New Year's Resolutions for Musicians: 2024 Edition
As 2023 is drawing to a close, I am looking back at the goals achieved this year and am planning my New Year's resolutions for 2024. In 2021 I came across an episode of the "Mindset Mentor Podcast", in which the host Rob Dial is guiding listeners towards setting their goals for the upcoming year. I decided to give it a try and wrote them down in a notebook exclusively dedicated to that purpose for 2022 and later for 2023.
It's curious, but I managed to achieve some rather important goals over the past two years. Even if I haven't achieved all of them, I still managed to get some off my list and that's a lot better than none. In this post I am filtering that episode of the Mindset Mentor podcast through the lens of a musician. Below are some categories and some ideas of goals you might want to achieve next year.
Before you start writing down your goals there are some "rules". The first rule is ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE (there's no such thing as realistic in this game). The second rule is BE AS CLEAR AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN about your goals. The last rule is WRITE AS MANY GOALS AS YOU CAN THINK OF.
So, here are the categories:
Career: How many concerts do you want to play in next year? Maybe you want to create your own series? How many students do you want to have next year? Do you want to focus more on chamber music maybe? Do you want to release your music online or write your own arrangements?
Financial: How much money would you want to be making next year (be specific!)? How much do you want to save? Do you want to start investing?
Relationships: What do you want your relationships to look like over the next 12 months? Would you like to spend more time with your family and friends? Maybe you'd like to get to know musicians and concert organizers in a certain area better. What do you want your relationship with your significant other to look like? Maybe you'd like to meet somebody next year. Or you might want to improve your relationships (be specific what that means to you).
Health: what do you want your health to be like? Would you like to start working out more? Would you like to start eating healthier (how and what does it look like to you)? Do you want to eat less gluten, more meat, more vegetables, less carbs, etc?
Materialistic: what do you want to buy next year? To you want to buy a car? Do you want to buy a new instrument? Do you want to buy an iPad for storing your sheet music (that's one of my goals!!)? Write down everything you want to buy next year.
Personal development: what do you want your personal development to look like this year? Do you want to feel more peace, more joy? Do you want to read a certain amount of books? Is there a course you want to take? Is there a masterclass you'd like to attend next year? What is your budget for your personal development next year?
Spirituality: do you want to meditate more? Do you want to learn more about spirituality or religion? Do you want to start doing yoga maybe? How can you deepen your sense of well-being?
Your character: what traits of your character would you like to develop or deepen over the next 12 months? What would you want people to say about you? Are you caring, generous, giving, a good friend, not judging, understanding, etc?
Experiential: what do you want to experience next year? Is there a place you want to travel to? Do you want to write a book? Do you want to try stand up comedy? Do you want to create a course or a podcast? Do you want to go to a meet and greet with a celebrity you admire?
Let your imagination run wild and explore what you'd want your life to look like over the next 12 months. Comment below with one goal you want to achieve in 2024.
I jump unto this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year filled with lots of wonderful experiences, lovely people, much laughter and success!
