In my last post, If You Hate Books, I tackled one reason you might not buy a copy of my upcoming book. Today I want to discuss another, your career is going GREAT!
So Was Mine
From the book’s introduction:
“I was a musician once, and now I’m not. Well, perhaps it’s more correct to say I used to make my living as a musician and now I don’t. Either way though, it means the same thing: I’m not in the music business anymore. For reasons I didn’t fully understand at the time, my career path went up, leveled off, and then went down. The leveling off was the most confusing.”
When my career path was going up, I didn’t need anyone’s help. I was good at what I did and work came easy. The longer it went up, the more confident I was that I didn’t need anyone’s help. But then it stopped.
- Simply put, I reached a level of success equal to my musical and business abilities.
- By the time I realized the leveling off wasn’t a temporary pause in my career path going up, it was too late to do anything about it.
- I didn’t know what to do about it anyway, how could I? Like I said, the leveling off was the most confusing.
I wrote the book for two types of musicians: those that want a better career than they have today and those that need to be alerted and prepared for their coming “leveling off.” If you say your career is going GREAT, this is your alert.
Be Alert
Understand that a leveling – or levelings – will come. They are inevitable for everyone, and trying to avoid them is a waste of time. Instead, learn to spot them early and manage them well.
Spotting them is easy: anytime you feel stuck, stagnant or bored is a leveling. Be on the lookout for these feelings, trust your gut and expect the worst.
- If it’s the true leveling off and you manage it well, you’ll continue to build a successful career.
- If it’s just a temporary pause, and you manage it well, you’ll build an even more successful career.
Manage them Well
First, stop and think: what’s behind this leveling? Is there a cause or reason for what’s going on that you can control? This could be something you did or something you didn’t do.
Second, what’s the one thing you can do that would have the most impact on changing the situation for the better. Not 50 things, one. It could be a phone call, learning/practicing a new skill (music, business, people, etc.), spending time with someone, whatever.
So tell me, is your career going up or is it level? If it’s level, what are you doing about it?
