Studies have shown that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. The power of planning is something that cannot be overlooked, especially when you work in an industry that has no customary path to the top, such as music. By defining where you want to go, what steps it’ll take to get there, and how you can begin the process, you’ll be well equipped to truly meet your objectives and succeed in your career.
Why You Need Both Short and Long Term Goals
Each type of goal serves a different purpose, and is most effective when paired with the other. Without short term goals, long term targets seem futile, daunting, and difficult to achieve. Without long term goals, short term tasks lack intention, are easier to procrastinate, and feel ungratifying. Together, however, they provide a big picture that feels concrete and motivating to work towards.
Long term goals are big in scope and require a number of steps to achieve. These are the bold and ambitious dreams of yours that sound like a fantasy but you know you can reach (“I want to become ___”), or the time-based checkpoints you intend to mee (“in one year, I want to have ___”). Whether it’s a vision or a timeline that gets you writing things down, having a long term goal will help you keep your eye on the ball when the menial tasks are lacking luster.
Short term goals are smaller in scope and make bigger visions come to life. They can be broken down into concrete tasks and are thus more measurable, allowing you to track your progress. You can base them on timeline or feasibility, and are can range from next month’s target all the way down to tomorrow’s to-do list.
Building Blocks
For both types of goals, what defines something as short or long term is entirely up to you. Someone’s long term goal for 6 months from now can be someone else’s short term goal in their 5-year plan. What really matters is the understanding that they are building blocks. Your biggest and farthest objective is the largest block, and every goal and task that comes before it is a smaller stepping stone to get there. Daily tasks make up short term goals, and short term goals make up long term goals.
Everyone operates differently. For some, write a song is a reasonably sized daily task, while for others, it must be broken down into “find a chord progression → create an 8-bar loop → freestyle a melody → add lyrics” in order to feel realistic and doable. You’re creating your own building blocks, so find what works best for you. Perhaps your plans are actually long term, mid term, short term, weekly, and daily… there are no rules!
Goal Breakdown Example
If you don’t know where to start, the easiest thing to do is start with a long term goal and work backwards. Remember, setting a date or time limit for your goal is not required – some find that it holds them accountable while others find it stressful, so no pressure. Once you have a goal in mind, ask yourself to fill in the blank: “if I want to (goal), first I have to ___”. Here’s an example of what it might look like to work backwards from the goal hit 100k monthly listeners on Spotify:
Next, you can put them in the correct order of completion:
If any tasks need more breaking down, go for it:
Make Your Plan Very Personalized
The whole point of this process is to make things easier to complete, so be realistic and honest with yourself about the size of your tasks. Don’t bite off more than you can chew – you’ll only get discouraged. If you read a task and your immediate feeling is that you’re overwhelmed, that means it’s too big of a block. Really break things down into tasks you could put on a daily to-do list.
How to Apply it to Your Day
Once you’ve structured out your list of goals into doable tasks, treat them like your target for the day. If you’re unfamiliar or inexperienced with what you’re doing, it’s possible to not know where to start when you’re ready to tackle your first assignment. Let’s take “Write song pitch and bio” as an example.
You’ve given yourself the day to get it done, so you have more than enough time to do a little research and figure out how best to write a good pitch and artist bio to send to media outlets, playlist curators, and any other industry professionals you have in mind. If you’re coming in blind, start by looking up examples and then trying to create your own version. The Groover blog is an invaluable resource for independent artists with hundreds of articles that cover topics such as these in depth. Find a pitch walkthrough here, and an artist bio breakdown here.
Plan Out of Order
If you have ideas for something that doesn’t need doing right away, write them down anyways! Having a rough sketch of each step before you get there is an excellent incentive to actually reach those points. You may already have a music video idea before the song is done, or might have visited the Groover website and know exactly which labels, playlists, or media outlets you want to send a message to for feedback. Take a look at the list of curators on the Groover platform now to get a head start and have a clear vision in mind as you move forward in your process!
Track Your Progress
It helps enormously to keep track of how far along in the process you are. If a strict timeline makes you feel rushed or unforeseen circumstances push you off course, opt for measuring tasks based on completion instead – they’ll be done when they get done. The simple act of checking something off a list can do wonders for your motivation and discipline. Stick with it and you’ll get to where you want to be.
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