datamusicata

Yesterday was three days packed into one. The gym for an hour, followed by morning rush hour into Hollywood and breakfast with my former manager and present friend; computer sessions with ken lyon, resident planet earth avatar, followed by vocal sessions for his brilliant new children’s album; then racing home thru los angeles rush hour traffic and producing and engineering a session until midnight. Lonnnnnng day, and I didn’t get to the blog; something that makes me crazy, as I like to keep my commitments, especially to myself. Which brings us to today’s tips. Managing a day that benefits not only all those you serve, but yourself as well.

When you are putting your day together I know that there are things over which it seems you have no control, but that is actually rarely true. I scheduled a session at the end of a full day’s work. I didn’t have to do that. The artist was very excited about the project and was desirous of finishing it and I didn’t want to dampen that enthusiasm, so I agreed to the session. But I knew that it was going to make for a very long and tedious day for me. It was a choice that I made. No one else made me do it. I wanted to help that artist and I didn’t want to discourage him, so I bit this particular bullet.

The first thing to do with the day is start the night before. As you are winding down, perhaps even as you lie in bed, make a list of what you want to have happen tomorrow. . I know Murray Burns didn’t want to be a list maker, but he’s a character in a play, not out here where we live. And I know that the “what do you want to have happen?” phrase appears in these pages a lot, but it is an enormously valuable and important message to get thru to yourself. So first make a list.

One of the ways to communicate the importance of that question to yourself is to prioritize what you want to have happen, or what you believe must happen tomorrow, this week, this month and if you are really goal oriented, this year. (I truly recommend the long view. Think about your year, not just your day) You make the list and then you put by it a t for tomorrow, w for week, m for month and y for year. And then you prioritize everything in each of the categories by it’s need to be done. The most important thing is numbered 1 and so on. Ask yourself questions like, can this wait? Will this make me money? Will this keep me healthy? Will this serve those I am helping? Will this serve me? Will this serve my goals? You can figure out which questions resonate for you and ask them of each task or goal. That will help you prioritize things.

Another way to make things happen is to schedule your day. I have found that if I don’t go to the gym when I awaken, I rarely make it that day, so my schedule always starts with the gym, and if it’s early enough I follow it with a couple of hours of practicing, afterwhich I go after the day and the things on my list. And you must schedule some down time, some time for yourself. I know that the gym and practicing could be considered time for yourself, but I’m talking about time to watch the sunset, or read a good book or take yourself to a nice lunch. Something that isn’t about work. It’s about all the needs that we typical Americans simply ignore or even pretend don’t exist.

You need the time away from the work as much as you need the work. And you need enough rest to maintain a healthy body to carry you to all these goals you’ve created. So in a nutshell, I’m suggesting a list of prioritized goals, scheduled days (discipline begins the first time you take charge of what you are doing), rest and exercise, and finally some strokes to remind you how sweet life is. I’m going to go watch the sunset.