Entrepreneurship: How to Succeed in The New Year

 

5 Tips: New Year Resolutions for Musicians

By Emily Kulinowski

Piece of paper saying "New Year Resolutions", on a wooden table with a pen sitting below the paper

As this year comes to a close and the New Year approaches, we often start to reflect on the year we’ve had. It can be easy to overthink how our year went and goals we have for the new year, especially when we have busy lives. Having some tips on resolutions to have in the New Year can help you ideate goals that work for you.

Creating Successful Goals

Everyone has different things that come to mind when they think of New Year resolutions. For me, that usually means practicing more, being mindful of my inner self-talk, and building a healthier relationship with food and fitness.

According to a poll by YouGovAmerican, “Americans who plan to make New Year’s resolutions are more optimistic about better things in 2022.” 

As someone who is creating their own list of New Year’s resolutions, it can be overwhelming at first to think about your goals for the next twelve months. Following through on your goals isn’t always easy, and life can get hectic sometimes.

It’s important to brainstorm your goals so you can create resolutions that make sense for you. These tips are great New Year’s resolutions for musicians, and can be a great starting point to coming up with other goals to set.

1.Create a Practice Schedule

Your New Year's resolutions don’t always have to include practice more- sometimes it’s more important to be consistent.

When our work schedules get busy it can be easy to find ourselves lacking the time and motivation to practice. However, if you plan out a practice schedule that works with your work schedule  that can really help.

Create a spreadsheet of all the daily responsibilities you have so you can see what free time you have. Being able to visually see your schedule helps so you can see the windows of time in your day that are best suited for practicing.

While practicing more is important, I want to stress that being consistent should come first. Even if you only have time for 20-30 minutes a day, doing a little bit each day can help strengthen your skills as a performer and build a sense of routine.

Creating a practice schedule enforces the idea of it being a commitment instead of a hobby. If you want to improve your craft you need to have a consistent practice schedule.

2.Improvise & Sight Read

When you hear the words improvise and sight read do you feel your body tense up? I know I could be better at those skills, so I often get anxious at the idea of doing them in front of others.

Taking some time to work on these skills during your practice time can really benefit you in the performance and recording spaces. According to The Vault, “It’s often said that 20 minutes of concentrated sight-reading each day is necessary for improvement.”

Spending a little time each day practicing improvising and sight reading will gradually improve your skill level on them. Your sight reading and improvising can greatly impact your performance ability because being able to learn the music you're playing quickly or improvise when needed can help you get more gigs.

The more you practice improvising and sight reading the more comfortable you will get with performing. From personal experience, I’ve found that when I’ve rehearsed more improvisation and sight reading the less anxious I got when in performance, audition, or exam settings.

You don’t have to spend hours each day practicing these skills; 20 minutes a day can improve your abilities and ease your mind when you apply these skills.

5 Tips For Sticking To Your Goals- The Den Collective

5 Tips For Sticking To Your Goals- The Den Collective

3.Take Care of Your Body & Mind

Music involves more than just the mind and soul; it’s a very physical activity as well. 

It can be easy to get caught up in improving your musical abilities and career growth, but it’s also important to pay attention to our mental and physical health. If our well-being isn’t good, that can impact other aspects of our lives.

Doing things like meditating, going to therapy, and being mindful can be beneficial to our mental health. A healthy mindset goes a long way to improving our well-being because it not only affects our mood but it can have physical changes too.

Using tools to better our mental health can improve our focus, create a more positive attitude, and allow us to be more open when creating our music and connecting with others.

Our physical health is also important because if we don’t take care of our bodies we could be at risk for injury. Exercise, well balanced meals, and getting enough sleep has a huge impact on what we can accomplish.

Taking better care of our bodies can improve our stamina and allow us to have more productive and meaningful days.

4.Create or Update Your Online Presence

Living in this digital world it’s expected you have some kind of online presence. Having a well curated social media profile goes a long way to building your audience and getting you gigs.

The best platforms to have a presence on are:

  • Tik Tok

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • Facebook

  • A professional website

If you don’t have social media profiles or a professional website it will be much harder to build your credibility and following. Being able to update your audience with things like new music, performance dates, and your discography acts like a resume for those who visit your page.

You want to create or update your online presence to reflect who you are as an artist. It’s important to share content that is in line with your brand and that will be engaging to your audience. 

Pay attention to who your audience is and how they engage with you. Listen to them to learn how to best interact with them. Having a professional website and social media pages can help grow your audience, get gigs, and connect with other industry professionals.

5.Truly Love the Work You Do

Sometimes it’s easy to be sucked into the hustle culture that often appears in the music industry. People outside the industry may also make you feel your job is inferior to their ‘real job.’ 

Even though you want to make money to support yourself, it’s also really important to enjoy the work you are doing. Whether it’s performing, teaching, producing, or anything in between, you want to love what you do.

You don’t need to compare yourself to others. Everyone has their own path to carve, and you shouldn’t follow trends just because other people are. Listen to your heart and follow where it leads you.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to a work a day in your life.”
— Confucious- philosopher, poet & leader

Take time to think about what you want out of your career and life. Don’t worry if you’re unsure or don’t have things all figured out. There’s no need to rush things; you have your whole life ahead of you for things to fall into place.

We’ve all had that job that we dread going to but we keep going because we need the paycheck. Take this as an opportunity to not only keep searching for your dream job, but to also learn how to show gratitude and be humble.

You might not love the job, but there is always someone else who didn’t have the opportunity you have. Be grateful for having a paycheck while being able to build your career because not everyone can do that.

Loving the work you do is crucial because as musicians we are creatives and produce wonderful art. The love we have for our work will shine through the music and work we create.

Journal with a pen and marker resting on top of the page. The page reads "and so the adventure begins" with some dots and stars drawn around it

Following Through Your Goals

Creating goals for the New Year can feel overwhelming and you might not know where to start. However, don’t let the stress of resolutions deplete your New Year celebrations. 

Having some tips on successful New Year’s resolutions can help you come up with goals that work for you. Remember that you don’t need to change for anyone, and it’s okay if you don’t meet your goals. It’s important that you set goals you want, and that just trying is the most important step.

The Den Collective partners with Resources Caleigh Drane and Sara Noble to provide musician empowerment and life coaching sessions. The Den also partners with Resources Shawn Cote to provide musician branding resources, as well as Mandee Miller and Olivia DeJesus to provide resources on musician wellness.

More information on our resources can be found here.

Understanding tools to create successful New Year’s resolutions are important when cultivating a career in music. Myself and The Den Collective are here to support and help in any way we can!

 
Entrepreneurship, Tips & AdviceEmily KulinowskiEmily Kulinowski, New Year Resolutions, How to Succeed in The New Year, New Year Resolutions for Musicians, Creating Successful Goals, New Year, Following Through Your GoalsComment