Did you reach your music goals in 2012? How to rock 2013!

[innerstatejt]

How to rock 2013

Here we come to the end of another (hopefully very productive) year & the world didn't end. I hope the end of the year has you with your chin up, with good spirits, health and laser focus. If you have had a less than optimal year creatively, even with all your resolutions from last year, I totally understand. I've been that guy. In fact I am always that guy.

The difference now, is that I expect more of myself than I used to & put quite a bit more on my plate. So even when I don't reach all my goals, I still find myself in a good place that I can be proud of.
Over the years, I've learned a lot about what it takes to reach more of your goals. Some of this will sound like a rerun of things you may have heard in the past, but I think it's the way you hear it that makes the big difference.

Taking risks
Like myself in the past, I suspect that you want to learn as much as you can without taking on personal or financial risks. This would seem to make the most sense. Hell, the internet is a huge friggin' place & I'm sure all the information is out there. Sounds like a fair assessment to right?

But....here's where it goes wrong.

When you are trying to swim in the same waters as other "reasonable", budget minded people, you put yourself in a big pool with people doing the least possible & taking the least risk to reach their goals. The opinions of these people are also going to rub off on you. They say you are the average of the people you spend most of your time with (I'd include offline & online).

If these people you are taking advice from aren't getting results, what makes you think your results are going to be any better? If all you are doing is shoving more free information down your throat (or paid for that matter), you are not in the mindset of those who are making things happen.



The game in the brain

This is a mental game as well and there are certain messages you are telling your unconscious brain when you don't take any risks.

You aren't good enough.

You aren't worth it.

You don't really believe in yourself.

When you put this input into your brain, what kind of results do you think it's going to spit out?

Your brain is very powerful, and it's powerful enough to stop the flow of fresh ideas when it has an underlying belief that you aren't capable of being that person you want to be. If you are going to step above the rest and do work you can be proud of, you are going to have to take risks & step outside your comfort zone as often as possible.

How to step outside you comfort zone

A great way for me to figure out the best thing I could be doing at any given moment, is to ask the question "What am I avoiding right now?". Next, listen to the response you have to the question. Are you already making excuses or thinking "But I don't feel like it now"?

Try asking another question.

"Is this voice inside my head my ideal self or my status quo, comfort zone self?"

Stepping out of your comfort zone when you don't feel like it, whether it be exercising, eating better, flossing or committing to music making, will feel like rushing your body into a cold shower. Your status quo self will try to stack the cards against you changing anything about yourself. To battle thing, I make a habit of immediately taking the action the moment my brain starts making excuses.

I did this with flossing my teeth. I'd by laying in bed & realize I forgot to floss. I'd immediately think "eh, 1 missed day won't kill me", but then I'd think "who is thinking this? My old self, or my new one?" Then I'd jump out of my warm bed and get it done. After doing this several times, jumping out of bed became my automatic reaction to thoughts from my "old" self. This is how I concur procrastination. The first time you do anything new will always be the hardest.

Imagine transitioning to your ideal creative & productive self & with every time you say yes instead of no. The more you step into the shoes of who you want to be, the more it becomes a reality.

Asking the right questions have made me so much more productive as a person.



What's more risky?

After many years of struggling financially & creatively, I finally realized that taking risks were far less risky than not taking them. It seemed that every time I took a brave step into the unknown, the universe (or whatever you want to call it) seemed to hand me better opportunities and more clever ideas. Like driving at night, even though your headlights can only see so far, you trust that more road will continue to unfold.

It would seem that that edge of your comfort is where the real magic happens in life. You need to speak up, and risk ridicule, make the investment & risk a little time with top ramen & PB&J sandwiches. The more you look at those you admire, the more you'll realize they stepped far outside what many would consider safe or comfortable. Soon you'll find that every time you step out of your comfort zone, things that were scary start feeling normal & your threshold for stepping into the unknown becomes a lust for adventure.

I hope this coming year, you don't make empty promises, but instead take the risks & do the work today that you keep putting off until tomorrow. If you aren't excited about your future, try dreaming bigger until you can feel it wake your whole body up. The goals that keep you excited day after day are the goals that are worthy of you.

Every big dream is achieved through daily small actionable steps & guidance can give you some shortcuts, if you apply what you learn right away.

Don't use information & assistance as a crutch.

Always push yourself to figure things out on your own until you hit a wall. Then & only then should you look for some answers. Once you get the answers, DO NOT keep filling your head with more information. Get what you need & get back to work. The ratio of doing to learning should be 80/20. Put information to use as soon as possible until you've pushed yourself to another brick wall. You might run into many (we all do), but trying to work things out yourself is where the magic really happens with your skills.

Nothing you can read or watch can replace you own problem solving skills



A 2013 Kickstart

For those who feel my services & content can help them, I am offering a fantastic deal until the end of the year. This is for those who want to get off the sidelines & commit instead of just dipping your toes in the water. Otherwise, just skip all this..

For the price of 6 months of membership with the producer's playground (only $72) you can a full year of access. This includes all the Videos, the Master Template, ebooks, songfiles, interviews and loads more for just $6 a month! (normally $20 a month).

I'm only offering full year discounts because frankly, the prices are already pretty amazing and secondly, I want people who want to go big to be rewarded. If you are interested, I hope you don't hold off, as I'd love you to get a headstart on the new year.

For everybody, I hope you all the best & I'm here to continue to offer the best free information I can to give your creative output a huge boost.

Happy Music Making,

Jason

[dewaldo]

that post covered a lot of important things to remember for the new year... thanks for the inspiration

[freqn]

2012 - Nope, doomsday happened.
2013 - It will be used exploring the new ways of making music in this very peculiar, yet uneventful, afterlife.
Hopefully the apocalypse unlocked a new musical realm for everyone. Time will tell.