Words

What are you saying when you talk about yourself? When you talk about what you do? Are you saying anything worth hearing? More importantly, are you saying anything worth acting upon?

Words matter. And if you’ve been able to get the attention of someone important – someone who might hire you to play, sing, write, produce, etc, – you better make sure your words say more than “I play drums” (I’m using my former self as an example, just substitute drums with what you do). Now that I’ve written that, I’m sure you understand that saying “I play drums” to someone in the arts is like saying “Hi, I breathe”. If you say things like this too, consider that your listener immediately envisions hundreds of thousands of other drummers in the world and you immediatly become lost among them all. In short, you make yourself forgettable.

Check out this fish tale from Seth for more insight:
“It’s like the apocryphal story about the fish store. “Well, of course
the fish is fresh. You’re not going to sell me old fish, are you?” and
“Of course it’s ‘here’. Where else would you be selling the fish?” and
finally, “We know it’s fish. We can smell it!””

I heard once that the drummer Alex Van Halen says he hits things for a living. That’s far more explicit, entertaining and memorable than “I play drums” (it may also be more truthful). Since he’s already said that, I don’t recommend you print it on business cards, but it is a good conversation starter and there are millions of others.

Think about what you can say that make a difference in the mind of your listener. As I continue to say about most things, It doesn’t take much to stand out from the crowd. It can be as simple as I play reggae drums. By adding one word, you’ve eliminated most other drummers from the other person’s mind. What can you do get rid of them all and make that person remember you?

Think about it.