"Career advice" from the '80s

Oh wow, I went to a good show Saturday night! Sometimes the music of our youth comes back to grab us when we're much older, casting a spell that transcends the outrageous hairstyles of our high school decade (in my case, the '80s). That's what happened at the Howard Jones concert in downtown Denver. Remember him? No matter…back then, I loved his high energy songs but most of all his lyrics, and I still do.

There's some clear relevance to career development in lines like:

The world teaches us to think that life is full of limitations
The world tries to make us think that there are loads of limits

Welcome to Conditioning

and

This is a song to all my friends
They take the challenge to their hearts
Challenging preconceived ideas
Saying goodbye to long standing fears

and

And tell me, is it a crime to have an ideal or two
Evolving takes its time, we can't do it all in one go
Doesn't have to drive us all mad, we can only do our best
Let the mind shut up, and the heart do the rest

(lyrics from Conditioning, New Song, and Don't Always Look at the Rain, http://www.howardjones.com/lyrics.html)

I really didn't write this post to provide insight about my musical preferences. This is really about you:

• In what ways might you be holding back based on longstanding conditioning or "metal chains" that are no longer serving you?
• Where have your ideals gone? Are they still lurking somewhere? Are you in touch with them every day? If not, what can you do to get them back?
• What music inspired you in high school or your earlier days? Does it still? Can you return to it for comfort in times of stress?