#ICantKeepQuiet

#I Can’t Keep Quiet, Stacy,

Begin here: Ask yourself about what you can’t keep quiet. And then listen to what comes up. 

I love the riveting portrait above of MILCK (LA-based, UC Berkeley-educated songwriter and artist Connie Lim) who performed on Samantha Bee’s show last week after a video featuring her singing a capella went viral with 14 million views.

Her #ICantKeepQuiet hashtag is also now ours—with her soulful, stirring song heralded as an anthem of the Women’s March.

MILCK's example has a lot to offer to anyone who cares about how they show up in the world—personally, and professionally.

"It's crazy to me,” Lim said, "because ...I remember being a little girl, wanting to do work that's worthy of being spoken of....” [ET Online]

"I had been trying to write this particular feeling into song for years now.” Lim added, "It was the right place, right time and all the preparation and hard work and opportunity intersected….I felt like I was singing for the people. It was not really about me at that moment….My heart was beating [hard] right before and I thought, "This is what I'm supposed to be doing.” [Billboard]

Of the many reasons MILCK’s song connected, here are five essentials why. 

Take it as a primer for crafting an idea that compels.

Specificity. Lim’s song is at root a personal story. In her story which she’s elaborated in interviews, others recognized their own. Lyrics like “they may see a monster” or “take a dry blue pill” worm their way in + connect. Here’s the crux: she didn’t sit down to write an anthem for a movement. She began with a personal investment in her work.

Unflinching. The song is stirring, because the artist was willing to stir things up, for herself and others. One imagines countless crossroads along the way when it would have been simpler to let the idea go. That’s why when you encounter someone who braved their way through, it’s compelling.  

Truth-telling. Artists point out things, and MILCK is no exception. She signals a turning point: we may have remained quiet until now, but we can no longer. 

Resonant. She tapped a feeling others had, and gave it form in words + sounds. The sweet spot in communications is in the overlap between your “#ican’tkeepquiet" and the message your audience most needs to hear. Tap both and you get an idea that folks want to share on their own far and wide. That’s resonance—the kind that vibrates in your bones.

Agency. Agency begins when you can hear your own thinking, and you define for yourself how you are going to be seen and act in the world. MILCK and her I Can’t Keep Quiet Choir remind us that this power is ours to claim.

You find your voice by using it, professional sphere included.

Your turn:
What’s your “#Ican’tkeepquiet?
What’s a common practice or idea in your field, industry, or sphere that you do not support?
What insight do you have that others need to hear?
Who could you share it with today? Then hit send.

These ultimately are the ideas that make you stand out. And resilient.
photo credit: Rachaelle Stroud @rachaellestroud

icantkeepquiet.org