For some reason, the phrase ” I am sick and tired of being sick and tired” always makes me laugh. It reminds me of some old cheesy country song or something. I’m not quite exactly sure why it makes me laugh, because ironically, this phrase rings true in all of us to a certain degree.
There will always be things we wish we could change; things we wish we could improve. But why don’t we? Why do some goals never seem to pan out?
The Fear of Failure. Or the Fear of Success.
Or you could even just boil it down to being afraid of change, which is also ironic because change is the only thing constant in life.
But the good news is that you can exert control over which change you experience. But it takes dedication, and most importantly, ACTION.
Do you read inspirational, music business, and music production posts all day, but don’t actually take action towards your own personal goals? I know I fall guilty to reading, learning, and not applying quite often. And reflecting about it, realize that this is a major cause of a lot of things I wish were different in my own life.
I wish I had more money saved.
I wish I had practiced guitar for 10 hours a day back when I was in school during the summers
I wish I had asked out that gorgeous brunette with the nice ass reading the “How to Practice Naked Yoga” book at the bookstore.
I wish I had better guitar equipment
I wish I played more gigs
The list goes on and on. And we all have our own “wish” lists.
It can get quite overwhelming to say the least.
So how do we shut off that annoying chatter box in our heads and get to accomplishing these wishes and goals?
First of all, break them down into small actionable steps. Many things in life can seem overwhelming. If you imagine that you need 1 million dollars saved in your IRA by the time you turn 67, that seems pretty crazy and unachievable.
But when you break it down into monthly installments of 700 bucks, then hey, that ain’t so bad soundin’!
The same applies to booking your dream gigs, or reaching 1,000 or 10,000 fans, or recording your new album. Break it down to 8-12 songs, develop them into something you are excited about, and don’t worry about making them completely perfect. Get to work and just realize in this day in age, the tools of home recording make recording your projects so flexible, you can easily do a variety of takes, remixes, versions, etc. without paying a recording studio by the hour.
Break it out into small actionable steps, and do your best each day to move forward in that direction. Even if it is for just 15 concentrated minutes each day. You will be surprised at how the little things have a snowball effect, and before you know it, you will have a huge fuckin mountain of snow.
Not happy about how something is going in your life? Well take action and change it.
Here is an excerpt from Get Rich Slowly, one of my favorite blogs on personal finance:
Do what you can, and do it today. Stop rationalizing. Stop saying, “I’ll do this next week”. The best time to start any positive course of action is now. This isn’t just New Age self-talk; it’s the truth. Start saving now. Start exercising now. Start writing your book now. Start spending time with your family now.
Your life can be amazing, but the only one who’s going to make that happen is you.
PS. You should take action and resolve to make 2010 your most successful music year yet. A great start would be to get a copy of our audio interview series, Studio Guitar Secrets: Making Guitar Your Career for Christmas.
It’s about 7 hours worth of interviews with real life professional/studio guitarists. You may be surprised about what some of them have to say about technique, style, gear, and business skills. Download it and put it on your I-pod and listen to it while driving between work, your gigs and your practices.
If you go here, and use the code XMASGPZ when you purchase it, you will get 55% off. That’s 7 hours of priceless information guaranteed to help jumpstart your music career or take it to the next level in 2010 for about 16 bucks.
Is a successful 2010 worth $16? I should hope so!
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Sarssipius // Dec 22, 2009 at 2:40 am
“I wish I had asked out that gorgeous brunette with the nice ass reading the “How to Practice Naked Yoga” book at the bookstore.”
You knew her too… wow!!
Nice article… I often do feel the same too, on many levels!! And you title sums it up perfectly: Action beats inaction!!
2 Chris // Jan 1, 2010 at 6:11 am
The last advice about motivation is especially good
3 Tobias // Jan 6, 2010 at 7:26 am
Thank you for this great article. You are so right and I will do my best to follow these ideas, because I want these boobs on a regular basis for free too
4 aDeeb // Jan 6, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Good article.
Very unorthodox, but makes the point.
5 Neal - Sax Station // Jan 7, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Hey Jeff,
Funny article! And it has some good points.
6 Klaus Tol | Guitarhabits // Jan 31, 2010 at 3:50 am
Hi Jeff,
Great post!
It’s always a dilemma what is more important for a musician. Should we write, record, produce, practice, perform, study, teach, make money. We want it all and we have to keep motivating ourselves and strike a balance.
But the way to get there is “small steps”. Just like you said.
Thanx again.
Klaus Tol
7 Rueben // Feb 28, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Hey there
Nice article. I’ve been in this situation many times in my guitar life, but always pull myself out of it.
8 Embrace Your Doubts. Awaken Your Potential. | GuitarPlayerZen.com // May 19, 2010 at 7:51 pm
[...] But this doubt has been more of a feeling. I know these things to be true, but lately I have been feeling “off” and not myself. It’s sort of an intense frustration. I keep questioning my abilities, my future, my beliefs and what makes me who I am. Have I been doing it all wrong? Or am I just doing it wrong right now? It’s as if I am watching a movie of someone playing myself in some weird strange role, and they are doing a really, really shitty job at it. But the cool thing about it is, that I can feel something intense and completely awesome inside me that is about to manifest. I have no idea what the hell it is going to be, but the only thing I can do is to keep being autotelic. And to keep on playing the good ole gee-tar. [...]
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