A pianist and two other musicians played
in a number of local bars in Long Beach,
California for about $90 per week in
the 1930s.
The band, a hit with locals, was just
barely making it.
Occasionally, the piano player would sing to
the delight of his audience who loved his
baritone voice.
As customers demanded to hear more vocals
pieces, the piano player reluctantly sang to
accomodate his audience.
Soon the trio and the singing pianist where a
huge sensation and the band began having
greater success.
A few years later the band recorded a number
one hit, the pianist name was Nat King Cole and
the song “Mona Lisa”.
The 80/20 rule tell us the that 80 percent of
our success comes from 20 percent of what we do.
The trio and their music was were 80 percent but
Nat King Cole’s voice was the 20 percent that
made the difference and propelled the group into
stardom.
The point of the story is that we always try to just do
the 80 percent because it is what is easy, what we are
comfortable doing, what everybody else is doing at
the time. And we are reluctant to do the 20 percent
that would make a real difference.
If you watch what you eat, exercise regularly, and
otherwise take care of your health but you smoke
then you are ignoring the 20 percent that matters.
Quitting smoking is the number one thing anyone
can do to improve their health and the health of
those around them.
Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer
deaths. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death
in both men and women.
According to the 2004 British Study in the Journal
of Epidemiology and Health a smoker’s life is
shorten by an average of 10 years.
Here is a partial list of people who would probably
still be with us if they had quit smoking:
*ABC anchorman Peter Jennings.
*Renaldo “Obie” Benson, member of the Four Tops.
*Comedian Alan King.
*Author Stephen Ambrose.
*Singer Rosemary Clooney.
*Baseball’s Cal Ripken Sr.
*Baseball’s Joe DiMaggio.
*Actor Vincent Price.
*Actor Chuck Connors.
*Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan.
*Big band performer and Actor Desi Arnaz.
*Actor Yul Brynner.
*Jesse Owens, Olympic gold medalist.
*Jazz great Duke Ellington.
*Nat King Cole.
The could have given society another
movie or another song, or read the news
for us one more time, etc but instead they
died of lung cancer (a preventable
disease).
Yes, smoking affects us all.
SOURCE:
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2004.
Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society, 2004.
