Sometimes creativity coaching is not so much about the creative part, but the coaching part.
The first step to making your vision a reality is to create a timeline. Maybe you've decided to record an album. Set a date for the album's release. Perhaps that's one year from now. Work backwards, setting each date on a giant calendar that you will post in your workspace. If you don't know what all the steps are in the process are, this is the time to research it. Set deadlines for each major component, and then break the major components into minor ones, and set dates for those. Then, break each minor component into simple, single-action steps that you can do each day.
Your major deadlines might look like this:
- release date and party: December 1st
- send album to press: November 1st
- send tracks for mastering: October 1st
- complete studio recording: September 1st
- find musicians for studio work: June 1st
- complete songwriting: April 1st
- find artist to design album cover: March 1st
- create a list of songs you will write: February 1st
- decide on concept for album: January 1st
In between the major deadlines under "find musicians for studio work," it might look like this:
- meet with producer, decide which songs need which instruments
- make a list of instruments needed
- make a list of musicians
- ask musician friends
- put an ad on "performer" website for musicians
- put an email out to friends to find musicians
- put an ad on craigslist to find musicians
- decide on budget for musicians
- speak with, meet, and audition possible musicians
- decide on who you will work with
In between these minor deadlines under "put an ad on craigslist to find musicians," it might look like this:
- write draft of ad
- have someone proofread it
- post
- respond
You will soon have a comprehensive plan of how to get from here to there.
"All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a
second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a
man had taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance
immensely the value of your first."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Coming up next in Part Three: creating a support network to help you achieve your goal.
