I received a wonderful thank-you on Facebook after my last Fearless Performance Workshop. They wrote, "It's nice to know you can do it..."
This is pretty much what it's all about. Once you discover what you want, now it's just about whether or not you're willing to do the work. When your work is well purposed, the actualwork part becomes way easier.
When YOU care, you get there.
Diligence, from the Latin root "to care deeply," is the first of four elements to the "Build" phase of Fearless Performance. It's different than discipline. Discipline, "to do because we should", is great. It's definitely part of diligence. But working because you care explodes both quality and quantity of what you're doing to new heights. If you want to see a beautiful example of diligent work, watch the movie "Rudy".
When Rudy wasn't reaching his goal, he'd speak to his priest....over and over and OVER again. It was both exhausting and inspirational to watch. Rudy's priest would ask him if he was doing everything he possibly could toward his goal. The message was, if you think you've done everything you can toward your goal, just remember you haven't.
When I ask everyone in the workshop, "Who wants to be consistent?" all hands go into the air. Then I give them the bad news/good news. "You are already consistent. Congrats!"
That's some cool clarity, eh? Our ability to be consistent is not in question. We are alwayssucceeding. The important change-inspiring question is, "What will you succeed at today?" Many of us succeed at knowing why we can't get to the gym right now, can't order that healthy meal, or can't turn on the tuner, pick up a pencil and really do the tuning study we've been told to do countless times. Many of us succeed at deciding we deserve a stop at McDonalds on the way home from a long day (Yup, that was me last night...), letting Netflicks roll over into one more episode of "House of Cards" even though it's already 1am (me many nights), or taking a 'quick peek' (yeah right!) at Facebook before doing some important writing (maybe why I've only sent a few newsletters in the past year).
Today, right now, "You are awesome at what you do!" Now just:
Everyone is always awesome at what they do. The question isn't getting awesome....we're ALL awesome!! We just have to find out what things will serve our goals and be awesome at those!
Learn. (Figure it out).
Then embrace those things...
Love Well. (Treat yourself, others, and what you've learned well).
....and let go of the rest.
Let Go!
"Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change."
- Brené Brown ("Listening to Shame" TED talk)
In looking at what could be better or different in our lives, we get to see that our imperfections are really a problem only if we are not vulnerable to them. We are born and will die imperfect. Our imperfections inspire and guide our work...our lives. What if we were to redefine "perfect" in how we see success? What if everything we are, share and succeed at, is perfectly imperfect? Sure, we can definitely be too imperfect to hire, but fearing this drives me to get up early and practice better. Also, remember that an audition doesn't have to be "note-perfect" in order to win it. I have missed notes in every audition I have won.
In your life, how do you think you can be more vulnerable? What might help you connect and grow with others?
Transforming is a process that we all go through in life. Some of us transform daily, some weekly, some monthly, and some yearly. I'd bet we all currently have areas in our lives that we would like to transform. Making any change or transformation in life takes immense amounts of clarity, management, courage and diligence.
"All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them."
As we enter summer, I'm sure most of us have dreams that we plan on accomplishing. One of the most important things we can do in helping ourselves achieve these dreams is to schedule as much of our goals as possible.
TO DO THIS WEEK:
Figure out what you're going to get DONE this summer.
1) List your Dream, Goals, Projects, and Tasks.
At the top of your list, write your ultimate dream. You should always have a dream! It canchange. Don't not have a dream just because it's hard to commit to having only one. It's okay to have a few dreams...but whatever you do, don't be dream-less!
Below your dream, break it down into goals, projects, and tasks. Make sure the goals are things that will bring you closer to your dream, and the projects and tasks do the same. Take a look at this example of my Dream Sheet. I did it in under 10 minutes.
We never do a project. We only do tasks and those end up completing the project. Waking up and working through a list of tasks is WAY easier than waking up with that feeling of having to finish some complicated project.
2) Plan your work.
A few hours before you go to sleep, consider your project list, and pick 3-5 tasks per project that will move your project closer to completion. If you're an amazing planner, you can pick your tasks for your whole week. I plan mine on my calendar (google calendar), and usually plan about 20 minutes of work for every 30 minute block.
3) Work your plan.
DO it!
That's it. Your way of having an awesome summer in 3 steps.
Planning and doing your work this way will help you see in writing, on a calendar, how long you have and what it will ultimately take to accomplish each task, project, goal and dream you have in front of you. It breaks down what seems like a huge, sometimes overwhelming, dream too far out of our grasp, into very do-able daily and weekly tasks.
Before you know it, summer will turn into fall, and you will be able to look back and see tasks completed. You'll be filled with pride and satisfaction, knowing that you've done everything you possibly could during Summer 2014 toward making those changes and moving toward achieving your dreams.
"If nothing ever changed there'd be no butterflies."
~Author Unknown
Dream big, and Dive in!
Jeff
Learn. Love Well. Let Go.Welcome to audition season 2014!
Have you an audition or two coming up? ...for music schools and/or large ensemble placement? Want to play your best?
It's audition season! ...and you want to share all your hard and thoughtful work in your 5 minute performance. You want to play your best version of everything right out of the gate, and for your whole 5 minutes. You want to show them what you can do, and how beautiful you can make this music sound! Playing my best in performance is not just about how strong my technical abilities and musical knowledge are.
Musical Knowledge - WHAT we perform
Technical Abilities - HOW we perform
So many people tirelessly train so they can have bulletproof technique (how) and endlessly deep musical knowledge about their composers and music theory (what). These are important factors and without them, the performance is weak or worse. You can't get into your dream school or ensemble without deep musical knowledge and well-habited technical abilities! But in addition to knowing what and how we perform, there is another deal-making-or-breaking factor to our training.
Performance Approach - WHY we perform
We can agree through logic that every audition is an opportunity, right? It’s just really hard to think that you’re walking into an opportunity as you’re walking into it. We can agree through logic that worrying about who’s listening to us in the performance can do more harm than good when we think this DURING the performance, right? It’s just really hard to choose better thoughts at the time…
…unless we’ve practiced doing so!
When I added what I call performance training to my work, my performances got exponentially more consistent…in a good way! Everyone always performs consistently, it’s just that most people perform consistently worse than their best. Learning how to be a good performer as well as technician and musician will explode your performance experiences and your work around each event as well.
You can learn how to train optimally for your audition, walk in there feeling ready, and actually be ready! Through experiencing daily performances in your training, you can learn how to execute a performance that sounds like what you imagine!
Try this today - simulate your audition, and use an inspirational sheet (from my blog "Dear Students"). Read it before you walk into the room, once you get to your chair, and in-between each excerpt or piece. Reading the sheet helps in mannnnnny ways. If you dive into using it, if can help you slow down, it can also clear your self-destructive assessments, and it can help you get into your next piece.
You can authentically think, “My audition? Oh yeah….bring it on!”
...and you are all dear to us!
Dan Perantoni and Rhys playing!
Take another look please...and recall why you play music...
Dear dear students...welcome back to school! Happy placement exam and audition season!!
