I Know More About Shakira Than I Care to Admit

A Screaming Goat Wins Four Grammy Awards (1/3)

I grew up one block away from Shakira.

Okay, let me clarify this: Shakira didn't grow up there. But I grew up a block from where Shakira bought an entire apartment building for her parents.

The building and the block it was on remained empty most of the year, except whenever Shakira came to visit.

Then, the entire block would be shut down and filled with cops because she needed to be protected.

This happened right before the turn of the millennium, and she was already internationally recognized as a mega-pop star just as much as Colombia was recognized as a place where stars of any kind, dwarf or giant, could get kidnapped for ransom, political concessions or just plain old fun.

Shakira was part of Barranquilla's cultural and social fabric as much as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, our only Nobel Laureate, was.

This meant that we knew many stories about her upbringing; it was just part of our folklore.

We knew her last name was Mebarak.

We knew she was of Lebanese descent, which was probably why her hips didn't lie.

As a Colombian who grew up in Barranquilla, that's not something we can all do. Most Colombians' hips can barely form an eloquent sentence; at best, some might be able to make their hips stutter.

One of the most told stories about Shakira was how her school's music teacher told her she couldn't be part of the choir because she sounded like a screaming goat.

Can you imagine being the guy who told one of pop culture's biggest icons that she sounded like a goat?

It has to go on his tombstone. It has to.

"Here lies Juan Martinez," or another generic Colombian name, "I told Shakira she sounded like a screaming goat."

Then, if he had a little more room in the tombstone, he could either own up to it or stand behind it ."And I regret nothing as she still does."

You and I know this is when the beginning of the year should be. There is more sunshine, the aromas of flowers and their pollen are out to attack us, the cyclical death of winter is behind us.

We intuitively understand this is the perfect time to start working on new habits.

How's that going?

If you have always wanted to carve out time for a writing practice, then join me next week on my webinar, "Wake Up & Write." I'll be going live on Zoom on Thursday, May 8th, at 8 AM Pacific Time.

I'll cover the habits necessary to create a morning routine that includes the keystone behaviors necessary to consistently wake up early and write.