Telling the Truth

Mountains of Arizona
Sunny 66 Degrees
2:01 p.m.

A funny thing happened in college when I didn’t have a music lesson for a while.

I’d come back and play for my teacher and realize just how “out of adjustment” I’d gotten.

  • His rhythm was better.
  • His sense of melodic line was better.
  • His ability to communicate something REAL in between the notes was better.

But in his presence, I got better too. For a little while.

Then I went away and back into my world. Eventually, I’d go back to being my normal self. The “adjustment” would wear off.

Why couldn’t I maintain that temporary improvement in my performance over the long term? Why did I have to “borrow” it from someone else?

At the core, we are a set of vibrations. We are, for lack of a better word, TUNED to a specific resonance.

I went into my music lessons and did my best to assume the vibration of another rather than go into my lessons and focus on the real work of more fully developing my own vibration.

This happens in business too. I know, I’ve done it!

You learn what you’re “supposed” to do. You follow the rules as they are set forth. You practice the “best” practices. But you don’t end up with much to show for it.

I always thought I just wasn’t meant to “make it.” I wondered why it wasn’t working for me.

It wasn’t working for me because it WASN’T me. Oops.

My progress really started when I developed the discipline and humility to say PUBLICLY, “I am here to do this, not that. I am here for these people, not those. I’m here to achieve some things, not others.”

The real progress can begin when you get honest with yourself and the rest of the world about who you are and who you aren’t.