Get on with it!

by Minim
In the last couple of posts, I've been discussing the way that fear can stop us from creating the musical life that we want and keep us frustrated and unhappy. If you want to read those articles first, you can find them here and here.

There are many ways that fear can impact us negatively, and some are less obvious than others. The Fear is sneaky and can find ways to stop you which are so subtle that you don't even realise what's happening. The main weapon in The Fear's devastating armoury is procrastination but it cunningly comes in several forms that can make it hard to catch. Here are a few examples to watch out for - if you find yourself doing any of this stuff then The Fear is probably working its mojo on you:

Endless Planning
OK, you accepted the need to take responsibility for Making It Happen and you determined what kind of music you want to pour your heart into. You even thought about how you're going to market it and who your target audience is.

Unfortunately, that was three months ago and you haven't actually taken any actions to get things moving yet. Nevertheless you tell yourself you are still 'planning' exactly what you're going to do and that you're working on your goals. In many ways, planning is the easiest and safest part of any project because it doesn't involve taking any action. If there's no action, there's no commitment and if there's no commitment, there's no risk. As a result, The Fear loves planning and would happily have you spend your life planning without never actually doing anything.

If you have a plan, but haven't acted on it yet, it'll be The Fear stopping you. Realise this and get on with it!

Endless Research
You are going to get on with your project but you just want to get some more information about [insert bullshit thing here] before you're ready to go ahead. You're definitely going to launch a website, but you just want to make sure that you're getting the best deal on your hosting, or make sure you're using the best free website builder. You're definitely going to get your tunes recorded, but you don't want to make a bad decision and waste money. You need to do more research to make sure you find the right studio to record in/buy the right recording equipment.

You're going to phone some venues to try and get some gigs, but you need to visit them a couple of times to make sure that they attract the right audience for your style of music. You're taking no action at all. It's The Fear - recognise it and get past it.

Perfectionism
Perfectionism can often be another of procrastination's disguises. This is when you've actually started doing things and taking action (hurray!) but you've stalled when it's time to put your work out there under the pretence of wanting to improve it.

The website's pretty much ready to go, but you just want to tweak a couple of more things and add a little bit more content before it's ready. The recording you made is ok, but you think it could have gone better. Maybe if you do it again/remix it/remaster it/change the artwork/change the order of the tunes then it'll have more impact. You've built your list of venues to contact but first you're going to call them up and check you've got exactly the right contact details before you try and talk to anyone about getting a gig - after all, you'll sound much more professional if you can ask for the right person by name.

The perfectionism is just The Fear in disguise - acknowledge it and start taking action.
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The insidious thing about these kinds of procrastination is that you get suckered into still thinking that you're making progress towards your goals. Research, planning, preparation and honing your product are all vital parts of the process, but dragging your heels over moving to the doing stage (where you actually have to put yourself or your work out there) is an easy trap to fall into. As a general rule, if you're not excited or scared witless by what you're working on today in pursuit of your goals then you're probably procrastinating and not doing the Real Work.

Remember, knowledge without action is useless and The Fear will always stop you taking action if you let it.
Don't let it.
http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2010/05/17/get-on-with-it-in-the-last-couple-of-posts-8613063/