When the to-do list is at its finest it’s a true gift…it tells you that if you’re not doing one of the things on the list then you’re not doing what you should be doing. Anything other than what is on the list is the wrong thing right now.
It’s clear, specific, concise and rigid. It directs focus and action in a powerful way.
Your mom listens to your songs or your podcast because you’re her kid.
Family is easy. They listen because they love you and think you’re the best.
But it’s gonna be tough to build a career with just the family tree.
People listen to things because they want to. I don’t hear people talking about the album or podcast they listen to because they don’t like it.
They like the sound of your voice. You inform, entertain, connect, make them laugh, cry, get them pumped, give them hope, give advice, inspire, anchor them to their values, and the list goes on.
You only have to get good at one. And the good thing about everything listed is that there are plenty of people looking for each.
You’re willing to put up with a lot more when you’re excited, when the group is excited, when the whole team is excited.
Excitement gives you willingness to endure and reorders your priorities into a more beneficial order.
Excitement can enter the room in a big way all at once and it can also come from a tiny spark and then someone says Yes! and keeps going with it and it builds as more people (or more of each person) gets revved up.
It’s might be tough to be consistent with big excitement…but you can almost always make a little and you can say yes to someone else’s.
The vacation budget looks a lot like the budget mentality that rolls out at the end of most projects…
‘We’ve made it this far, time to spend like crazy and worry about it later’.
Super fun and effective in the moment. Not a great for the long term, or the mid term, or really even the short term.
First Monday of the month means new Hum Love playlist on Spotify and Apple.
Now that your songs are recorded you’re gonna be playing them live. Maybe on the road, maybe online, probably both.
You spent all that time in the studio getting things just right, so there’s a natural magnetic pull to just play it exactly like the record. And even more…it took a lot of time and energy and hard work to whip those songs in to shape on the record and now…you’re tired.
But live is different than recorded. Performance energy is different than listening on headphones energy. You have to be willing to change things, amplify moments, stretch it out, let it breathe, speed it up, make a speech, skip an outro…whatever you need to do to create emotional connection for the moment you are a part of.
Your record is a great start. Keep going.
It’s a good idea to have a plan already in place for not feeling like it.
Even for those who love doing their work, not feeling like it is inevitable. What we choose to do with the not feeling like it is what makes the difference.
When I was in college I applied for a part time job at the Pepsi facility near the school. It was an online application with lots of questions and I summoned two of my roommates to help me fill it out.
Lots of standard questions but then it asked, ‘Do you sometimes feel lazy’…and I could check Yes or No.
This caused quite a discussion between me (a bass player), a keyboard player and a drummer. Because I said OF COURSE I feel lazy sometimes, who doesn’t? So clearly every human ought to check the Yes box. But my guys were adamant that by checking Yes I would be out of the running because clearly they don’t want lazy people working at Pepsi…I should just check No since that’s the answer they’re actually looking for.
I don’t remember which box I checked. I didn’t get the job. Whew.