The Secret To Getting Ahead...

I am a 25 year old who, on a whim of ambition, left her full time job to work 8 hours a week and live on the little savings she has!  This is so I can dedicate 6 months trying to get a foot into the colourful and beautiful world of music.

Firstly, I appreciate I am extremely lucky to be able to do this, as I know the world deals different cards to each of us and this may not be possible to some fellow musicians.  With this in mind I want to make sure I hold myself accountable and don't waste the time that has been gifted to me.

This blog is also not designed to brag or attempt to convince you to do the same.  As I know some people may not be able to, or just simply don't wish to take the route I decided to do in April.

I thought for my first blog I’d share a little about myself and hopefully inspire you, but most importantly, hold myself to this deal.  I have made a promise to myself to try, as much as I am able, to gift back the kindness that’s been presented to me. 

As a young person with different ambitions in life you may feel very overwhelmed with knowing where to start and what to do. Maybe you want to write music? Maybe you want to gig more?  Maybe expand your students for teaching music?  Whatever it may be, it’s scary and overwhelming the amount of skills you need to know, routes you need to explore and the amount of knowledge you think you need to know, to make sure that you do everything right to be successful.

I’m familiar with this feeling all too well.  In fact, it consumed me for 3 years before I took a first step to actually pursuing what I desired to do.  So, in the hopes that I inspire you, I thought I’d share what made me start and then share what I’ve learnt. 

It was as simple as having an epiphany! I didn’t want to be lying on my death bed looking back on my life thinking I could’ve done more, I could’ve written more, performed, been more creative. I felt I wasn’t doing enough. I was stuck and knew in my gut what I wanted to do, but wasn’t working towards this. I needed to change. 

There is a famous saying by the American Novelist Mark Twain “the secret to getting ahead is getting started”. This really struck me and stuck with me - knowing that any small action you take in relation to your goal is a step closer to it! I realised just doing something is better than panicking about everything I needed to do! From then on, I made sure I did at least one thing a day to push me in the right direction, even if it was as small as coming up with a few titles for songs to advance the plot for a musical.  Doing small things each day fuels inspiration and excitement and before you know it, you’re a whole step closer to your dream and/or goal.

Secondly, I make sure I (as mentioned before) I hold myself accountable.  Not waste this time I have. The podcast host Rob Dial is who I need to credit for this.  Another simple sentence that holds so much power is to ask yourself the question “is what I’m doing right now taking me a step closer to where I want to be?”.   An example of this for me is not doom scrolling when it’s my scheduled hours of work!  Is that helping? Absolutely not!  This phrase keeps me in check, after all, working for yourself, you have no one but yourself to keep you in check.  Try it – ask yourself that question - it normally sparks the urge for me to change.  

Lastly, to hopefully help you with everything, is another small thing I learnt from my father - “Action before motivation”.  Three words which remind me of what I can do to take a step closer to starting my work day.  Chilling on Tik Tok can start as a 30 mins chill and in a blink of an eye become an hour!  When I should just get out of bed.  I remind myself that action creates motivation and up I get and away I go. 

I hope this first blog helps you a little way on your exciting journey, whatever it may be. As mentioned before, you may not be able to do it exactly the way I’ve chosen to go about it but, remember that just taking action even if it is a small action, takes you further than you were a moment ago.  It’s what you need to inspire drive and get you far! 

Good Luck with your journey and I wish it’s all the best it can be!