What have you created in the past 16 years?

Can you put it on a table? Hold it in your hand? Sing it? Show it?

My kids have had a big influence on my career change. Partly because they’re involved in it (writing books together with my sons), but also because I just couldn’t explain to them what “marketing” was.

RTL Late Night host Humberto Tan invites Coldplay to the set before their big Amsterdam Arena show. At one point, Humberto pulls out 7 albums and lays them on the floor. This is what they’ve been doing for the past 16 years. What have you created since 2000?

I openly cite my father’s passing last year as a large part of my motivation to get back into writing. Writing, for me, is creation. I’m creating something from nothing (or, well, something from something). I’m also building a legacy, something to leave behind, markers along the way that sign post times or eras of our lives if not for others to enjoy in the future, then at least to solidify our experiences of them now. For me, writing about something brings it to life. Or if it’s already alive, then it brightens, energizes and etches the memories into our minds more clearly.

In two years, I can lay down four books onto the floor and say, “This is what we have done.” I’m more proud of what we’ve done in two years than what I’ve done in the past ten. Easy.

The best part is that I’m just getting started. Two years and four books? It’s a good start, but we’re just getting warmed up. Chris Martin spoke about how now they’re having fun, they’re in the flow and they’re being themselves. They feel blessed that people show up to enjoy the music that they create. That’s how I already feel and I feel blessed that this is just the beginning.

For some reason, it matters to me that I can put something down on the floor (for the interview cameras to see) that I’ve created. Maybe it’s just the artist in me who loves to create. Maybe it’s the productive mathematician in me who wants to make things. I don’t know, I don’t care, I won’t stop. I can’t stop.

What have you created lately that you’re proud of?