Published on November 28th, 2024 | by Jameelah "Just Jay" Wilkerson

Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson Tells Sacha Gervasi and Rich Roll How to Redefine Success

While Taylor Swift dominates headlines with record-breaking tours and her NFL boyfriend Travis Kelce steals the spotlight with stadium-sized stardom, one legend quietly redefines what it means to truly succeed. Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden’s powerhouse frontman, isn’t collecting Grammy awards or chasing TikTok trends. Instead, he’s piloting Boeing 747s between sold-out shows and competing in fencing tournaments during tour breaks. His journey is a testament to a broader, more personal concept of success — one that values experience and fulfillment over conventional accolades.

“In people’s lives, there’s a little moment, and it could be tiny, but it’s like throwing a pebble into a pond. You don’t know where the ripples are going to go,” he reflected on an episode of “The Rich Roll Podcast” with special guest, filmmaker Sacha Gervasi.

Dickinson’s life story reads like a novel, and it all began with humble origins. “I was basically a mistake,” he told Sacha Gervasi and Rich Roll. Born to a 16-year-old mother and raised by his coal-mining grandfather, his unconventional start foreshadowed a life that would defy every expectation. Unlike many who aim for one distinct path, Dickinson chose to break barriers across multiple domains, from music to aviation to competitive sports. His life isn’t about chasing a single dream; it’s a constellation of passions, each one shining in its own orbit.

The Art of Balance: Mastering Multiple Worlds

Dickinson’s life is a masterclass in balance. Each pursuit — be it music, fencing, or flying — enriches his overall experience rather than fragmenting it. Fencing, for example, is a sport that requires intense focus and quick thinking, qualities that Dickinson finds useful on the stage and in the cockpit. But even in the highly competitive sport, he marches to his own drummer. “So lemme tell you an interesting thing about the way my head works, or I think it works in some respects,” he shared with Sacha Gervasi and Rich Roll. “So when I was 25, up till 25, I started fencing when I was 14, 15 years old, and I trained right-handed, and I’m not too bad. I got to 25 and I changed hands and I started defense and I got all my best results. I still fence left-handed, I write right-handed, whoa, kick us off.”

By viewing his interests as interconnected rather than competing, Dickinson finds ways for each pursuit to enhance the others. This approach allows him to maintain focus and avoid burnout, a valuable lesson for anyone juggling multiple interests.

Curiosity as a Compass

At the core of Dickinson’s multifaceted life is an unyielding curiosity. His interest in competitive fencing, for instance, isn’t a typical choice for a rock star. Yet Dickinson embraced the sport’s demands for discipline, agility, and mental focus, seeing it as another avenue for growth. His approach shows that success isn’t about conforming to societal expectations but about following one’s passions with genuine interest. Dickinson’s example encourages others to embrace curiosity as a compass, leading them to fulfill unique and rewarding paths.

Still, despite his global fame, Dickinson remains grounded. One intriguing detail about him is a physiological quirk: He has no dominant eye, a trait that would have made him a natural fighter pilot.

He found out when he was getting his pilot license. “You just get your local medical, a medical doctor to give you the once over. So they gave me a full eye test and they give you a thing called an eye balance test where they show you a vertical line and you say, oh yeah, tell me when it’s in the middle. And then a horizontal line.

“So what you should be seeing is something that looks like a telescopic site. And that’s the combination of both of your eyes saying that’s where the focus focal point is. So we got done with that and I’m in my early 30s at this point and the guy went, well, he goes, “You’re very unusual.’ I said, ‘Why? He said,’You have no dominant eye.” I said, ‘What? I thought I was left eye.’ He said, ‘No, you’re bang in the middle, stereoscopic both the same.’

“I said, ‘Is that good? He said, ‘Well, you’d make a hell of a fighter pilot.’ And I went, ‘Wow, that’s a trip.’ I was just like, now you tell me.”

The Philosophy of Authenticity

Success, for Dickinson, isn’t about accolades or material achievements — it’s about authenticity. “That’s really hard to do,” he said. “It’s really hard to be authentic because there’s so many pressures that people put upon themselves, commercial pressures, this pressure that just think, whether whatever it is that you’re trying to do, whether it’s a painting, if it’s a play, if it’s a screenplay, if it’s music, it’s whatever it is, does it actually represent you? What part of you is in that piece?

“And really, it should be a piece of you in it. Maybe not all of it, but some of it’s got to have a piece of you in it. And that’s its meaning, if you like.” He shared with Rich Roll and Gervasi that his philosophy, in essence, is to live a life that aligns with one’s values and passions. He believes in “squeezing life until the pip squeaks,” a motto that encourages making the most of every moment and opportunity.

“That’s what we are here for,” he mused. “Let a little bit of joy into other people’s lives with what you do. That’s it.”

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