All moments equally hold possibility for opportunity.
It’s our level of awareness that fluctuates.
No matter the moment, some thing is always trying to be seen, revealed, felt, or heard.
Look.
Listen.
Feel.
Respond.
Legacy, at its core, is the aftermath of our response to the whispering things in all of our moments.
There’s a rumor that some school districts are doing away with or consolidating their art and music classes at the elementary level.
I would assume this is probably to fit more standardized teaching and preparation for more standardized testing. Even though the tests the world procures for us outside of academic walls are anything but conventional.
There’s a big difference in asking “what’s the answer?” and “what do you see?”. The answer is memorized. What is seen is imagined. Art gives us that opportunity.
There’s a big difference in asking “what’s the answer?” and “what do you feel or hear?”. The answer is a formulaic. What is felt and heard taps into soul. Music gives us that opportunity to tap into such things.
Maybe school should ask more than it tells its students…the same goes for parents: children, leader: team members, etc.
Learning thy self just may be the highest form of education, and we have a problem when our children have missed the opportunity to discover their own unique and personal voice.
It never ends well when we let the music stop.
Nothing is more important for your start-up, product, service, or idea.
If you can create awe then you have created something shareable.
We just can’t keep awesome to ourselves.
We’re supposed to stand and stay in line,
keep our heads down,
stay in the box,
speak when spoken to,
color within the lines,
do it like they did it,
pass some exams,
and get a degree that gets us a job that gets us healthcare and, eventually, gets us retirement.
The problem here is that the grading system that has awarded one’s athleticism to all of this we’re supposed to do is crumbling. The MOMA is full of art that is outside of the lines and the box (and it’s being cheered for). College isn’t finding or getting us THE job it said it would. Free healthcare isn’t providing fulfillment in our jobs. And we’ve thought retirement equaled happiness, but Luby’s five days a week has proven this not to be true.
Shift gears….
…then there is what you’re supposed to do.
That thing inside of you that you can’t shake.
The things that keep you restless on the pillow, but also passionately pulls you from your slumber.
That work that feels like freedom.
That consistent whisper of ‘yes’.
The reason you’re here.
Your music.
Could there be anything worse than looking back at your 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70 plus years of doing what you’re supposed to do and seeing yourself stand in line for the retirement you never really wanted in the first place?
At the heart of marketing is the heart.
And we all have hearts, brands, and businesses that are marketing something…could be a place, a person, a belief, a dream, enthusiasm, an experience, a feeling, an emotion, or even hope.
Marketing isn’t about convincing people to buy things they don’t want or didn’t know they needed. Rather, it’s about the heart pointing at something it resonates with and, sometimes, even pointing back to itself.
I hope our hearts, brands, and businesses will point to such wondrous places.
If so, we’ll become great marketers.
Ashton.Gustafson 