Songify

Lin Manuel Miranda, Rogers and Hammerstein, Beethoven, Bach, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and Vivaldi wrote every song, score, and symphony the exact same way: One note at a time.

They sat down with their staff paper and added in note by note, part by part, every melody, chorus, verse, bridge, and prechorus. 

After outlining the core of their piece, the added on the harmonies to round it out. Once it was satisfactorily well rounded, they added in the embellishments that set it apart with their mark and style. 

Likewise, you are today because you build upon who you were yesterday and who you have been up till now. You have not found a way to jump to a point where you are more developed or fully developed without putting in the work. 

Each day of your life is another dot on the staff paper. Each week, another bar. Each year, another phrase, melody, and embellisment.

Like their compositions, your life does not compose itself it is made up of the decisions you make and the way you live your life and there is no shortcut to becoming who you want to be. Each day must be lived in consistency with the key signature and values you want my life to be consistent with. 

Some of these decisions are made for you. Skin color. Height. Eye color.

The rest is up to you to maximize the decisions you cannot control for the good of the people that matter most to you. And every day is more progress toward giving them the sweet song your life is becoming. These people are the audience of the song of your life. The people who get to enjoy your life as it plays out.

Who is the audience of the song of your life? What values are you keeping your life consistent with? How are you focusing on making the people you care most about better? 

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Human Touch

When we order a steak at a restaurant, we ask for our steak with the appropriate fixings and cooked to order.

There is nothing in the order about the chef or the waiter. There is only the specifications of our order and the expectations the food will be everything promised on the menu.

The waiter being attentive, magically keeps our cup full, and cracking the right amount of jokes to be friendly without being too involved in our experience is a stylized personality bonus.

The chef stopping by to check on us and to make sure our food tastes right and more than meets our expectations. This is a bit of personality the restaurant offers.

When we encounter unexpected good personality, it is a massive bonus. We get to enjoy our experience knowing we are getting everything we ordered PLUS there is the added joy of the personality we cannot get anywhere else.

Where else do we go and the chef checks on us? Where else do we go and the waiter knows our name? Where else do we go and the experience is cooked to order and personalized, just a little bit, for us?

How are you personalizing each experience for people? How are you adding in a slight margin of human personality to your job? How can you add a human touch to your service? How can you add in a custom touch to make it better when your peers to stop by your desk?

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Consuming Raw or Undercooked Meat

Every restaurant serving beef, pork, fish, and eggs has the warning about the dangers of consuming raw or undercooked meat? I would not be surprised if there are mountains of legal precedents regarding these warnings and how they have saved restaurant after restaurant from millions of dollars in lawsuits.

But these warnings are everywhere. They have become white noise. When was the last time you actually read one of these notices? They are there. Go to your favorite local eatery and they probably have one of these warnings.

They are not pretty. They are not fancy. They are just a warning against the common knowledge. A warning many people ignore.

I like my eggs sunny-side-up. Some people want to eat a steak that is blue. I do not want to get sick. I am guessing people who eat blue steaks do not want to get sick.

Why do we still let this noise persist? These signs have as much use as a restroom sign. Never visible until you need to see them. But we keep posting restroom signs and meat disclaimers because we have always posted meat disclaimers.

How much of your work do you do because the industry or organization has always done it? How much of your work ends up being background noise, invisible till needed? What is more meaningful that you should be working on?

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