Tagged: Writing

Action Expresses Priorities

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It’s good to be back at the keyboard today and writing. Though the blog was a bit quiet this month, I’ve been working night and day prepping content and organizing projects for the coming year.  I saw this quote on #pinterest a few days ago and was amazed by the simplicity and truth in it. It seemed applicable to my life right now, this week, this month, this summer.  Action does in fact express our priorities, or as my wife always puts it– “Actions speak louder than words.”

It made me start thinking about what it is that I am doing each day to meet my goals. Do you think about that? Try it. Take a second to get out of your head as best you can and watch your actions as if you were another person. Notice the real actions you make each day toward achieving your goals. This can be both for yourself and/or for your organization.  Don’t be shocked by what you might discover about yourself. If you are like me, you might find that you spend a lot of time thinking– but less time doing than you had imagined.

After just celebrating Tuxedo Revolt’s 1-year anniversary back in June, I spent some time figuring out what my priorities would be for this blog, my business, my performance goals, and my life in general. I think it is easy for us to get very idealistic and heady about what we want to achieve over a given time. For me, I was laying plans for the coming year, or more specifically, from now until June 16th, 2014.  But the planning period is over; it’s time to start making progress towards my goals. I’m now at the place where actions should do all the talking. 

I can make lists all day long– and if you know me, then you know how utterly maniacal I am about list making. (Try the free app called Catch if you are serial list maker like me!) However, even after coming off of last year’s successes, I almost made the same mistake I made in 2011-12, of planning without doing. It’s very easy to get into this kind of cycle and much harder to get out it. It takes not self-discipline, but rather, self-responsibility to identify with your goals and acknowledge that is you who must do the work  necessary to achieve them.  It’s the asking yourself at the beginning of each day “What am I actually going to do today?” and then at night, “What did I actually do today?” that spins the straw of planning into the gold of reality. 

This month, I’m back in the saddle and the afterglow of Tuxedo Revolt’s one year anniversary is behind me. I’m working on a lot of great interviews to feature this year. I’m also resurrecting the Tuxedo Revolt Podcast Project (after losing all my previously recorded podcast material on a fatal hard drive crash). One new addition to the blog this year will be much more strategy content for both arts administrators and music entrepreneurs. I’ll be helping you to outline real nuts and bolts strategies you can use in your own projects— in other words helping you think of actions to express your priorities.

Thanks for stopping by the blog and stay tuned; there is a lot of great content coming your way.

-John-Morgan

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Blueprint of the Tuxedo Revolt Blog

Glass calligraphy pen and ink

Glass calligraphy pen and ink (Photo credit: rushysgirl)

At the rebirth of this blog and site, I feel like I should take a moment and clearly define the concrete goals I hope to achieve within the first year of this site.  I’ll be honest here and tell you that the inspiration for doing this goal setting blog post comes from one that I greatly admire—The Art of Non-Conformity.  Goal setting is crucial to planning great performances, mounting large artistic projects, or just managing life in general! I think it’s a good idea to outline some explicit goals for you and other readers to know what to expect in the coming months.

So let’s get right to it then. What can you expect from me between now and June of 2013?

By my birthday, June 16th 2013:

1.         I will strive to write a minimum of 2 blog posts each week, between 300-600 words each. These posts will explore new ways of thinking about performance and examining the culture of performance around the world.

2.         Create a “Declaration of Arts Independence” to inspire people to think about the arts in new light and to encourage performing artists to seek out relevance with their audience. It will question current practices and outline new outlets for artistic expression.

3.         Complete at least 20 artist profiles of performers, educators, and innovators who are changing the game in performance practices around the world. These articles will offer a sneak peak  into the creative process of some awesome people. These will be included in my goal of 2 blog posts each week.

4.         I will earn an audience of 1,000 followers of this blog and site (so please, share this site with your friends).  Notice that I said earn. It is important for me to write about art in a way that is compelling and relevant to a wide variety of readers, but I only want you to like my page on Facebook or this blog if you truly identify with what I say. I hope to offer inspiration that truly speaks to you.

5.         Create at up to 6 podcasts discussing innovation in the arts and performance.  These may be interviews with others in the field of performance, or me alone, but they are all intended to help study and expand the range and possibility of performance practice across genres and even into your everyday life.

6.         Research and write at least two guides to help performing artists or anyone who wants to lead an original and authentic life. I am sure the genesis of these guides will spring from the blog posts I write. You can help shape their content by sharing feedback on the posts you liked best.

7.         Document through my writing and blog posts how I am setting an example for other performers to take charge of their artistic careers and personal lives and make the most of every minute. I will strive to be as efficient and productive as I can be to– as we say back home in Kentucky—“practice what I preach.”

I hope that you will be there with me for the journey I am taking this year.  I hope that you will provide input on what you want to read about or issues that you would like for me to address. I hope that you will be inspired in some way by my efforts and work.  As I have said from the beginning, this blog is not about me, it is about inspiring all of us to perform better and dig a little deeper in all aspects of life.