I recently read an article about punctuality and how a lack off has disbanded a cool Heavy Metal band. I just want to give you guys another reminder that being punctual is step-one to a successful functoning band, or organization. It is impossible to schedule your day successfully if you can not keep time. Being late also ruins others’ plans. The only people that will tolerate it in others, or amazingly enough sometimes even not, are other people who are never on time themselves. Truth is people are busy, they have things to do, and people with agendas have no time to sit around while twimbling their thumbs waiting for other musicians to show up.

If you are committed to a band, or task, this also goes to promp e-mail, text replies, etc.

The best way to work your time management on-point is work it backwards. By that, I mean you start with the arrival time that you need to be somewhere and deduct how long it will take you to get there. Then you add 15 minutes to travel for “un-usual” stuff that comes such as traffic, road work, flat tires.

Additional step, which is very overlooked and important, is to also give yourself time before your travel to get your “stuff” together. Need your guitar, cables, directions, coffee? Build whatever time you need to prep these things to go, or get them done the night before. What I often see is players knowing they got to be somewhere at 3’clock and they just rush like hell collecting their gear and hauling to the location in panic. Don’t do that. You crate a frenzy and when you show up, you bring a scattered energy to the people who are waiting for you. Don’t be that person.

Is every mega-rockstar super punctual? Suprising to you, most are! Some are not, but when we both sell gazillion records and employ 120 people, then you and I can rethink it then. Untill that time – know what’s important!

My dad used to own a 16 foot long Tracker boat. Tracker is a company that makes pretty cool fishing boats. The Tracker was his pride and joy.

One day, while going for a boat ride/fishing trip we put the boat onto the water from a trailer. As the trailer dropped off the boat in the water, I noticed that the boat was floating a little too low above the water line. My dad shrugged it off and said all bass boats flow low. Okay, good enough. Or, so I thought.

As we take the boat out to the lake through the crates in the bottom of the floor I see a puddle of water creeping in. Then the realization – we got water all the way up underneath the boat! I tell my dad that we got water and he screams – Oh, shit, I forgot to put the cork in! So, I’m thinking to myself that a $3 dollar part can have us swim for our life if the boat submerges.

The story turned out ok as we just sprinted using the motor back to the shore, but you bet the boat was filled with water. Close call! And, my uncle’s phone fell into the lake while he jumped out trying to tie us onto something safe by the dropping dock.

Upon getting all the water out, my dad put the cork in and we went out onto the lake later that day. I never felt at ease in that boat ever again. Truth is, it was never the boat’s fault, but someone forgetting a small detail. What a lesson! Needless to say, this story lived with us in our family for a long time, lol.

How does this story relate? It’s in the small details! It is easy to get the big picture, while forgetting all the intricate small parts that are a part of it. This is the same as the guitarist who sets up his rig for a show and has a dead battery in the tuner and no spare. Or a pedal board that uses $250 guitar pedals that are connected with cheap connector patches that destroy the sound of the guitar rig. Examples are countless. You often see a local band that plays live and the banner is 3 feet wide with the corners are folding in. Or, how about the time when you car battery dies and you realize you have no jumping cable. It’s the small parts in big movements that destroy the goal – no matter how big the goal is. Remember the details.

Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Badly. It is, my friends. In other words, we have to be willing to suck in the beginning if we are going to progress to the level of mastering something. Many people are not willing to be novices anymore. Young kids? Yes, they are kind of OK with that, because they are leaning new things all the time. They are young, lots of stuff is new. Early on in their life they are used to not being good at things. And, this is why they will bang on the guitar for months until it sounds good more often then not. Eventually, trough trail and error, they get the sound they want.

Now, adults are a different animal. Adults have done things, have seen things and they often expect that new things they learn to also come easy. They are afraid of getting their ego bruised if they suck. Not being good at anything first is actually step 1 on the journey to getting something right. You keep going. Just as a parent who does not give up on their child when they are learning to walk, you also try again. I have never seen anyone who could not play good basic guitar. I have never seen anyone whose fingers were too short, too long, too stubby, too whatever. And, I taught 1000s of people. Parents encourage their children to practice walking versus giving up because the first few steps were shaky.

So, remember, if something is hard to get right, that is a very necessary step to go through. I also call that success tax.

To all of my musician students (especially the truly serious ones) I always recommend reading autobiographies of musicians they like. It is actually not for the reason of sole entertainment. It’s fun to read about someone’s what appears to be exciting life, but reading an autobiography just for that would be missing an important point.

I recommend reading them because life as a serious musician can feel very lonely at times. And, I want my students to know that the path they are on has been travelled many times before by others. I want them to know that although the path of a musician is one out of the ordinary, it is one that is taken on by other people, too. This is important.

I met very few truly serious musicians in my years of teaching. I am talking about ones that want to go for whatever their dream with music is. And, these players usually walk to the beat of their own drum and I know that they feel a little different than some of their musician friends. When you are serious about something, it is a whole other thing. It’s a whole new level of obsession. You kind of need some help from others, but this help can be hard to find. This is why reading is important to know that others found answers and found a way on the same road why students are on.

In short – you won’t feel so alone in your travels.