Realizing You're Good At It

What does it take to realize you’re good at something?

We hope we’re good…but when the crowd doesn’t cheer loud enough we begin to wonder.

We think we’re good…but then we get envious of the person doing a similar thing.

We start to believe we’re good…but we don’t get the right pats on the back from the right people.

We look for something we’re good at…but if we might be good at it, then it must be something everyone is good at, so it’s not worth very much.

So what’s it going to take?

If you’re contributing in a way that makes the air a little lighter for someone else…take note.

If someone gives you a sincere thanks for doing something that was easy for you…take note.

If you have similar conversations with a wide range of people…take note.

But the biggest thing is learning to embrace that the thing you’re good at is enough. The thing you’re good at is valuable and needed by your family and community. Don’t belittle what you’re good at. Own it and use it to your benefit and the benefit of the world around you.

 

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Faded And Frayed Brown Belt

When you start out as a white belt all you can think about is getting that yellow. Go to the class, learn the moves, pass the test, and you’re on your way. It’s all about the ascent. That black belt calls to you. But as you move through the color wheel it gets harder. The classes, the moves, and the time…it’s an incredible amount of work to get to get the brown belt and you’re finally you’re one shade away from black. You keep showing up and doing the work…but it’s still brown.

And after a while you’re the one in the gym with the faded and frayed brown belt.

Everyone can see it. And more than that…you see it. So much wear and tear on the brown belt without ever reaching the final color.

It’s likely one of two realities set in…

You’re bitter and resentful of your tapered ascent. You keep showing up so you can tell the others how unjust the world is, how there are unfair shenanigans going on, how if you had just started a couple years earlier, how the system is rigged against you getting to black. And you probably don’t say all those things but it’s right there in the middle of everything you say. You are ruled by the idea of the black belt.

Or…

You take a deep breath and begin replacing your value system of ascent through the colors with something else. Replacing it with level of contribution, consistency, connection, inspiration, joy. The black belt might not be in your future so if you’re going to keep showing up it’s worth changing the reason for doing so.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Somewhere You'll Be Proud Of

If you don’t have a plan you’re still gonna end up going somewhere.

A plan simply helps make it somewhere you’ll be proud of.

A plan is scary because if you make one and it doesn’t totally work out, then you’ve ended up in the ‘wrong’ place. On the other hand, not having a plan you can never end up in the wrong place because there was no stated destination to begin with.

Make a plan. Make a project. Learn to compromise. Follow through. Enjoy the ride. Celebrate the victories. Appreciate your growth. Do it all again.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Punch It Up

I don’t usually hear that phrase in the music biz…I usually hear it in reference to a script or comedy bit.

Script writers and joke writers get their best draft together and then bring it to their writer buddies to tinker with it. Punch it up. Make it shimmer. Add some sizzle. Not big strokes, meaningful little ones.

The people punching it up may not get credit for the subtle re-writes but it doesn’t matter. Being trusted to make the thing better is what matters.

We need this more in songwriting and production. Punch up the song…two or three little things that might make a big difference.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

The Loudest

I don’t know much about mixing records. It’s a dark art full of multi-band EQs, side chain compression, transient shaping, and the many choices of reverbs and delays.

But I know one thing.

Not everything can be the loudest.

The snare and guitars and synths and vocals and thumping bass can’t all be the loudest.

At any given moment in a song the mix engineer has to choose what the rest of the mix is revolving around. There are a lot of essential elements and instrumentation that need to be part of the underlying mix in order to support the thing main thing.

Because if you try to make everything the loudest, nothing is the loudest.

As a metaphor it holds up for lots of other applications.

 

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple