The First Step: Direction

(c)1988, David Humes

Although this newspaper caters specifically to musicians, which I happen to be, and musicians' services, these articles are universal success principles applicable to virtually all people in all walks in life. I feel there is a need for mental practice as well as musical practice in order to be a successful musician. With all of the negative garbage that gets fed into our brains each day, I feel that we need to offset that with at least as much, but preferably more, positive input. We of all people must remain positive if we wish to be remotely successful, much less "Super Successful."

What do the "Super Successful" have in common? What is success? The purpose of this column is to help you understand success principles and embrace them if you so desire. Success is a choice. Success is also different for each person. Only you can define success for you.

Have you ever taken the time to plan out your musical career? Before there can be accomplishment in any endeavor, there must be a clearly defined goal or target in which to shoot for. You can not hit a target that you can not see. You must have a specific description of your ultimate destination in life.

It must also be written down on paper. A goal that is not written down is a wish. Wishes can only be granted by the fairy Godmother. Seen her lately?

Putting your goals down on paper is the first step towards manifestation. It shows you have faith in obtaining your goal, which is another vital ingredient to achieving success. It also shows that you have the guts to be different (98% of the people don't have written goals) and are taking responsibility for your life.

Before the ground is broken on a new construction site, the blue prints or "plans" are impeccably complete. When your "plan" for your musical career is as complete as a blue print for a new building, you are halfway there. The rest is persistence and perspiration.

Many musicians roam around in life without a direction, and like a ship without a rudder they wind up either ship wrecked or lost in the stormy sea of the music business, allowing circumstances to control their destiny. These not so "Super Successful" end up sometimes resenting the music profession all together and may even go as far as blaming others for their inadequacies. Or they'll claim they didn't get the "brakes" that some other musicians or bands have.

Getting your "break" in the music profession comes from #1 knowing where you are going, and #2 persisting and "paying your dues" until you get it. My favorite definition of a "break", or "luck" is: "where preparation and opportunity meet". There are more opportunities in a day than you could possibly take advantage of in a lifetime, but you have to be prepared for them. Knowing where you are going and being prepared will enable you to see these opportunities and act upon them when they present themselves.

Approximately 2% of the people, the "Super Successful", take control of their destinies. Just as an expert sailor harnesses the wind and directs his ship through storms and many adverse circumstances to take him to his desired destination, we too must take what life has given us and use it with the best of our abilities to reach our "samadhi" musical destination. "Super Successful" musicians know and live the philosophy of the ten most powerful two letter words: "If it is to be, it is up to me".

Once you know where you are going, you are halfway there. You are focused. All of the distractions on the "side-lines" of your vision are almost entirely irrelevant. You see the desired result and anything that gets in your way can and will be handled, period. The hardest part is making up your mind about what to do and then focusing on that musical ideal until it comes to fruition.

But what if you don't know where we want to go in life, like 98% of the people? Or what if you just aren't sure? How do you figure out what you should be doing? Where you should be going?

Here is a technique for finding out what you should be doing with your life:

If possible, close your eyes and have someone else read this to you so you can: "Imagine if you will, that you just won or inherited fifty million dollars. That's $50,000,000. After you cruise around the world a few times, have all of the cocktail parties you could handle, buy all of the adult "toys" that money affords, Ferrari's, airplanes, homes on every corner of the world, etc., after about three years of partying your butt off, if that's your style, or having the time of your life, sooner of later you will get bored. Believe me you will! At that point in time, knowing that you never ever had to work another day in your life, what would you do with your time for the rest of your life?"

Stop to ponder this. The answer to this question is what you should be doing NOW! Not "someday." Someday never comes. THERE IS NO TOMORROW! There is only NOW! The past is dust. It's set in concrete and can not change. The future is uncertain and out of our control. But our future is based largely on our present performance. Our power to manifest a desired goal exists only in the NOW because that's all there IS.

Knowing and doing what you should be doing is the key for determining where you are headed. If you feel it's impossible to begin doing what you should be doing now, (I thought "all things are possible to him that believeth") then at least you have a target. You know where you are going.

What you may be doing today may not seem to be directly related to your destination, but it's where you are right now. And it's probably a necessary step you needed to take to advance you toward your ultimate destination in life. You may have found out what you shouldn't be doing, for example. Or you hopefully learned a different aspect about life that will ultimately help you somewhere down the line in your musical career.

Being true to your heart by doing what you really love to do and know you should be doing, whether you make millions of dollars doing it or not, is what you owe yourself.

If you are doing what you know you should be doing in life, great! That alone puts you in the top 5% of the world. If you know where you are going and you persist, you will succeed. If you don't know what you should be doing, find out what it is and go for it! You'll make yourself and everyone in and out of the music business a lot happier in the long run.