Return of the Piano

I won't risk upsetting people that read this by getting into my religious beliefs, but I will say that I love symbolism and metaphor in life, and that almost any situation or action in our lives can be adapted quite nicely to some medium of meaning. This week has been no different for me - and as I pack up my office in my house, my symbol comes in the form of a Piano.

After moving into my home in 2004, I rushed to get an office set up immediately. I rushed everything back then: life, relationships, breakfast, surfing. Everything that mattered to me for so long all of a sudden had become a distraction, because I was all encompassed into the art of business. I had started my first restaurant venture, the Union Cattle, and my partners and I were obsessed in succeeding there.  So, as I moved in, my first thought was to be grown up and setup my camp of operations; a modern day office with technology and printers and screens and filing cabinets. Look at the suspenders on that kid.  And so that was my twenties: the office in my home was my metaphor, my constant distraction, my raison d'etre.  I can't tell you how many times I'd have a dinner party or female companion over, and I'd sneak to the office to check my emails, or the daily sales reports. Laughable, really.

And so as I broke out my cardboard boxes this weekend, and packed up years of paperwork, old broken printers, and hundreds of fatherless cables, I lamented. I looked through the old deals, agreements, issues, and schematics that had once papered my walls, and I neatly packed them away to make room for the new metaphor: my Piano.

Now one might say - the productivity! Why take a room that spit out creativity, graphics, contracts, ideas, a ton of work and replace it with a simple piano that won't contribute anything to Saint Rocke? And as I thought about it, sitting on a pile of old band posters, I realized that the Piano was my new metaphor. A maturing if you will, into a different type of person, a more well-rounded person, and thus a better business person.

I think we are all creative inside, every one of us. But how many of us pursue, nurture, and promote that creativity? Do you? I can't speak for you, but I know that when I do it makes me more effective, more productive, and everybody that works around me is a little less tense.  So for me, as the Piano comes in, and I start playing again, I realize that I've actually started working harder than before. On me.

Go play the piano. Go paint a picture. See what happens.
And if you're not too shy, tell us about it....