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Imagine you could live 30% longer and have more time than you ever needed for starting a music career. In this post I’m going to show you how you can achieve that, but first I want to set the scene with a sad little story.
Once upon a time…
I got a good job as marketing manager for an online theatre tickets company, and believed it would never hold me back in my music career. I consider myself quite a committed guy, and no eight hour work day was going to stop me making the music I loved.
My plan was to work there in the daytime, and when I got home I would create some music amazement. Pretty soon the income from the music stuff would mean that I could quit my job and become a full time musician.
But then I realized something that I had not realize before in my life, and that I found rather shocking…
I’m not superhuman…how weird!
I would go to work in the daytime, and when I got home in the evening every bit of energy and creativity would be zapped out of my body. All I wanted to do was sit infront of the TV set and vegetate.
If this sounds like you then it’s not your fault!
We HAVE to work to pay the bills, but I think you should rip yourself out of the hypnosis every day, and remind yourself that trading your time for money is kind of like being a modern day slave. It’s my opinion that you should aim to create an income from your music, and work for yourself as soon as humanly possible.
The way we are going to do this is to change our sleeping schedule so that we only need to sleep for four hours per day without feeling tired.
I know that some of you might be thinking that you would be like a zombie without your 8 hours, but believe me when I say that eight hours sleep is robbing you of life! There is no medical reason to suggest that you should spend a third of your life in this zombie like state.
I first came across this technique a couple of years back when I had that marketing managers job. I told myself that if I could cut out the need for sleep, then I could work on my music career in the morning and do my job during the day.
The process I tried was called “The Uberman Sleep Schedule” which goes like this…
4 hours awake
20 minute nap
4 hours awake
20 minute nap
… and so on for the whole day.
YOU NEVER GO TO BED!!!
But this proved to be impractical and torturous, because if you miss one nap by even a couple of minutes you start to crash and will feel like killing somebody.
You need to have determination of steel to do “Uberman” because you will feel like crap for a whole month.
So I gave up and decided to be like the other slaves working on my average job, trying to forget that I was letting time slip away with my music career.
A few years past…
Depression set in…
Anxiety struck…
Low self esteem took over…
Bad work practice exploded…
Lateness was common…
Clothes where messy…
Body was smelly from no shower and too much beer…
Sacking was imminent…
SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE!
So I took a massive risk, and quit that highly paid job to focus on my music full time.
I learned a lot about online marketing at that job, and I realized that if I just use the principles I learned then I should be able to create a stable income in a short amount of time from music.
So it was then that I started to work for myself and became the master of my own destiny. I also started to research reducing sleep once more.
Today I would like to tell you about a new sleeping pattern that I’m testing which let’s me have 4 core hours of super restful healthy sleep, and 20 hours awake to work on my business. In my personal case this gives me more time to write my blog here, implement my clients marketing and social media campaigns and write my own music all in one day.
Which is very cool!
Each time I have a nap it’s like a new morning, and my brain is bursting with ideas once more.
(I also have really cool dreams during my naps and core sleep time, which is very important for a healthy and focused mind.)
The sleeping pattern we are going to be using is called “Everyman 4” and I read about it in a great new book called The 4-Hour Body
As you know I recommend using and implementing what you learn as soon as possible, which is why I’m writing this post at 3am in the morning testing out this new sleep pattern.
So here is how it works….
- 12pm sleep
- 3am wake
- 8am 20 minute nap
- 2pm 20 minute nap
- 8pm 20 minute nap
Each time I wake up from a nap my mind is clear and focused as it is when I first wake up each day.
This is what the morning looks like if you have a full time job…
- Before you go to bed set your alarm for 3am.
- When the alarm goes off forget about “the snooze button” and jump right out of bed. This will be much easier. Don’t give yourself time to think about getting up because you won’t!
- Now go to the kitchen and drink some cold water and then do your morning routine.
- My morning routine goes like this: Exercise, meditate, steam, neti pot, positive visualization (This is some weird hippy shit I do, but you can skip it if you like. Email me to learn more about this step.)
- Have a nutritious breakfast.
- Now get to work on the task that is going to have the most impact on your music career. Set a timer and do it with 100% focus for 50 minutes.
- Then have a 10 minute rest.
- Now to the second thing on your list that is going to have most impact for 50 minutes.
To work out which tasks have the biggest impact on your career read my post How to Avoid Music Marketing Overload (AKA Mushy Brain Syndrome!)
At this point you might also need to start getting ready for your day job, but at least you will know that you have made that little bit of progress towards music success which is so important.
In my opinion the secret to a successful music career is not sitting down one day and calling every label on the planet until one of them decides to sign your ass. It’s about making little steps every day of the week for 6 months, then looking back and thinking…
“Wowzer, look how far I have come!”
You want to be quite strict with your sleep schedule, and after a while you should feel great and will not be craving sleep anymore.
Test out different timings for the naps to see which works best for you.
If you think this is totally bullshit, and that you will die if you don’t get your eight hours then think again.
Many animals on the planet only sleep for very short periods each day, and the frequent and short naps rejuvenate them completely.
Don’t be like a caveman, we have nothing to fear from the darkness anymore and there is no point in spending a quarter of your life in the sack.
Start to cut down your sleep, and use the time to work on your music career without excuses.
I only tell you this because I’m doing it myself and because I know how hard it can be to hold down a full time job and do music as well.
Final thoughts
Please never except being a “Day Job Slave”, because then you never have any chance of escape.
Our plantations might be different now, and our chains might be a little bit more comfortable. But we are all slaves if we trade our time for money and are living in a total illusion created by our slave bosses, who sit in their million dollar mansions snorting cocaine off the breasts of virgins.
Start taking back some of your wasted sleeping time and use it to plan your escape route.
Even if you have to live off beans and boring pasta; personally I think any sacrifice is worth paying to escaped a wasted life.
You can easily create a modest full time income from only selling a few albums per day.
So start making that daily progress NOW.
I’m Rootin’ for Ya!
- Chris
P.S You are going to feel very tired for a couple of weeks, but it will pass so keep the faith.
P.P.S I’m not a doctor so you should always be skeptical about any new theories that I post to this blog. Check with a professional medical person to make sure that you are not going to pop your brains.
I just wanted to let you know what I’m doing to achieve more in my life right now, and you can join me if you like.
P.P.P.S Even though you now have much more time you need to make sure that you are still working in 50 minute productive blocks. Otherwise you might as well just sleep all day because you are wasting just as much time.
*Bonus Tip* Remember that a project will swell in complexity to meet the time you allocate to it, so always work with a timer and give yourself short deadlines.
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Tags: how to get a music career started, how to pursue a music career, Music Career, Starting a Music Career
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