I’ve been doing some home renovation projects lately, and have helped some other people with some home renovation projects lately.
Here’s one thing I’ve learned.
When people are lifting something extremely heavy and it’s not going well, they begin to speak incredibly clearly and concisely or they say things that barely make any sense at all. One of the two. It’s intense. And usually loud.
BUT…in either of these cases, when faced with extreme weight, they speak boldly, without filter, knowing exactly what they need. (Insert the PIVOT!!!!! scene from the show Friends)
Most of us spend a lot of time trying to figure out how not to be bold, how to sugar coat what we mean, and are uncertain about our needs.
Let’s start being bold, clear, alert and strong now…not just when life puts a refrigerator on our backs.
For a month or two now, Spotify has added a staple playlist to your playlists.
It’s called Discover Weekly…its a playlist that Spotify puts together specifically for you each week based on what you’ve been listening to (along with a bunch of other detailed information I’m sure).
I gotta hand it to them, it’s usually pretty impressive.
I’ve even found a band or two that have kinda blown me away. Who knew
Turns out the computers knew!
I was extremely apprehensive the first time I clicked on the weekly playlist. I was ready to hate every song and stick my nose in the air because computers and Spotify can’t guess my taste in music.
The technology is changing, it’s getting better, it’s getting more enjoyable.
Streaming is the best and it’s only getting better.
I’m interested to know what you think of your Discover Weekly playlist if you’ve been using Spotify for a while.
Nick Flora is a good pal of mine, a fantastic musician, artist, songwriter (his latest record is called Future Boy)…and he also hosts a podcast called Who Writes This Stuff.
A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to be the guest on that podcast.
It was a really great time. We talked about music things, music business things, books, Seinfeld and towards the end I divulged a random little nugget of my life that I don’t believe I’d ever uttered out loud before.
The fun and relaxed conversation was made possible by the fact that Nick had done 98 podcast episodes previous to mine and is a total pro.
It’s easy and fun for me to come on his show and ramble on for a while. It’s hard and not always fun to create, maintain and grow a podcast via consistently rock solid content.
So cheers to Nick.
Listen to my episode here or search Who Writes This Stuff wherever you listen to podcasts.
What an awful situation. Especially if you take time to look at the full story.
So why does life just go on after all this?
Because everyone was just doing their job.
The lawyers just did their job, presenting the case.
The courts just did their job by convicting and then letting it go during the appeal process. The courts were just doing their job per appeals law, per the circumstances.
The NFL was just doing their job by suspending Greg Hardy ten games.
The players union was just doing their job by wanting to get Hardy back on the field, and got the punishment reduced to four games.
Everyone was just doing their job. Completely legal and by the book.
How can you blame someone for just doing their job?
Wrong focus. And a lame, cowardly excuse.
When will someone say…I’m not just going to do my job, I’m going to do more.
When will someone say enough already? THIS IS A BAD DUDE, WE DON’T WANT HIM AROUND.
At the very very very least, from a business stand point, why would the NFL or the players union want a guy working for their company who beats up the people he “loves and cares for”. Umm, yeah…not a very trust worthy, upstanding, good hearted person.
As for second chances? I’m all about them. But that doesn’t mean you get your second chance the same place you had your first.
Safely “just doing your job” does nothing but shift the blame away from yourself, hoping that you get to live to work another day…hoping that someone else will take care of the other stuff. Just doing your job is hiding.
Exceptional, great, life changing, revolutionary work comes from stepping outside just doing your job. It comes from looking to TAKE responsibility rather than dodging it.
Greg Hardy, a horrible guy, is back on the field entertaining millions of people, making millions of dollars all because everyone was doing their jobs. Super…five gold stars everyone.
Coldplay released a song today and is releasing their new album in a month.
Beyonce, Wilco and a host of other people have done surprise albums out of the blue all at once.
The popstar du jour releases single after single and you never even hear about an album.
Adele gets the press murmuring for a few weeks, and then hits us with a single and an album release date for a few weeks after.
Two things:
1. It seems like the 8 month press ramp up to an album release is going away, if it hasn’t already.
These days if an act is lucky enough to get media to pay attention, they’ve gotta deliver the tunes SOON, because three months from now (if not three minutes from now), everyone will have moved on.
While/if the press is paying attention, put out the music. Don’t string along the hype about the album without showing us some tracks.
2. No one is releasing music the same way. There’s no right or wrong way to do it.
There’s no precedent for these modern times.
The second the thought occurs to you “we have to release music this way because that’s the way it’s done”…squash it and understand that artists are taking creative liberty more than ever with how/when/where/why they release music.
You don’t have to be a part of “the way it is”. Because there is no way it is.
That’s not to say there’s not a lot of planning, vision, marketing behind all the different ways artists can release music. The truth is there’s probably more intentionality and reasoning than ever.
So…You get to come up with the plan. That is awesome and fun, and also scary and burdensome. You can’t fall back on “the way it is” anymore as an excuse to whine.
You get to come up with what you want to do, build a unique plan and make it happen.
