1) Yourself.
2) Progress.
Right?
If YOU’re not on the field, the ball won’t just MOVE itself.
Einstein was here first with this thought. “Nothing happens until something moves.”
Everyday the lottery pick is yours.
And that something Albert was talking about is you.
Where the rubber hits the road.
Where the submit button sends your post.
Where the streets have a name and where the streets have no name.
Where the speech leaves the stage.
Where music hits the listeners ear.
Where hope is received.
Where an experienced is enjoyed and simultaneously joy is exchanged.
All…
…is…
…a by-product…
…of one’s romantic waltz in the trenches.
If you own a callus, it was not gifted to you, it was earned.
But you will call it a gift.
In your pursuit of music, if you give yourself the option to accept noise or make noise, chances are, you just may take yourself up on it.
And why not? Easy, safe, and under the radar is a lot less risky than willingly taking the stage, grabbing the mic, and doing your thing – while the world watches.
Unfortunately, the battle of self duplicity – giving yourself options for success – tends to not end with what we truly want and are after.
Here’s the catch: in your pursuit of music you just may be seen. But hey, if you’re not seen you can’t be shared.
Secondly, if you keep what’s inside of you on the inside, it will never reach the outside of someone and change them on the inside. The world doesn’t change with the songs in your head and heart. It changes with those on the tips of your fingers and tongue.
In the end, we all must adopt the single-minded purpose and hope of music. Noise can’t be in the equation of whatever success algorithm you choose. Any plan b, c, or d just distracts from plan a) music.
If you want to have options with your music, allow yourself to have two:
Yes.
&
Yes.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of the music metaphor for success is its mysteriousness. The truth about our music, the success we pursue, is that it is a never ending and ever-changing pursuit that is always just on the horizon of our vision, reach, and hopes.
Einstein framed this very well by saying, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
Growth stops, fresh turns stale, and color fades to black and white when we lose the emotion of mystery.
I’m After It > I Got It.
You can make a wrong right.
You can’t go back and pre-perfect the wrong that has passed.
We are works in progress, not works in perfection.
Perfection is about punctuation that marks an ending of something. Right is about a progression and continuation of that which is true and noble.
Perfection touts the finish line. Right boasts in the journey.
Doing, building, and pursuing what’s right inches us ever so closer to living a life that can one day look back with the hope and sense of perfection.
Ashton.Gustafson 