Passion Party #486 - How it Happens

I had been thinking about writing a new ballad for quite a while.

Recently I listened to "Relaxin' with The Miles Davis Quintet".  These classic albums from the late 50's are often the touchstone that trigger my creativity.

One song struck me, "You're My Everything", by Harry Warren.  The block chords from Red Garland, the sparse playing by Miles and Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones.  An incredible mood.

I thought I would follow that song form, and write my own ballad.  But what would it be?

This morning I woke up thinking about a song that would connect "The Pursuit of Passion" to my musical world.  It would need to be heart-based, as this pursuit is all about following your heart.

How about "Follow Your Heart"?  I know John McLaughlin wrote a song by that title.  Many songs have been written with that title, why not one more?

I heard a song that would start with block chords, and a melodic phrase that would change and vary, stretching with each reiteration to fit the chords as they wandered.

A little turn of musical phrase.

I woke up, did my stretches, and sat down at the piano with some blank sheet music, and the chord progression of "You're My Everything" as my guide.

The melody flowed out onto the page.

The song is in the key of C, but I wanted a song that would never resolve, so wherever the resolution appeared, I added a substitute chord.  The melody continued to float onto the page.

The melody is searching, changing, finally settling in for the last four bars, settling in but never resolving to C.  Instead it ends on A flat major, with C in the melody. 

Like even when you know you are home, some things change and leave you feeling that there is more to do, more to explore.

In about an hour, the song was complete.

And that's how it happens.

Money, Part 3 - Money is for Motion

Money is for motion.

It is the grease that gets society moving.

It is a man-made creation, an easy way to exchange goods and services.

If you hold on to it, it loses value.

If you let go of it too fast, it will leave you with nothing to show but memories.

I use it to give motion to my dreams, my desires, and when I nurture it and use it to further my highest and best self, it can give me countless rewards.

Money does not care if you are rich or poor.

It is an exchange of energy, and like all energy can be used for good or evil.

I chose financial services as a career partly because I felt that if I could be around the flow of money some of it might rub off on me. Then I learned that by standing in the middle of the stream it was easier to catch the fish.

So now every day I stand in the stream of abundance and let the energy reach me;

I don't chase it, I let the money come to me.

Passion Party #485 - Answer The Phone

We get caught up in all the latest technology

the newest software

the various tricks and techniques to build our business.

 

But people don't want tricks and techniques,

People want to be taken care of.

 

Derek Sivers, the founder of the internet company CD BABY

says that one of the most successful things he did to build the company was

to tell everyone that if the phone rang, it should be answered within 2 rings.

If the person next to you is busy, answer the call for them, take a message or transfer them to the right person.

People want human contact.

Clients loved calling CD BABY, because they knew they would always get a real person on the phone.

 

Answer the phone.

Do what you say you are going to do.

Repeat.

Success will follow.

Money, Part 2 - I Love Being Paid For What I Do

I love being paid well for what I do.

The greatest thing about being an entrepreneur is that my income is not tied to an hourly wage.

Rather than someone telling me, "Your job is to do this, and you will be paid $10.00 an hour to do it", I create my hourly wage based on what I choose to do and the value I create for people, and for myself.

Of course there is a scary part attached to this: the "eat what you kill" primitiveness.

If I choose to be an elephant hunter, then I may go many days without food. This takes preparation and planning to succeed.

I like to be of service.

I like helping lots of people, so I would rather help 10 people get little things done than wait for the one $10 million dollar client that needs my help.

Being paid well for what I do builds self-confidence

and self-worth.

It creates the freedom to design my business even better so I can be more efficient, which creates more money and security or more freedom, whichever I choose.

(Some people work for security, some work for freedom. I work for freedom.)

Being paid well for what I do creates BALANCE in my life.

So this year my "business plan" is very simple:

1) How much money do I want to earn every month?

2) What activities do I need to do every month to hit that target?

3) Consistently do it. Don't stop when I hit the target one time.

My Relationship With Money - Part 1

Our society has set interesting rules on who gets paid what.

There is a relationship between

skill - talent - difficulty - knowledge - function - and value.

Skill alone does not make money

- there are many skilled bus drivers.

Talent alone does not make money

- there are many talented artists that are starving.

Difficulty alone does not make money

- working in a coal mine would be difficult.

Knowledge alone does not make money

- librarians are very knowledgeable.

Function alone does not make money

- there are many out of work bankers right now.

I spent many years as a starving artist, and while I was visiting that place I discovered that, right or wrong, society placed more value on certain jobs than others. Playing piano in a hotel lobby, no matter how skilled or talented I became, would not pay me as well as becoming, say, a software programmer or a film composer.

So then the question became "How much do I want money?" And "How much money do I want?"

And the question behind the question became

"How important is that to me?"

What am I willing to give to achieve the goal of making money?

And which jobs that fit my

skill - talent - degree of difficulty - knowledge; - perform a function that society feels creates monetary value?

I love making money

I love what I do

What I do creates value

What I do makes money.

Passion Party #484 - Sing Out

I inhale I

I exhale am that

I inhale wonder

I exhale thanks

I inhale light

I exhale perception

I inhale trust

I exhale hope

I inhale life

I exhale renewal

 

I open my mouth

expecting tears

but joy comes instead

a song of joy

a song that needs to be sung

that needs to be heard.

Sing out!

Now is no time to be silent.

The song that needs to be sung

is within you,

waiting to come out.

Passion Party - Time, Part 4 (more relationship with time)

 More Relationship With Time

If we all agree that
your choice today creates the future,
then how you spend your time today
creates your future relationship with time.

Long ago I decided that time was valuable, and I did not want to waste it.
I decided that I would spend 90% of my time at work actually working;
if I am not working I would rather be somewhere else, so why not just be somewhere else?

Now that I have committed to
focusing on work while I am working,
I can use technology and team-mates
to help create a better use of my time.

Efficiency does not create more time,
it creates the illusion of more time
because I get to spend more time
doing what I want to do.