GAGA Journaling for Creative Success
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GAGA Journaling for Creative Success
Music makers are entrepreneurs.
If you are a musician, singer, songwriter, audio engineer, DJ, music producer, journalist, manager, etc., you are an entrepreneur. Or a solopreneur, which is defined as a person who sets up a business on their own.
Thankfully, there are gads of resources, mentors, and experts out there for creatives who want to build a successful business. I’ve explored, experimented, and paid (a lot) for many of them through the years. In doing so, I’ve learned valuable lessons and strategies for success. I’ve also learned expensive lessons in what doesn’t work.
Over the years, I realized there are two major challenges that creatives who want to professionally pursue their craft suffer:
The diversions of running a business stifle the creative process that yields the product/service you’re selling. Setting you up for massive anxiety and disappointment.
You are so instinctively open to universal messages, that the waterfall of ideas overwhelms you; rendering you either stuck in indecision or spread so thin that all endeavors are devoid of joy and excellence.
Good lord, that’s a lot to digest. Both problems have plagued me at one time or another. I was a complete mess during COVID and had a hard time recovering even after we returned to “normal” routines. I truly believe that highly creative people are still recovering personally and professionally.
There is one thing in all my studies and experiments that addressed these issues and led me to better daily living and professional success.
JOURNALING
It’s not just for teens! Some notable creatives who practice(d) journaling, include
Leonardo Da Vinci
Frida Kahlo
Lady GaGa
Taylor Swift
Beyoncé
Billie Eilish
Oprah Winfrey
Harry Styles
According to Cornell University, journaling relieves stress, promotes problem-solving skills, and increases creativity and productivity. Communication, Stress Management and Applied Neuroscience Trainer Magda Tabac explains the science behind journaling, especially when written by hand (versus typing).
“Writing by hand, because it’s a lot slower than our capacity to think, forces us to be present in the moment, to stay with our thoughts. In a way, it stops a bit the ‘monkey mind’ and helps us be mindful, engages our senses.”
She goes on to explain the neurological process. “Our limbic system… specifically, our amygdala, is responsible for processing our emotions, and which triggers our fight/flight/freeze reactions under fear, anxiety, threats or stress. When we start writing and thus, processing those emotions, the amygdala ‘calms down’ a little (‘name it to tame it’). As journaling becomes a habit, our amygdala becomes calmer and calmer. That is because we start to understand better the emotions we experience, so we don’t experience them anymore at the same intensity as before[ii]. We also stop perceiving our imagined threats as being real.”
There are common types of journaling that most of us have heard of or at least tried:
Career journaling. An account of where you are and where you’re going in your career. Example writings include work-related experiences, missteps, achievements, priorities, goals, and problem solving.
Personal journaling. More creative and free form, this journaling style focuses on self-expression. It can be anything from life’s chronicles and daily tasks to doodles to lyrics/poetry to daydreams and wishes.
Self-care journaling. Reflections of emotional and physical wellbeing. Examples may be a list of gratitudes, mantras, food/exercise logs, and affirmations.
If you practice journaling and it’s working for you, please share your secret to success in the comments. If you haven’t tried it or your attempts have tapered off without a noticeable result, read on!
GAGA Journaling Invite
If you feel like all this journaling would take more time and effort than you have in a day, you are not alone. If you aren’t sure “how” to journal, you are not alone. I believe in the K.I.S.S. (keep it short or simple) approach to new habits, we hear you!
That’s where GAGA Journaling For Creative Success comes in. This type of journaling combines the benefits of everything mentioned above by using a simple template for daily journaling or times when you feel stuck or spread too thin.
BONUS: We’re introducing two new journaling strategies for taking your live music performance level to the next level while reducing pre-show jitters.
You’re invited to join Herizon Music’s *first* online meetup on Tuesday, January 25th. We’ve hosted in-person quarterly meetups for almost two years in Austin, and now our national audience has access! Part of the magic is that we all come together and exchange ideas, meet new friends/colleagues, and leave with knowledge and takeaways that immediately help you achieve merit-based success in the music industry.
If you’re a paid subscriber to Herizon Music: The Newsletter, you get FREE access to this event and will automatically receive a ticket. If you’d like to become a paid subscriber, click here.
Otherwise, get your ticket through Eventbrite for only $7.50 before June 25th, 2024.
GAGA Journaling Meetup Details
First, much gratitude to the businesses and nonprofits supporting women in music: Lurleen Ladd of Wavemakers 40+, Penny Jo Pullus of Texchromosome.org, and Holly Osterman of Empart Media Group.
Thanks to their patronage, women in music are getting 12-month subscriptions to the Herizon Music Makers program, which includes the cost of events like this. If you’d like a patron to sponsor you, fill out this form. There are no financial requirements.
Meetup Itinerary:
Special Guest: Oregon’s Ceremonial Medicine Woman Christine Marie, who will lead our meditative moment.
Special Guest: Wendy Colonna, CCA Certified Coach of Texas-based Crescendo Creative Solutions will talk money and journaling.
Host: Thea Wood, Herizon Music founder, TEDx speaker, and certified image consultant
Introductions (attendee meet and greet)
Meditative Moment (Christine Marie)
GAGA Journaling 101 (Thea Wood)
Money talk in journaling (Wendy Colonna)
BONUS: Two journal strategies for better musical performances!!
Q&A session
Links to cool journaling supplies and other resources
We always have a great time and learn so much at these meetups. Please join us and jumpstart journaling as part of your path to success professionally and personally.
ICYMI
Music’s Stalkers, Stans & Fans Part 1
Music’s Stalkers, Stans & Fans Part 2
Podcast: Satori Shakoor: Detroit's Funkadelic Midwife of Stories
That’s it! Thank you for joining our band of dreamers, rule breakers, and rockstars.
Thea 🎶
This is heavenly. Unfortunately, my musical talents are nonexistent. 😕
I swear by journaling for my mental health. I no longer perform live but I think this idea that a performer can journal their way to better shows is spot on. So many good reasons to do this!