Lisa Robbin Young

This week's song is a cover of a classic by The Beatles. "All You Need Is Love" was written to be a mantra-style piece - sort of like musical brainwashing. You hear the refrain over and over, with a march-style feel that gives it an almost militaristic, "drilling it into your head" sensation. I've yet to meet anyone that sings the refrain that stops after singing it once time through. It's THAT effective.

The curious thing about this piece is that it was written in mixed meter - 7/8 and 4/4 time. It makes the verses feel very conversational, but it's a bee-otch to count, because it always feels like you're on an off beat (or slightly off kilter). That off-kilter feeling seems to represent how discombobulated the world is - until you get to the "march" section where the mantra begins (and everything's in an easy to count, straightforward 4/4 rhythm). I think that's part of why it was written that way (from a music theorist's standpoint), but I couldn't find any research to confirm my theory.

So I took the original and modified it slightly - I took out the entire 7/8 feel and made it all a plain 4/4, and gave it a contemporary groove that gives you a little bit of an off-kilter feeling, but in a much more satisfying/sexy way. The march style instrumentation was replaced with a vocal harmonizing that keeps the traditional "bum-bada-da-daaah" feel after each chant of the mantra, but without the march-style feeling.

Yep, I know. That's a lot of musical theory-speak in what seems like a simple cover tune, but since this is the FIRST video this year where I actually wrote the arrangement, I wanted to 'splain myself a little - especially since purists will probably hate the fact that I "desecrated" a Beatles tune in the first place. Overall, it's a much "sexier" tune this way - even if the lyrics seem a little redundant in places. 🙂

 

January's over, and I'm about 5% of the way toward my BHAG of recording 300 songs in 2013. That's 21 songs toward my ultimate goal of 300. Only 279 to go!

Anyone else would say "Holy crap! you've recorded that many songs!?! That's Awesome!"

Me? I have to remind myself to not be all "meh" about it.

Because I want to be at 300 - like, yesterday.

Welcome to what Seth Godin calls "The Dip".

This is where it gets hard, and why so many people fall off the "new year resolutions" band wagon by the end of January. The novelty of the project has worn off. There's only so many times you can share what you're doing with people. And since I'm in earliest stages of the project, it's not like I have a huge catalog of music to point to so that I can say "Hey! Look how awesome I am!"

All that comes later - as we near completion of the project. After the hard work of DOING the work is complete (or at least much farther along). It's one of the downsides of living in an instant gratification economy.

I chose to record 300 songs because it's a point of deliberate practice for me. There are so many songs in the world, and this will broaden my musical horizons both as a composer and as a performer. Frankly, it's been way too long since I've spent focused time working on my music (8+ years, to be more precise), and it's a necessary effort for my development as an artist. Sites like fiddlersguide.com would definitely incredibly beneficial for my musical growth.

In order to excel in anything, there comes a time when you've got to put in the hours and do the work.

thomasedisonIt can be lonely, grueling, thankless, grunt work as you go along. No one celebrates your do-overs.

I'm pretty sure Thomas Edison wasn't saying "Hoo-ah! That's attempt number 907 for an incandescent bulb that didn't work! Guys, this is freaking AWESOME!"

No, I'm pretty sure it was more like this:

"Attempt 907 didn't work. Let's get on with number 908."

And on life went in Menlo Park. No celebration, no fist-bumping, no toasting the talents of the insanely brilliant team working to make electric light possible.

Just doing the work. Until that 1,000th attempt (or thereabouts) when light was finally stable and constant.

No, I'm pretty sure before the sustained light brought raucous celebration, there were grumbles about quitting, wives that wondered what their husbands were doing all day in that lab (and if they were ever coming home for dinner), and a lot of head scratching as they were working through their problem.

Just the daily grind of trying to create awesome.

We don't often celebrate the process of creating awesome, just the awesome itself, once it's been created.

Yet, without the process, there's never anything awesome to celebrate!

And it can be pretty lonely when your awesome creation takes time.

I try to remind myself that I have all year, and that I'm actually right on track to achieve my goal. I celebrate my "small wins", and then I come out of my studio and back into "the world".

It's here that I'm struck with the overwhelming loneliness that comes with doing great work.

I'm not complaining (much), really. It's more of an observation that I've seen a lot of creatives go through. We put our heads down, impassioned by the task of our great work, and then time flies. We're "left behind" in other areas because we're so intensely focused on what matters most in the moment.

Watching friends chatting on facebook about some song or another that I haven't heard yet because my head's been down, working on this project.

This is where it becomes important to have a support network.

I was blessed to have my friend Jen Harris join me in the studio to record "Edelweiss". It was such a breath of fresh air in Michigan's wonky January weather to have another pair of ears in the room listening, singing, and suggesting our way through the song.

It was a creative revival for me that lasted just long enough to get a lot of joy, and hardly any frustration. My studio's a nice place for folks to visit, but I don't want them living there, if you know what I mean. Jen came in to rehearse on Friday, and we finished up on Saturday. Smooth like buttahh!

Then, something fascinating happened. Not only was I reinvigorated, but there was a positive "disturbance in the force" so to speak. People were talking about the work we did together, and that got other people excited about coming into the studio later this year.

Suddenly, everything "old" was "new" again.

Gone was the old ho-hum of recording songs. Suddenly, there was a freshness to the work I'd already done, as well as the work I was setting out to do. No longer was I feeling "meh" about anything. I'm wondering if Jen kind of planned it that way. She's a pretty smart cookie, I gotta say, so I wouldn't put it past her.

When we put our heads down and get focused, it can be easy to lose sight of everything around us. It's easier still to get mired in the daily grind of the creative process. The countless rehearsals, the re-touching, the practice sessions ad infinitum, ad nauseum, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

We forget how important deliberate practice is, and how we need to bring ourselves to it fully.

Even when no one else is watching, when no one else is celebrating, when no one else seems to care an iota.

Because when all the practice is done, and it's time to perform, they ARE watching, and talking, and loving what you've done.

You've just got to put the work in first.

We now return you to your daily grind of creating awesome!

In part one, Sarah Robinson and I sat down to talk about her own business evolution, as well as her book,  “Fierce Loyalty: Unlocking the DNA of Wildly Successful Communities”. This is part two of a three part interview, wherein we discuss Sarah's Fierce Loyalty Model (enhanced with graphics! Ooooh! Ahhhh!).

It won a Grammy for Best Disco song - and then the category was promptly removed. I guess you could say when they made this award-winning song they broke the mold!

Put on your platforms, and don't be afraid to get a little goofy - I certainly did!

Have a good laugh and enjoy this week's song of the week.

IWillSurvive

This is the first part of an hour-long interview with Author and Martha Beck-trained life coach, Sarah Robinson (here's part two). Her book, "Fierce Loyalty: Unlocking the DNA of Wildly Successful Communities" is available in paperback or Kindle format on amazon. You can read my thoughts on her book in this previous post.

In this episode, Sarah and I discuss the evolution of her business, from professionally trained actress to mom, to life coach, to business strategist and author. We talk about what Jonathan Fields calls "The Thrash": the seemingly constant evolution-branding-and-re-branding cycle that happens as we draw nearer and nearer to our Essential Why and sharing our True Voice with the world.

Allegedly the last song written for "The Sound of Music", this duet features my friend Jennifer Harris. One of what I hope will be many guest appearances throughout the year on this #300songs project. This is song number 15 in the can!

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When you look at your life and work, what awareness can you develop this week around the problems you're trying to solve and the responsibilities you're taking on?

What problems aren't yours to solve? What responsibilities aren't yours to own?

Where are you making it too hard for yourself? 

Where are you looking for the easy way out instead of doing the work?

This isn't about placing blame or beating yourself up, this is about developing an awareness so you can make the needed changes to see a more balanced and successful life.

Share your thoughts in the comments or shoot me an email. I love to hear your feedback!

One of my favorite songs of all time, I think it is one of Billy Joel's most underrated pieces. It's a powerful, melancholy, yet hopeful tune. You kind of yearn to know how it's all going to turn out. I sang this for an audition once with an Irish accent and it got me the part in a musical. It was also the song I auditioned with for "Duets" - but Lionel Richie backed out of the show, so I never heard back on my audition. *sigh* Such is life, I suppose.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbxXjT-KwbQ&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0]

"Why do you blog so much?'

It was a valid question. And I tried to be open to where the truth laid within me.

Silence.

Not because I was unwilling to answer, but because the tears started choking me.

I mungled my way through some explanation about how it's an outlet for me to talk to people in the hopes that what I'm sharing will actually help someone.

Because that's where all my hope lies: that the crap I endure from day to day (and the good stuff, too), will somehow help someone else have a better time of it while they're on this rock we call Earth.

My coach and I have a deal: I am ruthlessly honest, and try not to go against everything she says (since I'm an 8 according to the Enneagram), and she plays it straight and "spicy" with me - never letting me off the hook for something. She helps me see my world through different eyes (a good coach is NOT a 'yes man'!).

Most of the time I love her, but in this very bare moment, I'm feeling cornered, and really want to hate her for a minute.

I guess it's a good thing she's also my friend.

It's hard to hate a friend who tells you the truth in love.

"Well, maybe it's not serving you to do a blog series."

My "yeahbuts" start emerging, and we have a nice deep discussion about profitability, giving too much away, and finding the patterns in my offerings.

It was probably one of the most difficult (and necessary) conversations in recent memory, complete with stamping my feet and an "I don't wanna" at least once (okay, maybe twice) during the call. Especially since the thing I didn't tell her was that this series felt truly divinely inspired as a way to open up to my more spiritual self... that piece of my True Self that has been lurking and shimmering in the background for so many years.

All at once, I felt like it was an affront to a very spiritual decision I had made, to create a very public, very spiritual thing (at least for me at this stage in my journey), that I felt called to do in a matter of service, to you.

Who ever "you" may be. And that was precisely the point my coach was making (and I needed to hear it).

My business, as of late, has been a hodge podge of all-0ver-the-map stuff. Quite frankly, that's the way my life's been, too, for so many years, that I'm not sure I know another way of being.

"What is it that you do, Lisa? What is the theme?" she prods.

At this point, I really just want her to tell me because I'm tired. Funny how that works.

When we let ourselves reach that breaking point, and stay there long enough, something beautiful emerges.

I got pouty and stamped my feet (okay, that's not the beautiful part). And in exasperation, it poured out of me:

"I'm so sick and tired of hearing the excuses! From clients, from would-be clients, from people who've never even tried. People are so much more capable than they believe, but their excuses get in the way. Why can't they just see that?"

Or something like that. Seriously, I felt like I was channeling that answer from either some place way beyond me, or some place deep within me - which is probably the same place if you examine it truthfully.

In order to get to the truly delicious stuff, I had to be willing to do the hard work of listening to what I didn't want to hear.

It's kind of like eating your veggies, I guess.

You've sometimes got to do the thing you don't like, because it's good for you. I've done this before, so I'm no stranger to it. I'm starting to think it's part of the truth of life.

"Before the truth 'sets you free,' it tends to make you miserable." - Richard Rohr

After conversing with my coach, I had the the angel/devil discussion going on in my head. One telling me to bag the series, the other telling me to tell her to get bent and do the series anyway.

Neither happened.

One thing I'm continuing to learn on my impatient journey is the power and value of being willing to wait - which is still incredibly painful and difficult for my forward-motion-craving self.

So I sat in the space between those two options for a day.

The series did go on, and I did not tell my coach to get bent.

Because I needed to hear that perspective. I needed to be willing to let those words fall into my brain and swim around. I needed to be willing to check back in with myself and face the possibility of cranking out a useless blog series, and ask myself if I was still willing to do it anyway.

And yes, dear reader, this series was one of those things I couldn't NOT do.

Because in my conversation with my coach, for the first time in my adult life, I fell into complete resonance with what I feel like I'm supposed to be about in the world (more on that in a future post), and got even more clarity about the doing of it.

For someone like me, that's a big deal.

Which brings me to today's prompt for your consideration:

Part of coming to terms with who you really are, and meeting your True Self, is being willing to go down that road.

I mean really willing. Like, "I don't care if it hurts, or is hard, at least I'll be feeling something real for a change." THAT kind of willing. We don't always enjoy parts of the journey. Heroes face very challenging opponents, get banged around a bit, and I've never once seen that happen and have the hero say "Hot Damn! That was fun! Let's do it again!"

No, being willing to throw yourself into the fray is tough stuff, my friend.

But it is where you meet your True Self. It is where you learn what you're really made of. It's where the milquetoasty among us lose out and stay with their pablum, never knowing their true capabilities.

It's not always rocky, but I can pretty much guarantee there will be some rough spots along the ride. So the first question you must ask yourself is "Am I willing?"

Are you willing to struggle for a purpose - rather than needlessly?

Are you willing to stand in the raging waters and feel them rush about you - maybe even push you around a little until you get your bearings?

Are you willing to hear what you don't want to hear because it's good for you and will help you more than any "yes man" ever could?

If so, you just might meet yourself along the way.

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If you're ready to dig into the heart of what really motivates you, eliminate self-sabotage, and live an inspired life, consider enrolling in an upcoming "Essential Why Workshop" and build your own Noble Empire.

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It's all well and good to strive for excellence, but excellence is about more than just putting in your 10,000 hours. Those hours need to be focused, deliberate practice. Without that, you'll be hard pressed to reach the full potential of your undeniable gifts.

Be warned: you can spend 10,000 hours of your life on anything, and just because you get good at something doesn't mean it's the thing you're supposed to be about in the world. I've spent thousands of hours doing things that I don't enjoy (and I got pretty damn good at them, too), because I thought I had to. I'm really good at a bunch of things I have no interest in, and that I know are not part of my great work on this planet.

If you're interested in digging deeper into finding your own great work, have a look at Stephen Cope's book "The Great Work Of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling" on Amazon. If you've already got clarity on your calling, and you're ready to launch into creating a plan of deliberate practice, take a peek at the Get Your Year In Gear program. It just might help you create the space you need to do the things for which your future self will thank you.