2009

I'm very grateful for 2008. It was a fantastic year and I'm looking forward to an even better 2009. Over the next few days I'll be writing goals for the coming year. I encourage anyone who is not clear on what they want to also write their goals down.

Write down 5 goals on a card and keep it with you. Keep it somewhere where you'll see it often during the day - put it in your wallet, pocket, etc. When you see the card, briefly think about the goals - see yourself accomplishing them in your imagination. We need to be reminded of what we want to do, be or have - because it's very easy for the mind to be distracted from the outside world.

Make all the goals extremely clear - learning a fully detailed program, getting scales to a particular tempo, recording a 20 minute demo, learning 5 pieces in higher positions, writing a piece for the guitar, etc. etc. The clearer we have the idea and the more we think and act upon the idea, the quicker it will come. Clear goals = clear results. Vague goals = vague results.

Your goals may not feel comfortable at first - that's good. It means you probably haven't accomplished something like it before. We don't want comfort, we want growth. We can only grow by putting outselves outside of our comfort zone. It may be fearful at first, but go forward anyway. Know that by facing your fear and acting on the goal, you are automatically growing.

Happy 2009