💡✍️ ADN #002: "Make Magic: How To Turn Ideas Into Actions In 3 Simple Steps"

Read Time: 3 minutes

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Hey Friends -

Welcome to the Artist Development Newsletter.

Every Sunday, I send an email providing actionable tips for artists and industry on one area of the music business.

Last week we talked about 5 methods to capture your ideas.

You can re-read last week’s newsletter here if you want to refresh.

Today we will discuss 3-steps to turn your ideas into actions.

Let’s jump in.

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If you’re like me, you have ideas all the time.

I have so many ideas that it can be frustrating.

Here’s the thing:

Having ideas is great, but your actions are your x factor.

For example:

At some point, John Lennon had the idea for his classic song, “Imagine.”

What if he never sat down at the piano to write it?

What if after he wrote it, he never recorded it?

What if after he recorded it, he never released it?

Similarly, Steve Jobs had the idea for the iPhone at some point.

What if he never got around to creating it?

What if Apple never greenlit it or marketed it?

The world would be a lot different than it is today.

Those examples are like countless others.

They highlight the difference between having and taking action on your idea.

So what is an action?

“The fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim.”

Idea:

• I want to help artists on their journey through the music business.

Action:

• Writing daily about the lessons I’ve learned in the music business on social media.

It sounds simple enough, but the consistency with which we work on our ideas unlocks the results we are after.

And to be consistent, we need to be motivated.

How do we motivate ourselves to take our ideas and put the energy behind them to turn them into what we believe they could become?

The author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on motivating others:

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast endless sea.”

Source: Citadelle via James Clear

We need to have a greater purpose that we are fighting for to find the endurance to bring our ideas to life.

Our motivation may be directly related to our idea or stem from somewhere else entirely.

“Motivation is always a straight line somewhere.”

It may be a want, a need, a desire, a slight, or an opportunity.

“Every idea needs motivation for action.”

So, how do we “learn” to take action on our ideas?

Try this approach for seven days.

I will [ACTION] at [X TIME] in [X LOCATION].

• I will write for one minute at 9 a.m. in my office.
• I will read for 10 minutes at 8 p.m. in my bedroom.
• I will exercise for one hour at 5 a.m. in my garage.

Give your actions a specific space and time to exist in your life.

The goal is to make the time and location so apparent that, with enough repetition, you naturally take action on your ideas.

The best ideas have so much built-in motivation that creating a process for consistent work is necessary.

Great ideas only reach their potential on the other side of great action.

The recipe for great action?

• Consistency
• Motivation
• Process

With an average of 6,200 thoughts running through our brains daily, we have to filter what is worth our time and attention.

The best way to do this is:

• Listen to our motivation.
• Build a process for consistency.
• Be consistent within the process.

If you do this long enough, your ideas will become the magic you imagine.

Ideas + Actions = Magic

See you next Sunday!

Neil Mason

Artist Development

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