Helping creative entrepreneurs learn to be more resilient. I help people get un-stuck.
Today it snowed. The wind was brisk and the chill seemed so new and fresh coming out of a crazy hot summer here in Nashville. It’s awesome.
There is a thought that’s on my mind that I want to put on yours.
Simply:
Let us not forget that we are alive.
Let us not forget that we are here for a reason.
Let us not forget that nobody else gets to define us. Or our success.
Let us not forget that.
Happy Tuesday!
My wife and I went to the symphony Friday night. They were playing Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (Which was insane!) But before they got to the epicness that is the Firebird, they opened with Mendelssohn’s Overture to A MidSummer Night’s Dream. Now, I’ve heard this piece before I’m sure. But as I was sitting there getting listening I was entranced by the thought that this piece was written over 100 years ago (1826 to be exact. So nearly 150 years ago.) That the notes and phrases I was hearing had once taken up space in the mind of a 17-year-old Mendelssohn as merely an idea a century before I was born. And we had all gathered here tonight to hear the story told once again.
My next thought was, should we be so fortunate to have such a story. That people will tell it time and time again long after we’re gone. And people will come from miles around to hear it told.
What does that look like for us now? How could we possibly make a contribution that significant?
The only answer I have for that is to wake up everyday and contribute. Reject passivity today and fight the draw of apathy. We have a very short time here to make something awesome. And as Todd Henry says, You only have today to do today’s work. That’s what matters.
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Want to have a story so compelling that it’s told time and time again? Start living it and start telling it.
Happy Monday!
Synchronicity: the experience of two or more events as meaningfully related, whereas they are unlikely to be causally related.
Seriously happens to me all the time. And now that you know about it, it will happen to you as well. Because once your brain starts listening to certain things it tends to perk up and gravitate towards like things.
Exhibit A:
After I wrote the submit button post yesterday, still thinking about fear and sharing ideas, I was driving around listening to Seth Godin’s book The Icarus Deception on audio while running some errands around town when I hear this:
If It Doesn’t Ship, It Isn’t Art
Art involves a collision with the marketplace, an interaction with a recipient, a gift given and a gift received.
You can plan and sketch and curse the system all day, but if you don’t ship, YOU HAVEN’T DONE YOUR WORK, because the work involves connection and the generosity behind it. It’s entirely possible that one day your insight will be discovered and that it will touch someone or make a difference. But if you hide your contribution from us, you can’t be considered an artist, because it’s not art until human connection is made.
We’re not waiting for you to tell us about your notebook filled with ideas. Tell us about the connections you have enabled and the impact you have made instead.
I mean woah. What truth that is, yeah? So, so good. If you haven’t read The Icarus Deception yet, do yourself a favor and get a copy today. This was just a couple of pages in… I’m excited about what comes next.
Happy Friday guys!
There is a physical line between you and every thought, every idea, every image you share online. There is literally a transaction that has to happen before what you have to say can reach the rest of the world.
That transaction is between you and “the submit button.”
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The submit button takes on many forms but the result is the same: You have something to share, you hit submit, and you put it out into the world. It’s how we interact. And it’s how ideas spread. But we have to remember: it’s just a freaking button. No emotion. No feelings. No remorse. No nothing. It simply exists as a line drawn in the sand between safe and mine to risky and everybody knows.
An idea not shared is nothing. Once you hit “Submit,” it’s still yours, but now everybody KNOWS it’s yours and now it has value.
Don’t be afraid of “The Submit Button.” It’s not there to keep you out of the conversation. It’s there to invite you in.
Question:
What do you have in que that you’re waiting to hit “Submit” on?
Why are you waiting?
The world needs something from you.
It’s not something that you have… It’s something that you are.
Take the pressure off?
Stop trying to figure it out. Just show up every day. Let us know that you’re here and do what only you can do.
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