The life of an independent musician is tough. We're not the people who decided to follow a structured path from college to internship to job to success. Our path looks more like a goddamn Ninja Warrior course with lethal traps and tricks, one misstep sending you hurtling to the depths of despair. I know it sounds dramatic, but I take my career seriously.
Although we've chosen not to follow the basic path like the majority of the planet, there is one thing we can learn from them: the importance of defining what your success ACTUALLY looks like.
Your buttoned-down buddies knew what job and salary they wanted. Because of that clarity, they knew where to go to school, what to major in, what classes to complete, and how long each step was going to take. The path was set for them. And it worked because it's worked countless times before for people who put in the effort.
At the risk of sounding like a self-help guru, I invite you to do the same thing with your music career.
Do you even know what you want? I mean, specifically?
I sure didn't. I knew I wanted to get "big", quit my job to pursue a life of songwriting and touring. But I didn't take the time to define what "big" meant. I played basements and shitty venues across the country for years thinking that if I just kept pushing, I'd arrive... somewhere.
I arrived at burnout and disappointment. That is until I was taught to set specific goals and how to break down the steps to their achievement.
So please, don't burn out and deprive the world of the message you were born share. Take a moment to think about what success in music ACTUALLY looks like to you...
Ten years from now
Three years from now
One year from now
Does success mean you have management, label support, and booking? How many followers/streams/albums sold do you want to have under your belt? What venues are you playing? What artists are you touring with?
Actually take the time to think this out. In order to reach your goal at ten, where do you need to be by three? And to reach your goal at three, where do you need to be in one year? From there, break down the next year into quarters and systematically follow the trail to your ten year older self, stoned by the pool at your summer spot, feeling damn good about where you're at and how hard you worked to get there.
Leave a comment below to let me know how you define success for your specific path at each of those intervals.
// James
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