Hello Everybody,
Last year I set some goals and mini steps to work on accomplishing them, along with reminders to update on my progress and it actually helped. If you are like me and need some focus, I encourage you to try something similar. Even if you have just one goal, set a reminder on your calendar or phone to evaluate your progress periodically.
If you missed part one of my post from yesterday: The yearly review, here it is.
Now For the list:
Big Goal: Continue to increase income
Mini Goal: Set up the rest of my online store:
The official launch is still a little bit of time away, but, I have learned how to integrate Paypal and have started updating my site. Thankfully, taking this job allowed me that small boost in income to justify upgrading my site plan to the next level so that I could do this. Given time, it should start to pay for itself and help me with this Debt repayment plan. Also, eventually the financial cushion to be able to allow myself to invest in composition lessons would be nice.
I will be using most of my “free time” to work on this with an aim to finish by March.
Mini Goal: Sell more music
This is self-explanatory. I like to eat food, darn it!
Mini Goal: Increase my teaching studio size
I am hoping to build to 5-8 students by the end of next year. It is a small number, but, given that I am now working Full time and want to avoid burnout, I would like to keep the teaching schedule to no more than one or two dedicated evenings a week. I’ll be emailing a few teachers in the area and asking around in my social circles to look for students.
Big Goal: Get out there even more than in 2018
Mini Goal: Jam More
Luckily, I have made some Friends who wish to play for fun through the various music groups I’ve been fortunate to be a part of. Periodically looking at this list should remind me to call these people once in a while to play duets or make some noise.
Mini Goal: Go to more music gatherings and concerts- that are not my own.
The aim is to attend 1 a month. This should be easy, right?. If I can attend more, that would be awesome but, based on last year, 1 a month seems like a reasonable goal.
Mini Goal: Get better at this Marketing thing.
The last few years have been a study period with listening to podcasts like The Portfolio Composer and The Entrepreneurial Musician to name a couple and reading business blogs and books. This year is the year where I will begin to put these things into practice more than In previous years. Step ONE: Finish the store and Launch it through Emailing and Social Media Posts, along with not being afraid to mention it when networking. Step TWO: while doing step one, work on the goal of getting out to concerts and networking events, along with interacting with more people in general, whether ion the internet or in person.
BIG Goal: Get healthier
I know that this does not seem like a music goal, but believe it or not, it is. I would like to play my trombone to the best of my ability and be able to think clearly more often so I can focus on writing and accomplishing tasks. This past year took a small toll on my health, mostly from the stress and eating crud like candy and ramen noodles a lot of the time. My level of focus and energy has gone downhill and I generally do not feel like I am in good shape anymore. Thankfully, I am still relatively healthy, but will be incorporating more veggies, even if I have to increase the food budget a bit and cut back somewhere else. Also, I’d like to try the gallon challenge where you carry around a gallon jug and aim to finish it by the end of the day. Having things in front of me to remind me to do the things seems to help. Come spring, since my new job is about a mile from where I live, I will be walking to work every day that it is not raining as well.
As a mini goal, I’m going to start getting up an hour earlier on work days to take care of me, whether that happens to be exercising or writing down ideas.
Big Goal: Write More:
Based on past experience, I Know that I NEED external motivators in the form of “homework assignments” from other people to be able to compose in this stage of life. Composing for myself just does not happen- unless I’m mindlessly jamming at the piano. There has to be a giving element in there somewhere for my best work to happen. By getting out there and meeting more people, this will likely lead to some more opportunities to write for others and more inspiration.
Also, as the urge to write seems to happen most often at night when I *should* be sleeping, I am no longer going to fight this- even if I do have to get up an hour earlier now with this self-imposed schedule. Bring on the Insomnia!
What are your 2019 Music goals? I would love to hear about them, so please don’t be afraid to comment. Happy New Year, Happy Musicing and Good Luck!