Today’s word for Day 6 of Four Weeks to Rubber Soul is Listen.

One of the things I love about The Beatles is how much they listened. They absorbed what was happening around them. Folk music. Soul. Motown. Indian music. Bob Dylan. The Beach Boys. They were fans, students, competitors, and curious creators all at once.

They listened deeply, but they did not simply copy what they heard. They took those influences, filtered them through their own voices, and created something that still sounded unmistakably like The Beatles. You can hear that sense of curiosity and expansion throughout Rubber Soul.

That idea keeps coming back to me during this project.

If I ever have the chance to meet you in person, there is a good chance I will ask you one of my favorite questions:

What’s on your turntable?

Sometimes I mean that literally. I genuinely want to know what record you are spinning. The question also goes much deeper than music.

What are you reading? What are you listening to? What are you noticing? What ideas have your attention right now? What is feeding your work, your soul, and your passion?

For me, asking that question is an invitation to connect. I want to know what matters to you because I can learn from you. Your interests, ideas, and passions may help me see something differently. Listening becomes more than receiving information. It becomes an act of connection.

Creativity works that way, too.

We listen to the things that move us. We notice the work of other people. We absorb ideas, sounds, conversations, books, art, and experiences. Somewhere in all of that listening, something begins to stir within us. We take what inspired us and begin making something of our own.

That is part of what Four Weeks to Rubber Soul has become for me.

This is a daily creativity challenge. Every day, I am showing up with a word, recording a reel, and writing a blog post inspired by an album that continues to challenge and inspire me. Some days the ideas arrive easily. Other days I have to dig a little deeper. The point is to keep listening, noticing, creating, and showing up.

Rubber Soul has stayed on my turntable for years because it represents a courageous creative pivot. It reminds me what can happen when artists remain curious, listen widely, trust one another, and allow themselves to grow.

Plus, the music is pretty damn good.

My hope is that these daily riffs might do for someone else what Rubber Soul continues to do for me. Maybe a thought, a song, a question, or one small idea will encourage you to make something, try something, or return to something you have been putting aside.

So, here is today’s invitation:

What’s on your turntable?

What are you listening to, reading, noticing, or experiencing that is challenging you and inspiring your creativity?

Keep listening.

Keep creating.

And keep going.

Watch the Day 6 reel below.