I have to admit that I got the idea for this blog post while sitting in the stands at The Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan during the Iowa/Michigan game this year.

This isn’t particularly unique, but the University of Michigan uses songs with Michigan-type themes in them in order to get the crowd going at the game. At the Big House, I had to laugh when they played Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey, and the whole crowd belted out the lyric, “Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit”. Please don’t send me hate e-mail for saying this, but that’s just downright corny. It is a great song but does not belong in a stadium.

Another hero of Michigan, of course, is Eminem. The song Lose Yourself is great for football as it has both meaningful lyrics and great hand jive. Of course, they didn’t miss an opportunity to play it. It is amazing to see 112,764 people acting out that song together.

I am a little old to be an Eminem fan, although I appreciate the lyrics in Lose Yourself a lot. The song has been in my head ever since that game!

You don’t have to live in a trailer park to experience that desire to truly make it in the world.

I’m not saying that we’re all out there trying to get our 15 minutes of fame, but what I am saying is that desire to experience fame seems to be part of our genetic makeup. Also, HR is not really a field where you have people who can achieve rock star status, although thanks to social media there are a few that have. I recently learned about Twitter rankings and what it takes to be labelled as “influential” or “highly influential”. Unfortunately, 99.5% of us do not even register on that scale.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve that high associated with fame. For the HR profession, “losing yourself” is more likely about implementing that fantastic program where everyone gets it and the company is happy, or where for once the company brand and the people strategy are aligned. Or, perhaps it comes from just realizing you are a part of a successful team.

Sadly, not many people in HR really love their job. This is likely because there are more trials and tribulations than successes.

So the next time you experience that success, don’t forget to lose yourself. As the lyrics go:

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment,
You own it, you better never let it go go,
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow,
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.

Enjoy the game today–whatever game it is for you.