The point of new running shoes is to have used running shoes.
If they stay looking fresh and clean you probably didn’t achieve what you originally set out to do.
Do you want to look cool and grab attention for constantly clean running shoes…or do you want to look cool and grab attention for being a runner?
The pool, the lake, the ocean…once you can’t touch, it doesn’t matter how deep it is.
But it does. The story we tell ourselves about our safety and what might be swimming beneath us and our propensity of drowning is often tied to how deep we believe the water to be.
Once you can’t touch it’s all the same…if you want it to be.
Not ‘good enough to have it all figured out’.
Not ‘good enough to not make a big mistake.’
Not ‘good enough to get by’.
Are you good enough to try things?
Do you have the faith and guts and confidence to try something in the face of it maybe not working and the ‘mistake’ might make you look less-than to some people…thats a scary question. And you have to be next level good to pull it off.
Make the biggest difference.
And…
Getting hung up on the small things is what kills the project.
So what do we do about the small things?
It starts way before. The key is having a clear, agreed upon vision and set of boundaries from the beginning. If the small thing is within the boundaries, make sure it’s right. If it’s outside the boundaries, let it be easy.
It’s the gap between what you dreamed of and what you have.
Maybe you have less than what you dreamed. Maybe you have more…but ultimately it didn’t give what you the reality you were hoping for.
Either way there’s a gap. None of us dream with accuracy. (And accuracy isn’t the point of the dream)
So what do we do with the gap?
Embrace that there is a gap. Talk about it, write about it, be sad about it, be honest about it. And also be thankful that the dream helped you get this far.
Perhaps the purpose of the dream isn’t to be attained but to help us keep going. And keeping going is a priceless gift.
Wherever the money is coming from, own it.
Whoever is loving your music, lean into them.
We all want the cool crowd to be our audience and then realize it’s a different group. And then we’re slightly embarrassed or disappointed or belittling or resentful toward our actual audience because they aren’t who we hoped they’d be.
Maybe your music works well on TV. Maybe people in their 60’s love it. Maybe it clicks with people from a certain country. Maybe you can do great live business but no one cares about new recorded music. Maybe you’re a cover band. Maybe kids love it. Maybe small town people come out but big cities don’t work as well. Maybe you’re a soft ticket sweetheart. And this is a tough one…maybe you’re a great opener but don’t sell as a headliner.
Just give into it. Or work really hard to change it.
But it’s more fun to accept the fun that comes from something that’s working.