Taking Care of Business Reduces Brain Lock
Bruce Warila
1 Comment
Whether you are forming a band, co-writing songs, taking on a manager, or bringing in an investor, if you feel that something could become or already is unjust, the unjust feeling will become a creative roadblock.
The best way to prevent this type of brain lock is to negotiate and document everything before you begin the relationship or the project.
You may want to tell whomever it is that you are dealing with that drafting deal terms upfront is essential to being fully engaged in the creative process.
Getting business out of the way is satisfying and liberating.
When I am doing something creative I don’t want unknown and yet-to-be-discussed deal terms clouding my creative thought process.
Write down some reasonable terms and have everyone acknowledge them by email or with a signature.
Expressing your willingness to be flexible can make the process quicker and less stressful for everyone.
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (1)
On a related note, one thing my bandmate and I do before we play a show is to define what "success' means to us, what the outcome is we're looking for from this particular show.
In general, when we play a show, the outcome we're looking for is to have a great time, to play as well as we can with energy and passion, and to do our best to entertain the crowd, however big or small it is.
We set up these conditions beforehand because if we don't, we establish other rules subconsciously. For example, 'success means that the house is packed with people and every single one of them is completely engaged and stays through the entire show until the end, applauding and cheering wildly.' And then we're down and upset if that doesn't happen.
We basically set up a verbal contract with ourselves before the show--if we do all the things WE can control as well as we possibly can, then we're happy.