Don’t die with the music still in you

Don’t die with the music still in you

I came across this statement from Wayne Dyer the other night. I’d never heard of him, but this is a statement with resonance. I found it while thinking about a related topic, asking myself what makes my heart sing; it’s a question I think about often. It’s also appeared in numerous books that I’ve read recently – a few by Carmine Gallo (author of Talk Like TED) and others, and I’ve seen variations – What sets your heart aflutter? What goals make you wistful? – and I’m thinking about it more and more.

A model of Passion: Steve Jobs

In researching for this post, I found an old Forbes article that Gallo had written after the death of Steve Jobs. It quoted Jobs’ often mentioned Stanford commencement speech, “life is too short to live someone else’s dream,” and talked through Jobs’ obsession with living a passion-filled life that would make his heart sing. Jobs is a polarizing character that did not simply appear out of nowhere as the Apple Prophet, but rather grew out of his relentless pursuit of passion.

But where did he find this passion and how do we find ours? What are you passionate about? What makes your heart sing? For me, I continue to dig for those answers and to refine the answers that I’ve come up with so far. As Bill Burnett and Dave Evans point out in “Designing Your Life,” we can have many passions in life, and it’s important to pursue those passions to discover what other things out there can light a fire in our hearts.

What are you singing about?

What does your heart singing truly look like? Pause and picture it. Now, what did you see and how does it align with your everyday?

I started this article thinking about things like “passion breeds success,” and then I paused, completed the above activity, and started thinking about what dying with the music still in me looks like. What a powerful contrast of images to conjure meaning and perspective in what we are all doing day to day, week to week, month to month, and at the far more granular level, second to second. This last thought is one that truly drives mindfulness for me, reflecting on teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh, who frames the present – living in the present moment and appreciating it – so profoundly in Happiness; appreciate this second as one that has never been touched and now will never be lived again.

While I have these thoughts, there are contrasting ideas that enter. You may be thinking them in this moment. Life is full of practicality, which makes it hard to lead with passion, particularly when you’re caught in those moments of... Just. Getting. By.

Adversity vs. Passion

Adversity is out there, and it’s fierce. How in the world do we take an ideal from thinking it to living it? Honestly, I don’t know, which is why I’m writing this. Does marketing make my heart sing? A little. Does telling a story? Yes, a whole lot. Does telling a story that entertains, delights, and provides value beyond the page? Yes, yes, and hell yes, and that’s what I try to keep my focus on letting loose the passion that guides me as a professional. So far, it’s led me from teaching to waitering to plumbing to scavenger hunting to real estate to marketing, and it’s been a wild ride full of fantastic (and not so fantastic) experiences along the way.

Passionate Marketing

I can be a passionate marketer – an obsessive and fulfilled marketer – when I tap into the root of what it is that I’m doing: telling a compelling story to an audience I can offer value to. It feels great to provide something meaningful, something that truly helps people, and that’s how I’ve always looked at my role as a marketer. It’s the root of what we do that drives us. The “Why” if I’m indulging the Simon Sinek-speak. By no means is this an every moment, day, month, or year achievement, but if we try, we get better second by second.

What makes your heart sing? I hope you can harness it and live the music that’s in you today.