Comedy
I had a bizarre dream once that I'd like to share with you. I had gotten off a plane in Kathmandu, Nepal. I was heading for the Himalayas in search of a wise man, an ascetic who had shunned all life's luxuries and niceties. I found him adorned in nothing but a loincloth meditating by a lake at the foot of the mountains. I waited patiently for him to awaken, and as he fixed his gaze on me, I solemnly intoned the words I wanted him to hear. "Phil Collins..." I said. He silently nodded and did the drum break from In The Air Tonight. I thanked him and made my way back to the airport, and flew home, fulfilled. I think you could walk up to anyone with your phone and play them 30 seconds of any Genesis or Phil Collins song--even instrumental sections where he's not singing--and very few people would not identify the song you're playing as a Phil Collins or Genesis song. Why? Because that gated drum sound is unmistakable. His playing style is immediately recognizable. The production of his music is specifically tailored to his voice and that drum. You can't miss it. Like you can easily identify a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt, a pair of Nike sneakers, or an Apple iPhone. It's the whole image and design of a thing that sets it apart from everything else in its area. For us, the working and aspiring creative, it's the thing we want to attain. Our particular flavor of crazy that we put on what we do makes it undeniably ours. Our gated drum. As frustrating as this might be, it's not something you can just come up with in a day and slap on there and say, "THIS IS A ROLEY ORIGINAL." Believe me, I've tried, and it doesn't work that way. No, this is something that comes with level grinding. The doing of the work. The unyielding practice of the daily craft. The showing up and giving of yourself to the Creative Powers That Be. The gurus would love you to believe in shortcuts, but there aren't any that don't involve the passing of coins to them so that they enrich themselves and establish credibility they may not deserve at the expense of your hard work. The truth is, the longer you practice your craft, the way to set yourself apart will come with skill and talent. You'll find it, not unlike the way you find missing change in your sofa. You'll come across it as a happy surprise, and then put it in your pocket to use. So, have you found that pocket change? Any ideas? Use the hashtag #bluepocketchange and share it with me. There may be a surprise in store for people who share. If you've found this helpful, I would appreciate it if you'd share this with someone you think could use it. Subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already, and I'd really appreciate a review of the podcast if you have the time. Also, if you find this episode or any of this podcast to be of value to you, how about being me a coffee? You can go to buymeacoffee.com/krisroley, and...well...buy me a coffee. The website HQ for all this madness is krisroley.com, and you can go there to see the latest and connect with me on all the social mediasssss. Stay Solid, people, see you next time...buhbye.