The power of Goal Setting: A Foolproof Plan for Reaching Your Music Aspirations Faster (III)

7) Set a deadline

Remember how you always got off your butt and went to work the night before a term paper was due at school? Deadlines have a way of motivating us to act. So do commitments we make to others and ourselves. Set a time limit for achieving each stage of your goal-setting action plan… then do whatever it takes to meet those deadlines.

Make sure your deadlines are realistic. If they’re set too far in the future, there may be no motivation for you to get busy working toward them. If deadlines are set too soon, you risk encountering disappointment if you run out of time and miss them. Do your best to set sensible goals.

8) Create your plan

After you’ve taken all the previous steps, it’s time to write the first draft of your action plan. To do this, start with the goal itself and work backwards through the process. Keep breaking every stage of the plan down into its most basic tasks (such as making phone calls, sending emails, mailing packages, booking studio time, setting up meetings, writing songs).

Then make a short list of the primary things that need to be done first – but make sure they’re basic, attainable steps. For instance, if your goal is to sell 50,000 copies of your self-released CD, calling a major distributor would not be the first thing you’d do. There is a whole series of preliminary steps you’d need to take long before you ever got near a distributor.

Now get to work and write that first-draft plan!

9) Clear your mind, then re-examine your plan

This is one of the few times I’ll suggest you not take immediate action. Get away from your action plan for about a day or so and let the details float around in your subconscious mind while you work on other things.

After some time away, come back to the plan with a fresh eye and start evaluating the logic in your sequence of events. For instance, have you really allowed enough time for the recording of your demo? Or perhaps you’re being too easy on yourself by allowing six months to get your first band photo taken. (I’ve known bands that have been together for years and have never had a promotional photo taken. In fact, I think I was in one.)

More questions: Are you juggling too many or too few projects at the same time? Also ask yourself what additional help you might need with technical support, media contacts, artwork, web design, press releases, and more.

Next, create your second-draft plan as best you can. But remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect to use. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can’t get started just because there are a few details you don’t know yet. Trust your abilities and know you’ll handle whatever needs to be done when demanding situations arise.

10) Act on your goals now!

At some point you must get busy working on the plan you’ve just created. It’s sad, but a lot of great ideas have withered away because the person who came up with them never took action. Don’t let this be your fate. Don’t wait for nature to take its mystical course.

Vow that every day you will take some action based on your goal-setting plan. Even if you think you don’t have time or aren’t feeling motivated, do at least some small deed every single day. Even if it’s simply making one phone call to a media contact, sending one press kit to a venue owner, leaving a comment on a blog, sending one email update to your fan list… do something every day!

11) Measure your progress and make adjustments

Once you have been working on your plan for a few weeks to a couple of months, you must then determine if your actions are leading you in the right direction. Are you moving closer to your goals or further away? Is your progress happening slower or faster than you had hoped?

The only way to answer these questions is to regularly evaluate your plan and measure your progress. If you find that you’re way behind schedule on getting things done, ask yourself what you can do to get the results you really want. Don’t just get frustrated and give up. Making adjustments to your plan is an essential part of any goal-setting process. So be prepared to measure often and come up with solutions.

Key point: when something is working, fit more of it into the plan. When other aspects prove to be duds (like the drummer’s bright idea to send your guitar player to local radio stations dressed like Barney the dinosaur), cut back or drop them completely. Fine-tuning is what working your goal-setting plan is all about.

Put the art and craft of goal setting to work to focus your energy and give you an immense boost toward getting what you really want from your music – and from your life!