Life is full of noise. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed there is often something fighting for your attention. Everyday we encounter noise, advertisements, opinions, blog posts, even like this one, where people are fighting for your attention.
What you give your attention to is very important because it essentially is time, and time is priceless. For you to give your attention to something means you give it part of your life. This should mean something.
I have often found myself getting lost in the noise. Scrolling around blogs or down social media only to realize that I just encountered debates on politics, religion, music, and which superfood is going to cure me of my future disease I am bound to have.
Noise...
If you're in the music industry, there is an endless saturation of artist's fighting to have you check out their song, to listen, like, share, pin, repost, tag, purchase, blog, mention, hashtag, and the noise goes on and on. It's hard to stand out from the noise when there is such a saturation of the same thing.
The only thing I have found to help get past the noise is to actually be human and care.
You have to actually think about your audience. You have to figure out what they need. You have to know what problem they have and how you might solve it, genuinely. You have to be transparent with stories and real life things that are actually happening, otherwise people will dismiss it - because as humans we're good at spotting fake humans.
You have to engage with people. By this I mean actually form relationships with people. This is how you get past the noise. If you start talking and sounding like something different, your noise will start to stand out. It's like everyone is in a sea of static and then you start engaging and soon you sound like Symphony No. 40 in G Minor by Mozart. You sound amazing, real, intentional, intricate, and genuine, full of flesh and blood and real emotion. This is what cuts through the noise.
If you want to get past the noise you have to create something that is actually relevant to your people. You have to do more then just make a post about your latest release or project. You have to do more than just post about a show and expect people to show up. All of that is shooting blindly. If you want to make an impact then you have to really go deep. You have to do the work, the research, and create something that is human and that's a reflection of you as a person. If you try to copy someone else then forget it... you'll just get added to the noise of everyone else.
This blog is growing slowly. It's engaging slowly. It's free and always will be. It's focus is to help humans be humans and to show a side of me that is human. It's been one of the only things that has actually gotten through to people because it's pretty darn transparent and authentic. People want that more and more.
The future is going to be emotional intelligence. That's how you cut through the noise. In order to connect with people and get through all the noise you have to have emotional intelligence so you can actually give people something of value. We have seen this happen on a large scale with companies like Toms shoes. Regardless of how you feel about Toms Shoes, it works. Buy a pair of shoes and a kid gets a pair of shoes. This cuts through the noise. It connects to an audience who cares about giving kids shoes. It's emotionally intelligent and it works every time. Someone was intentional. Someone found a problem and found the solution.
This is how you rise above the noise.
So this week instead of just blinding posting things, take the time to talk to someone one on one, think about what your audience wants to hear, what problem do they have that you can solve, then create your new symphony and watch it rise above the noise and static of everyday life.
Peace
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