In the past week, several musicians asked me about setting goals in an uncertain world. It’s a fair question—because in challenging times when everything seems in flux, it’s tempting to hit pause. To wait for things to “settle down.” But here’s the truth: uncertainty...
Here is how to practice being your future self (and why you'd want to). It's all about how you invest your energy and time—and being able to see yourself as that capable future YOU that you most want to grow into. What gets in the way of becoming that desired future...
Welcome to my worst procrastination story: If you’re anything like me, you’ve had stretches when a task on your to-do list refuses to get done. It’s on the list day after day but not getting crossed off. This happened a few years ago: one seemingly simple item on my...
When becoming "Professor So-and-so" is the dream, and you apply and apply and apply for jobs you're actually qualified for, but aren't getting interviews — and you're becoming demoralized because of this — what do you do? This isn't a riddle. I've heard MANY musicians...
This time of year always used to get me down: the whole goal setting / resolution thing was a real bummer. This year I decided to finally do something about it. I launched the Musician's Best Year Yet Challenge, a free 5 day training to help musicians get more of...
Let me get this holiday confession off my chest . . . there’ve been plenty of Decembers that left me feeling pretty bummed out because I hadn’t accomplish everything I’d hoped for in the year. You might imagine a music career coach (moi) has it all figured out. Nope....
I just saw the Huntington Theater's production of Quixote Nuevo. It's a terrific contemporary retelling of Cervantes' Don Quixote. (You may know the storyline from the musical Man of La Mancha). The essential story is also what musicians experience in life. It's the...
Tick tock. The moments of our lives are slipping by. This weekend got me thinking about how these fleeting moments add up to a life—and whether or not it's the life we imagined. So let me ask you, are you living the life you intended? I had family visiting this...
Dale Trombore's Staying Composed is a humdinger of a book. It's rare to find an artist so open and generous about her own creative process. The book offers composers and other musicians insights on how to get past self-doubt and envy, distractions, disappointments,...
Maybe you feel this way, too: That there's never enough time in the day or in the week to get to everything. So your creative time for your music gets pitted against taking care of the business side of your art. You end up cheating on one for the other. The issue...
