Learning From Parody Songs

Admit it. You’ve thought of some song titles you’d like to pass along to Weird Al.

Don’t Stop Cashiering (encouragement for store clerks)

Man In The Freezer (a dark true crime tale)

Livin’ On A Spare (a pop music chronicle about car trouble)

And it would be pretty easy to write the lyrics to these songs.

How so? Because the melodies for these songs are ingrained in our heads. So if you were to write new lyrics to hit songs like these, your brain would automatically start generating ideas within the cadence and syllables and rhyme scheme. You get to sidestep the extra energy it takes to consider melody and lyrics at the same time.

Once you are locked into the melody (really ruminating on it and letting it sink deeper into your mind) and you know what the point of the lyrics are, you can flow. You can say what you want to say much more easily when your mind is operating from within the melody.

The ease with which we can do some creative things (i.e. come up with silly songs) gives us clues about the tools we can use for the harder work.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Make Your Own Finish Lines

It’s a bit of an oxymoron. I guess it’s not a finish line if you keep going after you cross it…it’s just a line.

But anyway…

Finish lines are defined, recognizable moments of achievement. Moments worth raising your hands in celebration. We did it! We made it! This is a slice of what we always wanted!

It could be something easily measured like number of first-week streams or number of tickets sold…It could be harder to measure things like chemistry within the band, or connection with the audience in Oklahoma City.

One of the great thing about finish lines is that once you can see the finish line you get a boost. Renewed energy that seemingly comes from nowhere. A favorable wind rushing to your aid. But if you don’t make your own finish lines you’ll never feel that boost. And you’ll never get the celebration.

In the grand scheme finish lines aren’t about stopping…they are an invitation to let go of (or reframe) the pain and hardship of the latest season, and take the best parts with you to the next leg of the journey.

You have to define your finish lines. You have to recognize them when you cross them. You have to initiate the celebration. You have to have the guts to keep going.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Bringing Up A Problem

When you’re the leader and someone brings you a complaint, a problem, an issue…it’s very likely this isn’t the first time they’ve thought about it.

And while they’re bringing it to you politely and respectfully…the day or the week before when the issue was raw they were really upset inside, it ruined an afternoon, they vented to a friend, considered speaking up, got afraid of speaking up, didn’t know what to say, hoped the problem would take care of itself. It didn’t. So the cycle repeats until now when it’s brought to you directly.

So don’t brush it off. Have the insight to know that speaking up is likely a culmination of lots of emotions, internal voices, fears, expectations and intentions.

Seeing this won’t necessarily help solve the problem but it will help give you the presence required to be effective in solving it.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Famous Delivery

We’ve all had a lot of deliveries…Amazon, UPS, Fedex, GrubHub, UberEats, USPS…

And yet there hasn’t been a delivery driver to rise to the top and be the famous delivery driver.

Because it’s not set up for that.

It’s not set up for the driver to get the credit. It’s not set up for the driver to innovate and do something special. But more than anything, it’s not set up for the driver to get repeat business (to establish connection and credibility)…it’s set up for the business to get repeat business.

(I want the drivers who set the package on my porch not next to my porch. I want the drivers who know the big packages can go to the side of the house. I want the drivers who smile at my kids.)

So why does this matter?

As leaders, the systems we set up will steer the others to what they will likely care about. And what they care about will directly effect the way the work gets done.

The actions and attitudes you incentivize…along with how you dole out the credit are a big part of the foundation of your business.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Shots

I’m waiting for my shot.

vs.

I’m taking my shot.

Whichever version you adopt will inform every element of your work. Each one is a foundational approach and attitude. Choose wisely.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Writing and Deciding

If you wake up every morning and have to take time deciding whether or not you’re going to write today then you’re putting too much effort into it. You’re making it too complicated. Wasting time. There are too many voices that pop up when you’re deciding whether or not you’re going to be creative today.

It’s easy throw away an entire morning going back and forth on this decision.

Better to have already decided. If you decide to be the type of person who writes everyday you save yourself a lot of agony in the deciding. Now you can put your effort into writing, not deciding.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple