I love the way the light hits the record player at 7:15, in through the window, bouncing off the wood and right at me.
It’s most victorious for about 2 minutes, a beacon in the corner that reminds me of the fleeting nature of every day, and my infatuation with glimmers.
This tiny, beautiful piece. This familiar, hopeful note.
Before the needle ever drops, only while I can catch it, and after I’ve stopped to take a look.
I love the way the light hits the record player at 7:15.
Hard to say, but I know I’m really fuckin’ lucky.
And as much as I shy away from platitudes about how loving what you do means not working a day in your life, there is a nugget of truth to it.
While I find myself perpetually exhausted, the lack of time to work & the other constraints that have affected my home and work life over the last 6 weeks have also reinforced a few things for me…
Now is a time to double down on learning … whether in our businesses or our personal lives, anytime life slows down, it’s a signal to me to focus on learning something new that will help me adapt, grow, or level up.
Erring on the side of giving is a good karmic bet … I am lucky enough to not worry about food or work, and I have a support system I am almost sheepish about, which only further convinces me that showing up and giving more in a human way is a great investment in ourselves and in the world. Whether the nonprofits we love or all the incredible local projects that have cropped up, there are more outlets to give than ever.
We are all feeling pinched in some way, but I’ve got it good … for those of us who are lucky to just be annoyed by the state of things now, it really is so important to keep in perspective how much Covid-19 is disproportionately affecting working & minority communities. This point can not only help us open up our wallets to good causes but also spurs on the next point…
How will what we learn and how we adapt inform our contribution to solutions of the future?? How do we connect? What do we work on?
It’s that last point I’m unsure of.
But I see a lot of upside…………..
It’s been a while since I wrote here… but I hope you’ve all been well.
It’s been nuts adjusting to this era we find ourselves in, but I’ve been trying not to lose my head. I’ve written a couple pieces that might make sense to or be fun for the folks on this list…
For small businesses …
For nonprofits …
A rant about teachers being heroes …
If there are local projects you’re involved in to help people in need, please let me know about it. I’d like to spread the word and donate.
Take care y’all.
WHAT a business, company, or organization does should demand 80-90% of their time. Improving on HOW it operates should demand 10-20% of their time.
Notice that the lowest acceptable number for HOW is 10%. Not 5%, 3% or 0%.
10%. Without that 10%, a business is just a hamster wheel and purpose goes out the window. An existential treadmill.
If we love it, we’ll want to do it again tomorrow…
But to truly love it, it has to work well.
They happen to be two-fold. There’s the opportunity and there’s the cost.
The opportunity is a chance to spend our time in another way. And the cost is the money we may (or may not) lose out on by spending our time in the way we’ve decided to.
If the opportunity is worth it, the costs may not even matter.
I think the real question is, what do we give up by overthinking the costs and undervaluing the opportunity?
How do we really measure our impact? How do we evaluate whether we are doing work that fulfills us & makes a difference?
Numbers are surely helpful but the feelings are just as, if not more important.
We have to love the process. Because then, winning is just getting to do it again.
In fact, meaningful numbers with positive cycles of value, purpose, and connection enables the best of both worlds.
If you’re U2, do you measure your success in record sales or creative joy + people inspired?
The way the work resonates in us, the value we bring to our people, the meaning provided, these are all root indicators of purpose.
Numbers we can take to the bank, but the feelings indicate if we’re in the right spot.
Sometimes scarcity makes competition feel inevitable.
But it is evitable. If we build new solutions, create alliances, come correct, and give a lot, everyone stands to gain.
And just because we’ve noticed those who think they’re competing with us doesn’t mean we need to respond in-kind.
We can choose to bring people along with us. We can be inclusive.
We can decide collaboration is going to be our uncanny asset.
All of that upside is beyond opposition.
Art is emotional because it can pause time and take us to another place.
Art has the ability to step outside of everything else and move us.
That process creates an emotional connection akin to a drug, revealing why so many artists can’t help but create.
But the emotional experience of art, being captivated by theatre, transfixed by film or digesting a painting by one of the world’s masters, these are all priceless experiences.
They are emotional data points turned into nostalgia that become our personality. It’s hard to think of something more powerful.
We’ll pay 10x for that every day of the week.
And it’s worth it.
Creativity is the most sure-fire way of decoupling ourselves from commoditized value.
Digital, automation, AI, and a variety of technological advances will soon see entire sectors pummeled.
The fulfilling, profitable, personally liberating jobs of the future will require creative skills.
Services are the where the blue ocean lies. Services are art. Art is creative.
The creatives will unlock their potential.
The creatives will lead.
People can steal ideas but ways of thinking are peskier.
It’s short tail versus long tail. The stolen idea is like the last few dollars in a bank account: the cash is helpful now but it doesn’t provide the same level of comfort as a deposit schedule.
The stolen idea pays some small immediate dividend but the forecast for more inspiration is bleak.
When we worry about a ‘borrowed idea’ our ego flares & practicality goes out the window.
Let them borrow it.
Our ways of thinking are not on offer.
You’re you. We like you exactly the way you are.
We all have a certain amount of ‘weird’ and it can’t be hidden.
Attempting to suppress your ‘weird’ will make you sick.
Everybody is imperfect and things never come out ‘just right.’ There will be a margin for error, you included.
There is unlimited potential for fulfillment on the other side of embracing your ‘weird.’
When we’re trying to scale quickly, we might be fine with high costs. Gotta ramp up.
When we’re focused on profitability, we’ll need to reduce costs. Gotta slim down.
When we’re determined to provide quality, increasing scale and reducing costs can be detrimental. Gotta think about end games.
If our end game is the experience, then all of the above are right answers. It just depends what experience we’re trying to create………
At the end of the day, if quality is what we’re going for, every piece is a chance to deliver an experience, satisfaction, connection, & joy.
Either way, we need to pick an axis.
There’s the, ‘I will show them’ energy, and there’s the ‘I want to spread a good feeling’ energy.
Motivation is a category of fuel.
As with most things, it’s never one or the other.
It’s both.
Hooray, categories of fuel!
Stockholders split up the profits of the company.
Stakeholders share the ideal, live the mission, and feel & spread the value, spirit, tone, and personality of the community.
I’ve become obsessed with the recent Spider-Man animated production featuring Miles Morales, the Hispanic kid that lives in Brooklyn who becomes Spider-Man.
The film is incredible on a production level, but hits home with story more poignantly than I have ever seen for an animated feature.
I’ve spoken with friends about how great it is, and more precisely, what representation means for inclusion & human potential.
The fact that Hispanic and/or brown kids all over the country will see themselves in a hero is one (massive) thing, but understanding how inclusion portends to blast humanity off into untold potential is the real story.
We live in a white man’s world, to the exclusion of so many important and evolutionary ideas.
What ideas haven’t been heard? Who needs to be at the table? Are the solutions we offer co-created by the people we serve?
Whether Miles Morales or the next gathering of collaborative minds we’re a part of, inclusion means sourcing the widest (best) range of incredible ideas & perspectives.
Miles Morales should have had a seat at the table a while ago.
Have you ever noticed that when we evaluate ways of being, showing up, our appearance, what we say, we often think more along the lines of ‘what kind of person does or says this, or acts this way?’
Sometimes we even ask this question before we ask what feels right to us.
The reality is that a lot of ways of showing up might feel authentic to each of us.
What we’re left with when it comes it personality, is a matter of selection.
As someone who has always naturally been extroverted and focused on relation, expression, and connection, it’s been interesting to moderate feedback, and then evolving into a space where I am way less impacted by how who I am lands with anyone.
I’m not dispassionate or flippant. I love people and connecting, but I am also good with who I am and who I am trying to be, which enables a ‘here I am, as I am, and I hope it lands, but if not, that’s OK too… I’m not for everybody,’ type of interior posture.
This also allows an awareness that helps me communicate in ways that I intuitively or factually know will resonate with a particular person.
It’s not compromise, it’s compassion.
It also means we can be whoever we are.
We can love comic books, ballet, Major League Baseball, hand-lettering, and peanuts.
We can be nerdy & athletic, funny & deep, artsy & math genius, extroverted & introverted, open & resolved.
We can have any identity & be anything, even connecting aspects of life that the mainstream might not understand together.
What I’m trying to say is, we can be it all.
For those of you who regularly read my posts, you know things have ebbed as of late.
As much as I love writing, my practice has really always been this way. Spurts of activity followed by spells of inactivity.
I need to develop a consistent writing practice.
Intuitively, I know that the upper level of my own potential resides on the other side of making that happen.
There, I said it.
Lately I’ve been using this phrase to speak to the moments when I am overwhelmed by ideas & creative inspiration, to the point where I feel paralyzed.
The question must be, how do we harness those moments so we can catch as much as possible while having a better chance of actualizing the most potent bits?
Logically, we’d probably want to truly focus on receiving and recording in those moments. We just need to get it down so we can come back and build or edit.
If you have a system, I’m all ears…
We can’t be comfortable doing something until we’ve done it successfully.
In business, this can mean eagerness turns into a block. A place where ease isn’t, a space where our focus on the goal precludes the real purpose: awesome relationships with our clients & partners.
Not because we’re beholden, but because we love what we do and we love who we serve.
If we can lean-in while easing-up as we prove our concept, we might be able to focus on service the entire time.
If we do, it’s all gonna work out.
There’s nothing like a bout with ego to throw us off our game.
When thinking about productivity versus reactivity, I’d certainly rather be executing my plan than responding to someone else’s.
It’s that bit of practical strategy that often gets lost when the ego is inflamed. Clap backs mean we’ve completely abandoned our plan & redirected our energy toward some outside disturbance that we deem to lack integrity.
Standing our ground should be practical too.
When our egos are inflamed, it’s so important that we have people & practices that help us pause and unpack. Stepping on the gas until ego is at 11 means they’ve won - all while our real goals remain at a standstill.
Can you tell I am really talking to myself?