You Should See What I am Hearing

Which would hurt more to lose?


The ability to see or the ability to hear?


The ability to capture the moment with your eyes or with your ears.


It's the difference between painting or photography and music.




There is nothing quite like the glowing radiance of a sunset. The explosion of colors from a bouquet of flowers. The expression on a child's face on Christmas morning. The soul piercing gaze from the one you love.

But there is also nothing like the sound of a newborn baby entering the world. The intertwining or music and lyric into melodic poetry. The innocent sound of a child laughing. Hearing the words I love you from your soulmate.

For me...I would have to say hearing. Because hearing gives me vision. Hearing gives me emotion. Hearing let's me feel. Hearing paints the picture in my mind.

For you...it might be the other way around.

I hear ya.

But...do you see what I am saying?

The Original Content Marketer

I was introduced to him several years ago.

It was the first time we ever met but I felt like I had known him for years.

Everything that was once muddled became clear.

Everything that was once clear became confusing.

I recently reintroduced myself.

Jack Kerouac

The writer who turned the art of stream of consciousness writing into a science.

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

He wrote about life but from a different pen angle.

He saw things that others didn't see.

He wrote with clarity. A sense of purpose. A passion.

He realized how we needed to live our lives because of our own mortality.

“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

He touched a generation. He inspired many. He brought vision. He brought perspective.

He went viral before there was virality. He Engaged. Enlightened. Seduced.

He birthed a generation of content creators.

He was both observer and active participant in the game of life.

Glad we reconnected Jack.

“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry.”

Life's Fulcrum

Ever wonder why sometimes in life you are at the bottom of the teeter totter and sometimes you are at the top?


It all comes down to two things my friend.


Timing & Perspective



Timing is all about seizing opportunity. Seeing a crack in the door and making a mad dash. Narrowly missing an accident. Falling in love. Being on time. Making the moment live. Carpe Diem kinda stuff.

Perspective is all about who you are and where you are in relation to everyone else. Seeing things through a different set of eyes. Turning challenges into opportunities. Not feeling sorry for yourself but for others.

Some may argue the key may be more experience than timing and perspective. Not so. It's your experiences with timing and perspective that give you your experience.

Timing and perspective. The two legs that make up the fulcrum of your own personal teeter totter.

Up and down. Up and down. Such is a day in the life.

When Randomness Serves a Purpose

Ever see the movie "Magnolia?"


To give you the cliff note Wikipedia version;


The film is a mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.




Connections.

In life...you meet random people at every corner. Some stick around for awhile...some become your Facebook friends...most just drift away with the tide.

Every once in a while though, you meet someone who serves a purpose for you. Someone who changes the game. Someone who you will never forget.

Take time out today to take stock of the people who have come into your life and have made a difference. You are who you are because of them. If they are still in your life...let them know what they have done for you. If they aren't still in your life...remember them for what they have given you.

Your mission...(if you so choose to accept)...is to try and positively impact those around you. You might just be what they need at that time in their life.

Purposeful randomness. Try it. You might like it.

Tell me what it means to me.

Over the last week, I have been wrought with several different emotions and thoughts.

My concepts have been challenged.

My vision has been confirmed.




My successes outweigh my losses...but my losses did add up.

I have been at peace and in conflict all at once.

One step back...two steps forward...one step back.

I got to thinking about the concepts of respect, likability and fear. As leaders, we all have people who follow based on those three motivations.

"I respect your decision"
"I like working for you"
"I do as I am told because I am afraid what will happen if I don't"

Take my advice...

Aim for respect. I am afraid...people will actually end up liking you.

What a week. No wonder my back and neck are killing me.

Star Trek meets Talking Heads

Ever get in your car and start to drive and forget where you are going?

Ever go to someplace that is so familiar to you but feels foreign?

Ever step outside yourself and look back and ask the question that David Byrne made famous lyrically in the 1980's? "How did I get here?"

We all need to experience the comfort of a routine. It grounds us. It gives us direction. It gives us clarity of purpose. We all have a need and desire to go back to that "safe place."

Don't get me wrong...going Leonard Nimoy and going where no man has gone before is usually the way to go but sometimes...you have to take the old route to get to where you want to go to remind you why you went there in the first place.

You want to explore new worlds...not escape your current one.

If you feel yourself losing your way sometimes...take the old route. Take the familiar path. Usually you will find something you missed the first time.

How did I get here? Think about the path you took. That will usually give you the answer.

Starting or finishing?

Which one works better for you?

Anticipation or satisfaction?

Looking forward or remembering back?




Sunrise or sunset?

The intrinsic excitement that comes with looking forward to something or the sense of fulfillment that comes with completing something?

The answer of course should be both. Both are needed and both carry their own beauty and purpose.

Expect the first...accept everything that happens with the last.

If you embrace both, the time you spend between the two will be better served.

It's how you start and how you finish that will define your day.

It's not about the minutes or hours that separate the two. It's the moments that are ours that do.

Enjoy both...and everything in between.