When you have that energy that propels you to near infinity… realize that’s not natural. Nothing natural lasts forever.

“Quit while you’re ahead.” - John Brady

I asked someone what behaviors they value in leaders they admire. The answer:ListeningEnablingHumblingListening makes sense to me — it’s a behavior thought leaders in the Linkedinosphere write about all the time. Click baity articles that read “the #1 thing you need to do to win the C-Suite” all about being a better listener. I believe listening to be so simple yet so absent in our world — the people who do it well mastered an ancient art.Enabling, as we discussed it, means to enable possibility. To make situations and events so much better that people are enabled to output their best work. Humbling — admitting mistakes. Being confident enough in one’s self to admit errors, failures, and how they’ve learned from it. Enabling and humbling are behaviors that I also admire in leaders. They are behaviors I wish I saw more of in people… generally speaking.

Thinking about craft today.I defined craft as: “The action of applying your skill, knowledge, and invention to create something is craft.”I often read thought leaders write about how we should obsess about craft. If we’re obsessing over an action, we’re not actually doing the action. We’re thinking about, reflecting on, learning more about, planning how to… but not actually doing.If you want to obsess over your craft, then do more. And after each do stop and reflect. Pull learnings forward, make improvements, and do it again.

I appreciate Dan’s daily blog. I especially enjoy this thoughts from the other day, being a first-principles-first type of learner. What type of learner are you?“If we rote learn a set of prescriptions, we aren’t thinking for ourselves. Solved tasks will be easy, but any new terrain will feel overwhelming.On the other hand, if we’re armed with a set of principles, we’ll have a way of thinking that is malleable to the moment and will help us traverse the unknown.” — Dan Cullum, “Principles and Prescriptions”

I canned tomato sauce last night instead of writing a blog post. My thoughts on canning:Every action counts.The future is not discounted — we do every action now because we are 100% preventing some form of mold or bacteria that could kill me.The future may be overrated — I envision all of these ways I will use the tomato sauce now. Will I still want to eat these things next month?The output is only as good as the input. Quality matters.Patience. If you want a thicker sauce, patience. Time is a great mixer of things.

If art is a result of the function of processing every experience of your life while not making art, then it can be said that what you do behind the scenes matters more than what you do in performance.In the same way, you - now, are the result of everything mistake and great decision you’ve made up to this point. It can also be said, how you think and what you decide behind the scenes only gives you returns when it’s not to show up and act.

I believe this song may speak to you. Be it in seeking peace, be it in the observation of the absurdity of life, be it in wild antics, or because you happen to love a diner.

My friend, Brian, sent me a passage from Zen Heart by Ezra Bayda.“… much of what passes for profundity may be just confusion that’s well stated.”I don’t know if I agree. It’s my experience that well-stating the confusing part is hard for most people. If it was easy, we wouldn’t find it profound.

Charles Mingus teaches you how to toilet train your cat. Read here.Charles Mingus was a world famous bassist and jazz composer. You don’t expect an icon in music to write such a pedestrian, and absurdly well thought out playbook on toilet training — or do you?It makes perfect sense to me that a jazz musician should have such an interest. Jazz is about experimentation, testing, observation, making predictions, and studying outcomes — musically. Why shouldn’t these skills be used to toilet train a cat? You and I have skills that transcend our professions that make us able to do many things and pursue many interests. Be like Mingus, and don’t limit your curiosity.

Quincy Jones influenced my piano playing and my musical mental model. My parents gave me a Quincy Jones “Best Of” album when I asked for a jazz album. Not much jazz on the album, mostly R&B, but that’s probably better — I play much more like a R&B player from the 70s than I do a jazzer from the 60s. In college, a friend - Germono, introduced me to the film score of “The Wiz”. I became hooked. I wanted to arrange like Quincy Jones, I wanted to write like Quincy Jones, I wanted to do the work he did. I transcribed his scores onto score paper; I still remember a composition teacher I worked with criticizing my transcriptions. Quincy’s passing is a chance to (not that I need one) to reinforce his contributions to the culture and to the music industry. Germono shared this 49-min Quincy tribute with me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.Also, check out Germono’s music and work here.