No One Thought We Could Do It

If you’ve been following along over the years you know I love March Madness (search that term on my website and you’ll see I’ve posted about it a couple times before :).

And this year I even got to go to some of the regional games that were held here in Nashville…childhood dream come true.

But yeah, I watch nearly all the games and one of the most common lines in the post-game interviews is some version of…

“No one thought we could do it”

If you’re the sport watching type, you’ll know that this line isn’t confined to just college basketball. It gets said at the end of nearly every sports game.

So here’s the over arching theme I’d like to pick out of this and ascribe to all of us:  No matter how good any of us are at anything, no one is above encouragement.

We are all underdogs in our own minds every time.

Every day is a comeback.

Obviously these are superior athletes and clearly A LOT of people believed the could do it.  But the “no one thought we could do it” line comes from a voice in their own head saying they might not be able to pull it off this time.  We ourselves are the “no one” in that sentence.

And that voice is never completely going away.

So this is not a message about quieting that voice or ‘overcoming adversity’…but a message to say…go encourage those who need your encouragement. They might be doing really well, they might be struggling big time. Doesn’t matter.

No one is above a kind word in this business.  No one is above hearing from a trusted source ‘I’m one of the ones who thinks you can’.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

1-9 Lead Singers

There may be more than 9 types…But if you’re a lead singer you probably identify with one of these more than the others.


1. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “My purpose is far more important than cool factor”.

2. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “What can I do for this audience…to get them to think I’m cool”.

3. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “Look how cool I am”.

4. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “I don’t care at all about being cool. I am real”.

5. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “I have figured this lead singer thing out”.

6. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “Man I hope they think I’m cool”.

7. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “Yeah maybe I’m cool, but let’s all just have FUN”.

8. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “This audience will know that I am here”.

9. Some lead singers get on stage thinking “It’s gonna be fine. We’re all gonna be fine”.


The numbers 1-9 correspond very loosely to what you might learn about yourself, whether you’re a lead singer or not, by reading more about the Enneagram (personality types)…which you can do here.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

100 to 800

If you want to go from 100 people at your shows to 125, your brain tells yourself to just do a little bit more. Go a little bit harder. Keep doing the things you’ve been doing, but just a little bit better and you’ll get those extra 25 people.

And you will.

But if you decide you want to go from 100 people at your shows to 800 people at your shows…you can’t just do more of what you’ve been doing.  You can’t just try a little harder with what you’ve been doing in order to go from 100 to 800. 

Going from 100 to 125, you say “I need to do a little bit more of what I’ve been doing”.

Going from 100 to 800, your mind says “I need to change what I’m doing”.  Well actually your mind probably says “I can’t go from 100 to 800”….meaning: you just can’t go from 100 to 800 by doing the same things you’ve been doing.

The only way to get to 800 is to do something new…but something new might not work at all, and that’s why most people only focus on the 125 goal…cause at least you have an idea that you know works and you just need to squeeze a little more out of it.

But at some point you’re going to have to go big if you want to be big. 

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Toys And Batteries

Lot’s of things need batteries. Electronics, toys, remotes…they’re worthless without the batteries that run them.

But batteries are a bad gift to give someone for their birthday.

You don’t give someone a 24-pack of AA batteries and say “Just imagine the possibilities!!!!!”

No…you give them the toy. You can get batteries everywhere.

Everyone loves getting the toy…because we’re excited about what the toy does, what the toy is all about…and now all we need is batteries.

(We would hate getting the batteries first…because they’re useless and unexciting and we’d have to look around and wonder ‘now if I could just had a fun toy’…which is a lot harder to find than batteries.)


You are the toy.

Ideas are the batteries.

Like the toy, we want to be excited about what you do, your potential, your function, your service, your purpose, that thing you do :).

Once that’s there, and all we need are ideas (batteries) to make this thing come to life…well batteries (ideas) are available everywhere, and everyone has them.

That’s the easy, fun part.

Add the batteries to the toy and now we have a party, a career, an active purpose, purpose brought to life.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Change What You’re Looking For

If you’re constantly looking for the reasons it’s not working, that’s what you’ll find. You’ll always find the broken parts, the letdowns, the un-met expectations.  And we’ve gotten pretty good at this.

AHHHH, Why isn’t this working?!!!!!!

Right? We’re all there sometimes.

But what if, rather, you could have just as much of a Jedi-sense for what IS working.

Why is this working? Why have I been able to make it to where I am right now?

Here’s the thing: You’ve made it this far. You’re here today reading this email at this point in your career because you have a career that has different points! You didn’t stay in one place!

Which means things are working.  You’re making it down your path.  There are good things happening right now!

There’s so much hoopla around what isn’t working…and then people are so surprised by their own depression, when all they focus on everyday is what’s lacking.

If you always go looking for the negative you always find it. You will always be experiencing it and it will rub off on you in all facets of life.

Perhaps you could use a break? Perhaps you can and will change what you’re looking for.  And then, in turn, you will change what you find.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Reaching For Soda And Cookies

You know that devilish look that a 1st grader has when they know they’re not suppose to have another sip of soda but they’re going to reach for it anyway.

You know…a little but naughty but not too much.

We need more of that in the artist community.

In the writing rooms, on the stage, in the interviews. 

Hand in the cookie jar.  That grin when you’re trying to get away with something.

Sure you’re not suppose to have another drink of soda or another cookie, but if you’re able to sneak it it’s not the end of the world, and it’s pretty sweet if it works.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com