Play to your tune.

Michelangelo was 54 when he painted The Last Judgement.

Not a young man’s breakthrough. Or a first album hit.

It's the work of someone who's earned his craft, layered his skill. He's done enough to know what mattered - and what didn’t.

It shows.

There’s an ease to it. A confidence. A kind of mischief.

He bends the rules. Adds a flourish. Paints friends and enemies into the scene. God is naked.

It’s not careful work.

It’s free work.

Writer and teacher Laurence Barrett pointed me to it. That Michelangelo was 54 matters.

The hero is helpful for Act I of work and life. Here's a target. Go forth and create. And create you did. All energy and power. Figuring out how to navigate to the top of your company tree. And the company to the top of its tree. 

And this not just the domain of work as company. 

Among LeanMind members last week - meeting as we do to experiment and play into the spirit of post mid life creations - someone shared something he'd been working on. Or not working on, more precisely. 

He's a successful musician. Navigated to the top of his tree. 

And yet....

An inflection point. 

Why do I still need to prove? 

Is this even what I want? 

Who is me? 

He was asked by a prospective employer, a very well known, decades in the succeeding band with global reach and appeal, to demo a specific contribution he'd be asked to make to join their tour. 

And he sat on the request for near two months. 

Why do I need to prove myself to them? 

They know what I can do. 

Am I even interested in this? 

Do I want to do this? 

Who is me, anyway? 

Procrastination. 

Doubt. 

Fear of judgement. 

Surely I'm better, bigger than this - story which finds it's way into all our work, in different ways. 

Me included. 

A full seven weeks later he did the work. He recorded the piece. And brilliant it was. Not just a verbatim replaying, but laced with his own flourish; a dash, a garnish, of Michelangelo. A creative flair that most would fail to see. An inside joke for him and the writer. A touch of art. A touch of class. 

And in this, the invitation for you. 

The first decades are important. 

Chase the worthy goal. 

Build value. And status. 

Prove yourself to the world. 

And then the tide turns.

What does this changing tide ask of you?

A touch of art, I might say. 

The above LeanMind member was initially resistant sharing his work with the group. A funny turn for a man who performs for tens, hundreds of thousands. It's art, he said. By which I think he meant it came imbued with a touch of him stamped in. 

But is this not the invitation, the opportunity? To settle into a work and contribution with your inside out. Your own piece of art. Work as art. Company as art. 

You're beyond the young man's breakthrough. Your first album hit. 

You've earned your craft, layered your skill. 

You've done enough to know what matters. And what doesn't. 

It's time to add your flourish.