Raising a glass to a bumpy start
I wrote last year about fighting the tendency to start a new year with a clean slate. I stand by that.
But apparently 2020 read that blog, didn’t like it, and has asked someone to hold its beer. That’s my only explanation because so far…just over three weeks in…2020 has stepped it up and has been a pretty big a**hole.
That said, I’m pretty sure we can all step up, too.
So let’s.
Bring it on
First of all, happy new year to you. I mean it.
2020 came in and I took the opportunity to use the “20/20 perfect vision” joke and make 2020 the year of perspective, focus, and seeing things through. Get it? Of course you do. I’m super clever and actually no I’m not, but let’s move on…
That energy and blissful optimism lasted about a day, then oh look, Australia seems to be on fire and World War III seems to be starting and oh cool, Neil Peart — one of my all-time favorite drummers and songwriters, someone who has influenced me in profound ways — passes away due to brain cancer from which the public didn’t even know he was suffering.
Then an old fraternity brother and former housemate passes away. Then the older brother of one my best friends passes away.
Welp. That escalated quickly.
Okay, 2020. I see you. I see what you’re doing. You’re waiting to see how we’ll play it.
Cheers to rough starts
We’ve been taught not to like rough starts. Start strong, improve as you go, and then finish strong. That’s what’s been taught.
Starting a business.
Being in a relationship.
Being a parent.
Running an actual, literal race.
Whatever it is.
We’ve been taught that the start will somehow define how the rest of it is going to go. Get behind early, and you’ll never catch up.
Well f**k that.
What if rough starts were an advantage?
What if rough starts not only didn’t matter, but actually helped?
Robots are cool, but robotic people aren’t
Here’s the thing: Emotion is crucial to everything in business…and let’s face it…life.
In a society where we all want to be happy all the time, it’s normal, and actually healthy, to be pissed off or sad sometimes. Those are human emotions, and yes, you are allowed to have them.
[HINT: Emotions are relative, so if you were happy all the time, then would you be feeling anything at all?]
[ANOTHER HINT: If you were happy all the time, you’d be super creepy so stop staring at me with that weird grin and do you ever blink? Ew.]
It’s the ups. It’s the downs.
Just because it’s the beginning of a man-made counting system based on astrological events doesn’t mean we have to start with everything being perfect. Think about that…it’s weird, right?
For musicians, it’s like starting a song at a gig and right off the bat it’s all f**ked. Wrong key. Wrong tempo. But professional musicians never stop and start over. Instead, they just take a breath, communicate, listen, adjust, and fix it all right there in real-time because they know that THAT IS HOW LIFE WORKS.
It’s hard, It’s supposed to be hard. The audience knows it’s hard…everyone gets it. They didn’t come to hear you play perfectly, they came to watch you do something crazy difficult and, in turn, be inspired by it.
So at the start of this year, we’re all on stage. Don’t let the year “happen” to you. Let’s settle in, hold on tight, and make 2020 work for us.
2020 is challenging us to step up our game and fight for what we want. It’s insisting that you make this year different than the last. It’s demanding action through emotion, and we all know that that’s the best kind of action.
2021 is already counting on you, so don’t let it down.
Start strong. Start slow. It doesn’t matter.
Just start.
You got this.
#bewhatyoumake
