| | | "... against itself cannot stand." Abraham Lincoln
Hey
Friend,
You've heard that saying, right?
He was referring to the division in the United States caused by slavery.
That division tore the US apart and caused the Civil War.
Clearly that's a drastic example of how progress is destroyed when there isn't a singleness of purpose in your actions.
But if we scale it to your situation, it ends up having the same effect. If you don't pursue your main thing as the ONE thing, you will only have marginal success, if any at all. If you do reach your goal, it will take much longer and be more painful to achieve.
You have to limit yourself to one main focus.
I hate this. I'm a big baby when it comes to trying to choose just one. I want to have what I want and I want it NOW. Cue Veruca Salt...
Babies don't get their way. Well, maybe they do for a while, but eventually Life steps in and puts them on smack-down. Call it Karma, call it Divine Intervention, whatever, there will be a time when everything falls apart.
Life let's us float along despite ourselves,and eventually our actions (or lack of actions) catch up to us.
These can be the seeds of regret. I've never been one to hang on to the blame game (hey, we've all had a pity party a time or two) and I accept that I'm responsible for what happens (or doesn't) in my life.
SO FOCUS...
Here's the thing. We can't put the rest of our life on hold while we focus on the main thing. So we have to juggle a bit until our main thing begins to produce results.
You have to compartmentalize.
Make a list of all the things you want to do. From that list, select the main thing and that is where you will invest the most time.
It doesn't mean you can't take a half hour per day and devote it to a secondary thing. But you must put the majority of your focus on your Big Number One.
A quick example of how I'm applying this.
I have very large goals for music and business. Because my situation dictates that in order to have the freedom to pursue music, I need to have a source of income that will support my family's needs.
Therefore, I need to make earning an income my primary focus.
I don't necessarily want to take a job for that income, but if that's what it takes, so be it. However, while I'm job hunting, business is still my main focus.
So the majority of my time will be invested in growing the business side of things.
I'm still carving out blocks of time to practice my guitar, but until I have a sustainable, profitable income, my music (production, songwriting, band) has to take a sideline.
Short-term sacrifice for the big win...
YOUR GUITAR PLAYING
You picked a song yesterday.
Now you're going to do a little work.
I want you to listen to the song and identify the root notes of the main chords in the verses.
If you're still having trouble picking out a song, try one of these:
Here's how you're going to do it.
Regardless of which chords these are, there will be an over-riding pitch that you hear. This will be a note that stands out in the chord.
Listen for the primary pitch for each chord as they change.
Start to hum that pitch along with the song. You might have to rewind the song a few times to get your ears tuned it to the notes.
It gets easier with practice, believe me.
You might get caught up in the melody the singer is singing, but try to filter that out as you listen to the chords and their primary pitch.
What's happening is the chords lay down a foundation that the melody pulls notes from. Generally speaking, the chords all come from a key which gives you a scale. The melody is created from the same scale, and every chord in the song is constructed from the same notes in that scale.
Once you feel like you can hum the chord progression, you're ready for tomorrow's lesson.
If you pick the Tom Petty song above, you're going to need Easy Power Chords. Unless you can play full barre chords and make the chord changes, power chords are the perfect alternative. Get Easy Power Chords today and go easy on yourself!
Peace~
Dave |
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