That age old saying, “Look before you leap,” is meant to discourage fool-hardiness and encourage wisdom and safety. It’s good advice…and it’s not. It’s too easy to get so wrapped up in the “looking” – analyzing and planning – that we either miss a window of opportunity, talk ourselves out of acting when that action could have been a healthy step in our progression, or if we eventually go ahead and do it, leave ourselves wondering why we didn’t do it sooner.
I recently read about the creative process of Grammy-nominated composer and pianist John Burke. When asked how he has created such a vast body of work at such a young age, he mentioned four things. You can read about them here. They pretty much apply to anything a person may want to accomplish.
Getting more specific, he shared exactly what he does the as soon as he decides to move forward with a creative project. The first thing is to call his sound engineer to schedule when he’ll record the album.
You guys! The first thing he does is schedule his recording time! Before he’s even written a note of music to be recorded! I can appreciate how gutsy this is since I’ve written music and know what it takes to come up with a whole album’s worth of music. But here are a few comparisons that may be more relatable for non-composers. It’s like a chef scheduling a print date for a cookbook before they’ve created a single recipe, like a car designer reserving time at the production plant before they even have a drawing of their product, or like a dancer booking a theater for a performance of a show that’s not been cast or choreographed, let alone rehearsed yet.
Talk about going all in right from the start!
He looks, decides, and then leaps. He wastes no time getting wound up in thoughts of what might happen in the next few months that could slow him down, or how strenuous the process is of creating that much music and getting it performance ready. He doesn’t let himself get hung up on all the millions of steps there are between, “I’m going to do this album,” and, “I’m ready to record.” The first thing he does is set a marker way down the road then starts toward it. That’s vision and commitment!
So, let's take a page from John Burke's book. What's a bold step you could take to show your commitment to one of your goals? I dare you to take it.
(FYI - When he wrote this song he couldn't even play it. It was too difficult. How's that for stretching your own boundaries?)