“There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.”

Sun Tzu

Good morning,

Well, we are already into April and spring is in the air!

It was another eventful weekend on the news front. OPEC+ announced a surprise oil production cut of more than 1 million barrels a day, abandoning previous assurances that it would hold supply steady and posing a new risk for the global economy. It’s a significant reduction for a market where, despite the recent price fluctuations, supply was looking tight for the latter part of the year. As expected, this cut is already having a positive impact on the price of oil around the globe and markets seem not overly concerned, with pre-market indexes little changed this morning. However, this price cuts influence on inflation expectations can prove potent, which we are already seeing slightly in treasury yields, the US dollar and gold looking to open a tad weaker this morning.

It does seem that we are constantly inundated with news, headlines that provide little insight into how they impact us in our journey ahead. Of course, as wealth managers, it’s our job to ingest the news, strip out the noise, decipher the data and understand what is relevant, what is significant, what is imperative, to manage wealth with patience and with a steady hand.

I was given a book from a friend of mine recently (thanks James) ….and it has been one of those books that I know I will have to purchase again because my current copy is littered with my notes. The author has been called a guru, a Zen master, a reducer, a professional wrestling mark, a coach, a punk rocker, an aspiring magician, and a studio savant. Johnny Cash recalled that the barefoot and bearded one reminded him of Sam Phillips, the Sun Records founder who discovered Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, and changed music forever in the 1950s.

Yes folks, Rick Rubin.

For those of you not familiar with the name, you have certainly enjoyed his music without realizing it. The American super-producer co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam from his college dormitory in the 1980s and produced early records for LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. The blame for six albums by the Red Hot Chili Peppers also sits squarely at his door. He’s the quiet one responsible for album successes across all genres of music, the Dixie Chicks, Neil Young, Neil Diamond…..the list of legends is seemingly endless.

In his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rubin shares some philosophical insights that we can all apply to the way we live our lives and interact with the world around us. Through the words, Rubin highlights themes such as our creativity as individuals and it’s importance in our work, and the importance of patience in our lives, to ensure that we are living life according to our own values and purpose.

I’m quite certain that when Ruben was writing his book, he was having no thoughts of how his philosophies around life and creativity could parallel with wealth. But, deep inside the pages are wonderful, poetic ideas for us to draw from them what we will.

I’ve often said that wealth involves responsibility, discipline, and intention. To achieve growth, one must have a clear vision, strong habits, an ability to nurture relationships, evaluate priorities, live simply, pursue purpose, practice gratitude, find balance and understand that the true power of wealth is that it affords us the ability to be engaged in the present moment.

For us to be truly engaged in our moments, we need to understand what is relevant, what is significant, what is imperative, while also understanding some important truths around patience.

“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

Confucius

Patience

I’m sure for many of you, when you hear the work “patience” and we are discussing music, you start to hear the Guns and Roses in the back of your mind. As much as I do love Axle every now and then, I do prefer Rick Rubin’s take on the importance of patience in our path to purpose. “

There are those who approach the opportunities of each day like crossing items off a to-do list instead of truly engaging and participating with all of themselves. Our continual quest for efficiency discourages looking too deeply. The pressure to deliver doesn’t grant us time to consider all possibilities. Yet its though deliberate action and repetition that we gain deeper insight.”

Patience is required for the nuanced development of your craft

Patience is required for taking in information in the most faithful way possible

Patience is required for crafting a work that resonates and contains all we have to offer

Every phase of our life benefits from cultivating this achievable habit. Patience is developed much like awareness, through an acceptance of what is. Impatience is an argument with reality. The desire of something to be different from what we are experiencing in the here and now. A wish for time to speed up, tomorrow to come sooner, to relive yesterday, or to close your eyes and open them to find yourself in another place.”

Patience & Time

Our philosophy at Henderson Wealth is grounded in planning around three central finite resources, time, energy and capital. Stepping back and reflecting on how we are preserving and expending these finite resources will ensure that we maintain a measured and deliberate vision.

Rubin reminds us that “Time is something we have no control over. So patience begins with acceptance of natural rhythms. The implied benefit of impatience is to save time by speeding up and skipping ahead of those rhythms. Paradoxically, this ends of taking more time and using more energy.

"We can’t force greatness to happen. All we can do is invite it in and await it actively.”

Patience & Worth

My last Monday morning musing, I highlighted the importance of understanding your selfworth. Understanding your worth and value is imperative if you’re going to have success and happiness in your life. We are building upon our experience every day, it’s important to recognize and have confidence in this process. As we approach each day with purpose, and we have a confident understanding of our worth, we can only then apply our knowledge and expertise towards its greatest impact. Knowing your worth will help you tap into your everyday power and can radically transform your life.

Rubin agrees……

“If we remove time from the equation of a works development, what we are left with is patience. Not just for the development of our work, but for our own development as a whole. Even the masterpieces that have been developed on tight timelines are the sum of decades spent patiently laboring on other works.”

One of my favorite stories of Rick Rubin is that the back cover of LL Cool J’s epochal 1985 debut Radio bears the legend “Reduced by Rick Rubin”— from the very beginning, the Bearded One’s thing was reduction, minimalism, total stillness. Rick understands that, as Leonardo Da Vinci famously put it, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.

In today’s world of constant information, we are seemingly always living our moments in an overproduced ambience. At home, at work, and in our mind, we are bombarded by cluttered noise. If we step back and embrace patience, we can remind ourselves that there are not more than five musical notes and if we focus on the acoustic version of everything around us, it will open a world of opportunity and afford ourselves the permission to enjoy a life of personal fulfilment and abundant wealth. Living life with purpose, on purpose.

Curate your life’s soundtrack, it’s your masterpiece

Be well and enjoy the moments

Derek