Final Inspection

Everyone’s house had a final inspection.

Before that, while it was being built, there were inspections along the way to make sure things were done the way they should have been…and once those are passed…then comes the final inspection…the one where once it’s passed, the house becomes a house that people can live in. The house is released into the world.

It takes a lot of guts to be the final inspector. Everyone involved thinks the projects is complete and is ready to be done and then the final inspector has the power to declare, ‘nope, there is more work to be done’…a very unpopular thing to say when all the energy was going in the other direction.

But the good thing about the inspector is that although it can be a real buzz kill to have to go back to work…the inspector doesn’t leave you to figure out what needs to be changed in order to be done. Quite the opposite…There’s a written report with exactly what it’s going to take to get the project across the finish line. Do these things and THEN it’s done.

The metaphor here is fairly obvious.

Who in the group has the guts and authority to be the final inspector?

If the inspector exercises that authority, will it be done in a clear and beneficial way?

Are there clear check points before the final inspection that tell you you’re on the right track?

»» On a similar note…

I was in a rock n roll band called The Kicks. We had released our first album and we were riding that momentum into writing and recording our follow up. Any spare time in Nashville we would hit the studio and get to work…hard work, real work, the creative rollercoaster…and before too long we had the second album.

We had spent a bunch of time and money on these songs. We had spent our energy, other people’s energy, other people’s time and reputation. We were in deep.

But there was an unsettled haze starting to build up around the whole thing.

Songs were already being mixed and album titles were being discussed…but one night when it was just the four of us someone spoke up, ‘guys, I think these songs might not be good enough. I know how hard we’ve worked but it just isn’t there.’

Thank goodness for the final inspector. We’d hit some good check points but the final product wasn’t what it needed to be…and once it was said out loud we all breathed a sigh of relief because we were all thinking the same thing too.

So that’s how a second album gets scratched in favor of a better second album.

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Internal Failure Dialogue

Failing in front of others can easily stick in our brain. We worry we might not be as good as people think we are. We worry about being an imposter. We worry about being laughed out of town.

But at least public failures are public, out in the open

Because on top of that, some of our successes were barely successes…and we know it. No one else knows it but we know we barely made it happen. It should have been a colossal failure but we got lucky at the last second…and now everyone thinks it’s a wild success…but we know how close to the edge we were.

And we carry the weight of that too.

We process the failure as being an imposter. We process ‘unlikely’ success as being an imposter. And those two story lines are so heavy and so rehearsed that even when we have an undisputed big win, we quickly revert to the voices we’re use to.

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Past Events

They’re over and done…learn what you can from what you’ve done and then move on.

No need to dwell.

You know you’re spending too much time ruminating when it turns into re-scripting the past in hypothetical ways in order to ‘achieve’ a different outcome.

Before you cross that line, just go back to work, go make something. Action is the great antidote to over thinking your past successes and failures.

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How Good Does It Need To Be?

It needs to be good enough for it to be as good as someone wants it to be.

For example…

The show has to be good enough that the person who wants it to be amazing can reasonably think it was amazing.

And maybe the truth is it wasn’t the most amazing show…Maybe there were mistakes and missed notes and some sloppy transitions…But if it crosses the threshold of good enough, then it can fill the ‘amazing’ expectation of the audience, even if it wasn’t.

Same goes for food, paintings, graphic design and all the other creative endeavors that we make careers out of.

It has to be good enough to be what the audience was hoping for…even when it isn’t.

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A Word About Passion

‘Finding your passion’ can often become a distraction from simply being passionate.

Don’t get distracted. Work on bringing your passion to whatever you’re doing.

And if you really think you’re not passionate…act like it anyway. It beats the alternative.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Simple Part Of The Path

If you want to be a writer, write everyday. By yourself, with people, on your phone, on paper, in the park, on the edge of your bed in your undies.

Same goes for so many creative endeavors.

Don’t over dramatize it.

Do the work.

The things we do everyday, that’s our lives. And if you want ‘being great’ to be part of your life you’ve gotta do that thing everyday.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple