Dreams without putting a plan into action  is a wish that will never come true.  So  really, to fulfill creative goals, don’t wait for the winds of inspiration. Pick up the oars and row.  This is what I was terrible at,  was actually impacting the change that I needed to see  in my mind  from getting from an  idea  to a finished song,  to a rehearsed band, or to a finished production, to a pitched song, to a collaboration with an artist on that song, to a release to radio plays, to hit songs to income, to living the creative life fully.
mine stopped often at the idea. Â So we can’t just wait for the winds of inspiration. We need to pick up the oars and raw, and yes, the winds of inspiration will blow, and then that day we will flow faster and further.
But every day we pick up the oars and roll.  If you want to make real progress, fall in love with the process.  This is absolutely, imperative as a creative, if you want to make real progress,  it’s, we cannot just be aiming at the billboard, 100 without loving  the writing of the songs, because the songs won’t get written.
There is no point in having a goal if the process that takes you to that end goal is something you loathe. so absolutely at the start of this, if you want to make real progress, not talk about progress. If you want to make real progress, fall in love with the process. ’cause guess what? Life is now we need to be enjoying today. We are getting platitudes and cliche about living in the moment. But this is real. This is real stuff.
If you fall in love with what you are doing and enjoy the process and the daily glow of a a day well done,  well, then the results are a bonus  because you are already living the life you want to live. And as songwriters, I can assure you, for those that are joining us for the first time at the start of a year of master classes who want to dive in and hear me talk about how I wrote certain songs or that will all come. But believe me, and trust me, if you  employ these tactics tonight, these strategies and this mindset,  the rest of these masterclasses will have a far deeper impact.
And so will you writing, on the areas and the markets that you want to impact on. So, where to begin? Â First of all, it sounds very, very simple, Â but know what you want. Â Ask yourself deeply, Â what do you really want to achieve?
 It’s astonishing how often we get this wrong. If there is a wrong, it means we don’t know. We’ve not asked ourselves. We think we know  perhaps for a short cash, and we, we need cash. So we think songwriting will be a way to cash. Yeah, that’s, that’s knowing what we need.  Knowing what we want  is sitting and asking ourselves what’s our ideal result?  Sitting and asking ourselves,  what do I really want to achieve?
This isn’t something that I suggest  as, just for us now to talk about. This is something, I mean,  you sit in silence with yourself every single day,  just for a short while. Some of you will already meditate. Some of you will practice mindfulness. Some of this is a, a slightly separate thing.  It means  similar to those self-awareness, but actually sitting in silence with yourself every single day, just checking in to keep that ship straight,  or notice that you’re wanting it to bend off course to a different destination that’s full self-awareness of your goals and your aspirations.
If you’re just checking in, imagine how you won’t move off the beam.  Just imagine how you can stay. At least  difficulties will come, successes will come, and they will both come and go.  Your clarity of intention, if it’s clear, at least you know where it is you’re heading and what you’re aiming for, it will dictate your decision making.
 So sit in silence with yourself every single day. Clarity of desire fuels the courage of intention, which makes saying yes and no  much easier. When you know what you want, you can really start saying yes and no much easier. Just imagine you started saying no to things because you knew what you actually wanted  rather than thinking that everything’s an opportunity  being open.
Of course, all of everything that I’m saying tonight, is subjective. And you have to take every situation at its own merit. But imagine knowing clearly what’s not for you, and how much time alone that saves you on your creative journey  stay true to you. This isn’t closing doors, this is opening the ones that are right for you.  This kind of different drivers. This isn’t all just kind of, I just want to write, you know, the most glorious, ethereal ballots.
This is, this is, this is long term, awareness, and that, that requires different drivers. It could be long term success, it can be short-term financial security. So you might, you might be choosing to do something knowing it gives you short-term financial security so it can sustain your, striving for long-term success in a different avenue. This isn’t narrow minded daydreaming. This is impactful, empowered  acting on your dreams.
 Self-expression might be another of your drivers artistic fulfillment. All of these are valid, not one alone. So look into yourself and look and ask yourself what it is you want. It doesn’t need to just be the end goal. It can be that you have an awareness that you need to sustain yourself in the short term to create a longer term future, perhaps in, songwriting for other artists, for example. But you’re gonna stay in that function band ’cause it’s paying the bills.
This isn’t something that we want to just, you know, throw all our eggs into a basket. This is wide awakeness, okay? And this is what creates a successful creative career.  So  once we have that full awareness of what it is we actually want, it’s wide, it’s inclusive of lots of different scenarios and situations. We engage perspective and patience.  You probably overestimate what you can do this week and wildly underestimate what you can do this year.
 This is extremely common. I talk to a lot of people as a consultant and help people in, in, in, laying out creative plans and developing creative, projects and developing artists. And so often, it’s, let’s get this done, and we’re all pumped up and people start saying, yeah, we’ll do this and we’ll, we’ll write these songs and then shoot the video and then, and, and we’re talking about in a week.  And then they, and, and that’s too much.
And they’ve, they’ve, they’ve wildly overestimated what they can do in that week. And then on the other hand, they’re talking about a year as though, you know, it’ll all be the same in a year, but we can have released another couple of singles or something like this. We as individuals wildly underestimate what we can do in a year.  We can change so much. I have, I am walking, living proof, of someone that changed a lot about my life, through applied process,  but over  a longer period of time than I first would’ve wanted.
We all want change. Fast, quick fix, boom, life change,  no  engage perspective. See  the change that you desire, and then engage patients know that process is gonna have to be employed. It’s incredible how much weight that takes off your shoulders when you accept the process and fall in love with the process. You don’t need to, let’s say it’s, you know, someone’s trying to lose weight.
If they, they think, oh, how am I ever, they’ll never, if they just think, how am I ever going to lose however many pounds  just do today, eat Well, exercise a bit more and then do the same the next day, do the same the next day. This is the same. This isn’t news to any of you,  but the fact that we don’t engage it and employ in other areas of our lives  is where we’re really putting our foot wrong. For example, here’s a little task, a little mental task. It’s, it’s also a very practical one, one that I’ve been doing in very many areas of my life, including the, the podcast, the Daily do that I told you about.
I call it Do the three, six, five. Imagine dedicating 36 long, 10 hour days.  Yes. And there’s five hours left over there I know to achieving one aspect of your dreams. 36, 10  hour days,  dedicating that time to one aspect of your dreams. Have you got that time and that dedication?  How about  one hour a day?
 That’s two months of working weeks,  two months of working weeks dedicated to one aspect  of your dreams  and changing them dramatically.  One hour a day.  What could you create?  An hour a day moves the mountain away.  It really is true.
