My experience working through Getting Things Done has been a success. I’m more organized, feel more in control, feel less stressed out about keeping up with all my commitments, and feel more productive. David Allen’s method of GTD is exactly what I need to help me develop good organizational skills. I recommend the book to anyone and everyone in the music business. A good method of organization is key to freeing your mind, allowing you to become more creative and productive. As someone in the music business, I know that it is very hard to stay organized in this field. GTD will simplify this problem, freeing you up to be more creative (and the music business is all about being creative, isn’t it?).

I am not going to go into full detail of my experience with GTD just yet. I plan on doing that in a future post. I will also offer some of my own advice on what I found to be helpful when getting set up. At the moment I have my hands full promoting a couple of shows in Nashville. Two bands I represent are putting on shows this week. The Street Corner Champs are playing tonight at The 5 Spot, and Wes Sp8 is playing Wednesday at The End. In the meantime I’m going to link to a couple of articles that are inspiring to me. I hope they inspire you…

www.onmoneymaking.com/about-jon
Read the whole page, but when you get to the bottom pay particular attention to the paragraph under the heading A Currency for Financing Your Dreams

www.behance.com/Featured/Articles/Hero-Design-Studio-Smaller-is-Better/5666
This article spoke to me both because it’s about someone who left a more secure job to build their own company, and because it’s about a company that is a part of the creative industry. Those two elements describe what my life is like right now with Radical Notion (independent media).

*Note* GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of David Allen & Co. Although I have spent quite a bit of time lately talking about GTD®, I am in no way affiliated with that company. I am simply inspired by what they do.

This week I’m posting early (on Friday) because I will not have time over the weekend to prepare a post for Monday. I have scheduled time to totally organize my office and life using the method David Allen developed in his book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. I briefly described the book in my previous post that I published on Monday, and plan to talk about my experience once I complete the whole system. So again I will not be posting this coming Monday, but in the meantime I am posting some links to resources about GTD.

www.davidco.com/blogs/kelly/archives/2008/01/david_allen_giv.html
www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php
www.davidco.com/tips_tools.php
www.davidco.com/store/catalog/Free-Articles-p-1-c-254.php
www.davidco.com/podcast.php

I encourage you to spend a decent amount of time researching this method of organization. If you are like most people you feel that there are areas of your life that could have better organization. You feel like you are always struggling to keep up with the pace of life and business. Multiply this times ten if you are in the music business. It’s the perfect time to incorporate a new strategy into your life; to practice a new method of organization. So please check out Getting Things Done, maybe even try it out, and tell me about your experience.

I will be back on 1.21.08

At The End of Week One
Last week I briefly recapped 2007 and some motivation/inspiration I experienced throughout the year. I also alluded to some goals that I have in mind for 2008. This week I would like to expound on that topic a little bit by briefly discussing productivity, and goal setting/planning. The first seven days of this year have already been very productive for me, as I have been able to check off some accomplished goals right away. The stage has been set for success in 2008, and I believe my motivation is going to exponentially increase this year.

Light A Fire
I recently read some blog posts from two of my favorite motivators, and they really got me fired up. David Hooper and Bob Baker chose perfect timing to write about goal setting, as my mind is constantly preoccupied with the topic. Realistically this is no coincidence considering it is the tip top of 2008. In any case, you should read their posts on setting goals and being productive.

You will find David’s post at www.musicmarketing.com/2008/01/goal_setting_fo.html
You will find Bob’s post at www.bob-baker.com/musicpromotionblog/2008/01/5-steps-to-setting-music-goals-you-will.html

Bob also mentioned, in his post 2008: Jump-Start Your Music Career, a book that I am currently finishing up, and planned to talk about in the near future. The book is called, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress—Free Productivity by David Allen. This is a book that my friend and Nashville songwriter/performing artist, Aron Wright [makeoutmusiccompany.wordpress.com] recommended to me a couple of years ago. I had it on my “to—read” list ever since then, but I finally got around to cracking it open about ten days ago.

In the book Allen, a career coach and management consultant, discusses his system for constant up—to—date organization that is far more efficient than the typical to—do list and calendar items you would find most people tracking. It takes a couple of days blocked out and totally uninterrupted to set up the system. I have scheduled my time for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Good organizational skills are a big challenge, and since I am setting out to accomplish more in 2008 than I ever have before, I figured now was the best time to finally read this book.

More
Additionally, Freelance Folder, a blog that I frequent geared for bloggers, writers, publishers, designers, artists, small business owners, entrepreneurs and (you guessed it) freelancers, have run an article on goal setting and productivity called How To Unleash the Productivity Beast. The author, Ritu, asked readers to share some productivity tips. Since my post this week ties in, I would like to share a few tips:

• Schedule some time in advance to implement a system of organization, and clean out your workspace
• Set long term, medium term and short term goals, and map out a plan of action to attain these goals. Within those different plans of action list high and low priorities
• Find and read good books related to this topic. I have a rather long reading list myself. Stay current on this blog, and I’ll share my thoughts on what I read

You can catch Ritu’s article here: freelancefolder.com/unleash-the-productivity-beast/

Let’s Begin to Make This Apply
This blog is mainly for people who are either getting started, or looking for growth in the music industry. It does not matter what facet of the music industry seems attractive to you, to get where you want to go in this business you are going to need a plan, and a whole lot of motivation/inspiration. I would like to know: Do you have a plan? What could you do this month, this week or today that would be a big step towards attaining your goal this year?

I’ll close this week by quoting David Hooper:

“An important part of attaining your goals, or one that at least makes getting them easier, is having other people on board to help you.”

I’ll add that it’s also important to have motivational outlets in place to light a fire under you. I recommend David Hooper’s, Bob Baker’s and the Freelance Folder blogs at the links posted above to get you started. Alright, and I recommend producer notes too…