…yes I am talking to you!
We spend enormous amounts of money on personal trainers and life coaches to help us get motivated. I am a teacher, a professional singer, and a business owner. As a vocal coach I get paid to give my students a good kick in the back-side. If I don’t I am not doing my job. I do what I can to take them to the next level.
Recently I heard what Tony Robbins said to Oprah in an interview. It went something like what you are thinking about primarily now will lead you to what you will be doing within five years from now. Thoughts are things — you do create your own reality. Take a good look at what you are primarily thinking about. Be honest with yourself! Here are some steps we can all use.
- What motivates you? What makes you excited? What makes you hop out of bed in the morning? It may be a long time since you have felt anything.
So dig deep! - Can I do more? What would it look like if I took it one step further?
- Do I really want what I think I want or is it time to rethink a past goal/passion?
- What are my biggest fears about having what I want?
- Take action, any action. Remember action is a good cure for fear.
Take steps forward. Small steps lead to giant steps. Try out things that come to your mind. They may be far fetched and not seem relative but you never know where it might lead.
Recently I went to try out for an acting role at a local film school. On my way down, I kept asking myself what was I doing and although tired on my way back from the audition, I had a surge of energy and excitement. That told me that I have not been challenging myself enough lately and this was something that I wanted just to try even though I had a whole bunch of negative thoughts attempting to stop me dead in my tracks. Don’t let your negative thoughts or someone else’s opinions stop you!
Many people are in a job for the steady paycheck more than the passion (which is a large percentage of folks unfortunately) or you may be raising a family and very focused on what it takes to give your children an opportunity to have a better life. Noble motive, yes, but I say take care of yourself first. You are setting an example for your children — if you have given up on a dream or just given up — what kind of example are you setting? Never give up!
When it comes to the voice (your instrument) or maybe some other instrument you choose to express yourself with, don’t let yourself rest on past performances. Create new and exciting ventures and experiences. At this point you may be saying, “I don’t have any time for that.” I have this and that to do and I need to put my kids first or my job because of financial needs and you may just be in a survival mode. Many are. It is very hard to be adventurous or pursue a dream when you are in survival mode. But it has been done. It makes good stories for marketing yourself later. We have heard many stories of people, just like you and me, who have carved out time in their daily lives to make time for a dream. That takes A PLAN!
Where to begin? Answer the following questions:
- What do I spend most of my time doing now? You may want to create a chart of where your time goes!
- What are my primary thoughts about through-out the day?
- What can I do differently? Realistic changes, though. Don’t build disappointment in your goals. Could be as simple as spending some focused time on a passion or idea?
- Do I want to push harder on current goal (passion/idea) or reset a new goal for myself?
- Set up an action plan. List the steps to get your goal accomplished. And be sure it is an achievable timeline!
If you are like me you may have to many goals and the ideas keep coming, a very healthy outlook. One thing you can do is make a list of your ideas and decide which ideas keep coming back (you can’t stop thinking about) they have staying power those are important and what you will want to focus your time and energy on first. But make sure you keep your most important ideas up front and center that will help you achieve real progress! Use the post-it note approach perhaps to help you organize your action steps towards each goal. Lastly don’t forget some goals do compliment other goals and may work side by side in your plan.
Example Goal – Be a singer/songwriter:
Action Plan:
- Take lessons from a vocal instructor
- Make a demo
- Create a youtube campaign (be original)
- Start going out to open mic nights and booking gigs
- Find other musicians with similar goals
- Write good songs and collaborate
- Have an online presence – Facebook, Twitter, Linked In.
- Join groups ASCAP, SAG-AFTRA, NARAS, NSAI , etc.
I hope that you have found this helpful and as always if you have any questions on your journey feel free to drop me a line. Thanks for checking out my field notes for singers and everyday people – I will leave you with a quote:
