| |
Many musicians try to do too many things
at one time. It's a plague that affects many creative people.
I feel it's the side-effect of the creative spirit - helpful when
you require the muse and destructive because you never finish
anything (or burn out trying).
Here's a suggestion. Divide your creative
life into four distinct parts. Make sure you pursue these four
paths with confidence and passion. Set specific goals within these
paths and update your choices as you accomplish goals and/or decide
to take new directions.
(1) Choose a main or core goal for your
creative career and devote most of your time, money, and general
resources to reaching that goal. This objective should be the
dominant work that brings you the most satisfaction. Put simply:
go make your art.
(2) Choose a secondary ambition that quenches
your creative thirst. Make this more of a long-term project that
you devote some attention toward finishing. Think of this as your
lofty want-to-do or need-to-accomplish life goal. Don't neglect
it, but don't let it greatly interfere with your main objectives.
(3) Obviously, spend energy toward those
tasks that finance your lifestyle (e.g. day job, etc.). Hopefully,
your core path will supply most or all of your income. If not,
this other activity may be necessary. Put simply: sometimes commerce
comes before your art.
(4) Find a passion outside your work for
balance. This can be another creative outlet, but whatever you
choose, keep it TOTALLY unrelated to the other three paths. Exercise
travel, volunteering, school -- these are all fine choices.Having
trouble deciding the right paths? Try these two exercises. First,
write the story of your life. Your past may predict your future.
Writing your biography, your life's story, is usually quite revealing.
Find some quiet time, grab some paper, a pen, and begin at the
beginning. To keep your catharsis on track, focus on key factors
that brought you to where you are today.
Second, write about your future dreams.
1) What are your have-tos? These are all the things you must do
to simply survive. 2) What are your like-tos ? These are your
fantasies; something you'd like to do someday, but don't necessarily
need to do them. 3) What are your real want-tos ? These are those
experiences you wish (and desperately need) to bring into your
life. Once you've taken care of the first two (have-tos and like-tos)
you can really buckle down and address real goals. When you complete
this exercise, you'll have a clearer picture of where you want
to go with your life and music career. Congratulations. You are
far ahead of the majority of people who ignore their need to make
plans. Now comes the next hard part. How do you plan to reach
all these goals and when?
Jeffrey P. Fisher works from his project
studio providing music, audio, video, writing, consulting, training,
and media production services. He writes about music, sound, and
video for print and the Web including six books: "The Voice
Actor's Guide to Home Recording" (with Harlan Hogan, Artistpro.com,
2004), "Instant Sound Forge" (VASST/CMP Books, 2004),
"Moneymaking Music" (Artistpro.com, 2003), "Profiting
From Your Music and Sound Project Studio" (Allworth Press,
2001), "Ruthless Self-Promotion in the Music Industry"
(Mixbooks, 1999), and "How to Make Money
Scoring Soundtracks and Jingles" (Mixbooks, 1997). For more
information visit his Web site at www.jeffreypfisher.com
|
