A friend said to me once that wants are wedges. That thought instantly stuck with me because I realized that she was saying that the more you want something the further away it feels. Another way of saying it would be the tighter your grip something the more it slips through your fingers.
Passion is a great thing to have. In fact I believe in cultivating your passion through developing small goals. Steady work will create a snowball effect in any aspect of your life.
In music we tend to be hard on ourselves because of our desire to be “great”. The fact is that great is subjective. It is determined by a small group of people who like your work.
Odds are there will be just as many who don’t like what you do. So shouldn’t you be more concerned with your own ideas of success?
Questions To Set You Free
Do you think of yourself as a person who plays music for fun or are you searching for something from your audience?
From my personal experience I have been both. My first path was that of someone who wanted to hear praise from my audience. As hard as it is for me to admit I was looking for acceptance. At times I received it and oddly enough I did not know what to do with it. I would bring up all that I did wrong or sometimes I felt like it was not enough praise!
As I grew as a musician and became more comfortable with my talents and knowledge. I started to see these traits and how destructive they where to me. I was lucky to be able to have survived them. I now play for the love of what I do. I teach because it is a good way to earn a living and I write music because it is fun. I will do these things until I can’t do them anymore.
Many of you out there are very talented people, all of us are seeking acceptance from someone.
For every one of us our ideas of acceptance and success will be different. We have all lived different experiences and have different circumstances that drive us. So we must ask ourselves the questions:
Where is the line between passion and attention getting?
Do you see music as a way of giving or receiving something?
What is your idea of success?
How do we balance these ideas floating through our emotional minds?
These are serious questions that you should be asking yourself in order to keep a balanced head on you shoulders. Not only should you be asking them but also you should write down your answer and read it a month later to see if you still agree. Rewrite it if you don’t.
That lead us to a tool that many very successful men and women of all walks of life use to help them understand their direction and focus their energy. It is called Autosuggestion.
Autosuggestion
It is an amazing tool that I have been using for some time now. It is easy and takes only as much time as you wish to put into it. The more you use it the more powerful it becomes. The more powerful it becomes the more transparent your path is.
The idea of autosuggestion is that you must define what you want in detail. What are your goals?
Write them down on paper. Be detailed and explain what you are willing to do to get to your end goal. Read this to your self twice a day (morning and night) until you memorize it. When its memorized think about how you can take action, think about this goal as much as you can.
Here in lies the rub. Thinking about it is not enough. You must take action. Without action you will never attain your goals.
Integrity Over Recognition
Let me ask you this, is a family man who works a day job and raises his family and also plays in a band a few nights a week for fun any less successful than Michael Jackson?
Economically I would have to say yes, but there is more to life and more to music than money. There is more to life and music than popularity.
Integrity and enthusiasm have a grand room in the palace of the human heart. As you grow as a musician you need to see your art as it is. Focus yourself on your growth. The steps you are taking to better your music as well as the lives of your listeners will show you who you are. The work you do must enrich your life if you expect it to enrich the lives of your listeners.
The world is the greatest mirror.
Seeking fortune and fame will work for some of you out there. I can’t help but think that you will be disappointed in what you receive when you get it if you have not prepared yourself for life along the way.
Talent will last a lifetime. It is a fact that the most productive time of your life is actually after the age of 40!
So, How will you get to your destination?
How will your reach your long term goal?
For more information about how to build your confidence, improve your creativity and make better music visit http://www.bebop2pop.com and get your copy of 9 secrets to better music.
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