Passion + Focus = Artistic Success

Yesterday I was coaching a very talented musician and vocalist.  By many measures this artist is already successful.

But he’s hardly spending any time actually making or recording music lately because he has way too many balls in the air.

Several of the balls include either leading local choirs as a volunteer or working for little money.

This would be cool if he had enough time and money to do that and make his music.

But the truth is that right now his art and his finances are suffering.

So we created a SMART goal and an Action Plan for this artist so that he could eventually work approximately three hours per day giving private voice lessons and he will have the rest of the day to devote to his one most important creative project.

How? Like this…

First, I recommended that this artist make a list of all of his projects and then rank them. You can do this too:

1. List each project.

2. Put a dollar sign next to the ones that are making you money now, or that ones that represent the fastest path to cash.

3. Estimate how much money each project is actually making you today, not what it might in the future.

4. Estimate how much time you invest in the project each week.

5. Put three stars next to the three projects you really love.

6. Put three stars next to three projects that, if they went away tomorrow, you would not miss.

7. Don’t forget to list the hours that you must sleep, eat, take a shower, get dressed, and clean your house.

8. Now add up the money you are making.

9. Add up the time you are spending.

10.  Now decide.  What you are going to cut for now and what you are going to keep? Determine your top three priorities.

What did this artist conclude?  He had 33 projects.  Yes.  That’s right, 33.

Is it any wonder that he was completely overwhelmed and not making enough money or music?

Think of a clock. It’s the shape of a pie.  There are only so many hours in the day or the week.

You can only slice that pie so many times, so many ways, and if you slice too much you wind up with mush.

Second, we determined a plan of action.

1. He will reposition his private voice lessons to reach a wealthier market and raise his rate.

2. He will run more workshops, consistently, to promote the repositioned private voice lessons.

3. They key is to maintain the right amount of consistent focus on the workshops to keep three hours of private voice lessons booked.

Notice I said “one most creative project.”  One step at a time.

You can’t sing two songs at once and you can only focus your passion on one project at a time.

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