In 1979, Michael Jackson was already famous. He had grown up on stage, sold millions of records with the Jackson 5, and launched a solo career with Off the Wall.
But none of that was what he wanted. He wanted something bigger, and he wrote it down.
Michael Jackson’s Mission Statement
The note was discovered years after his death, folded and worn, scribbled on the back of a tour itinerary in ballpoint pen. “MJ will be my new name,” he wrote at 21. “No more Michael Jackson. I want a whole new character, a whole new look.
I should be a totally different person. People should never think of me as the kid who sang ABC. I should be a new, incredible actor/singer/dancer that will shock the world.”
In the margin he added: “I will study and look back on the whole world of entertainment and perfect it, take it steps further from where the greats left off.”
Three years later, Thriller came out. It became the best-selling album of all time, a record it still holds over forty years later.
Thriller – Official Video
The note wasn’t the only thing. Jermaine Jackson described in his memoir how Michael would write goals on his bathroom mirrors in permanent marker.
ONE OF THOSE MESSAGES READ: THRILLER — 100S MILLION SALES — SELL OUT STADIUMS.
He woke up to that every morning until it was true. His belief in himself and his power of manifestation led him to Thriller’s enormous success.
He Wrote Down His Own Success Story
He also had a rule about ideas. HE BELIEVED CREATIVE INSPIRATION WAS GOD-GIVEN and that if he didn’t act on it immediately, it would be handed to someone else. Specifically Prince.
“If I’m not there to receive these ideas,” he said, “God might give them to Prince.” There are accounts of him calling producers in the middle of the night to get into the studio before a melody slipped away.
Whether you call it vision, belief, or obsession, Michael Jackson had a picture in his head of exactly who he was going to become. He built his whole life around making it real.