Hello! Have we all resurfaced from the New Year’s celebrations? I hope you all had a splendid time. With one more year in our lives, we are —or should be, haha— one year wiser too. One year closer to doing what we want to do and to the aims in our life.
Now, the reflections that come with points of transition like this might leave some of us with regrets about things we didn’t achieve during 2023. I invite you to let those regrets or anxieties aside and evaluate what happened with a positive attitude. Make yourself questions: What was exactly that goal I didn’t reach? Why didn’t I reach it? Perhaps the goal was unrealistic, too big, too vague? Was the issue that I couldn’t break it down into manageable steps? Most importantly, how far did I get with it? What is my progress? Everything takes time and effort. We don’t go from 0% to 100% instantly, so it’s important to acknowledge the journey, look at your progress and say “this X% I managed to get done has value.”
The same applies when looking forward. For example, this year I plan to take steps in order to protect my hearing, which is essential for my work as a musician, and I’ll also continue spreading useful information about menopause. I’m not starting from zero in either of these endeavours. Last November, I attended a hearing health workshop for musicians, where I learned about the risks I’m exposed to, and what I can do to protect myself. In the other hand, I’ve written two articles about menopause: ‘The Journey of a Menopausal Musician’ —which I wrote for the Musicians’ Union— and more recently, ‘10 Things You Can Do If You’re Sleepless And Menopausal’. The former got me an invitation to participate in the roundtable discussion about women’s health for Reform Radio in Manchester; it was curated for The Menstruation Project in Berlin, Germany, and I also led the roundtable discussion ‘How can the music industry break the culture of silence on menopause?’ at MU’s Equalities and Diversity conference. Those are my starting points this year. Every one of these things is a step that contributes to the general goal of inform the public about menopause, and I’ll have them in mind when deciding my next step.
Planning is a tool and also a skill to cultivate. Each one of us has a style. Some require strong and strict structures, some need flexibility or they’ll feel trapped. Some limit plans to some spheres of life, others make plans for everything. Whichever your case, it’s important to make your goals and purpose clear to yourself. If you need a little guidance, here are some episodes from my podcast Success Beyond The Score that can help:
- Season 3, episode 4: I’m a musician, why do I need a business plan?
- Season 2, episode 19: 3 essential music career tips you can do now to make it in the industry and build a full-time career
- Season 1, episode 3: Who’s going to make your music happen?
