I riff, therefore I am

I want to get the ideas that are so alive in me out into the world where they can be part of the great conversation. But all my adult life it’s felt like there’s a cloud of fear and insecurity and perfectionism that I get lost in as soon as I start trying to express an idea. I start doubting myself and overanalyzing. I get lost in the cloud and discouraged by it. I frequently give up before anything has actually been expressed, let alone shipped.

Lately I’ve been obsessing over how I can take more tiny actions across all the areas of life that matter to me. Doing a single slow kettlebell deadlift every time I walk out of my kitchen, for instance. And I’ve been thinking about what the expressive version of that is for me. And the answer that feels most right is the riff.

In conversations, I start riffing when I feel resonance, when I notice those subtle energetic shifts within myself that signal something wants my attention. So I often start speaking informally and with curiosity in the direction of whatever feels alive. I start riffing.

I’m not presenting like I’m the expert who’s got it all figured out. I’m just Rob, speaking out loud in order to follow the trails of what resonates, to participate in a real conversation instead of collapsing into monologue mode. I’m just Rob, full of good ideas and bad ideas and all manner of ideas between those two poles. All of it is welcome in a riff. All of me is welcome in a riff.

I riff, therefore I am.