Showing up – Plan your path towards your goals

Showing up?

Showing up is half the work, which is half true in itself. Because without a rhythm to your showing up, the act of showing up gets harder and harder.

Bit of a confusing sentence right ? Everything in life moves according to a rhythm , breathing is a rhythm , the sunrise a rhythm, you move in a certain rhythm.

So in order to become good at anything, working on that skill needs a rhythm. And in order for a rhythm to become a rhythm, planning it is necessary. Even for people who hate planning. Mostly it is not the planning people hate. But the showing up. Planning something leaves a lot of room for perceived failure, and that feeling is what you want to avoid. Postponing any activity feels bad. Especially an activity you want to be good at, have a passion for. Dream of doing.

So we don’t plan, and set ourselves up for failure. Not failure in a sense that we are bad at the very thing we want to be good at. But failing because we never got started.

So how do we plan ?

People tend not to plan activities, but cram the day as full as possible, doing as much as possible. And call it planning. That’s the opposite of planning. Planning needs room, breathing room. As a person you will not be at your best all the time. Most of the time, how you feel and how your energy flows depends on a lot of things you can’t control. Cramming your days as full as possible leaves more room for external factors sucking your attention and energy away.

The first step, set one new goal

There is a lot things that can be said for having multiple goals, but as we plan for the first time, in a new way, we forget we already have goals in our life. Maybe not goals defined as goals. But time is being consumed. You have your personal life, work, and maybe already a sport or other physical activity you do. All of these things already have a place in your diary and a rhythm to them.

So think of one new thing you want to master, be good at, improve your skills on. For me that is making music. Which always lingered in the distance and I defined it as a hobby, but never put in a consistent amount of time and work. Yet I loved doing it whenever I got around to it. So think about that one thing. Your passion as it is commonly defined.

Write this  down as your focus point for planning.

The second step, measure your real time consumption.

Keep a diary and measure how long every activity in your agenda really took versus how much you planned for it. And make notes on what kind of taks it was. Household shores are tasks you will have to do. And never plan enough time for. Also make notes of how all activities outside of the obligatory ones contribute to your new goal. Be honest.

You don’t plan the binging of this new series on Netflix or any other subscription thing. Note the hours, also make note of how many hours you spent on social media not doing anything towards your goal.

Make detailed notes, how you feel, if you where happy at the end of the day, how energized you felt at the beginning and at the end. Do all this for 2 weeks.

The third step, deleting activities and compressing time slots.

Now its time to start deleting all those excess activities and limit time spent on things, its ok to wind down with social media, watch some tv at the end of the day. But limit the hours you put into those things.

Household shores need doing, get the notes out and see if you planned these realistically or did they consume more time ? Allocate time appropriatly.
Also, plan ahead, do the groceries with a list you made earlier, plan making the list. And so on.

Delete any activities that drifted you away from your new goal, and are not absolutely necessary. Combining these 3 should make room for spending at least a couple of hours on the new goal. Make sure you plan these new activities at least 3 times a week, in order to get that all important rhythm.

Last but not least, plan leisure time. Grab that book, watch that movie, go hang out with friends, do date night , do nothing. Leave room for doing nothing. Plan rest! Really resting is very important, just sitting or lying down. Doesn’t have to take long.

Plan days or longer with no plans at all, play in those days. Do whatever you feel like. Be a kid again. This is a great way for experimenting without limits and ingraining new paths of thinking into your subconsciousness.

Make sure rest and recovery are done in between the ‘harder’ activities that take up a lot of energy. All tasks with a high level of concentration can only be done for so many hours a day. Science has it marked down to four a day, if you are practiced. I will do a separate blog on focussed work. But don’t overdo it on complicated tasks. Especially in the beginning.

The finish

So we now know what we want to achieve. We have the goal. We measured our activities.  We know the realities of executing all tasks in a week. We downsized on the amount of activities and limited our time we spend per activity.

We booked in time for rest and recharging. So what’s next, make a default planning for the week, set a fixed day for doing the planning for next week, lets say Saturday evening. Execute the planning, and keep a diary om the progress.

Next week I will dive into the structure of planning and how to build up a routine.

The music journey – Making an album (week 28)

I am running behind on my blogs, didn’t have time too scribble about week 28, due to other activities, mostly out of the house. Week 28 has been a week with lots of difficulty showing up. Starting any activities regarding my music ambitions was very hard.

I really value the rhythm I have developed and letting go of that rhythm is hard. It’s the same feeling I get when I can’t run. And that’s not even factoring in the positive effects both have on my wellbeing.

Yet this week has been all about having a hard time getting started with any of the activities I can normally swap between depending on my energy levels. And when I got started I had to give it up pretty fast.

I know its a case of falling down and getting up again, this week however was mostly falling down.

I will write about the previous week at the end of this week, making sure I get some of my Rhythm back.

The music journey – Making an album (week 22)

This week I have been jamming with a small setup and researching how I can get the most out of it. I have also had the recorder running so the tapes are there. I have planned another two weeks ahead with more of these jam sessions. So I am consistently making music. And get my focus back on the main event, making music. Hopefully my brain can keep up with it.

Another topic that I have been working on some more is figuring out the possibilities regarding releasing the music. For me the easiest, well not exactly easy but most comfortable way is to see release it. Getting stuff out there via a few platforms so I don’t get lost and see if I can create a constant schedule in releasing my music. Let’s see how I get on at first, I can always expand later.

Visuals are increasingly important as a way of getting music out there, especially with things like Youtube which are a source of new music for lots of people. In my original plan for my album project I had come up with the idea to integrate Touchdesigner for the visual component. And the fun bit about this is you can connect it to MAX MSP. I am now figuring out how I can incorporate this into my patches and generate a nice visual to go with my music.

A very good week, but I still fall into the pitfall of loosing my focus. As everything is fun and the joy I get out of researching stuff. But I feel I return to my original idea much quicker than I used too. So that’s a win. Now all I need to do is finishing music, and find the confidence to release it.

The music journey – Making an album (week 12)

This week was all about inspiration, I had a coaching session planned and I have been to a festival. And bought myself a musical gift. Even managed to put in a few music making hours as well. A modest but significant succes.

Coaching session

After a few weeks of cognitive problems and a general disfunctional brain this week I planned another session with my coach. It was very good catching up and talking about the creative proces. And what I can do in order to get to finish some music. Limitation being the magic word. Which I thought I had done when setting up the project. But as I got to work with the setup it became obvious that within that setup the options are still almost endless. To get going with a limited framwork we started an Ableton session with a few sounds and now I have to make a composition with just these sounds.

Pretty obvious, but I just could not bring myself to limit the options. I get lost in endless patching without pressing stop on the record button and get on with composition. And with that in mind I got to think about limiting my setup for this project further.

As such that I don’t get overly lost in the possibilities of the larger setup and keep exploring. More often than not I end up just making sounds without any tangible result. Also because my cognitive energy is all gone by the time I start thinking on composition. More on the smaller setup next week. A slight tip of the veil is the gift I bought myself, a Moog Mother-32. A synth voice in Eurorack format. Always wanted a Moog and now I finally got one.

Etmaal festival

Last Saturday I went to the day program of Etmaal festival, absolutely perfect for me, as it is during the day, it wasn’t overly crowded and ample opportunity and space for some recovering in between shows with some food & beverages.

Etmaal had a total of  32 hours and is focussend towards Electronic music with lots of space for performing with modular synthesizers and other unpredictlable musical instruments such as tape loops and so on.  In the night it was more geared towards dancing and during the day more experimental performances.

For me the day kicked off with a performance from Heinbach, who brought a tape machine and various other bits of kit and he changed the tape loops during the show, which for me seemed pretty risky. Very cool and interesting show with lots of beautiful moments coming out of the time & duration of the tape loops. If this was the case or not, perhaps the level of control was bigger, it delivers some very unique and beautiful music and sound timbres.

Time for a spot of lunch and after that it was time for  JakoJako feat. Alvin Collantes. A live performance with a modular synthesizer and a diner. A beautiful symbiotic performance in which the dance seemed controlled by the music. Cool seeing the levels of control a dancer has over their body and execute the movements with such fluidity. The tension on the body is very impressive to watch. The music was great as well. For me the highlight of the day.

A bit of a dash getting in time to the live show by  Rødhad & Vril live, this time not in the theater , but in a club setting. Very good show and for me very nice to see a performance by a duo which music I like too listen too. Very inspirational.

The final show of my day was  Dasha Rush & Schloss Mirabell. Really looking forward to this one, as I love the cello as an instrument and was very curious in the combination with electronics. For me it was the least accessible of the shows I had seen, musically. I couldn’t always keep up, which might have something to do with my mental fatigue at that stage of the day. Some very beautiful moments I got too experience and In other moments I was behind the curve a bit and had difficulty in understanding it (If you get what I mean)

A very cool day indeed and I finally got to see some of my favorite artists, it was a real present being able to go out and experience music again in this way. As most of these things tend to be in the evening or late at night. Hopefully more things appear during the day in such a setting.

The music journey – Making an album (week 11)

Another week flew by, and this week I didn’t do much in the way of working on the musical project that is making the album. My music hours were spent on reading manuals and listening to music. I amassed a fair backlog of music that needs listening or re-listening with focus & attention. I sometimes just listened parts of albums or didn’t really take my time for them. So this week it was all about the Elektron Digitakt & Autechre EPS 1991 -2002.

Elektron Digitakt

The Digitakt has long been on the wish list and I borrowed one for a while to check it out. After my Motu sound card stopped working I went on the search for a small sound card & got the idea to buy the Digitakt instead. It can also be used as a sound card after all. Very handy indeed.

I never dove into the manual as it works pretty intuitive, but after reading and diving into the Machinedrum last week I also started reading the manual for the Digitakt. And I must say, that’s not a bad idea. Especially the bit on the MIDI tracks which I never really use had some nice insights which triggered a lot of ideas for the combination with the modular & sequencing hardware samplers. I haven’t finished reading but I have months worth of ideas too explore.

I never really read any manuals before I got more or less forced into reading them and it’s simply highly recommended, you always learn something and pick up on interesting avenues for exploration.

Autechre EPS 1991 – 2002

I am a big Autechre enthusiast, and I am always trying too complete my collection. So when EPS 1991 – 2002 was released I bought it straight away. But never really listened to it as a whole. Partly because I have some of the EPS’s which are floating around my collection, somewhere. And I don’t have all of them. I have been listening to some of the EPS, but not from start to finish.

The beauty of this collection is you can listen too the development of Autechre’s music trough the years, from the more rave oriented tracks going towards the more abstract work. I really find it very nice how the music despite all the structural shapes retains it’s open and dynamic character. Every time I listen I hear different things or listen in a different way. It really helps sitting down for it and focus on listening. And not just put it on as background music. Although for me it works very well as background music while working. For people just starting out with Autechre and want a nice beginning of a collection this box is an excellent point to begin.

The week

The real work on the album wasn’t for me this week. I did however spent my allocated time for music on music related topics. Working on technical knowledge & inspiration. This keeps the momentum going which is important.

The music journey – Making an album (week 3)

The past week I have focussed on going through the whole proces. My planning consisted of the following parts.

      • Building a patch on my Eurorack synth.
      • Programming sequences for that patch.
      • Recording it.
      • Making samples out of the recording.
      • Making a composition with the sample pack
      • Finishing the track.

As a study and research subject I took scales, tonality and musical notes.

Execution

My planning was pretty clear, now onto what really happend. The patch I partially finished and I started doubting my choices surrounding the layout of modules in my cases. So back to the drawing board and trying to downsize a bit for this project. In order not to get lost and keep patching. Less is more.

After this rebuild I have recorded a small drone and got on with it. I was way out of my planning as a result. So for next week my planning remains roughly the same. Learned a lot though and had a reaffirmation that my framework is solid.

It’s just not that straightforward , it will remain a search to what works and what doesn’t.

And given the limited time I get to spend on this project every planning I don’t meet automatically means a delay. Just as it was the case last week. But that in itself isn’t a real problem. The end result will still be there.

I will keep making (and adjusting) my planning and try sticking with it. It gives a very nice structure to the whole proces , and it has a build in continuity , ever since I started working this way I have been at it every week for that set amount of time. Which in itself is very important.

The music journey – Making an album (week 2)

Week 2 in the house, time flies when you’re having fun. And fun it is. Week 1 resulted in my project framework for what I want to achieve. For this week my goal was to start building my sample library for my tracks.

Firstly, I want to talk about time management. I don’t have a lot of quality time due to my brain damage , so I can’t be at it for hours on end or listen to a lot of sound for a long period of time. So my schedule is an hour of intense activity at a time.

Which means making actual sounds for sampling , listening to loops etc. Working with sound basically. Learning and reading is easier on my brain so I can do that more often. So it’s preparation , and then making the noise.

Things like building my Max MSP patches, Eurorack ideas and learning both Max MSP and Ableton are at the forefront at the moment. And about 2 hours of sound design and sampling.

Another thing I got to do, is make a moodboard of my influences for the album. Which is fun to do, it has also brought some new angles to the project in ways of getting it all together.

One thing I have noticed is that it’s way more fun to have a goal. I enjoy simply sitting with my gear and making sounds, this really gives it an edge. Being not solely a tool to escape but to really create is something I have never done.

Not all the planned stuff got finished this week, and maybe my initial goal is something I need more time to accomplice , but for now I just keep at it.

October 2019 – Dividend

October again, and it’s time for my monthly dividend statement. Yet again a steady growth. It’s considering the current interest rate climate all too easy to praise dividends.

But there is a but, the risk is significantly higher. So always invest for the long term, at least with a 20 year horizon. And with money you absolutely don’t need for the foreseeable future. Don’t chase the next hot thing. Make a plan, and stick to it consistently. And let time do its job.

Maybe these warnings albeit a repetition are still worth mentioning. A lot of people talk very casually about investing as if they are as secure as an ‘old fashioned’ savings account. Well they are not. Be sure too understand the basics of finance, money and time before doing anything. Read a few books on money and finance in general. And then start reading up on investing. And make sure you read even more on risk. Not just financial risk, but risk in general. There are numerous non financial risks in your life which will impact you personally and financially. Such as job and income loss, divorce , illness. Read about how to cover those risks. Life is 90% other stuff rather than money. Albeit a lot of people feel otherwise. Think about what you want in life first and foremost. Think hard. And then make a plan on how to get there.

Well after this short intermezzo, it’s numbers time.

DateStockCurrencyAmount
23-10-2019Cisco systemsEUR8,83
16-10-2019W.P. Carey EUR9,33
09-10-2019Vanguard FTSE All-world UCITS ETFEUR101,18
01-10-2019Coca ColaEUR5,41
01-10-2019NikeEUR1,98
TotalEUR126,73

September 2019 Dividend

Another month in the dust, thus time for a dividend update. This month there are a few new dividends paying out due to the growth of the protfolio. Also a few, one bank and two insurers, which are a bit of a coincidence , as I bought the shares for option construction purposes and was expecting having nonen of them at the time they were handing out the dividends. Nonetheless it’s here and I am clouting it. A bit of luck really.

Its yet again a nice improvement from last year, although a bit skewed with the Dow Dupont merger and split process and the dividend by accident with the bank and insurers. It’s good to have a growth and progress in the portfolio. It keeps one motivated !

See you all next month.

The numbers:

DateStockCurrencyAmount
28-09-2019Vanguard dividend appreciation fundEUR1,51
20-09-2019AegonEUR15,00
16-09-2019Corteva IncEUR0,35
16-09-2019DowDuPont INCEUR0,82
14-09-2019Dow INCEUR1,91
12-09-2019MicrosoftEUR8,36
11-09-2019NN GroupEUR76,00
11-09-2019UnileverEUR8,21
06-09-2019ASREUR70,00
02-09-2019ABN AmroEUR60,00
TotalEUR242,16

August 2019 Dividend

It’s been a while. Writing articles got a backseat to real life. So I am a bit behind. But we’re back. With August and the monthly dividend report. It’s the usual really. An increase in dividend income comparing the numbers with last year. And not surprisingly because of the fact I am still building the portfolio.

Another reminder of how important it is to be consistent and dedicated, it works. It’s better too invest a small amount consistently , then larger amounts when you have money ‘left over’.

Another fact of life, the world is still in turmoil. Brexit, nationalism, trade wars , oil you name it, it’s happening. Just the day to day madness really. Just keep building that portfolio and stay calm. One step at a time upon the ladder of investing.

Ok enough talking, it’s numbers time :

DateStockCurrencyAmount
02-08-2019Amsterdam CommoditiesEUR24,00
12-08-2019NSIEUR12,48
12-08-2019INGEUR24,00
15-08-2019AMGEUR20,00
15-08-2019AppleEUR10,40
29-08-2019AholdEUR30,00
TotalEUR120,88