By 1996, I was on my last legs as a music business executive. I'd lost fire and couldn't let go of urge to follow my dream. Finally in late 1996, I left my position as Vice President of SESAC to get back to being a musician. The 15 - 20 hours a week I spent as a traffic and news reporter bridged financial gap.

In meantime, I began rounding up gigs, hustling, and learning all new songs on piano that I possibly could. I knew I was getting about a 20-year late start compared to all hot young players out there. But I figured I could make up for at least some of that through sheer hard work and determination. Because of my previous work experience, I was comfortable telephoning and meeting with people of all levels of business. I began working with hotel, restaurant and country club managers, wedding planners, and any venue that might be open to having piano music.

Systematically going through yellow pages, I would keep meticulous notes about which businesses had a piano, who I'd spoken with and when to follow-up. Soon enough I was performing regularly - an average of three times per week…and earning decent money. Often I would find performing opportunities in unexpected places: libraries, museums, senior citizen facilities, and lots of corporate parties. Eventually, I was fortunate to land a four day a week steady job playing piano at a couple of Nordstrom stores…low paying, but great exposure and experience. I was on my way!

Now with two CDs available on Brainstorm Records, MY independent record label, dream is being realized...the dream is being lived! The CD sales combined with my constant gigging six or more times per week nearly equal income I earned during my peak years as a music executive. Meanwhile, I am putting a new emphasis on generating songwriting royalty revenue, with a three-year plan underway designed to round out that third source of income I have planned on since grade school.

It hasn't been easy...but it has been worth it in every way! My little musical empire, now five years old, has seen steadily increasing in revenues each year. I have felt surges of joy and ultimate in frustration. I am always eager for new challenges…and sometimes ready to quit. But, awhile back I came across a sentence that sums it all up perfectly. The statement comes from John Madden, highly successful former football coach of Oakland Raiders (who has become an even more successful football broadcaster). He was talking about insecure, volatile occupation of being a National Football League Coach, a profession where one can almost guarantee they will be fired - often more than once. In determining whether or not someone is suited for that difficult profession, Madden said: "You shouldn't be doing it unless you can't live without it.”

I would say same applies to one's pursuit of music, or whatever their particular dream may be. If you can't live without it you simply have no choice but to pursue it.

For me, pursuing my dream was best and most rewarding thing I have ever done.

If you've got a dream, I say, LIVE IT!!

All goals need to be REALISTIC. This can be a hard aspect to pin down because it is easy to underestimate ourselves and therefore aim for less than our potential. I know that Victorian Bike Ride is a realistic goal because thousands of people like me do it every year. On other hand, if I were to set myself goal of riding in Tour de France, at age of 37 and with no prior training, that would be unrealistic!

Having set a 'big' goal that meets four criteria above, it is critical that we apply a TIME FRAME to our goal. Our day-to-day goals usually have pre-set time frames or deadlines. Ever known a family to eat Christmas dinner on Boxing Day because they missed deadline? Business goals are often set by boss or by clients. This is where 'big' goals often fall down. Because they are OUR goals, it is very easy to find reasons to put them off, or not to set time limits at all. A goal without a time frame is no goal at all because (a) we can't monitor progress and (b) something else will always be more important.

There is one more important aspect to setting 'big' goals: WRITE THEM DOWN.

Writing goals down has numerous benefits: -Writing somehow makes goal 'real'. It acquires a weight that cannot be achieved if goal is kept in your head.

Putting a goal into words on paper forces you to think it through. It gives you an opportunity to test goal for 'SMARTness'. Writing facilitates 'going public' - telling business associates, friends or family what you are trying to achieve. This in itself increases chances of achieving goal. Importantly, writing gives you starting point for planning achievement of your goal. Having written down 'big' goal, you can now write down intermediate goals you will need to achieve to get there. If each of these intermediate goals is also SMART, you have a solid basis for monitoring your progress. So there you have it. Sure, plenty more can be written - at least 113 books attest to that. But biggest challenge is not HOW to set goals. It is actually DOING IT - without overlooking basics.

And if you've had time to read this far, you have time to write down at least one 'big', SMART goal for 2002 right now. Get to it!

*********** © David Brewster, December 2001

After 10 years as a line manager in manufacturing, and four years as a consultant, my goal is now to fight the constant war against the complexity which too often hampers business progress.