Unknown Causes

Most successes (and failures) have a lot of them.

It’s why you can be as good as the Beatles but not as famous.

When unknown causes help cause success, we get way more credit than we deserve. We did a lot of great work which was vital but there was a lot that just fell into place.

When unknown causes keep us from the success we seek we take it way more personally than we deserve. We did a lot of great work which was vital but it just didn’t click and it’s all our fault.

In every case there’s a million more unknown causes than known causes.

Keep doing the great work.

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Drop me an email: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com

Trash Can Shoes

When faced with a problem we want to come up with a solution that will be repeatable when a similar problem comes up later on down the road.

If it’s a solution we can replicate, then having the tool already in our belt allows us to fix the problem faster next time.

It would seem there’s more value, more currency in solving a problem in a way that is repeatable later.

However…

I played a gig a couple years ago where we were all required to wear black shoes.

An hour before the show we were hanging out in the loading dock of the venue when the saxophone player realized he didn’t bring his black shoes. All he had were the flip flops he had on. Big no no.

(In fact, as a rule for everyone forever, no flip flops on stage.)

What to do. No one in the band had extras his size. It was later in the evening, no shoe stores were open near by. When someone needs black shoes at a few moments notice what do you do???

And this is completely true, no lies, no stretching the truth…he looked down and to his right at the 55gallon trash can sitting there, and right on top were a pair of black dress shoes exactly his size. He picked them up, put them on, played the show, and as we left the venue he placed the shoes right back where he found them. Problem solved.

It’s certainly not the most reliable, repeatable way to fix the problem of forgetting black shoes.

But it’ll work. And sometimes that’s all we need.

***Yes, the shoes were pretty gross

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Feeling Confident. Having Confidence.

Real winners are confident to the point they don’t need to recite their win-loss record. They don’t spend any time convincing.

Understand the difference between feeling confident and having confidence. Feelings are fleeting. Having is knowing via uncovering and then growing.

If you build the ladder you own the ladder.

No one else can prop you up. It’s internal.

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GPS

What’s going to happen if I drive eight hours south?

GPS doesn’t know the future. It just knows that if you’re in Nashville and you keep driving south, then in 8 hours you’ll find yourself in the ocean. It knows this because this is what the path does for everyone who gets on it.

We, like GPS, don’t know the future either.

So more broadly…

What will happen when I take this path?

ie. Has this path taken people to my desired destination before?

If so it’s a lot more likely it can take you there too.

If not, you’re a thrasher and a trailblazer. Which requires a completely different mode of transportation.

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Drop me an email: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com

Fly Dates

Fly dates are a good sign.

They had other options who didn’t require plane tickets. Cheaper options. Options closer to home. Options that are similar to you. But they didn’t want any of those.

They wanted you to fly across the country to do the thing you do.

Fly dates mean they don’t just want someone, they want you.

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Planning Correctly

Our plans consist of things which we want to have happen.

But often times things don’t go how we want them to happen.

So should we change our plans to include those things too so that our plans will be correct?

That’s silly. Of course not.

We plan from a place of hope. And hope helps us push through when the bridge starts getting shaky…even though the shaky bridge wasn’t part of the plan.

There’s no need to try and make plans that are more accurate to what will actually happen.

We need more plans that are carried out with commitment…despite things not going as planned.

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Drop me an email: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com