Hard Work. Two Types.

A couple types of hard work to highlight along with the associated apprehensions…

The hard work where you know what needs to happen in order to get to the destination and you just don’t know if you want to sign up for that ride. Running a marathon, rebuilding a car, becoming a doctor, going on another world tour. Hard work. Still lots of variables. But there’s a path. You know if you push through and do the hard work you’re going to get there. So the question is simply, are you going to do it or not?

Then there’s the hard work of deciding to do the hard work with no clear path to the result. Knowing you’re going to have to put in a tremendous amount of time and effort in order to figure out if it worked. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, starting a bakery, launching an app, building a band. Are you willing to do the hard work even if it doesn’t work out? And if it doesn’t work out are you still glad you did the work?

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Best Case Scenario

It’s important to remember that it’s a possibility…which is easy to forget when a string of things haven’t gone the way you want them to.

It’s easy to think that the best case scenario is simply a wish that never comes true.

But it’s not a wish, it’s a possibility. And while it doesn’t always happen, it might this time, it’s possible.

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Seriously. Personally.

It’s important to take the work seriously. And the hope is that the work itself is meaningful enough to be personal too.

But when it comes to the outcomes, the reactions, the levels of success and failure, how much money is made, what opportunities come your way…

Take it seriously. Don’t take it personally.

When we take the things that we can’t control both seriously and personally it turns life into a perpetual blind folded rollercoaster ride of high highs and low lows.

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Just A Band

Like John Lennon said…

“We were four guys, that, eh... I met Paul, said, "Do you wanna join me band?", you know, and then George joined and then Ringo joined. We were just a band who made it very, very big, that's all.”

So if all goes according to plan, the best case scenario is that you’ll get very, very big…but you’re still just a band.

Bands come and go. Bands are not a necessity although they can provide a necessity.

When a band breaks up it’s sad and then everyone moves on. The earth keeps spinning, mom is still proud, the music lives on.

The impact a band makes is always under estimated and yet self importance is often far too over blown.

The real fans don’t care if mistakes are made…but band decisions are too often dictated by not-yet-fans, fence riders or passers-by.

Bands can change the world but don’t let it go to your head. You’re just a band.

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The Behind The Scenes Business

I’ve said it before and I’m sure you have too, ‘I’ll watch pretty much any music documentary, even if I don’t necessarily like the music’. Love it.

Music docs connect with a broader audience because it’s easier to identify with a movie that has ups and downs, striving toward a goal, disappointment and redemption. And in fact much of what social media has turned into for artists is simply mini versions of behind the scenes documentaries.

But what about the actual work?

It’s the actual work (the music) that has to connect in order to sell tickets, in order to make fans, in order to make a career.

So there’s the behind the scenes business and the business of songs and emotional connection.

The first one is easier and faster…but if you win that game, what have you won?

If you dig deep and deliver the songs and connect on an emotional level, the doors open.

»» Of course you need both of these worlds. The behind the scenes business is just so tempting to get lost in because of the way it connects to more people ‘even if I don’t necessarily like the music’. Make music that connects. That’s the hard part and the part that will sustain you.

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Ripple Effect Of Your Best

Bringing your best has a ripple effect.

The more often you bring your best (and especially when you don’t feel like it) the more clearly you see the pitfalls that keep you from bringing your best and the more likely you are to hurdle them.

We all want to find ourselves in situations where what we do best is the thing that is needed most.

And the more often we are willing to bring our best, the more people will know what we are best at and our phones will ring more often with people asking us to do what we do best.

»» You don’t always bring your best. Maybe you had some bad pizza last night. Maybe the ice maker in your freezer broke again. Maybe you spent too much time scrolling. None of us bring our best all the time and perhaps it’s important to admit that first. But now, we can get better at it.

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