Is different than asking, ‘Would you choose to listen to this?’
You can get some wind in the sails by asking some trusted people the first question.
But you’re gonna need a decent number of strangers to answer Yes to the second question in order to make a career out of it.
And not just any hit…one of the biggest, maybe THE biggest hit in the last twenty five years…
The Killers playing Mr. Brightside in 2002 before they got signed and made Hot Fuss.
The small crowd gives a polite round of applause at the end but no one is going crazy…the crowd doesn’t hear an international smash…even though the version on the video isn’t all that different from the version with billions of streams.
It’s a fully formed mega hit that hadn’t been discovered yet.
Could you have heard the hit?
Or maybe another way to say it…Will I be glad I stuck around through the ramp up?
We know that the first notes of the song aren’t the best ones but if it’s an artist we like, we trust it’ll be worth the wait until the chorus.
The video clip, the article, the podcast, even the trip to the grocery store.
It’s all about the source. Who are your trusted sources and who are you a trusted source for?
Here we go…first Monday of the month, new Hum Love playlist on Spotify and Apple
There’s a Beatles lyric book I’ve given to a few friends over the years…it’s got handwritten copies of most of the songs and some storytelling and dialogue to go with them. It’s amazing. Well worth the $16.
If you’re a songwriter and you scan the pages for more than a few minutes, I hope you’ll pick up on one interesting observation…
You have written at least one line that is better than at least one line in the Beatles book.
And if you can write one that is better, you can write more.
»» Thanks to Seth for connecting the dots on this one.
What does it take to realize you’re good at something?
We hope we’re good…but when the crowd doesn’t cheer loud enough we begin to wonder.
We think we’re good…but then we get envious of the person doing a similar thing.
We start to believe we’re good…but we don’t get the right pats on the back from the right people.
We look for something we’re good at…but if we might be good at it, then it must be something everyone is good at, so it’s not worth very much.
So what’s it going to take?
If you’re contributing in a way that makes the air a little lighter for someone else…take note.
If someone gives you a sincere thanks for doing something that was easy for you…take note.
If you have similar conversations with a wide range of people…take note.
But the biggest thing is learning to embrace that the thing you’re good at is enough. The thing you’re good at is valuable and needed by your family and community. Don’t belittle what you’re good at. Own it and use it to your benefit and the benefit of the world around you.
When you start out as a white belt all you can think about is getting that yellow. Go to the class, learn the moves, pass the test, and you’re on your way. It’s all about the ascent. That black belt calls to you. But as you move through the color wheel it gets harder. The classes, the moves, and the time…it’s an incredible amount of work to get to get the brown belt and you’re finally you’re one shade away from black. You keep showing up and doing the work…but it’s still brown.
And after a while you’re the one in the gym with the faded and frayed brown belt.
Everyone can see it. And more than that…you see it. So much wear and tear on the brown belt without ever reaching the final color.
It’s likely one of two realities set in…
You’re bitter and resentful of your tapered ascent. You keep showing up so you can tell the others how unjust the world is, how there are unfair shenanigans going on, how if you had just started a couple years earlier, how the system is rigged against you getting to black. And you probably don’t say all those things but it’s right there in the middle of everything you say. You are ruled by the idea of the black belt.
Or…
You take a deep breath and begin replacing your value system of ascent through the colors with something else. Replacing it with level of contribution, consistency, connection, inspiration, joy. The black belt might not be in your future so if you’re going to keep showing up it’s worth changing the reason for doing so.