In addition to (or perhaps instead of?) goals/resolutions for the year, what is your melody for the year?
Is it tight enough that you can actually play/sing it……but at the same time not so tight as to eliminate the possibility of improvisation? You don’t need the whole song, just the root melody; a few simple ‘notes’ that hang together.
One of my favorite musical pieces is Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge. This remarkably rich, complex and moving work is actually an ongoing exploration of a single, seemingly simple musical idea:
From these 13 notes, Bach generated 14 unique pieces which, as a whole, are a musical monument to the art of Art.
What is the root melody for you in 2012? What are the short series of intentions and commitments that will be the boundaries you will absolutely not violate – while also being the themes on which you riff, improvise, wail and create? Here are mine:
- Generate
- Automate
- Invest
- Activate
These ‘notes’ most likely mean very little to you and I would guess that they won’t occur for you as a ‘melody’, just as your ‘notes’ would likely hold little meaning for me. What’s important is that it’s a set of constraints that I’ve consciously chosen for the year and they will inform what and how I create over the course of the next 12 months. In the significant areas of my life, I have no goals for 2012. I’m uncertain what will happen. I don’t know when I’ll be done. Or if I’ll be done. Or what done might even look like.
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