It’s actually rather freeing. We don’t have to be right all the time.

I knew a general manager that insisted that there had to be a specific numbers of songs in the active library. Not one more, not one less. The program director and I found this was a peculiar topic for drawing a line in the sand, particularly since they did regular music testing and the listeners’ preferences determined that.

We did a little detective work and discovered that he had read an article in Billboard in the 1980s where some consultant had unpacked his snake oil in 5 easy steps to success, or some such foolishness.

We crave the magic bullet, don’t we? And cling to it thirty years later.

The good thing about being wrong is that you don’t have to be wrong anymore. When you learn a better solution you can leave the old concepts behind.

Leadership speaker and best selling author Jon Acuff suggests these three questions to ask yourself in order to have a better soundtrack.

• Is it true? Is the thing I’m telling myself about myself true? One of the greatest mistakes you can make is assuming that all your thoughts are true.
• Is it helpful? Does it push me forward or pull me back?
• Is it kind? If I said this to a friend would they still want to be my friend?

“When we don’t control our thoughts, our thoughts control us. If our days are full of broken soundtracks, thoughts are our worst enemy, holding us back from the things we really want. But the solution to overthinking isn’t to stop thinking. The solution is running our brains with better soundtracks. Once we learn how to choose our soundtracks, thoughts become our best friend, propelling us toward our goals.”

Jon Acuff, “Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking“

In a future Frost Advisory, I’ll give you a peak at some things about programming that I’ve been wrong about. But I don’t have to be wrong anymore.