How to Achieve Your Drumming Goals
So, you’ve learned to play drums, you’ve taken some lessons, and you are on your way through your drumming career. Now what?
Good question!
Let me answer it by asking another. Have you set any drumming goals? have you even set any life goals? What about health and fitness goals? No? Then read on. I’m going to give you 6 simple steps to start achieving your drumming goals and general life goals. Incidentally, you should set goals in all areas of your life. Whether you’re succeeding in that area or, failing miserably in another area.
A human mechanism is a goal-getting machine. In other words, you are always heading somewhere. Every moment of every day is spent, one way or another, moving towards a goal. Let’s take a look at some bad goals to illustrate my point.
- Going into the kitchen to make another cup of coffee
- Going to the local store for a bar of chocolate
- Gong to the bar for another beer
All these are goals that we move towards every single day and in most cases, we move towards them on autopilot. We are always heading somewhere, it’s a plain fact of life. And, as drummers, we are always heading somewhere too. Are you heading towards becoming a great drummer? or are you heading to become a failed drummer? Are you heading for mediocrity or greatness? The choice is absolutely yours. Do you think it’s a choice worth making and then planning to get what you do want from your drumming?
It’s time to take control of your life. By claiming control over the goals that you move towards. Throughout your days, weeks, months, years, and lifetime. That’s right, goals should be a lifelong permanent process we all set in motion in order to achieve what we want in life.
Let’s dig a little deeper with this 6 step process.
1. Desire:
How much do you want to achieve your drumming goals?
Is the achievement of your drumming goals your burning desire?
If not, then you are more than likely setting your goals too low. The starting point to any and all achievement is desire. It’s like the law of attraction. If you have a strong desire, then you will most likely put more into the achievement of your drumming goals. And then have a better result. Just as the like-attracts-like law is true. If you are getting weak results, it is most likely that your goals are set too low. Or your desire for the result you’re seeking is too weak.
Once you have chosen your drumming goals. Then you can move into the next phase of your drumming goal achievement.
2. Visualize:
What will your drumming achievements look and feel like?
What is different now that you have achieved your drumming goals?
Create a mental picture of your drumming goals. If you want a certain drum kit, then visualize yourself behind the kit and actually playing it. There is much more to visualizing than seeing a picture in your mind. Visualizing is feeling the feelings and seeing them in your mind’s eye. As if you are in the moment of having achieved your drum kit goals.
I love how Arielle Ford refers to visualizations as realizations in her book. “The Soulmate Secret”. It’s true because when you set your goals and actually see what it looks like. When it’s achieved. And constantly think about it for several minutes daily. Then you are certainly on a great path to achieving your new drum kit goals right now!
But let me explain something about how the human mind works. You may believe that what I just wrote was complete hooey. However when I mentioned the goals that are bad goals running on autopilot earlier. Each one of those goals starts with an image in your mind of you doing the thing that becomes the result.
You imagine a coffee in your hand and the feelings and taste associated with your favorite brand. You might experience a pleasant buzz or be reminded of one.
You imagine the buzz you get from a bar of chocolate and the associated feelings that go with it.
You have an image in your mind of the feelings and pictures associated with having another pint of beer.
Every act begins in the mind. And as Tony Robbins suggests, we are always choosing to walk away from pain or move into pleasure. what he doesn’t say is that each of the pains and pleasures begins as images in the mind. We then seek to fulfill the image.
So, don’t you think it’s worth a little effort to put your own images in your own mind? Images of the dreams you want to see fulfilled in your life?
3. Plan:
Create your action steps daily.
Follow them.
It is always wise, to begin with, the end in mind. Think of a contractor, and the first step to building a house is not actually building it. The first step is merely the idea followed by the blueprint.
What is your blueprint to accomplish your house of drumming goal dreams?
Your blueprint is the preplanned critical path for you to follow. If you find it easier to sketch out a drawing of your goals, then do that! Some people find it easier to write down daily action steps. And at the end of each day, they cross off the achievements. Now if you do not achieve one of your actions for a day, relax and add it to the top of the next day’s list.
I linked to a more in-depth post above so you can dig deeper into setting your drumming goals. Also, you may want to take a look at this drummer’s time management post. These three posts will get you well on your way to meeting your goals halfway.
4. Commit:
Commit to your desires, dreams, and achievement of them by writing them down. Some people find it easier to talk to a coach. And tell them so they have an accountability coach for tracking goals. Another way is, if you don’t have a coach, be your own coach! Send yourself an email or record what it is you want to achieve. Simply keeping journals will get you to refocus on your day.
What you do with your time now, and then get you to turn your focus to future endeavors and successes. So, get yourself a journal and some notepads and start recording everything. What you want, what’s blocking you, how long it will take, and so on.
5. Track:
Schedule and periodically track your progress. Use a day planner or some calendar system and send yourself updates. So that you can monitor your daily progress. If you have a coach, they can help guide you and make sure you are on the right track. A great coach will also keep you on track!
To be honest this is more about your drums and your drumming. This is about the drummer. Who you are being and where you’re currently getting by being who you are being. Then as suggested in the journal remark earlier. Change your focus to becoming who you need to be to get where you want to be, as a drummer.
And the last step in this process.
6. Review:
Pay careful attention to the review of your goals in order to refine and improve them.
Are you making progress toward your goals? By reviewing your drumming goals you will get to see that you are achieving some or all of them.
If you are not making progress, you can hire a coach. Or seek advice from a close friend or family member, and tap into the reason you are not making progress. Review the 5 steps above this one and assess how deeply you actually want to achieve this goal.
Improve your desire by setting goals. Improve your visualization by getting clearer on your goals. And improve your plans because you have committed yourself to this. As you progress, you’re increasingly creating intricate plans, setting goals, and visualizing your success. And you have all the tools to track your results so each review gets better and better. You get better and better!
Until next time. Go get your goals.
the Drum Coach
