Don't Die with your Music Still in You

We all at some point of time have confronted our mortality and realized that living forever is a pipe dream. However, the best part about life is whatever we have done till now we can move past that and even do more in our lives. Or as some say this is the first day of the rest of your life. I love the line which says, “Don’t die with your music still in you.” All of us have been born with enormous potential and we must identify our unique talents to bring it out. Here are some of the ways we can get that music out. I have expanded the word Die and Music to explain this.

Desire – Everything starts with desire and whatever you want in life is a desire. Whatever you don’t want is also a desire. So, the key is everyone has a desire but getting clear on what it is the key. Once you clearly identify your talents and match your desire to that you can feel greater happiness and fulfillment. Desire is the starting point of all passion, achievement and significance.

Inspiration – You cannot get your music out unless you get inspired. When you are inspired you feel totally together and sometimes even top of the world. This quote by Patanjali addresses this superbly “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations; your consciousness expands in every direction; and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.” There are a lot of ways you can get inspired. Some ideas include getting in top physical shape through exercise, sleeping adequately, engaging in a hobby that you deeply love and reading books that inspire you.

Enthusiasm – Do everything with a sense of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm makes the days fly and you are totally cheerful. Even the mercurial Steve Jobs was known for his enthusiasm. Steve Jobs did everything with unwavering enthusiasm. He was unafraid of the rule book and pushed the limits of innovation. Everyone looks to the customer for ideas on what they want. Steve went the other way he invented what he believed would make the customer get wowed. One example is he even wanted the inside of the mother boards to be so beautiful and when the team asked who would see it Steve replied, “I will.” He could turn on his charm/enthusiasm at will and had the ability to charm one and all. There is no charisma without enthusiasm. As documented in Inc. Magazine back in the 1981 cover story “When Steve Jobs speaks it is with “gee-whiz” enthusiasm of someone who sees the future and is making sure it works.”

Meaning – You can get your music out once you know the deeper meaning of your life. One of the ways made famous by Stephen Covey is to begin with the end in mind. Imagine your funeral and everyone is there to speak about you. What would you like to hear at that time? This is the absolute ideal vision you want your life to stand for. Of course, we won’t always match our ideals because we are human but taking this time puts in you a greater place. It is important to remember that we are not perfect and we will fall behind on some of our values. How quickly we get back is the key to winning. You can check a deeper dive into this topic with my article on 9 Ways to Live your Legacy

Understanding – Understanding the purpose of one’s life gives meaning. We can either choose to live a great life or succumb to our own inhibitions of what success truly is. Success is personal, so I am not going to equate it with money though it does play a part. Our goals define our destiny. Clare Boothe Luce the politician, writer and ambassador popularized the concept of having a life sentence explaining the meaning of your life and this is something you create by deeply examining the inner most feelings and truly writing what you want to be remembered for long after you are gone. Having a personal mission statement also helps. We all have goals in our work life whether we like it or not but similarly if we can articulate goals for our life it would surely enrich our lives and give deeper meaning. Personal goals need not be what others want for you, it is your imagination and your own story. We can write our own script and give it the best ending possible by living as close to what we truly want at the end. Setting goals in all areas of life is important. Set personal goals, career goals, financial goals, family goals and I am sure this will give great ideas on what our lives are truly meant to be. This can also be translated to having an intense burning desire to succeed. In the words of Glen Cunningham who in 1934 set the world record for the one mile run at 4:06 “Desire is what made a boy with burnt legs set the world record in the one-mile run.”

Significance – Once you do bring your music out of you there is a greater shot at significance whatever that looks like for you. I also want to be clear that we don’t have to be celebrities to feel significant. Even making a difference in our children’s lives can make us feel significant. Doing small acts of kindness can also help us make us feel significant. Finding your mission in life gives you a shot at significance. Most of us are never going to be on the front covers of magazines but that doesn’t and shouldn’t reduce the significance of our lives. Of course from an overall universal perspective we are all insignificant and we are not even a blip in the larger scheme of things.

Imagination – Never let your imagination die in you. Believe that you can achieve what you set out to. You must believe in your vision and only with that belief can you progress towards bringing that music which is duly yours. Expand your imagination to think of great possibilities in your life. We are all creative and one of the ways to explore this piece is to journal often. You can only get to know yourself when you take the time to have a conversation with yourself. Give yourself that alone time.

Courage – Finally courage is not the absence of fear, but it is the triumph over it. It requires enormous courage to be on purpose and have the inclination to get your music out. You must be courageous to listen to people who don’t buy into your vision and still pursue it. I mean every single person must face rejection, setbacks and self-doubt. We are all in this together, but it is the courage to persist despite the obstacles that can help us on our journey towards self-actualization

There you have it the ways you can make sure your music doesn’t die with you. We all can bring our music to the world whatever it may be. It is up to us to find out what our music is and then bring it to the world. Thanks for reading this post.

The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.