Is Encouragement Worth It?

Is it worth giving encouragement when you don’t know if the other person is going to take it to heart?

Yes

Is it worth accepting encouragement when you don’t know if the person giving it really means it?

Yes

That’s the beauty of it. Encouragement is inherently good. It doesn’t need to be taken to heart in order to make a difference…and it doesn’t need to come from the heart in order to make a difference.

»» Two sidebars worth noting…

We might hesitate giving encouragement because we believe our encouraging words are very important and superior…and if we think the receiver might not see them that way, we don’t want to ‘waste’ our valuable words.

We might hesitate accepting encouragement not because we second guess the motives of the giver…but because we second guess our own worthiness of the encouragement...thinking to ourselves, ‘Even if they really mean it, if they knew what an imposter I am, they wouldn’t bother’.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Close Matches and Odd Matches

If you like The Killers you might like Coldplay.

If you like Ariana Grande you might like Sabrina Carpenter.

A good place to find new customers is by looking for already established things that you are similar to. It’s a good idea because in theory it’s easier for the customer to make the leap to you because the gap isn’t very big.

If you like Nelly you might like Tim McGraw.

If you like Aerosmith you might like Run DMC.

There’s a strange thing that happens sometimes where instead of reaching to your right and left for new customers, it can work to reach across to the other side of the table. Connections that are so out there they just might be true.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Expanding Getting Better

Piggybacking on yesterday’s post…

There’s a time and place for solely working on getting better at your craft.

But if you’ve been doing your craft for a while, then the idea of getting better expands…while it pays to keep building raw skills, the next part is…is what you do making the whole thing better? Do you make things better for the group by doing what you do?

And the answer to those questions has less to do with raw skill and more to do with group dynamics, creativity and cooperation.

»» It’s another reason why the best musicians don’t necessarily get the best gigs.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

In The Mix

It doesn’t matter how it sounds.

It matters how it sounds in the mix.

Surrounded by everything else that it’s going to be surrounded with, what does it sound like then?

If it sounds amazing on its own but isn’t amazing in the mix maybe it’s not the right sound for this one.

Whether it’s people, tools, ideas or sounds it’s worth considering not only what they sound like on their own but how they fit and interact with the mix.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Finding Your Problems

It’s not about finding the work you love as much as it is finding a set of problems you like to solve and are able to get re-energized for.

I know great musicians who have turned into great real estate agents. Agents into stock brokers. Stock brokers into teachers. Teachers into project managers and so on…

It’s the thing underneath the thing you do that is driving the ship.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Unpredictability

We need it.

We fight so hard to get rid of it but we need it in our lives.

Unpredictability keeps us sharp. Keeps us innovating. Stretches our minds. Creates tension and release. Creates connection.

It’s why groups are good. Whether it’s a music group, sports group, church group, work group, neighborhood group…adding people to our day to day life adds the unpredictability we need for growth.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple