In my last post, I mentioned that I've made a few minor adjustments in my life that I believe will propel my music making forward. In this post, I want to explain a little more about that. Maybe it will encourage you to also make a few minor adjustments.
This year along with a corporate fast, our pastor encouraged our entire church to follow a one year bible reading plan together, and also read a book (called "Reset") about establishing a habit of daily prayer. So I participated in all this. (In case you were wondering, we didn't starve ourselves for the entire 21 day fast. It's more like a fast "season", similar to the way some people observe Lent (the Lenten season), where we deny ourselves something - maybe like coffee or meat, or media -- or some of us may fast one or more meals for a few days during this time.)
To do all this, I needed to make time in my life. However, I can't really make more time for myself. EVERYONE GETS THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME EACH DAY. So why do some people seem to get so much more done than others? It's all about what you do with that time. So over the past two years, with no habits or routines really established (no good ones anyway), I squandered a lot of time watching YouTube videos of other people making music - supposedly "learning" but never doing anything myself.
This start of year "Reset" prompted me to reassess how I spend my time. I decided my reactionary approach was not serving me well. With full time work, a family and a few community and church activities, where is there any time left to make music? I had tried doing music after my whole day is completed and all responsibilities behind me. Seemed like the natural thing to do since my normal inclination is to elect to stay up late. (I come from a family of night owls.) Being a bit bashful about what I'm attempting to do musically while others were up and about at my house, I found it easier to avoid embarrassing myself with my family by watching YouTube videos with my headphones for hours on end. In reality, the bashfulness was just an excuse. (Here's another shy guy, but I think he's gotten a bit more done than me.)
So much for what isn't working. Here's the new plan for now: Give God the first and the last part of my day. The rest of my life needs to fit in between. And it all starts with my decisions at night. I have a time I need to be in bed to do the daily bible reading plan. If I play it as planned, I get a good seven hours of sleep or more each night, and I awake refreshed and satisfied with life, rather than beat down by everything in my life. Then in the morning, I get up before everyone else and go straight to my computer (that's where my Bible and Evernote for journaling are found) to spend some quiet time (sometimes not so quiet time) with the God who loves me. After 30 to 60 minutes of "God Time", I generally have 60 to 90 minutes of "Me Time" to do whatever I choose. I can use my "me time" for exercise, music making, preparing mentally for work (if I must), or even more God time. The point is, my opportunity lies in the first two hours of the day. With one simple decision (go to bed on time), I "made time" for some of the very important things in my life -- God, health and music. I even included weekends in my plan, knowing that if I don't hold to some standard, I will sleep my weekends away.
This little bit of structure is giving me power over many areas of my life - exercise, nutrition, spirituality, my work day, and now I even have a little time EVERY DAY to make some music, should I choose to do that. For you, this is probably basic common sense, but for me it's radically changing my life. I'm reprogramming myself from 50+ years of resisting structure. I am now living with more intentionality, and things that escaped me for the past few years are starting to move in the right direction. I think it's all connected. I feel this bit of structure will make this the best year of my life so far, because I will be moving forward in all the important areas of my life.
I'm still at the beginning of this. I eventually want a large portion of the morning "me time" to be focused on more creative aspects of music making (songwriting, musical composition, arranging, recording performances) and I would like to spend some evenings or some weekend time organizing, planning and learning new techniques. I also know that with me, nothing really moves forward unless I set a goal. Aside from the daily goals to get to bed and get up on time, I have a musical project in mind that gives me a reason to move forward, and a way of knowing which way is forward. I'll tell you more about that project later.
If I'm going to ever complete that project, then I'm going to have to make some music. Hopefully, you will choose to do the same.
Some resources that guided me in this direction:
"Solid Life" one-year bible reading plan is free. You can also view it in a free mobile app called the YouVersion Bible App.
Reset: 20 Ways to a Consistent Prayer Life by Bob Sorge.
A Guide to Prayer and Fasting by David Patterson. Here's how and why we fast.
Early Rising: Awaken Your Full Creative Potential by Drew Vespers, (a Canadian music producer)
