Are you making a difference? (And why maybe this isn’t the only question to ask.)

“Keep your head down.”

“Watch that guy over there. Do what he does.”

“Ah, don’t worry so much about your next job.”

“Love the passion, but…”

It’s easy to feel like what you’re doing isn’t enough.

We look at the world around us and think, “Why am I not to my Eras Tour, yet?” (Well, maybe not everyone is thinking that.) Us Type A/High-Performers can find all sorts of reasons why what we’re doing isn’t enough. And we will go through some exhausting gymnastics to do it.

If we’re not rated “Excellent” by every person who has ever met us, if we don’t manage to shut down every single bad practice, if we cannot make each day of our child’s life the happiest day, we’re willing to throw our whole proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

We must be useless. Middling, at best. No good. Coasting. The worst.

Whatever the story is that you tell yourself, have you ever considered it might be the very thing keeping you from “reaching your potential”? Have you ever considered that you might possibly be the greatest you that you could ever be? Have you ever considered that others might wish they were you?

We were plagued by the idea of “settling” growing up. Raised by parents fresh out of Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement (or grandparents), nothing that we did was ever considered, truly, “having it all”.

Most banks would not allow women to open accounts without male relatives’ or husband’s assistance until 1974. That means that there are women still alive who still know for certain what it means to be tethered to daddy’s wallet and a husband’s prospects. They were afraid that if they slipped up just a little bit, their children would be damaged and abandoned, and the freedom that took 100s of years to earn would be gone in a flash.

This thinking isn’t wrong; but it certainly puts a high regard on excelling within the societal framework established by Capitalism and the so-called “Patriarchy”.

If you didn’t think, act, and succeed “like a man” (a lesson for a whole ‘nother day), then you were out of a job, an income, and back under the thumb of the men that raised you. If you weren’t also polite, “properly dressed”, and humble; then, you were an *itch that needed to be scratched out - possibly permanently.

So, we come by this need to succeed honestly and with hefty incentive; but we haven’t been free to consider the cost of perfection.

“Perfect” means that you don’t get to enjoy “great”.

There may only be a few “perfect” songs; but there are a good many “great” ones, and MAN do those bangers slap!

I wouldn’t for a moment trade one perfect song for all of the 60s rock, jazz, and country I’ve loved. I want them all. The good, the bad, and the ugly, so that I can have something beautiful each day. Not just one “perfect” thing that I’ll never see again.

In her book, Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert explores creativity after a bestseller. She says that she’s glad that JK Rowling found a pen name and kept writing after Harry Potter; because, how sad would it be if she spent her whole life not doing what she loved, because one time she did it to great acclaim?

80% of innovations fail.

Statistically, the only way to build a winner is to build a whole bunch of flops. Make what you love. If it’s a hit, cool. If it’s a flop, fine - then, you can move on to something else fun (and possibly great).

My friend, Ron Pope, has written songs his whole life. He started in his teens, found his voice (and his soul mate) in his 20s, and had a massive hit with the song “A Drop in the Ocean”.

But, Ron Pope isn’t just A Drop in the Ocean. My favorite Ron Pope song isn’t even “A Drop in the Ocean”. If that was the song Ron lived to write and he died creatively afterward, we’d be out a rich and glorious catalogue of music.

My favorite Ron Pope song is “Georgia” from an album about the Tuesday meetings we had in college with the songwriters club.

If Ron had only written “hit” songs, and never made a million other beautiful songs, I wouldn’t have Georgia. Or I wouldn’t have access to it because it would be overshadowed, or forgotten.

And while I certainly would have enjoyed A Drop in the Ocean, I would take a million Georgias over it any day of the week. I’d even take a million live performances with our friends over our one big success, each.

Because you can’t hoard magic, y’all. The more magic there is in the world, the more magic there is.

So, go make more magic.

Don’t wait for Perfect Magic. Don’t be A Drop in the Ocean.

Be all of Georgia.

NOTE: this is not an endorsement of any of JK Rowling’s beliefs. It is very much not.