I was 11, what d’ya want?!

Even though it’s dated a little (cough) and some of the acting seems to come from the William Shatner school of emoting, I loved every minute. I particularly remember the relationship between Bruno (the curly haired piano playing guy with a shy streak a mile wide) and his music teacher, Mr Shorofsky (him in the picture there).

Bruno hated performing in front of people, preferring to keep his music to himself and keep his talent quiet, while the fantastically wise and cantankerous Mr Shorofsky thought that music is meant to be heard by everyone, and always fought with Bruno about his lack of self-belief.

In one episode, following a rare performance for the big end-of-show-song-and-dance, Mr Shorofsky stands up from his table and in the middle of rapturous applause loudly shouts, “Boo! Boo!” As the applause dies down he wanders nearer the stage and says to Bruno,

“You’ve just been booed Mr Martelli. While the men of the William Morris agency watched the pretty girls dance, they didn’t hear a note of your music.

You don’t get applause unless you grow. And you don’t grow unless you’re courageous enough to be bad.”

That Mr Shorofsky knew what he was talking about. You don’t win unless you grow. And you don’t grow unless you’re courageous enough to screw up.

The worst that can happen is that you get booed and feel silly for a while. Big deal. You’re still here. You’re still whole. The world didn’t end. You can pick yourself up, learn from it and get back into the game.

God knows I’ve screwed up my fair share of times, but I value each and every one of those times because I grow a little bit each time. The things I do now sometimes go badly, but that’s okay too. I wouldn’t have any successes at all if things didn’t go wrong from time to time. It’s part of the process, and don’t let those times damage how I see myself.

So that’s why I’m booing you and that’s why I’m saying that you stink – because I want you to be confident and courageous enough to be bad.

So go on – run the risk of being boo’d, run the risk of being bad at something and run the risk of screwing up. Screwing up really doesn’t matter; having the kahonas to be bad is what really matters.