There's no magic pill for music career success, but this may be the next best thing. Here are my five productivity hacks. In truth, most of us know all too well what we should be doing. And yet we delay or avoid doing it. We keep ourselves busy taking care of...
When it comes to making decisions, big or small, my go-to metaphor is a pair of battling dragons. Whether it's over what to eat for dinner, what to work on next, or how to handle the difficult conversation we need to have with a family member, making decisions can be...
To address the general level of anxiety I find most musicians experience, I'm busting out my Big-Ass List of Fears. For real. You know, the gnawing 3 am, 'what am I doing with my life?' kind of fears. The fears that keep us awake at night are almost always...
In the world of skiing, "death cookies" refers to hitting hard chunks of ice that can "fowl up an otherwise smooth turn." This can be both scary and exhilarating. And this concept is also applicable to creative artists even if you've never slid down a slope. For...
Finding answers in unlikely places seems to be happening a lot these days. I'm taking an online course with the amazing Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön. In the training, she offers a view of comfort zones that struck me as especially relevant for musicians. If you've...
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...
Too many musicians have been sidelined during quarantine. Not by the virus, but by self-doubt and discouragement exacerbated by their own negative thinking. Maybe you, too, are dealing with negative self-talk? If so . . . This one's for you. Negative self-talk is the...
Musicians: this we know for sure . . . today's the day. There's a clear choice. For many, the choice was made long ago. Because no matter who or what you're for, we all vote our values. We vote our beliefs, our conscience, our intuition. We vote our hope for a better...
Let me tell you a story about a musician . . . a terrific violinist I’ll call Chris, who came to me because her career had hit a plateau. She was doing OK: she played with some excellent new music ensembles and had a solid teaching job. But she was frustrated that her...
First off, I admit it: I love finding tools to help people manage their projects and their time. And I've worked with many musicians teaching them methods to help them get past their Resistance so they can get more of their best work out into the world. (Instead of...
