Dear Passengers,
As I continue my journey trying to find and better understand the souls of songwriters and artists, I flashed on something I read on our forum not long ago. A member had gone online to say that he had decided not to renew his TAXI membership.
He had no issues with the company. He found that he just didn't have the time required to write better songs, record demos, or do the work required to pitch his music. Fair enough.
As I reflected, I realized how his lack of time for something he was passionate about was very analogous to my lack of time for golf. I used to play about ten rounds a year, now I'm lucky if I find the time to play two.
The difference is that I wasn't playing golf to learn how to earn my income from it. Maybe I'm being presumptuous, but don't most people join TAXI to make money from doing something they love?
Hit songwriters aren't born great. They might be born with some innate talent, but they have to learn and hone their craft over a period of years. Tiger Woods started playing golf when he was just a little tike.
If you were to dedicate five years to becoming a great songwriter, you'd have to work at it for 38.46 hours per week to log ten thousand hours – in other words, it's a full time job. Not surprising is it?
But who has that much time, what with full-time jobs, kids and a multitude of other responsibilities? Then again, if you spent 12.8 hours per week for fifteen years, by Mr. Gladwell's math, you'd likely become great.
That feels achievable.
Let's say that you spend four hours each day on Saturdays and Sundays, then you'd only need to spend less than one hour per day on the other five days per week. Could you watch one less TV show per day?
Yes, if you're passionate about achieving your goal.
As you progress and become more competent, your passion will grow. As your passion grows, the work feels less like work and more like you're doing something you're passionate about.
Do you have any doubt that I could become a great golfer if I went to the driving range every morning for an hour and played a round every Saturday and Sunday. Somebody alert my wife!
I'll bet you've already got five or ten years under your belt. You might be closer than you realize.
But there's a rub! Have you spent those years working on your song craft, or on musicianship? Practicing guitar doesn't count toward songwriting all that much, unless of course you're learning the chords you'll need to write the songs.
Would I golf more often if I could hit 300 yard drives every time I tee'd off? You bet!
Would you write songs more often if the majority of them sounded like potential hits? You know the answer.
Wouldn't we both get better much more quickly if we used a professional coach?
As I think about the gentleman who didn't renew his membership because he couldn't find the time to become great, I'd like to ask him just one question. Why did you quit using your coach when you might have been 8,972 hours into your 10,000 hours?
I'm staring at the crumpled Post-Its on which I scribbled down my thoughts about this early this morning. As I sit alone in the quiet of my office typing those notes into more complete thoughts, I've realized that I only "sell" two things — neither of which I originally intended to sell in this email — opportunity and education.
Want to see what happens to people who read what I write and occasionally buy what I sell?
Talk to you soon,
Michael
P.S. Make sure to check out all the great new Industry Listings this month. In case you missed the memo, we've got a new Vice President of A&R, Andrea Torchia-Alford. She's kicking butt and taking names.
What type of music do you excel at? Pick the genre you're best at and click the link.
----end of email.
Peace.
