There are 88 keys on a piano.

64 colors in the big box of Crayola.

You can’t own a key and you can’t own a color.

But once you start combining elements, the possibilities go way up.

The opening chord of a Hard Day’s Night is a unique signature. So are the colors in a Lilly Pulitzer dress.

Your work can struggle to fit in. Or you can do the hard work of having it stand out.

As you can see from the notes on the single chord the Beatles developed, it’s not obvious or simple. And most of the time, it doesn’t even work. But if you find a chord and stick with it, again and again, for years, then, over time, it might become yours.

*Originally published on sethgodin.typepad.com.

Seth Godin has written eighteen books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Every one has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership, and, most of all, changing everything.

Image courtesy of Spencer Imbrock.