We believe Thoreau was right. Most men, leaders & teams live lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with their song still inside them.
Which is TRAGIC.
Your song is the symphony for which you were born — it’s your great life work, your magnum OPUS. It comes from yearnings that are hardwired deep within you. Your heart leaps when flashes of it become clear. Your mind drifts to it when you dare to dream — and begins to play itself out in your imagination.
In Waking the Dead, the author references “a remarkable scene in the film Amadeus, that depects the day Mozart’s wife brings his music to Salieri, in hopes of getting her husband a job. . .Glancing through the pages of Mozart’s portfolio, Salieri, is captivated by the work of his rival’s hand.
SALIERI: These. . .are originals?
MOZART”S WIFE: Yes, sir. He doesn’t make copies.
[As the astonished composer begins to read the sheets before him, he narrates the tale.]
SALIERI: Astounding. It was actually. . .beyond belief. These were the first, and only drafts of music. But they showed no correction of any kind. Not one. He had simply written down music already finished. . . in his head! Page after page of it, as if he were just taking dictation! And music. . .finished like no music is ever finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase and the structure would fall. It was clear to me. . .that sound I had heard in the Archbishop’s palace had been no accident. Here again was the very voice of God. I was staring through the case of those meticulous ink strokes at an absolute beauty.
[Salieri is enraptured, and the sheets fall to the floor from his limp hands.]
MOZART’S WIFE: Is it not good?
SALIERI: [Clearly wounded] It is. . .miraculous.”
Mozarts are rare. Salieri’s are all around us. You can CHOOSE to be like Salieri and become tormented with envy and bitterness. Or, you can CHOOSE to be inspired to keep dreaming and then DO the REAL, HARD, WORK of writing out your O-P-U-S: Your Overarching Vision. Your Purpose. Your Unifying Strategies. Your Scorecard.
Even Mozart’s greatest symphony would have gone to the grave still inside him if he had not written out its musical score. Likewise, to bring your O-P-U-S to life with unmistakable clarity will take writing out your sCORE, your strong CORE. Unlike Mozart, it will take a lot of Rinsing+Repeating to align your O-P-U-S with it. The more clear each phrase is in your sCORE, the more clear your O-P-U-S will be, and the taller you will stand as you conduct your Builder’s Journey. . .
. . .with one Productive Action after another. After all, a great symphony is meant to be PERFORMED – by a great POPS orchestra.
So CHOOSE to write your O-P-U-S, align it with your sCORE, and then PERFORM it with your PoPs — your Playbook of Productive actions.
And live out YOUR song, the melody line of YOUR life.
Which is MAGIC.
BUILT TO LEAD 
AND Mozart’s music may have gone to the grave if it was not for his WIFE handing her husband’s music to Salieri. It takes two to become ONE. Love this post John.