You ever get that feeling you’re on autopilot? Like you drove all the way home from work and can’t remember a single turn you made. That’s how my week feels sometimes. It’s not personal, it’s just busyness, right? We’re so busy trying to conquer the inbox—that digital game of Whac-A-Mole—that we forget why we even sat down at the desk. We’re chasing bigger titles, bigger paychecks, bigger… problems. We’re trying to grow, but we’re just getting swollen. And somewhere in that hustle, the reason you fell in love with your path in the first place gets buried under a pile of meeting requests and performance reviews. That original spark, that first love note you wrote to your future self? It’s probably in a drawer somewhere, getting dusty.
I feel you. I was on the road once, deep in the grind of being the “Grammy Nominated Spoken Word Artist Sekou Andrews,” you know, the whole nine. Airports, hotels, sound checks. I was so focused on delivering the most inspirational keynote that I almost forgot to be inspired. I was becoming a Spoken Word Artist on a schedule, a list of bullet points in a PowerPoint. I had to stop and ask myself—who am I speaking to? The business cards or the human beings? I had to reconnect with the kid who first fell in love with Spoken Word Poetry because it felt like a superpower, not just a profession. Forgetting that ‘why’ is the difference between being a Vanguard Artist and just being on the bill, the difference between real Spoken Word and just slick Instapoetry. It’s not about being the world’s best on paper; it’s about being the best version of yourself on that stage, in that meeting, for that one person who needs to hear it.
So here’s the challenge. Let’s take five minutes today—heck, take two—and find that first love note. Re-read the first chapter of your own story. Remember the “pinky promise” you made to yourself before you learned about KPIs and ROI. Why did you start? What lit that fire? It’s not about taking your business to the “previous level,” but it is about bringing that previous love to your next level. Because aiming to be wiser is a whole different flight path than just aiming to be smarter. Go find that note. It’s the one piece of data that can actually give you goosebumps, and it’s the only GPS you need to find your way back to you. Trust me, I’m not just a motivational poet, I’m a professional reminder-er. Now go be brilliantly you.
