Keeping your eye on your 5 year result will keep you on track to do things every day that keep you moving toward the goals. Just as in short term decisions about going to a grocery store, if you don’t keep your eye on getting to the store but allow yourself to get side-tracked at the park or the yard work or talking on your cell phone, you will take longer and experience a more indirect path to the store. This is no big deal with groceries but the result will be delayed or forgotten food items. For me, this takes away from my satisfaction in creating what I want daily. To go through a day with lots of satisfaction is really fun. Being satisfied with what you do, contribute, improve or share is a fabulous feeling. Getting it with most things you do, contribute, improve or share leaves you going to bed at night feeling whole, complete and centered. You are a more fun person to hang out with because you aren’t bitching about your life or other people or what happened “to you”. You are in control because you have decided what you want to do and to what level of Satisfaction.
For instance, as musicians we all go to rehearsals. What if you decided that rehearsal destination was going to bring you 100% Satisfaction? When you are finished with the rehearsal you will be able to feel great about it? To get this level of Satisfaction you need to know what your destination looks like. How do you prepare for the rehearsal? What is your attitude like when you walk in? What is your dress like at this event? What do you say to others, what words do you choose to use? How do you act during the rehearsal to your colleagues and the conductor? What results to you get playing? How can you improve your playing while there? How can you use your imagination to bring more to the music making? How does your attitude affect people around you and the actual rehearsal performance level?
If you make these decisions before you go to a rehearsal, you can then come away and assess how close you got to what you wanted. Once you compare your destination decisions to the actual results you then have your level of satisfaction from that event. If you get 85% satisfaction then you have that much satisfaction and 15% learning. How do you get a higher score next time?
I don’t know about you, but this process is a lot of fun for me and for every client who has taken http://www.inconcertcoaching.com/. It is a game I play with myself and I have fun assessing my results and choosing new destinations. Over a long period of time I get to build my bigger results and keep checking in on my vision board to see how much closer I am to what I want in my life.
I encourage anyone to try this process out. I do highly recommend you get support and coaching for bigger results because it will make the path much easier and faster. Having mentors who have already accomplished what you want gives you the advantage of not making all the mistakes they have made. Most people I know WANT to help you out if you know exactly what you want. It is difficult to help someone out who doesn’t know exactly what they want. If you say “I want a job” versus “I want to play 2nd trumpet in the Toronto Symphony in 5 years” there is a big difference in the quality and specifics of the help you can receive from someone.
Remember, those 5 years are going to pass no matter what. It is your choice about what they look like and the destination you will arrive at when they are over. You get to choose and my advice is to not lose another second figuring it all out.
The reason I created www.inconcertcoaching.com is because I saw so many musicians so unhappy. Many students and professionals in music seem on a path where they feel out of control of their destinations. The following is a list of complaints and reasons why these musicians are not where they say they want to be (although they have not yet specifically defined their destination): The audition circuit, the pressures of performing, the supposed cliques, the “luck” of winning, the “hope” that a performance would go well, the lack of money, the poor advice they got, and ultimately the myriad of excuses of why they didn’t get what they wanted, etc..
I truly want to help people gain clarity and move forward happily and with great satisfaction. The more people who can achieve this will make the experience of being a musician that much better and of course, our audiences will see, hear and feel this clarity and purpose from the stage. It is not up to the conductor to make your experience of a rehearsal or concert satisfying. It is up to you. A musician’s contribution is to the members of the audience and to colleagues in creating a “whole” that is bigger than the sum of the “parts”.
Grab hold of this daily opportunity to choose your destination, near or far, and then take the first step. It is fun and easy!