Accomplishing those goals

I came upon two interesting posts on setting, refining, and achieving your goals. The first post 5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals lays out a decent framework of:

1. Define your goal and give it shape
2. Identify the next few tasks
3. Set aside time and work through your tasks
4. Review and reward
5. Revisit, revise and reassess if required

While there’s nothing new here: #2 is a build on David Allen’s next action from his Getting Things Done process, that I’ve written about on a number of occasions. And #3 is very similar to Guy Kawasaki’s advice to “iterate, celebrate, iterate, celebrate.” And, of course, it’s all build upon, the master, Deming’s PDSA Cycle (that is: Plan, Do, Study, Act).

That said, the more you hear and think about this type of procedure, the more likely you are to apply it to your strategy for getting your music heard.

Dave Cheong, the blog’s author, certainly gets this, and posted a follow up that expands upon his original idea called, 10 R’s to Apply if you Want to Succeed.

He’s put together a cool graphic to help you get the flow:

[click to enlarge]

Again, this is very similar to the Deming cycle, but may be useful to those who want a bit more detailed structure. For example, step 4, “Reframe,” provides a nice bit of instruction:

4. Reframe

Sometimes, our initial assessment of a problem can be incorrect. Often, I find this is because the problem is poorly defined. Reframing is the feedback step which allows us to restate the problem in a different way and in doing so perhaps Realise and Recognise the problem as something else entirely. This can sometimes cast a problem in a different light and present a solution which may otherwise not be obvious.

My only issue with this, is that in all of the detail I never see the words “customer” or “market” come up. While this is implicit in Deming’s PDSA Cycle (and explicit in much of his writing), one would think, given the depth of detail that Cheong goes into, that attaching his protocol to customers would find its way in somehow.

Without this constant concern for understanding your customer/market, the greatest ideas and strategies in the world will fail. Nowhere is this more true than in the music business.

That said, there’s a lot to be gained from Mr. Cheong’s insight in both of his posts that — if followed — will help you get your music heard.

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