When you’re climbing over the mountain of work you have to do, take a tiny step.It’s a lot easier to do what’s immediately in front of you while still being able to pivot or re-orient yourself as needed.Take the tiny steps.

Your colleagues love feeling they get when they’re helping answer the big questions. Your colleagues hate being pulled into meetings that say: “weekly product/services cross-functional.“What if the calendar invite read: “How might we transform into a product-led growth company?“The body of the calendar invite would read: “This is your time to spend with the rest of us who are trying to answer this big question before us. Meeting notes are found [here] and this week’s agenda is [here]. Come ready to tackle the question!“Transforming how the meeting is positioned in the mind of the attendees transforms how the work gets done.People want to feel like they’re part of something bigger - that’s motivating for us.When you want people to work with you, how might you show them more that they’re part of the something bigger?

A good roux can deliver a creamy bechamel or a deliciously dark and deep gumbo. To make an effective roux, you need to be mindful of how much butter and flour you’re mixing together. You want enough for the flour to hold the butter, but not too much that it separates.Knowledge and inputs are the same.Take in only enough to be effective. Take in too much and you won’t be able to keep together.Cheers to moderation.

Every jazz musician struggles to find their voice. Who are they? How are they meant to show up? What does it mean to be me? What am I actually contributing? How am I pushing the craft forward?I don’t want to make any assumptions, but that sounds a lot like the rest of us. No?Well, how do jazz musicians find their voice?They aim higher and emulate the greats.They fail.They realize they cannot even dream of becoming their ideal. And through all of the failures and all of the suffering, they find their voice.Conan O’Brien once observed, “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.“Don’t be afraid to aim high.Fail as often as you possibly can.Learn from each fall.Eventually you will find what you’re looking for - your voice.

What if my customer’s problem was solved in a song?What if I could make the relationship better by bungee jumping?What if the song that I’m writing was in a completely different style of music that my audience would hate?What if instead of looking for a job, I looked for clients?What if of instead of punishing my employee for not achieving results I rewarded them for owning their accountability?What if 1+1=500?Crazy? Absurdist? A waste of time? Just silly?Yes. Probably and possibly.But, they’re also powerful and interestingly productive.I’m doing a practice of giving myself 30-45 minutes every day, in the middle of the day, to walk around a park and do nothing but think.When I think, I’m thinking about a question. A What If question.What If I could recruit without talking to candidates?What if my clients had a DEI initiative that didn’t involve DEI?What if bars weren’t hiring a band, but buying an experience?What if a demo video didn’t show the band, but it showed the bar owner talking about how much the band made them?Even though the answers to my literal questions may not be possible, I end my walk with more actionable ideas for stepping closer to my goal - being more effective.Just another friendly reminder to take a moment, smell the roses, and be silly. It pays off.

Artists make things - and you make things every day.Decisions.Innovations.Commitments.Connections.Ideas.Recipes.Food.Music.Experiences.Inspiration.To show up.Questions.You make things from things that already exist - smarties like to call that innovation.Or you make things from nothing - I like to call that creative.Make your art.Every day.No matter what.

In music theory 101 you will learn about scales, keys, time signatures, and how to basically analyze music.You will learn about notes move from one to other. You will also learn about how notes move together at the same time - sometimes in the same direction.If your teacher is hip, like mine was, you will also touch on function. What is the function of this note and this harmony? Why does it exist? And where does it lead?Now that you’re an aspiring music theory wiz… here’s how you can use your new found knowledge to solve your toughest problems.Let’s say you have a tough and generous problem to solve. It can be a business, leadership, or personal problem. Now to think yourself, “What is this problem? What is causing it to be in my life? What would make this problem resolved? What does a good resolution look like?“After understanding the function of the problem (thank you John B.) you start to work to think about a solution.What if I did this?What if I did that?What if I combined this and that?What if I thought about something completely different?What if this is not a problem but an opportunity?What if I’m actually not the one to solve this?If we’re sticking with the music metaphor - this process is called permutation. We’re inverting, retrograding, transposing, and retrograde inverting (that’s a big one) the problem. Simply - we’re playing with it.While you’re playing with the problem, give yourself time and space.Go on a walk.Visit the museum.Chill on the couch.People watch in the mall.Do any activity that doesn’t over stimulate your brain but allows you to continue half-process the problem. IF you’re feeling lucky - take a nap.The later that day, re-approach the problem.If you are like me, you’ll likely see the problem in a new way. You might even have some creative ideas for solving it!John Steinbeck wrote, “A difficult problem at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.“Give yourself time, space, and the freedom to play with your most difficult problems for more creative results.And congratulations on passing Music Theory 101 ;-)

For the past few days I’ve been enjoying the seasonal - and welcomed - challenge of keeping my mood on track. One of the ways that my mood messes with my head is cravings - ravenous ones. That’s why I started looking at tires.Cravings hit me most when I’m driving somewhere - especially if it’s a long drive. I associate long drives with road trips, I associate road trips with road food, I associate rood food with travel, I associate travel with freedom.On this particular “long drive” (25 minutes) I developed a craving out of nowhere. I started wondering:Am I anxious about something?Do I need some type of dopamine hit right now?What is causing my mind to think about that?I then decided, that it doesn’t matter what is causing it or if anything is on my mind. That feeling is there, it’s okay, and I need to change the game.I came to an intersection, stopped, and directed my attention to the right rear tire of the car to my left.I noticed the tire’s brand, the bright mint green cap that covers the air hose socket, the tread - it looked newer, the brake pad, the wheel itself - shiny, and I noticed how the tire moved when the stop and go light turned green.I stopped thinking about my craving and started wondering about the tire.I didn’t silence the craving by ignoring it. I acknowledged it and I reminded myself it’s okay to have it. I also started noticing something else totally unrelated.Next time frozen custard or cookies (oh my gosh, cookies are a problem for me) is on your mind, consider a tire.

“Our life’s mission has been to please those who can grant or withhold approval: parents, teachers, coaches, admissions officers and job interviewers. As a result, many of us don’t know what we believe or what matters to us.” - Julie Hartman via the Wall Street JourneyWhen I used to interview for a living, and I’m sort of doing that again, I would ask people questions so that I could better understand who they are - what they believe, how they want to show up, and what matters. Consistently, candidates responded in a way that caters their answers to the job we’re here to talk about.That’s not helpful.It’s not helpful because the recruitment is the art of aligning problem and solution. “You are looking for problems to solve like this…, this job is looking for a person who has solved problems like that… this might be a match. Let’s talk about if this makes sense for you to look at this job. Where are you headed? What do you need? Does this job help you get there? And do you help us get to where we’re going?“That’s all it is.(Or all it could/should be.)And, that process of alignment only works if we’re honestly asserting what we believe and what matters to us.Sadly, LinkedIn gurus, career hucksters and career development centers all advise career changers and starters to cater their responses to an interview. “They’re listening for certain words… use these words.“If you’re hiring a team, interviewing a celebrity, answering a question from a curious child, being interviewed because you’re a celebrity, doing anything creative, or literally existing - say what you believe and say what matters.You, myself, and the rest of us are not robots.

“Why questions” create the Morpheus Effect. Take the blue pill and you flirt with the idea and go back to your life. Take the red pill and the question becomes your life.Here’s are examples from my life.Why can’t I better own the morning?Why aren’t swing dance groups and bands proposing a combined dance+music experience to venues?Why am I experiencing such irritability?Why don’t more musicians think about who their work is for and it how it serves the people it’s for? Why don’t they seem to care about the end user?Why do people say things like “let’s just take a step back and get on the same page” at every meeting?Why don’t we allow our kids to attend parent+principle meetings? How will they ever learn how to have these conversations if they don’t watch them?Why can’t a department have something to believe in?You likely have similar questions. And you likely have realized that each question invites you to take the blue pill, flirt with the idea and go back to living your life, or take the red pill and obsess.More often than not, you likely choose the blue bill. But,What keeps most of us from choosing the Red pill?From pursuing the fundamental “why” even at the cost of productivity?The fear of the sunk cost: “We’ve already started… we’re already into it… we’ve already spent the cash… I’ve already made the reservation…“The fear of what it means to be wrong: “What if we thought about this all the wrong way the whole time? What if others see my reasoning as flawed? What if I don’t have what it takes after all?“The fear of having to do the work: “What will this mean for me now? What more will I have to do? Why is this so hard? Why can’t it be easier?“The fear that you might be right.I tend to take the red pill because that’s how I am.Which pill do you take?