TEM Coaching Tip: It's just where you are today

Award-winning filmmaker John Beder told me something I needed to hear in TEM83. He was incredibly generous in his interview, talking about not just his successes but also his struggles.

In that interview he spoke about wanting to make his first ever major documentary, Composed, the perfect film. In fact, he was still editing it through the night until literally hours before the premier!

The part of the interview that really stuck with me was when he told the story of realizing that Composed was not going to be a barometer on whether he was a good filmmaker. Up until this moment he had been treating this film as a litmus test on whether he was any good at making films.

But he came to the realization that it was simply an indication of where he was on his filmmaking journey at that moment. Nothing more, nothing less.

John’s inner narrative that put so much stock in this one piece of art is something every artist has experienced. At least I don’t know a single musician who hasn’t attached their self-worth as an artist at some point in time to a work of art they’ve produced.

But the truth is that if we keep showing up every day as songwriters or conductors or guitar players, we will get better. Our fifth album is almost certain to sound more like us than our first album, just like John’s fifth documentary will almost certainly be better than his first.

So to allow our sense of self-worth to depend so heavily, even temporarily, on how any one project turns out or is received is not just unhelpful, it ignores the fact that we will continue to improve. So this is nothing more than a signpost along our journey.

We just have to make our album or arrangement or documentary as good as we possibly can and then do it all over again. 

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Are you in alignment?

Better align your actions and goals with TEM Coaching and watch how fast you start achieving them.

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TEM Coaching Tip: The best advice I've ever received

The best piece of advice I’ve ever received came from a mentor who was the tough love sort. He always did it with compassion and kindness but he never, ever shied away from telling you what he thought you needed to hear, even if it wasn’t what you wanted to hear.

He told me that if I wanted to evaluate my belief systems, ignore my thoughts and ignore my feelings and only look at my actions.

This piece of advice has had a profound impact on me since the moment I first heard it.

If I tell myself that writing this book is important to me and yet only manage to sit down and actually write a few times a month then it is not nearly as important to me as I’ve been telling myself.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The problem comes from my perceived priorities and actions not lining up. That’s when there is a conflict within myself and frequently with others. This can lead to a constant feeling of not doing enough or of being inadequate. When these two things are severely misaligned I can feel like an impostor.

I once heard author Ramit Sethi say that if you want to reveal your true priorities, document every single thing that you do in a calendar for two weeks. Write down everything you do, from time on Twitter to composing music.

At the end of those two weeks take a look at two things: your calendar and your bank statement. Sethi argues that a person’s true priorities are revealed through how they allocate their time and their money.

The clarity that comes from this process frequently has two profound effects.

The first is it can make you more honest with yourself about your true priorities. It can actually free you from goals you feel that you “should” have when in reality they either aren’t for you or aren’t for you right now.

The other is it can make you get honest with yourself about your pursuit of some goals. If after undergoing this process you still feel strongly that something your actions have been neglecting is still a priority, it tends to make you change those actions in a hurry to better align with your thinking.

The bottom line is our actions tell us far more about ourselves and our current trajectory than our thoughts and feelings ever will and should always be front and center when evaluating ourselves.

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Are you in alignment?

Better align your actions and goals with TEM Coaching and watch how fast you start achieving them.

Learn More

TEM184: If she could do it, you can too

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TEM184: If she could do it, you can too

You might not be too busy. It might just be an issue of priorities. An episode inspired by the incredible Toni Morrison.

On Today's Episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician:

• The incredible story of how Toni Morrison didn't get published until she was a 39-year-old single mother

• The story we frequently tell ourselves (we're too "busy") when it's actually just an issue of priorities

• Being okay with admitting to yourself that something isn't a top priority

Links:

• Tweet of the Week: Rachel Syme (@rachsyme)

Want to help the show? Here's a couple of ways you can do that!

1. Help me get to my next goal of $100 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. My next iTunes goal is 150 ratings and 75 reviews. Take just a minute to leave a rating and review on iTunes to help me get there. Thank you!

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Andrew Hitz

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

Tweet of the Week: Rachel Syme (@rachsyme)

This is for all of us who think we are “too busy” to accompish _________. (I’m looking at YOU, college students!)

In fairness, I’m looking at all of us, because we all fall into this trap from time to time. The trap is believing the voice in our head that says we are “too busy” to accomplish something without recognizing it for what it almost certainly is instead, an issue of priorities.

Toni Morrison was a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who had nothing to do with the writing business until she was 36. That is the opposite of having an “in” within a profession.

She wrote her first book, which wasn’t published until she turned 39, by waking up before her kids did every morning because she was a single, working mother. That’s when she could get the writing done.

Now that’s dedication.

Anyone can wake up two hours before their children and do two hours of work before they are on parent duty. Anyone.

My primary gig for the last five years has been stay-at-home dad. The time I’ve been able to devote to my podcasting, freelancing, consulting, Pedal Note Media, college teaching, private teaching, residencies, writing, recitals and everything else I’ve got going without my son present has been at a premium for over five years.

Guess how many times in those five years I woke up early enough to get hours of work done before my son woke up. Twice.

TWICE.

Why? Because being a parent is hard as hell. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I just didn’t have it in me to wake up that early.

But that’s okay!

I got to a place where I was at peace with my Band Director’s Guide series not having a new volume come out for years. I got to a place where I was okay that I didn’t release the TEM Podcast on a rigidly regular schedule.

The fact is I made a choice, whether intentionally or just through my actions (or lack thereof), that making those things happen wasn’t worth me trying to parent on dangerously little sleep (dangerously for my sanity!)

If anything I’ve been putting off ever rose to the level of truly urgent, I would have woken up at 4:00 am. Or quit my teaching job (which I did but then a much better one fell into my lap!) Or put my son in daycare (which we wanted to avoid if we could.) Bottom line is I would have changed something to make it work.

So the next time you tell yourself you are “too busy” to do something, think of Toni Morrison and ask whether it might just be an issue of priorities.

What an inspiration that woman was to us all. She is dearly missed.

TEM182: Aligning your priorities and actions for a new year (TEM Short)

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TEM182: Aligning your priorities and actions for a new year (TEM Short)

For many in the music business, September 1st serves as a reset which is a great time to align our goals and actions.

On Today's Episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician:

• September 1st marks the start of a new academic year as well as a reset for much of the music business, which serves as an opportunity to make sure our priorities and current actions are in alignment

• An exercise to bring these into alignment

• A trick to figure out what your priorities really are

• Why perfect alignment should not be your immediate goal

Want to help the show? Here's a couple of ways you can do that!

1. Help me get to my next goal of $100 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. My next iTunes goal is 150 ratings and 75 reviews. Take just a minute to leave a rating and review on iTunes to help me get there. Thank you!

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Andrew Hitz

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

What we really mean when we say we're too busy

Today’s Seth Godin blog post really resonated with me. It’s all about priorities.

Godin: Time and Money

TEM158: Are you building or maintaining? (TEM Short)

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TEM158: Are you building or maintaining? (TEM Short)

The correct answer isn't necessarily what you think!

What You'll Learn in TEM158:

• The difference between building mode and maintaining mode

• Why the best application of this principal for entrepreneurs is on a case-by-case or project-by-project basis

• Two suggestions for helping you prioritize the things that align the most with your priorities and goals

Links:

• TBJ48: Scott Hartman

Want to help the show? Here's a couple of ways you can do that!

1. Help me get to my next goal of $100 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. My next iTunes goal is 100 ratings and 75 reviews. Take just a minute to leave a rating and review on iTunes to help me get there. Thank you!

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Drake Domingue

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

Don't research during prime working time

"Never do research in prime working time." 

—Steven Pressfield

Well this quote sure was a kick in the pants for me. Actually, the entire book it comes from, Do The Work, has been one giant kick in the pants.

(Note: In the very near future, an upcoming episode of TEM will be a "Book Report" about this book. It's awesome.)

In his book, Pressfield warns about researching too much. To break down his argument to its simplest form, doing too much research is a crutch for not actually doing the work you are avoiding. He warns that it can become resistance.

We are all guilty of that from time to time. Some people are guilty of that all the time!

What I really love about this quoteis how he warns about doing research in the prime working hours of a day rather than doing actual work. This immediately led to me examining my working habits and making sure I'm utilizing my time and my brainpower to the best of my abilities.

As a side note that doesn't pertain directly to research, I have stopped cleaning up my inbox when I first sit down to work in the morning after my shower and coffee. This is prime mental capacity time for me (which I've only recently put my finger on since I'm finally paying attention to such things) and that is wasted by returning simple emails or deleting others.

The corollary to that is that I am pretty much braindead every single day at 4 pm. I don't know why but I am. If I try to pump out another 500 words for my next book at 4 pm it will take me four times as long as it would at 9 am. And it will suck!

So the combination of really paying attention to the data of when I work best (in terms of time of day, how much sleep I've gotten, what I've eaten and many other factors) and Pressfield's advice of not doing research in prime working hours has been a boon to my productivity.

The allure of doing the urgent

Here's another truth bomb from my spirit animal, Seth Godin. This one is less than 150 words.

“The reason we go for urgent is that it makes us feel competent. We’re good at it. We didn’t used to be, but we are now.Important, on the other hand, is fraught with fear, with uncertainty and with the risk of failure.”

I would highly encourage you to take the 60 seconds and read the article.