I was recently thinking about the most important asset in withstanding the challenging tornadoes of hell that stifle even the most ambitious of us and the long tedious walks across the desert of broken dreams to get anywhere in the music biz. What came up with was all the little gems of positive feedback that I’ve received over the years from fans. Even more important, perhaps ingenious, is that I’ve begun to write these down in one “inspiration hall of fame” chart. Now whenever I’m feeling rejected or down from whatever, I can look at my hall of fame and instantly get back on track.
Recently I went to the Belly Up in Solana Beach to see a concert and was waiting in line when a guy in front of me noticed my old stage moniker logo “Shaka Buku” on my t-shirt. He said: “Hey man I know who Shaka Buku is. They gave me a cd sampler about 3 years ago and I played it over and over and over. ” I was blown away, as this marketing campaign we did years ago seemed not to produce any results, but in actuality it did, I just couldn’t see it. After hearing this I was super encouraged and with batteries recharged I got back up on the saddle and started working all my marketing angles.
This doesn’t just have to be in music either. Your feedback for doing good and being on the right track could also come from other areas of your life. For instance, I’m also a yoga instructor and just over the last two days I added to my hall of fame the following:
Sept. 30th 2013 – Thats the best yoga class I’ve ever taken in my life
Oct. 1 2013 – went to teach for a friend at Indie Yoga student came up to sign in and asked with excitement… “Are you teaching?” when I replied yes she was ecstatic raised her fist and shouted yes!
Now you can type up your “inspiration hall of fame” chart and look at it every now and then, but to get maximum benefit my recommendation is to frame it and put it on your desk where you work. Look at it every freaking day! You are the sh*t and you’re almost there so keep kicking ass and get out there.
Here is the cool part… Once you get going, you are doing what “From Good To Great” (one of the most prolific success books ever written) calls: “build up to break through.” All you gotta do is keep building and eventually you will break through.
Its a long road and sometimes we feel like giving up, but if you have some daily encouragement from your “inspiration hall of fame”, you may not be successful at everything, but you will be undefeatable and chances are you’ll keep on moving forward.. perhaps even winning a grammy one day like Rappazilla.
Try it and let me know how things work out. Please feel free to leave comments