If you consider
yourself to be pessimistic person, do yourself a favor, -
don't waste your time reading another word.
In my music Careers Mentoring Program, I ask my students (those
I mentor) to take a very special test in one of the first
few sessions. It's an eye-opening experience for everyone
who goes through this (I'll share this valuable test with
you in a few moments).
Before my own professional music career
began I had been spinning my wheels for years, unaware of
why I was not yet a pro, even though my guitar playing and
composition skills were already highly developed. There
was something missing that had prevented me from getting
the big success I was after. The biggest problem was that
I wasn't even aware of what was missing. Years passed and
a great mentor came into my life who told me, "Reasons
come first, answers come second". This one statement
had a profound impact on me as I began to develop my career.
It became clear what it was I needed to do (get clear and
conscious about the real reasons behind what it was I wanted).
Prior to that revelation I was basically clueless about
"how" I would ever develop and sustain a great
career in the music industry as a recording artist and internationally
touring guitarist. Once I had clarity of purpose, I was
able to move toward my goals much more effectively.
On the surface, it may seem too simple
or too obvious how one can define one's purpose and reasons
behind an ultimate goal. I assure you it is not as simple
as it seems (as I will show you soon). I asked and answered
a series of questions for myself, which eventually led me
to the "true" path of success. 95% of my goal
has been realized and I continue to work towards the attainment
of the remaining 5%. With this new insight, I began to turn
my attention towards my music students (especially towards
the career-minded musicians I mentor) and am happy to say
the results have been great for them and very rewarding
for me.
All right, so if you have read this far
I'll assume you are still with me, optimistic and open minded.
Please get a piece of paper and something to write with.
(Do NOT try to take this test in your head). You will get
a lot more out of this, if you can see your answers written
on paper.
1. Write down your goals (for now, lets
stick with purely musical related goals).
2. Look at your written goals and choose
one that is most important to you (this is probably one
of your long term goals).
3. Now that you know your most important
goal, imagine that you now have it. What does this give
you that you did not have before? (write it down)
4. So now that you have that, what will
that give you that you did not have before? Write this down.
5. Now that you have this, what will this
give you that you did not have before? Write your answer
down.
6. Ok, so now you have another thing that
you did not have before. What will this other thing give
you that you did not have before? Whatever that is write
it down.
7. Continue going through this process
of asking yourself, "What will having this give me
that I did not have before?" Ask yourself this question
as many times as it takes until you have refined your series
of answers down to the most fundamental answer - to the
point where you can not refine your answers any further.
8. When you have that final answer, THIS
IS WHAT YOU DESIRE MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE. THIS IS YOUR
TRUE GOAL.
If all of this seems confusing to you,
here is an example to illustrate how this works. Lets say
your biggest goal is to be wealthy. Following the steps
above, it may have looked something like this:
1. Question: Write down your goals or
things you want to achieve.
Answer: I want to be wealthy.
2. Question: What does this give me that
I did not have before?
Answer: It would allow me to stop worrying about having
enough money to pay for my expenses.
3. Question: So now that I would be able
to stop worrying about paying for my expenses, what will
that give me that I did not have before?
Answer: It would give me the ability to buy whatever I want
and do whatever I want.
4. Question: Now that you have the ability
to buy and do what I want, what will this give me that I
did not have before?
Answer: Freedom!
5. Question: Ok, so now you have this
new freedom, what will you do with it that you are not doing
or experiencing now?
Answer: I wouldn't have to work and could spend more time
with the people I care about.
You can see in this case, what this person
desires more than anything else is to spend more quality
time with people he/she cares about most. The wealth (money)
was simply the vehicle (method) that this person choose
to use, but the heart of the matter is time, not money.
And the real obstacle isn't a lack of money or time, it
was a perceived lack of freedom to spend more time with
people without making big sacrifices to do so.
Although becoming wealthy is a perfectly
good vehicle (method) to use, it may not be the most effective
vehicle for all people. Perhaps there are better, easier
and faster ways to reach the true goal of spending more
time with people. And perhaps a perceived lack of freedom
is not the real obstacle at all. There are many other possibilities
that may be more valid reasons for why this person has not
reached the true goal yet.
If you have separate goals related to
music such as pursuing a career in music, go through the
same list of questions again and really dig down deep to
find out what it REALLY is that you want. You should discover
that your ultimate final answers are deep human emotional
needs, not external material things. Getting these needs
met may have nothing to do with music and in fact you might
be able to get your real needs met by doing something else
outside of music all together.
Now look back at your original answers
when you took the test and consider your present situation.
Consider these four things.
1. Is what you really want different than
what you first stated your original goal was? Notice how
different it is. Can you see that your original stated goal
was probably a "vehicle" and not a real goal.
2. Consider that what might have seemed
like your primary obstacle might not really be your real
obstacle.
3. Notice that your old strategy (if you
had one) may be ineffective in getting what you really want
because it was focused on a vehicle only and not the deeper
goal.
4. Are you on the right path?
Take the time: I cannot overemphasize the point enough to
really dig deep, so take your time and don't rush through
this assignment, because doing so may literally save you
a lifetime of regret. In the corporate world, it's common
to hear stories of highly successful business men and women,
who sacrifice many things in life to climb the corporate
ladder. After many years, they reach the top and finally
are able to see the view of things with a broader perspective
of their efforts and all that they have worked so hard for.
The tragedy for some is that the ladder they climbed was
leaning against the wrong wall and it is only in the end
of their career (or life) that they finally realize it with
great regret.
That is part of the reason why I have
my music careers students go through this test. It is designed
to allow some people to discover for themselves that maybe
a music career is not really what they need or want in life.
It is such an eye opening experience for them since 5 minutes
before going through this process, they thought they were
sure they wanted a music career. So obviously those people
should not go any further in the pursuit of a career in
music and instead should change paths toward what really
matters in their life. It would be a shame to climb the
wrong ladder.
…However, for those that do discover
that a music career really is for them, new possibilities,
opportunities and powers are born and strengthened from
their own clarity of purpose and certainty of destiny. Because
of this, their chances of success go up 10,000%!
Go far beyond your music: Putting music
aside for a few moments, I have one final request. Consider
ALL aspects of your life.
Your relationships with your family, friends,
teachers (if you are a student), your employer (if you work),
career goals, personal goals, your creator (if you are spiritual
or religious) etc. Go through the entire series of questions
I gave you in the test above. Notice that in some areas
you might already be on the right path to personal fulfillment,
happiness and success. With other things you may find yourself
on the wrong path. It's a whole lot easier to get what you
really want when you have total clarity about what that
really is based on the "reasons" of why you want
it. It's extremely difficult to hit a target you can't see.
I wish you the best….……really.
