Where are you playing the music without knowing the notes? If that question makes your stomach do a tiny somersault, it’s because you’ve played this song before… and you can already hear the key is off. Because this is how work gets done far more often than anyone wants to admit. Not in the “I’m scrappy!” way. In the “my calendar is a crime scene, and I’m still expected to deliver a symphony by Friday” way.
And end of year is peak performance art:
-Budgets vanish like a magician’s assistant.
-People take PTO and announce it through their Outlook “OOO” message.
-Priorities get re-labeled so many times they start to feel like witness protection.
And there you are. Hands on the keys. Smiling in meetings. Nodding like you definitely know what the notes are. SPOILER: You don’t. But good for you for playing along anyway!
Because sometimes we do what we have to, skills be damned (can I say that here)?
And sometimes competence looks like confidence.
And sometimes confidence IS survival.
Like a person playing the music by ear because they can’t read the sheet music, but the audience is already seated and waiting.
That’s work, and also, life. I mean, really, the pinnacle of adulthood is Jazz with a dress code. Think about it…
-You fall in love with people you don’t fully understand.
-You grieve things you can’t neatly name.
-You try to build a future while standing in a present that keeps shifting under your feet like a moving walkway.
And still, you show up.
You make something out of what you have.
Even if you have to improvise your way into meaning.
So, if you’re feeling that end-of-year fog right now, the particular kind where your body is at your desk, but your soul has already put on sweatpants, consider this:
“Playing without knowing the notes” isn’t automatic failure, it’s a signal. It might mean you need clarity (not more hustle); or rehearsal time rather than constant meetings. Or, and I know this is hard to hear, fewer instruments in your hands (because you are not, in fact, an octopus).
And yes, it might also mean you’re ready to stop pretending you’re fine with the key you’ve been forced to play in. So, here’s the question I’ll leave you with: Where are you “playing by ear” right now (work or life) and what’s the one note you need—clarity, support, time, permission, training, a boundary—to make the next 30 days feel less like improvising on a tightrope?
