I just can't wait
A few weeks ago, I had a quick conversation with a brick mason called Brendan, who was doing a bit of work outside my building. It's a conversation I will never forget for the rest of my life.
It was 5 pm and I was his last job of the day. His first was at 7 am that morning. I said it must be hard to start so early in the day and have such a long day.
I was blown away by his response.
Brendan shared that he wakes up before the sun rises and can't wait for it to come up. When the sun rises, that means he can start working. Everyday, he just can't wait to see the sun. He can't wait to start working. He couldn't stop talking about how much he loves his job. I didn't need to be convinced at all.
It was so sweet. It was also profound.
Brendan made me excited for him because he's so thrilled to be there, to be doing what he's doing - at 5 pm, having had a 10-hour day. He really embodied the answer to the question we commonly ask ourselves: What gets you out of bed in the morning?
My encounter with Brendan is the kind of stuff we hear about in leadership fairytales.
It made me think about how we all identify with this kind of excitement as musicians. I'm sure at some point in our lives, we have said, "I just can't wait to go to rehearsal!" And we expect that feeling to simply last forever. When it's an expectation, we stop noticing that it's there. We forget that this feeling requires acknowledgment and nurturing.
How often are musicians aware of this feeling in ourselves and how it impacts us day to day? How often do we celebrate it? How often do we use it as a legitimate form of motivation to drive employee engagement? How often do we use it to reflect on our own fulfillment in our work?
I'm sure Brendan's life is not perfect - because no one's life is perfect. It would also be unrealistic (and unhealthy) for anyone to feel this level of enthusiasm 100% of the time. But we can all start noticing if we feel it at all, if it's still there.
What gets you out of bed each day? What can't you wait to do? Why do you feel that way? How often do you feel that way?
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