When it comes time to name your business, or even more fun renaming your business to align it better with its purpose, sometimes we get a major case of writers block. We think of a million names that just don’t fit or we can’t think of any. We create long lists of what we think might be great ideas and cross off one after the other as we become more and more frustrated that we can’t come up with the “perfect” name for our company.
The video below chronicles one of my favorite musical artists Sarah Bareilles’ journey on naming her latest album. On this journey she stumbles upon one of the best quotes for business or otherwise. The quote again is from Martha Graham, the great choreographer. And here it is in it’s entirety:
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased.
[There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.The last part is the most important. This inner drive to create something more than we are and never being satisfied with it. Always striving to make it better and more. This is what drives artists and business owners and innovators alike. You cannot help but create. It is your form of expression and your desire to build something to give to someone else of yourself and your work. It is what makes you alive inside and why you are given a blessed unrest to never be satisfied, but ever working on your masterpiece.
Whether it is a business of luxury landscaping or a brilliantly written book or architectural plans for a beautiful home or an online business that fills the needs of your favorite niche market. You are the dreamer. You are the creator. And realizing that it is likely you won’t be satisfied but on a never ending journey of little steps to building a beautiful thing gives you the understanding and patience to endure when the inevitable writer’s block comes or a snag in inventory arises or any other number of scenarios businesses deal with everyday. Knowing this gives you the power to address those snags and keep going till you find a way around, under or through the issue. It is the blessed unrest of a business leader as well.
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