I heard from a lot of you about passions you proclaimed, conversations you started and projects you’re pursuing. (Yeah, you!) Talking about your ideas and plans is exciting and stimulating. Meeting with mentors and asking experts for help are important steps in pursuing your passions.

One word of caution (from someone who knows *smile*); Sometimes you I can talk too much. I get too much input and I think I need to agree with and use it all. (In other words, I get stuck.)

Or, I fall into the trap of thinking I need to talk to just one more expert, find one more resource, have one more important conversation. (In other words, I procrastinate.)

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What I’ve learned from improv (and from growing the Songtaneous community) is that a lot of time there is no expert, no existing methodology, no one person with THE answer. You have to figure it out as you go. To make things happen, you have take action. Not only do you have to talk, you have to walk. You’re the one who knows where you’re going.

Sometimes you’re the only one who knows.

And that can be hard and challenging.

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I’ve got two words for you.

Rest stops.

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As I’ve transitioned from working full-time as an ad director to working all the time to be a musician (smile), I’ve reveled in how exhilarating the passionate path can be.

But sometimes I failed to acknowledge how exhausting it can be. I had to learn that cogitating and creating take their toll and that I had to take time to rest, recover and rejuvenate.

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Having conversations about your passion is a lot like standing in sudden summer rainstorm. You’re flooded with input, ideas and advice. It’s invigorating and bracing. But the downpour can blur your vision (pun intended). Suddenly, you’re bombarded with the thoughts and suggestions of others.

As you walk your path, let this input encourage and support you, but don’t let it confuse you. Everyone will have ideas and suggestions for how and where (and with whom!) you should travel.

Remember, you’re the one who knows where you’re going.

More on talking:

“Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.”
— Hermann Hesse

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.”
— Anne Morrow Lindbergh

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I initiated some great conversations this week on topics from recordings to concerts to workshops and more. (And I had some late nights turning them over in my mind. *smile*)

How about you? What did you talk up this week?

You’ve decided, you’ve committed, now it’s time to start talking.

Yup. Out loud. Where people can hear you.

(Believe me, I understand that this can seem like a very good reason NOT to tell people what you’re working on. *smile*)

Talking about our passions is scary.

It’s scary because we’re vulnerable, exposed. Because it really, really matters. And we don’t want to mess it up.

When your passion or idea lives only in your head, it’s safe. Safe from criticism, safe from questions. Safe from … reality.

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Talking about your passion helps remove the scary. It normalizes it. It’s not that your thing becomes ordinary or less special, it just gets less terrifying to tell people about it. And, you get better at talking about it. Clearer and more concise.

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It’s like  soloing in an improv.

I’ll get an idea (or just the seed of an idea) and I don’t know if it will work. In my perfect world, I could have my ideas all figured out before I shared them with anyone. That’s not all bad. There’s a time for letting thoughts ripen or percolate.

BUT … Keeping quiet makes working out the idea harder because other people can’t respond to what I’m doing. More important, they can’t support what I’m doing.

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There’s another problem with working it all out ahead of time.

A lot of the time you can’t.

Sure, I can have a brilliant idea for a solo, but if I never give voice to the idea, I can’t really figure out how it goes. You have to sing it  to hear it. You have to tell a story to find out how it ends.

Talking your idea through with someone else helps sort it out. Comments and questions from other people help you organize your thoughts or find solutions you couldn’t have come up with on your own.

Remember, you get decide how you want to talk about your thing. You can ask for feedback. You can tell people you’re not ready for feedback. You can meet one on one or organize a think tank. Start with safe people — family, friends — and then widen your talking circle to include peers, mentors and experts.

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When people know what you’re doing, they can help you. They’ll send you ideas, contacts, and links to web sites. They’ll do some of the work for you. They’ll tell their friends about you.

And when the subject of your passion comes up, so will your name.