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Organize and You’ll Be More Productive and Happier

Hi friends. Boy do I feel great! I can attribute it to many things – but I’d like to stress the importance of cleaning up, throwing junk out, putting things away and all-around organizing.

I hired an organizer / assistant for a few hours here and there and just a few of her suggestions were very valuable:

1) Things, files, objects etc get divided into “present tense” & “past or future” (my interpretation). Objects you really use get to stay out. That’s valuable real estate – “your mind”. Stuff you need to see and that’s easy to get to has to be numero uno important.

2) Establish “homes” for things. I had AA batteries on the window – sill. I had stacks of magazines and yellow pads stuffed together inside living room type furniture. No good. You have to establish and declare homes for stuff.

2.5) Old stuff that you want to keep but never use – that gets put in a hard to reach, back of the closet type place. .

3) Throw out and donate. Example – Empty boxes for electronic equipment – Bye – in the garbage.

Clothes – old sweaters that you never actually wear, but remember wearing in a past life – just drop them at the Salvation Army. Example – my old guitars will get parked at my music school for student use.

Again – those are all “past tense” objects, seeking “future use” that never comes. Christmas bows? Throw ’em out and buy new ones next year. For the low price of $5, you have less crap lying around for a year.

4) Allow for clear space. It’s GOOD for a corner to have nothing in it. It’s good for a desk or wall to have nothing on it. A great artist / designer once told me “not every part of the space has to be filled up”.

The same goes for your computer desktop.

5) THE BIG ONE – don’t de-clutter and organize and clean at the same time. Those are 3 different steps. I learned this basic idea from a book entitled “Getting things Done” by David Allen. (I can’t find my copy,will probably buy again)

I didn’t do his whole system but here’s what I do: collect all crap and throw it in a box first. Decide on where it goes and what to do later. That gets your space clean and clear FAST – and you can think clearly and effectively. Then at a later time, put away & process the stuff. I use big plastic bins from staples and raid my apartment for :

bills
guitar picks
receipts
books
pens
ac adaptors
CD’s
etc

Throw them in the box – DO NOT PUT THEM AWAY AND LOOK FOR PLACES TO JUST GET THEM OUT OF SITE, BECAUSE YOU’LL NEVER GET THE PLACE CLEAN. Just put them in your crap box for now.

Get the place looking clean and clear of junk. Then, clean up (sweep, dust), and then lastly, usually another day – go through the box.

The same applies for you computer. How much crap is on your desktop? Do this and you’ll see what I mean:

a) Create a new folder on the desktop called “junk_1-30-2008” or whatever the date is. Note the use of underscores and hyphens.

b) highlight everything EXCEPT the hard drive of your computer.

c) drop it in the folder

d) enjoy the clarity of thought looking at a blank desktop.

e) In your documents folder create a NEW folder simply called “clean_up”. You can drop the “junk_1-30-2008” folder in there and sort things out later. This way if you accumulate a junk folder every few weeks or week, you’ll have a clean up method and can organize at a later time. Each folder will be sorted by date.

6) When you go through the physical bin or “junk_1-30-2008” type folder – determine what needs immediate action and establish a place for immediate action. It’s really only for RIGHT NOW items.

I recently created and IMMEDIATE ACTION folder in my email program. Scanning past social emails to search for gig offers, customers and radio contacts was too exhausting and time consuming.

This works for me better than various folders like “Gigs”, “Recording”, “Bills” etc because I’d have to still go looking for what is on a “front burner”. At a glance I can deal with the most necessary, urgent stuff.

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The Result?
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You’ll experience an uncanny spiritual rush when things are clean – as if a weight is lifted off of you. Your attention will not be pulled in several directions at once, and you’ll be able to hit the bullseye with more of your actions and feel good.

There is a natural energy in keeping things tidy and organized – why do you think Zen monks clean the monastery every single day?

Try the computer desktop suggestion NOW. Then buy a bin at Staples or Office max and de-clutter. You’ll see – it’s awesome!

Musical Imitation, Realization and Maturity

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

Last week I had decided to put up some more YOUTUBE videos because it had been a while since I posted, and it was time to keep in touch with fans. The unbelievably supportive comments I get really keep me going and inspire me!

I recorded / video’d the following 3 tunes: “Superstition” and “Overjoyed” by Stevie Wonder and “Tall Fiddler” by Tommy Emmanuel.

My musical guru Mike Longo taught me something very profound – which he refers to as the 3 phases of musicianship:

1) Imitation
2) Realization
3) Maturity

Phase 1, “imitation” is similar to a little kid parroting things back. This indicates musical talent, and actually the imitative stage can last long into one’s life. There are many “great” professional musicians who are highly evolved imitators. There is a kind of feel to this type of musician – when you hear them play, it “sounds good” but does not necessarily “feel good”. I hear plenty of music that does not totally touch my soul. Quite often this type of musician learns by imitating off records. I started this way.

Phase 2, “realization” is the first glimpse into seeing music flow properly through oneself due to the proper application of a musical concept, at least sort of. For me, practicing African rhythms on hand drums (again – thank you Mike Longo) led me to being able to lay my own groove down. Many musicians will say “go for a such and such feel” – and unless you know how the musical gears need to mesh – any attempt at a such and such feel will be an attempt at imitation.

It’s tricky to describe, but “realization” musically is devoid of any attempt to imitate.

For example – Wes Montgomery’s octave soloing was a signature sound. I may use a “texture” of octaves but groove it according to my feel and body rhythm and sense of melody. Another guitarist may be trying to copy Wes’s octave sound.

So, what appears to be 2 guitarists playing similar ideas can have an underpinning of imitation or realization and maturity.

Another example would be a composer who learns the principles of counterpoint can write fugues, yet may not be trying at all to imitate the sound of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Do you see how music can have an underpinning of imitation or realization?

Imagine how silly it would be to “imitate” another chess players mannerisms and moves – that would not win the game. Be yourself, but apply his or her concepts and maybe you’ll have a chance at winning! Get it?

3) Maturity: After realization bakes, maturity dawns. It is the polish, the depth, the artistry that is built on phase 2.

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Part of my psychological makeup is “there is nothing I cannot do”, if I choose to do it. Nothing “gets my goat” more than a collective mentality of lots of people gawking and saying “such and such is impossible”. It’s like – I see people limiting themselves and I want to scream “FOLKS! YOU CAN DO IT – WATCH ME!!! IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE, BUT DO-ABLE!”.

So I can get like a cat who sits on the side of a closed door and will meow until that door gets opened. That was my personal challenge with “Tall Fiddler” by Tommy Emmanuel. I had to know that this piece – which many people consider unplayable – is playable!!! (I’ll have to practice this one more – but it’s coming along)

And like I said in a post earlier about his tune “The Hunt” – I love having stand-alone, mouth frothing songs to offer a contrast at my concerts and gigs.

“Tall Fiddler – Tommy Emmanuel”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwzcMSPSLCw&rel=1]

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Yet there’s a problem: music is not about “proving I can” do anything. I caught myself in this ego trip 24 hrs after having posted, and lay myself bare for you the reader. True music has a life of it’s own. “You” are not even playing it – the music just is. Proving anything – even and especially to oneself – through a piece of music means there’s the “me” and “the music”. The ego strikes again.

24 hours after posting I went back to view my other videos – “Superstition” and “Overjoyed” and they rang much more of truth to me. The music touched me and the grooves flowed along.

I saw that these arrangements started off way back coming from “the right place”. The launching pad, or inspiration was pure – the music of Stevie Wonder touched my heart. I then used every bit of guitar knowledge and music knowledge to map these out onto a solo guitar. They are not imitations of another player – they are solutions to a riddle, but LOVE was the motivating force.

“Overjoyed – Stevie Wonder”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckY9F4zVuto&rel=1]

The difference is subtle, yet profound.

The lesson of the story?

You can never be someone else. NO matter how good you imitate – you can’t be someone else’s essence – they themselves have that market cornered. A simple song from a standpoint of realization speaks volumes more than virtuosity on an imitative level.

“Superstition – Stevie Wonder”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVvfFtb3Y9s&rel=1]

The good news? No one can be YOU – so the more you dive into your own realization and maturity, anyone who tries to imitate you will be at the level of imitating, and not touch people the same way.

Music stemmming from a basis of maturity and realization will touch people, speak to people and get under their skin whereas imitative music will simply dribble off the skin and likely be forgotten. Doesn’t matter how much it’s promoted! 🙂

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My plans:

I plan to keep practicing this tune “Tall Fiddler” but will now look for ways to make it my own – for my own enjoyment. Turn it upside down, look for different ways to approach the ferocious groove on it, move sections around etc. Maybe use techniques I learned from it to create my own songs.

Hope you enjoyed this! Time for me to get practicing!

Are You a “Do it Yourself” Type Person?

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

As a musician, I have been a “do it yourself”, “lone wolf” type person for years (until now). I guess it started when I was a teenager with no money, having to make gig postcards or something, I got used to doing everything that surrounded my music.

As well, I had a teacher who still has a very successful music book mail order business. As it turns out he delegates the copying & binding of the books – but in an effort to emulate his product I went to kinkos, bought a binding machine and made similar books. The difference? I had to be hands on.

Making gig flyers, publishing my own books, burning CD demos, fixing up my own websites have been the m.o. in my past. Things I was forced / chose to delegate / hire someone were studio recording and CD production – yet everything else, I felt I had to be hands on to get it done right and cheaply.

Does this sound like you?

If you are like me, it’s easy to feel that “only I can do it right, best, fastest cheapest”.

Guess what? All the success books I have been studying teach the opposite. Focus on your core genius and delegate the rest.

See, the problem with the “I have to do everything” attitude is that it is easy to spend an 8 hour day making xeroxes and saving $50 – but in that same time (for example) I could be practicing and improving my craft which will lead to much more than $50.

What if I used that time to draft a workshop outline, a new book, make a new you tube video, etc? So – cheaper is not cheaper. It robs me / us of our most valuable asset – time.

Even worse is that I got to be known for good web skills and pretty good (but not awesome) design skills – like laying out a CD cover. So others would hire me. Some people might think “ooh – great you have something to fall back on”, but now the likelihood of getting further away from my most important tasks is compounded.

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So I did a test. “No more!” I declared. For my new CD Gratitude I hired a GREAT photographer, and allowed the CD duplication company “Discmakers” to design it. Discmakers charges about $500 for the design.

In the past I have used scanned photos, and done layouts myself in inDesign or Quark. My CD’s have looked “pretty ok”, “acceptable”…you get the idea.

The result of delegating this new project? My new CD looks TOP NOTCH! GREAT! Gorgeous. 10 stars! And it was painless! I found myself playing guitar and lining up important things like gigs, magazine reviews, etc – and spent NO time in front of an Adobe program. The $500 spent got me much more than I had bargained for – saved time, great result. Now when anyone (customer, promoter, festival) sees this – it will stand out from all the shlocky looking stuff. Oh, and did I mention that they also designed posters and t-shirts as well (all included in the $500)?

Not only that – the result is WAY BETTER – like 1000% better, than if I had done it myself. It smacks of “world class”, “this guy takes himself seriously”, and “successful musician”.

Delegation does not have to cost a lot. You can ask friends & family for favors here and there to get stuff off your plate. John Assaraf repeatedly says “find people who play at the things you work at”.

It also means “visualizing” things getting done easily and effortlessly around you. I’ll keep you posted on my productivity from delegation.

Straight Ahead!!! Comments and ideas welcome…

Changing Your Reality By Visualizing

By Adam Rafferty 4 Comments

I am fascinated by a topic that is relatively new to me – visualization. Holding in the mind’s eye exactly what one desires. I have many “quantum physics” ideas about this as well, but I will try to remain focused – for your sake! 🙂

Okay, the “Law of Attraction” is all over the place – “The Secret” is mainstream, and we don’t need another blog that regurgitates the same info.

I’d like to make you aware of 2 guys who were in “The Secret” though – John Assaraf and Jack Canfield. I am currently going through “Having it All” by Assaraf, and did my first quick read through of “The Success Principles” (author of Chicken Soup for The Soul). They are experts, and I will be wearing their books out over the next year.

I recommend these books VERY highly. Go get them – that’s an order!!! In fact, if you think they’re bs I’ll reimburse you and buy them off you & give them away as gifts!

I own Shakti Gawain’s “Creative Visualization” and am re-reading it now. For me is was very feeling and meditation oriented – but I found that when I’d get into edgy-New York-gotta have it now “mode” it seemed like really good California fluff that I needed to be totally receptive to and in the mood for after a hot bath.

Don’t get me wrong, it is great – especially now that I have the John Assaraf book. I recommend the Shakti Gawain book to help get in the feeling place of doing the process that John and Jack describe as critical.

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THE COOL STUFF
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John explains that at any given moment we get something like 4 million bits of information through our senses, but hey – who’s counting! Out of the 4 million bits we only use like 20,000 of those bits. Hmm. Very interesting indeed!

Here’s what happens, he says (and he claims to follow all the latest brain research). Our subconscious mind which constitutes something like 75% of our brain stores our images and beliefs. Our conscious mind only uses 2 to 4% of our brain.

Deep in the back of the brain somewhere we have what is called the Reticular Activation System (RAS). The RAS is this magic little thing that “sifts” out what is important to us. It wants to harmonize what we “see” out there with the image we have in our subconcious.

Out of the 4 million bits it will zone in on what makes the inner picture true or real and discard the rest. We use this all the time.

For example:

– We get interested in getting a Volkswagen Beetle and all of a sudden see them all over the road. They were always there, but now we’re looking even though we don’t realize it. They seem to “appear”.

– We look for a parking spot and all of a sudden notice exhaust coming out of parked cars, people walking to and from cars, and car lights turning on – and block other things out while we do this.

– Ever been in a nice place with a complainer and they see everything that’s “wrong” with the place?

– Someone in a conversation feels like they are not being listened to. Are they on the lookout for not being listened to based on a mental picture they hold, perhaps from previous experiences? Out of all the moments of the other listening, one moment indicating a lack of attention is picked up by the RAS becasue it is on the lookout to make it’s “image” real in the outer world.

– You and a friend (or your mate) go to a social event and notice totally different things about the conversation, the people, the location, food etc. (Guys – have you ever noticed how women tend to notice a lot more about makeup and clothing? Girls – ever feel like guys are idiots because they don’t notice certain things? 🙂 )

Where it gets interesting is when we have thoughts about ourselves (perhaps planted in childhood) that limit us regarding our career, our home, our relationships and so on.

I repeat – it is a brain function to find the inner picture “out there”. In order to change the “out there” we need to change the “inside” picture. At least that is what these very successful fellows are saying. (and I am giving it a try!!)

John and Jack then describe the absolute need for visualization, and all visualization books will tell you – see your goals as achieved now in the present and imagine everything in great detail. Why? Because the more you bombard the subconcious with the images, and sounds and feelings – the more your RAS is on the lookout. It doesn’t like the outer and the inner being out of whack, so you’ll end up re-arranging the outer to reflect the inner.

Something I am grappling with right now is this: while I want to be “successful”, how much of that is “not wanting failure”? You see – the mind thinks images so while a may say “not wanting failure” the brain hears “failure”.

All the Gurus tell us the dialogue and images MUST be 100% positive so

– Having a loving mate DOES NOT EQUATE to “not being alone”.
– Being good at music DOES NOT EQUATE to “not sucking at music”
– Being financially well of DOES NOT EQUATE “not being poor”

and so on. Get it? Positive is POSITIVE. It’s not NOT NEGATIVE.

Anyhow, that’s all for now. I’ll let you know how my progress goes…I surely have some re-programming to do through Visualization and Affirmations (I’ll discuss affirmations in another post).

When I get some great results then I’ll be able to really convey these messages to you with a deeper meaning and first hand experience will make it juicier. For now I remain a bystander looking into the mystery of life by your side as you do the same.

Get Good Enough Out of the Way; Make Room for Great

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

A concept that was mentioned in a book I am reading (Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles”) was getting “good enough out of the way” in our lives.

What? Get rid of good? Yes – make room by getting good out of the way so you can have great! Sometimes good gets in the way of great.

That means if things in our lives are just good enough, that’s no good. They should be great! And it may mean saying “NO” to “just good enough”.

You can have a

good enough home
good enough relationship
good enough career
good enough body
good enough life
good enough car
good enough friends
good enough meal
good enough gift for someone
good enough recording or performance
etc.

…OR you can have a

GREAT home
GREAT relationship
GREAT career
GREAT body
GREAT life
GREAT car
GREAT friends
GREAT meal
GREAT gift for someone
GREAT recording or performance
etc.

And this may mean getting “good enough” OUT OF THE WAY to make room for “great”. Change is something we all resist – but this idea immediately spoke to me in terms of a career – and how my (dare I say our?) inner vision spills out into my world.

A musical career consists entirely of one’s vision and projection from the “inside” out – and I myself am working on upgrading the inside of myself – my vision!

The subway performer sees himself as worthy of playing the subway platform, the concert performer sees worthiness of the concert hall. All of our lives spills from within our consciousness outward into the allegedly “real” world.

I can’t tell you how many times I have come home from a restaurant or party gig – having made a few hundred bucks maybe, and seen a subway performer PERFORMING THE SAME TUNE BUT BEGGING FOR QUARTERS. I wonder – they see themselves doing that and being okay. I would not do that (I did a few times as a kid). We each took steps to create our reality that night.

On the same note – there may be people who played the same tune ON A FESTIVAL STAGE FOR THOUSANDS of people that night as well. Or on TV, at the top of the performance food chain.

Let’s assume that all the performers (subway – restaurant – festival) are equally talented and playing the same song; where does the difference lie? Clearly the concept of what one deserves, one’s worthiness on the inside emerges. It’s the same concept as dressing for the job you want – not the job you have. When you dress for the job you want, you see yourself in the new position already, and create it from the inside out…

The “vision” that lurks behind the day to day actions such as “what do I wear, who do I call, what do I spend time doing, what do I say yes to, what do I say no to, what do I spend money-time-energy on” all inevitably lead to making the “vision” behind the actions a tangible reality (if there even is such a thing).

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OH MY GOD! I CREATE MY REALITY!
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Part of my personal quest right now is to see myself and BE a world class, festival playing, touring performer. I am, and am currently in the process of playing the right places with greater frequency. For me – that’s the GREAT.

“Good enough” is the local gig scene, maybe a wedding here and there. I am NOT criticizing anyone who does the local stuff – what I am saying is that I am working on a new vision of GREAT for myself through visualizations and affirmations.

Why am I choosing this? Because the feeling of fulfillment and joy is greater when I can play at 100% full tilt, allowing my talents to shine. Playing background music is an experience that is merely good enough, not great.

Check this out…

This last weekend Jill and I went to a wedding in Hilton Head, SC and the band was rather good. I spoke to them and asked if I could sit in, and they said if I wanted to I could.

Then I sat back and realized – I was about to create the reality of my playing music at weddings all over again. There’s the poop – and I looked for it so I could step in it – like a poop seeking missile. It was the subconscious mind churning out images of what it knows, thereby spilling into my future….making my past alive in the now…and settling for “good enough” once again.

Deep down – my survival buttons, and a belief that I need to do that to survive – lurks.

“NO! I declare otherwise. I commit to a bright happy GREAT life doing what I love” I thought to myself.

When I saw this at play – I zoned into my picture of “GREAT”…touring, playing for open air festivals, creating, recording new tunes, making new friends, letting my talent and core genius shine – and took a stance to think to myself “I choose my reality of touring, festivals, videos and I am going first class all the way”.

I got “good enough” out of the way (by saying NO to playing with that band) to let GREAT in and retain my visualization.

Just think – the conversations with all the guests that would have followed, their perception of me, my relating to them as someone who just played for them, my connection to the band – would all be colored (from my vantage point) by my playing one song with a wedding band. A mental image would have been further imprinted for me.

An interactive reality and experience would have been created – and created more karma, more momentum, more memory and eventually more of a likelihood of it continuing the same way.

I repeat – there is nothing bad, wrong or negative about the band, weddings or playing at one; it is merely an acknowledgment and observation that I (can I say WE?) create our reality constantly through our choices and have to hold fast to creating a great life through having a great picture in our minds.

What’s not cool is this – allowing “good enough” to be, when “great” is there for the taking.

How can you get rid of “good enough” to make room for “GREAT” in your life?

Go for GREAT…you deserve it!