Note to self: You are in a haystack.
Question to self: What if you are the needle you’ve been looking for all along?
The music happens when you bring us the rare, the unique, and the treasured needle out of the hay.
Find a mirror and you will have found the needle.
“I’m right, you’re wrong.”
“But…”
‘He said – she said.’
“That’s not fair.”
“Lucky him.”
“Lucky her.”
Notice there is no ‘togetherness’ in these statements, lies, ideas, and excuses.
These are simply the statements that lead to the noise in our lives, families, and businesses. They do nothing well other than one thing – separate us.
The best songs are the ones where you get the sense the writer is holding your hand and saying ‘let’s do this or figure this thing out together.’
To be human, at the core, is to be in and experience something together.
Let the lines fade and let the music play.
Google “what’s trending?” and they will provide you about 89,700,000 results in 0.52 seconds.
89,700,000 clicks and options to see what’s up. A never ending game of I Spy.
The Rat Pack, Bob Dylan, Elvis, Madonna, and Hank Williams Sr. never asked this question.
Doing your thing > Searching the trends.
Why?
Because…Standing out > Lost in the mix.
You may have the right product or the right idea and you may even have a scenario for what you perceive to be as the right place, but if it isn’t the right time for the person on the other side of the exchange, chances are there will not be an exchange.
And that’s ok.
So the proper focus and goals for our days should not be to maneuver scripts and dialogues to get people from a place of not being to buy to being ready to buy, but simply to love, serve, and clothe our relationships in The Golden Rule.
You can’t create the right time for people buy something or buy into you, but you can love and serve in the meantime until the time is right for them.
If you’ve done so, rest assured, the knock at the door will come soon.
A purchase is the byproduct of trust and trust is the byproduct of love and service.
Here’s the deal…there isn’t an hour, moment, or day where love and service aren’t welcomed. For such things, it’s always the right place and the right time.
Approximately two years ago, on November 1, 2011, my fingers graced the key board and the mouse clicked ‘publish’ for my first post at LTMPblog.com.
Since then I’ve seen great successes, massive set backs, glorious moments, rough days, holy days, and a mix of almost every human emotion we can experience. I’m sure you share the same story over the last 24 months as well. Nevertheless, every weekday morning, with very few exceptions, I’ve shown up here in the rawest state possible to give some generosity of thought on the pursuit of making music with our lives, families, and businesses.
Today marks my 500th post at LTMPblog.com.
You may have just found these thoughts. If so, welcome. Or you may have been here from the start. If so, thank you.
For me, the most beautiful aspect of this blog is that the original hope is 100% fully intact: that this would be a place we all would – together – be moved, molded, and changed into the musicians we’re all meant to become.
Thank you for walking with me on the path to better, greater, and more meaningful music for our days.
We’re just in the beginning of this symphony that’s unfolding and it could take 1, 500, or 10,000 thoughts for this blog’s mission to be fulfilled.
Whatever the case, I’ll be here.
LTMP.
Ashton.Gustafson 