Happy New Year to you! I hope this post finds you well and that you had a blessed Christmas with family and friends.
Most people at the start of the year ponder what the coming year may bring.
There are usually lots of new people at the gym who think: "This is the year I'm going to get in shape and lose that extra weight."
Many other people start off the year thinking: "Now that it's a new year, I can accomplish all those things I want to do."
Others or even yourself may think that somehow, some way, my relationships with my family, friends, and coworkers are going to be better. No matter what!
While I applaud these noble goals, they really don't get one anywhere. Why is that?
Well, first of all, without having a vision of what you want to accomplish, how can you know how you did? For example, let's take the goal of losing weight since this seems to be a problem for many people.
My wife last year lost forty pounds. The key? She had a plan! She decided what she wanted to lose and when she wanted to lose it by. She also had accountability every week with a professional counselor.
Now the next ingredient: Work! You cannot accomplish a goal simply by hoping that it will happen. You have to work at it.
It takes work to accomplish anything of merit.
Last year, Gentle Haven Music Web Design sponsored the first ever, Dallas Christian Music Festival in Dallas, Oregon. It took a lot of work by many people to pull it off. No small feat!
The next ingredient for goal recipes: Encouragement!
Everyone needs encouragement especially when a goal seems a long distance away. I've accomplished many things in my life, but encouragement from good friends and family has been the difference between achieving a goal or having it fall apart.
The final recipe ingredients: Test and Measure!
If you have a goal and have achieved it, you also need to test and measure it.
Let's go back to the weight loss subject.
My wife wouldn't have known that she was achieving her goal unless she had gotten on the scale every morning to see how she was doing.
Now let's do a brief recap:
In order to achieve a goal, you need to follow a 'recipe' to achieve it.
The recipe consists of:
A vision of the goal
A plan to achieve it
A healthy amount of work (Not too much and not too little...:>)
A large dose of encouragement
A method of testing and measuring the outcome
That's the recipe that I use and have for many years. Tried and true.
One last thing I'd like to discuss: What does this have to do with being a musician?
Well, I am so glad you asked!
Being a musician has many challenges. Of note, just learning how to play music in front of people itself can be very overwhelming for many.
Add into the mixture of leading a band and ensuring that everyone is on the same page, the music will work, the vocals are in sync, the sound is being managed and adjusted as needed, and the complication factor skyrockets!
As a musician, there are many responsibilities to take care of and goals to achieve including the desire to improve. That's why I use this recipe that works and you can too!
I would love to hear your impressions of this recipe and how you'll use it or have already. My email address is below... Let me know of your New Year possibilities!