No.
Say it with me…no.
See, you can say it.
SO STOP SAYING YES TO EVERYTHING.
I know in this industry, especially when you’re starting out, you feel like it is necessary to jump on every opportunity possible. While that is necessary, there is also a balance you have to find with it.
Showing up is in fact key. Burning yourself out is not. And after a while, speaking from experience, if you are anything like me, you get into a habit of saying yes. The fear of NOT showing up will overwhelm you and will force you to believe that you need to say to everything or else you are missing the biggest opportunity of your life.
Just know when this feeling kicks in, think about it thoroughly.
If you are meant to be there, you will be there. If not, do not stress. You just were not meant to be there. Maybe you were meant to be right where you were at that exact moment even if that place was home. There is no need to constantly worry that you are missing opportunities. There are a million opportunities that pass by you every single day, but they just aren’t yours.
Going to school for music business and being in Nashville, you feel the pressure of wanting to be at everything. With the amount of events and opportunities happening in and around Nashville on any given day at any given hour, it is simply impossible.
The key is figure out a balance within your schedule. Where can you fit these opportunities in?
By dedicating a certain percentage of your time to leaving room to say yes to things, you can easily get the best of both worlds.
So make sure you are allowing yourself time to be human. Allowing yourself grace for maybe not having the energy to go out and be social that night. Sometimes, by listening to our bodies and our social battery, we are doing ourselves an even bigger favor than if we pushed ourselves.
Now, if you have already dedicated yourself to an activity, try your best to be there. For example, if it is a volunteer shift for a live event happening downtown, make sure you do not just flake last minute. Make sure you are professional about how you go about that situation. Sometimes, in those situations, if you can push yourself, it helps in the long run. In other situations, if you can’t, just make sure you have a backup so you do not leave anyone hanging and end up making yourself look unprofessional and not prepared.
The music industry is an overwhelming space to be in. It constantly feels like if you do not work four-hundred times harder than the next person, you are going to fail. In reality, this is not true. You have to work hard, but there is a fine line between working hard and working yourself to burn out. Make sure to try your hardest to not cross that line. Once you do, it can be very tough to try to cross back over. Then, you will be missing out on much more than you had anticipated.
While this part of being a human sounds scary and confusing, it is okay. It is scary and confusing for everyone. This is why, as outlined before, it is so important for you to get to know yourself and your limits. Once you know yourself, you will start to learn what is best for you, and taking care of your mental health will become intuitive.
So, continue to say “yes.”
BUT!!!
Start making sure you are leaving room to say “yes” to yourself rather than anyone else.
The only way to do that is to say “no.”
Just for good measure, one more time altogether….NO.