FOR THE MUSIC!
Have you ever been inside one of those “Cash Cube” or Money machine contraptions at the casino or state fair? You know the ones I mean, right? The money machine, or cash cube, resembles a phone booth – with a twist. It is filled with swirling cash or colored balls for prizes. If you’ve never been inside one, I’m sure you’ve seen one, somewhere. I have never been inside one and while it does look easy it’s a lot harder to efficiently win any real prizes or amounts of money. If it was, the place would close up FAST!
I bring all this up for a reason, to talk about perspective. Let’s take a look, shall we? From the outside, at least, it seems that the task of grabbing as many $’s or colored prize balls as you can, would simply be a matter of trapping the item in your hand, against your body or the Cash Cube and then stuff said item into your pocket etc. What we don’t calculate is how much of an effect the fan at the bottom of the cube plays in distracting us from the simple procedure described above. Sure you can still grab at the swirling scraps of paper screaming past your face but try grabbing a $20 or a $50. Not so easy is it? Damn it, another $1.00!
Ok, I am going somewhere with this. Imagine now that all the prizes in this Cube are designated by colored rubber balls. Each ball color represents a different prize;
Green Ball = Cash
Red Ball = Dining
Orange Ball = Trips
Black Ball = Spa
Brown Ball = Car
Which ones would you grab for? Ok, you’re in the Cube and WOOSH the fan kicks on, launching balls into the air and all around. AND…………GO! Come on you can do it! Grab that GREEN ONE!! Oh man it’s hot in their now! How could it be hot, there’s a FAN!! Damn it there goes the Green Ball again! And then…
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Wait its over?! That was too fast. I wasn’t ready. A lot harder than it looked? How’d you make out? Maybe you got a few Green Balls, most likely not huh? This type of activity can be fun but it also describes what it’s like for me in my head, all the time. I only now have a metaphor to describe it thanks to my ADHD coach.
All those colored balls, those are all the thoughts, ideas, plans, and parts of my life that have been on autopilot.
Green Ball = Music/Songwriting
Red Ball = G.R.P.
Orange Ball = Family
Black Ball = Me Myself And I
Brown Ball = Career
Every morning I wake up in the Cash Cube. But trying to grab the Green, Red or any specific ball efficiently and consistently is impossible. But now I have a plan and a system to TURN OFF THE FAN!!
NEXT TIME,
Turning off the “fan”
FOR THE MUSIC!