The Mindset of Strain

Years ago I began to work on eliminating the word "try" from my conversation.

It is a word connoting strain. And strain is a mindset.

Who among us hasn’t developed the habit of expecting goals to involve struggle and turmoil? Yet, so many things we have achieved came naturally, more like a flow than an ordeal.

Robert Haldane described this phenomenon well in his book, "How To Make A Habit of Success." His primary point is that we are most likely to succeed at things we love, things that are natural and easy for us.

The Judaic-Christian story of the creation of the Earth has the Creator saying, "Let there be" before each creation. In creation stories from many cultures, the Creator is in a playful mood through the entire process.

Love or Profit Motive?

Historian Will Durant disagreed with those who promoted the profit motive as the strongest motivation. He believed the master motive is love—love of home and family, love of serving, love of sharing, or any of the many other faces of love.

George Washington Carver created over 500 products from the humble peanut. Asked how he did it, he replied "Anything will give up its secret if you love it enough."

Ideas are Perishable

Recently I read that bushels of acorns fall from an oak tree but only one or two become trees. It reminded me of the first lesson I learned in songwriting: ideas are perishable.

Even in the past week when I was in a situation where I had no pad or pencil, I had a song idea that excited me. I just knew I wouldn’t forget it. But I did.

To save our ideas from evaporation, we must train ourselves to keep a pen and pad or some kind of "idea card" with us at all times. Recorders are now available that are no larger than a business card – even a recording pen that clips in a shirt pocket!

It is also important to keep them in one place and review them often. Those that become ultra-stale should be moved to the back of your idea book, but don’t throw them away. When you least expect it, an idea will set off a chain reaction leading to a related idea that is stronger.

As a creative person, view yourself as "A Manager Of Ideas."

From Spitoons to the Pulitzer

I lucked into a PBS documentary with lots of live conversation with Carl

Sandburg. His journey toward greatness heartened me

His parents were poor immigrants from Sweden. His father could not write his name. Carl dropped out of school and became a hobo, criss-crossing the country to learn about life, taking most any job he was offered, including cleaning and polishing spitoons.

With all this hands-on education and growing success as a writer, he bought a guitar in a pawn shop for two dollars and began illuminating his speeches with folk songs. One reviewer said, "His speech itself was a kind of singing."

His six volume biography of Lincoln earned a Pulitzer Prize. On February 12, 1958 --Lincoln’s birthday – he addressed Congress. Speaker Carl Albert, his voice choking with emotion, said, "Never in my life have I heard anything like it."

Asked why he wrote on Lincoln, he said, "Because he was such good company, he had laughter and tears, and the son-of-a-gun just grows on you."

Little by Little

Ever read something you’ve read many times and had it to jump out at you with new meaning? I had been talking with a friend about how long it took me to quit smoking when I read in Exodus, "I will not drive them out before you in a single year...I will drive them out little by little until you take possession of the land...and then you will drive them out."

The key to the ultimate big victory is the savoring of the little wins along the way.