Do you know people who are committed to getting their life together, but then get off track and feel like giving up?

They feel like they took 2 steps forward and 4 steps back. But they didn’t. They stopped and started another path.Imagine life as a journey along a straight path.

At any point you can stop and decide to do something else. That “something else” is a new path. If you don’t want to stay on that path, stop and decide to do something else.

I woke up excited, I am still excited. I woke up ready to do something, to make something, to ship something. When I sat down at my computer to review book notes and start journal’ing, I experienced this feeling…Anxious, ready to move.Frustrated, what am I doing here?Chest pain, but not in a heart attack way, in a “are we really going to sit here?" way.Doubt, we can’t just sit here.Self talk, “you’ve written enough… let’s do something else.”Resolve. “the practice requires you to write - you must engage in the practice to bring clarity to your thoughts and resolve to your nature.”Instead of reflecting on what I have read, or thoughts on an ongoing theme - questions, actions, and how we get in our own way - I decided to side step and show a bit of my humanity… I imagine you might feel the same sometimes. Sometimes this blog feels like a book. A free book you get every day. And sometimes it feels like a journal… a journal that’s open, and reflective of an experience people like us might share from time to time. Let’s not afraid to be human, be ourselves, and be content with our experience. Written 1/26/22

I am not in “sales,” but I attend their conferences. A line that I hear all the time at sales conferences is, “outcomes follow actions.“If “outcomes follow action” became a mathematical law, something that’s always true, how might we apply that to life, leadership, and everything?I see that question manifested through questions people ask me. “I am trying to figure out what to do with my life… should I look for this position or that position?“I always respond with, “What is the work that you want to get invited to do every day?“People who are looking for jobs or a career path always focus on the outcome they want, but they don’t know the actions they want to do. You could find a job that feels right, but if you’re not doing the work that matters you’ll quit. Or worse, you’ll stick it out and hate your life. Was that worth it?We need to take a page out of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and instead of being in pursuit of the ultimate answer, we need to be in pursuit of the ultimate question.What is the work you want to get invited to do every day? For me, it’s:How might I connect more with humans?How might I connect the dots for humans - help them tell a better story?How might I discover the first principles of human problems?How might I brainstorm creative solutions to interesting problems?How might I test out ideas and collect feedback?How might I think more deeply about ideas, interesting problems, philosophy, life.Outcomes follow actions. The action of pursuing the questions above has led to outcomes that have brought fulfillment. As a musician and as a people leader I get to pursue all of those questions in my work.So grab your towel, and start translating your life as a pursuit of the ultimate questions for life, the universe, and everything.

To play jazz, or any music, the artist must be like a scientist - curious, feel a sense of passion, demonstrate patience, exercise creativity, be self-sufficient, and have courage. Courage to, as John Barry in The Great Influenza writes, “venture into the unknown…. the courage to accept - indeed embrace - uncertainty.“While playing a gig, at any moment something could go off the rails. The singer could come in early (will likely happen), the sound could go out, a party goer will ask for Freebird (guaranteed to happen), or some frat kid will ask for more cowbell (if I had a penny…). Those, or any hundreds upon hundreds of mistakes, could throw off the piece. When that happens, what do we do? How do we pivot? How do we finish the song as if we planned it that way?We embrace uncertainty. We know we could screw up. We are okay with that. Jazz musicians will often say, “as long as we end together!“So how to bridge the gap between mistake (stimulus) and the ending?Stop. Don’t stop the tune, but take a breath and…Listen. What’s happening around us? Does it sound like someone is going to take the lead? Who is off? Who is on? Is it me?Look. Is someone signaling to go to a new section? Does the leader look like they’re aware of what’s up… are they hatching a plan? Wait, I’m the leader… do I know what’s up? Is everyone with me?Act. Get everyone’s attention, determine the next optimal spot to come together, communicate that spot, prepare everyone to jump, 1, 2, 3, and…Jump.Steps 4 and 5 don’t happen without Step 1 - 3. And, as a musician, you must love steps 1-3.You must look forward to the opportunity to take in what’s happening around you and enjoy it! You must embrace the opportunity to align everybody together and prepare us to move as one. You need to recognize that it won’t be perfect, but it will be something you all do together.Hey… as long as we end together.

I have lived with bipolar disorder (so I’m told).But having lived with that condition doesn’t define me.I have control over how I show up.I get to make a choice how I will act.When I feel at my heaviest, where I simply “cannot” with life, I have a choice to show up for others.When I feel light, fast, and that nothing can stop me now, I have a choice to mindfully show up for others.When I am frustrated by a meeting that’s going on, and on, and on… I have a choice to lend a smile, try to engage, or suggest an alternative for next time.The question is not if you have a control, the question is, how will you use that control?What are you going to do with that power?When you’re not feeling life, are you going to choose to show up for us?When you’re angry, are you going to choose to act with kindness and helpfulness?When you’re stressed, are you going to choose to ask for help, or for time to yourself?Whatever the choice is - the choice is yours.What are you going to do that with control?

When you walk towards someone, you’re likely to move to one side so that you can avoid them. But then sometimes they move to do the same… but they move in the same way you did. You’re about to collide.

So you move to the different side, but they do too.

The question is asked: “Shall we dance?”

Obstacles are like people walking towards you. You pivot to give way, but the obstacle pivots too. Before you know it, you’re pivoting again, and so does the obstacle.

Take your hand and turn it so that the palm faces up.Cup your hand as if it were holding a small pile of sand - small enough to fit in your palm.Now squeeze your hand.What happens to the imaginary sand?Now do the same thing again, but instead of squeezing imagine you lightly cup your hand. What happens to the imaginary sand?When you try to ultra-control life, you squeeze the sand out of your hand.When you allow life to happen, the sand exists undisturbed - at peace.Is that much control that worth it?

Yesterday, I had a moment. You have moments too, right? It’s not just me.In this moment I said to myself, “that’s it, I’m done, conversation over, I’m out.“Then I remembered something I read, “we can accommodate and adapt… the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way, becomes the way.“Instantly, an energy came over me. How might this impediment become the way forward? How might I leverage this feeling I have to advance a cause? To make something better? How might I leverage devices I have seen successfully used by others to make this thing right?In only a few minutes I took to the computer and developed a plan that would address the impediment. I designed work that was needed and I shipped it to people who cared.The response to my work was well-received, it was appreciated, “it’s needed.“Truly - what stands in your way, becomes the way.You get to leverage your obstacles and make something with them if you choose.

Do you know what it means to be part of a studio? What do you get to do as part of a studio?Work collaboratively with peers.Create and define a vision for work.Make and keep promises.Be Curious. What if? How might we? What’s the real challenge? What can we?Test. Make hypothesis statements and test them.Learn. What did our tests show us?Ship work. Make change happen.A studio is the opposite of an institution:Stay in your lane thinking.We’ve always done it this way - “we don’t want any of your new ideas.“Bureaucracy - red tape, procedures for the sake of it.What doesn’t fit, doesn’t belong attitude.There is no better feeling to approach your work as an artist in a studio. The freedom to try with the discipline to ship. That’s the way I love to work, and it’s the type of environment I try to build.Why am I telling you this?Because you can create a studio anywhere. You can create one in your home, in your practice, in your government job, in your college, or on your team.A studio is not a big open space with bean bags where chaos happens. It’s a mindset, an approach, and a posture towards your practice.

When you fail, and you will today, stop and listen.What happened just before?What were you trying to do? What was the outcome you had hoped for?How might you do it better?Are you getting feedback that you can use from someone? Does the feedback help you achieve the outcome you had hoped for? Yes? Use it. No? Ask for clarification.What if you tried the work again but changed one thing? What might you change?How did the work resonate with the people I was trying to serve? Was it a dud? Or did it land, but not as good as it could? Tweak the song, change some words, adjust a graphic, adapt your approach.Try again.Fail again.Grow again.