THE PRODUCTIVE MUSICIAN

Something that never goes away - conquering that never-ending challenge of “getting everything done.”

This spring, I led entrepreneur workshops at various universities around the country and a question the students asked me EVERY time was:

Sarah, you manage so many different things! How do you keep up with it all?

There is no easy answer to this, but there is one thing I swear by:

8 years ago I went through an injury that nearly stopped me dead in my tracks. I was drowning in the negative stigma that surrounds “musicians’ injuries” and filled with anxiety around the unknowns of my career and life (read about my journey here).

Taking care of my mind turned out to be the cornerstone of my recovery and what started it all was my introduction to meditation.

Was I skeptical about meditation at first? Absolutely. It wasn’t a tangible remedy to me and when a friend suggested it, I scoffed.

A month into the new year, I wanted to share 3 things that made an impact on me in 2018 that I’m continuing to carry into 2019!

1.) NOT checking email first thing in the morning

This has been huge for me. Previously, I’d check my email while still in bed. I’d jolt into to-do mode before I even gave myself 3 minutes to wake up. Now, my phone lives across the room at night so I can’t reach for it first thing. After lots of trial and error, I’ve learned I need to give myself 1 ½ hours in the morning BEFORE I check my email to have the most productive day. This allows me to wake up and plan my day focusing on MY most important tasks instead of starting my day reacting to other people’s emails. After a year of NOT checking my email first thing, I’m less scattered, more focused and productive.

Maintaining a musical career takes a lot of creative energy. Here are some tactics I employ nearly every day that ensure I am optimizing for peak creative work.

1. Know your biorhythms

I like waking up early, going to the gym, and making a high-protein breakfast. These two daily rituals set me up for great morning work.

My most complex tasks are scheduled in the morning. This is when I write, record podcasts, sketch out project plans, and practice my instrument.

Afternoons aren’t as creative for me, so this is when I handle my calendar, answer emails, and do work that doesn’t require as much creative spark.

I spend about 30% of my life performing on the road. Ever since my injury, I’ve become hyper aware of how my body needs to feel to perform my best. Here are 5 things that help me that I won’t travel without.

Writing these bloglettes is definitely a passion project of mine. I love discovering new ideas, researching, writing about and sharing them. But, since I launched this blog 7 months ago, it’s sometimes been like pulling teeth being consistent about writing and posting these.

If this is something I really love doing, why is it so hard for me to get it done?!

For a while I thought that it should be easy to sit down and artfully pump out these little bloglettes in one sitting. After all, it’s ONLY 350 words and I’m writing about subjects that I love! What could possibly be hard about that?

But this wasn’t happening.