Here’s the melody line of the notes from practice 129 with kman’s krazies. Read it and try to imagine you were there tuned into the soon to be Governor and her master instructor learning how to play more than just the notes on a page. You can always prime yourself a bit more by watching the exact scene we did from the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus. Chapter 8, thirty minutes into the magic you’ll find her moment of surrender. FM, baby…
We broke into teams of faux plus one at 8:23. We were primed to tune in like an animal being stalked. We talked about the clip from Mr. Holland’s opus titled “Notes on a page.” After we shared, we heard from a few. I want you to extrapolate this to your CORE writing. I didn’t verbalize this as I want to give the team the time to discover on their own (OG did as we would soon discover). We are writing more than notes on a page. We are writing to discover and cultivate who we really are. Write from your heart. Remember, authoring OPUS & CORE is not an analytical exercise. It’s not about perfection or sounding good. It’s about being who you are. We write so we can gain this kinda clarity. Once we have it, we grab our clarinet, so to speak, and play our song. Think Thoreau…
As practice wound down, I asked the krazies to close their eyes and write why we watched this scene this morning. 8:59 I asked the team what they saw when they closed their eyes. I asked OG what she thinks is in my head. She agreed that she doesn’t know but she took a shot at it. She said it’s probably about the CORE. She was right. I want you to see the power of authoring yours is more than writing the notes on a page. Play like an artist. Tear off the work that “isn’t me.” Look at a beautiful, blank canvas and start letting it rip. Make it real. This is the road to an authentic CORE which gives you clarity, confidence, and conviction.
Your clarity, confidence, and conviction are the impetus for your opus, your masterpiece. Start within, remember. Start within. You don’t want to get way down the road, come face to face your dragon, and realize you haven’t got the 3C’s inside of you. Start within. Start with a clean canvas too. Before you know it, you’ll be swimming away like Frankeethecfoinghonkee and suddenly, kinda outa nowhere, reaching your shore.
Good…
BUILT TO LEAD 
Toto this is one of my favorite scenes ever since introduced by Larry for whom it may have been his FAVORITE scene… btw here’s a link to it on YouTube for those who haven’t seen it http://youtu.be/eL9k2pTFYrE
This clip illustrates the importance of the ORDER of the 3 core questions. In the wrong order, we believe that HOW we play or work will DEFINE us as a “nobody” or a “somebody.” This puts WHO we are – our core IDENTITY – on the line… and when your identity is on the line, most humans either white-knuckle it or bruise your lips like Miss Lang with way too much lip on the mouthpiece. This is the same trap that leads to “mid-life” crisis — b/c even if you become a “somebody” it probably isn’t through something you LOVE, and when you wake up at 45 not knowing who you are or WHY you are here with the clock ticking and time running out you go on a desperate search for significance, often in all the wrong places. Passion unleashed and unsubordinated to Purpose is what neglected hearts will do after years of being buried just to feel ANYthing.
The world sets this trap early in life. How you perform in high school, in college, on SATs, etc. sets the course for the rest of the ladder climb.
Experimenting with a thousand “hows” to figure out “who you are” and “why you are here” is like playing a cosmic game of pin the “how” tail on the donkey without any idea of where to put the tail. It’s the tail wagging the donkey – and you can end life chasing after your own “ass” without ever finding it.
The low point in the clip is where Miss Lang concludes SHE’s terrible (not just that she PLAYS terrible — see the identity trap???). The scene in the clip flips when Mr. Holland asks her the question “what do you like best about yourself when you look in the mirror.” In answering her red hair because it reminds her father of the sunset, she is reminded her daddy loves her deeply for who she just IS. She IS significant apart from her performance. It flips the way she sees herself. She IS a very valuable daughter – she doesn’t have to do ANYthing to prove it.
Greatest performances happen when DOING flows out of BEING. You were created significant out of significance FOR significance.
When you know why you are here and who you are, aligning HOW you work and live with clarity is much simpler. The order matters. This is why OPUS – the music of the soul, heart & conscience – flows out of the congruence of Purpose, Passion and Process. In that order.