The Fabulous 5 – New Year’s Guitar Resolutions

May 15, 2019 by Klaus Crow

photo from flickr
We have a new year ahead of us so this is a perfect time to set new goals. Goals will give you something great to look forward to. They give you a positive feeling, improve your skills and can change your life as long as you stick to ‘m.

There are a lot of people that fail to continue their new year’s resolutions whenever life gets in the way. And there are people who get obsessed by their goals. Neither ways are a good solution. You need to strike a balance to hold on to your dreams (see below in a minute).

My 4 resolutions for this year relating to the guitar lifestyle are:

1. Practicing on a regular basis every week. (Improving my improvisation skills)

2. Improving my guitar business offline and online.

3. Finishing our EP or CD with the band.

4. Working out and running 3 to 4 times a week. (to fuel my physical and mental energy)

Well what about you? What are your musical aspirations for this year?
What are you going to change to make a difference in your life?
What is it that you will be amazingly proud of a year from now?
What is the next step to get you to your ultimate dream goal?

Well let me inspire you with some examples. This year you can:

– Learn how to play and sing your favorite tunes.

– Write your own song.

– Learn how to play guitar solos.

– Start your own band.

– Learn how to play a new style (jazz, blues, flamenco, etc).

– Become a pro guitar player (making a living out of it).

– Compose and record your own songs.

– Perform on stage.

– Learn how to improvise over chord changes.

– Make your own EP or CD.

– Become a solo performer or start an awesome guitar duo.

To make sure you will succeed in all your wonderful dream goals, stick to the fabulous 5 to get you through the tough times. So here we go! The FAB-5:

1. Priorities

Make choices. Set priorities. Make 2 or 3 things the most important. If you want to make big changes, make a short list.

If you got some smaller goals you can make your resolutions list a little longer, but not too much. As the old saying goes: if everything is important, then nothing is important.

If you got to many goals, you won’t keep up with them. The shorter the list the more likely you are going to achieve your goals.

2. Small habits

Create small daily habits towards your goal. Write down small specific steps to get you to the next level. Remember small habits are important, because you won’t always have the time to keep up with big habits. The moment you feel you can’t keep up you’re gonna be disappointed and you are gonna be burned out real fast. Small habits last!

3. Focus on results
Stay focused! Clear away all distractions. Turn off your TV, Internet, mobile phones, computer games and focus on your life changing goal. Your habit is your friend.

To make a change you got to focus on results. If there are no results you got to change what you’ve been doing. Experiment. Fix the puzzle. Try new ways to achieve results.

4. Strike a balance
Balance is important. Good health and a good relationship with your friends and family is essential to maintain a good balance and to succeed in a fulfilling way.

Don’t get obsessed by your goals. Don’t get disappointed when things don’t work out immediately as you planned. Whenever you let yourself down, just pick it up where you left off. Your goals are important to change and to create a new habit, but they are not worth it to get all worked up about it. Goals are supposed to be fun and exhilarating.

Don’t let it take over your life. Let it breath for a minute, an hour or a day. Walk away and do something else. Go for a run or spend time with friends. The next day you will have new inspiration.

5. Fun
Are your goals fun? Can’t you wait to start with your habit? If not, make it so! It’s obvious, if something is fun to do you will keep on doing it. So this is the major key in succeeding. How do you make your goals more fun? How do you come to the point you get so passionate about it, you don’t want to stop. Write down fun ways to make your habit become a blast! Come up with new ones as you go to keep motivated. Fun will definitely make your resolution last!

I wish you all the best and may all your ultimate guitar dreams come true!

So what are your guitar resolutions for this year? I’d love to hear them.