Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor

It's not only a new year, it's also the beginning of a new decade! What a great time to renew your commitment to letting your musical light shine and living to your fullest potential.

There's a good chance you've already set some goals for 2010 and are using a planning system of some type to make sure you stay on track. If so, congrats to you!

If not, that OK too. Getting clear about who you are and how you want to grow is something you can do at any time of the year -- whenever the time is right for you.

Photo by Cliff Muller
But I'd like to share a simple way to look at your life and music career in a way that will make it easier to set meaningful goals. This is something I learned from Jim Bunch when I attended one of his Ultimate Game of Life workshops.

Here's the essence of it ...

All the goals you will ever want to achieve can basically be broken down into three key areas of life:

• Goals that make you happy
• Goals that make you healthy
• Goals that make you wealthy

Jim calls it the Happy, Healthy, Wealthy Game. Looking at my life and livelihood in this manner really resonates with me. Perhaps it will with you too.

Too often our goals are focused on only one or two of the three areas. Some really ambitious people just play the Wealthy, Wealthy, Wealthy Game ... and ignore their happiness and health.

Some people who might be described as "slackers" will mainly play the Happy, Happy, Happy Game ... and downplay their health and ability to make money.

Still others focus on health and their appearance at the expense of the other categories.

The trick is finding a balance between all three. Although Jim says that "Happy" is listed first for a reason. It's the area of life most people overlook in the pursuit of achieving their material goals.

I love that idea. Because you're sense of joy and well-being gives you the juice to pursue the other areas of your life -- and music career.

Here are some examples from my own Happy, Healthy and Wealthy goals for the new year:

Happy

- Meditate every morning and enjoy the benefits of a clear mind
- Spend meaningful time with Pooki, my daughter, and good friends every week
- Write, record and/or perform one new song every month

Healthy

- Hit the treadmill and make a health shake every morning
- Do some strength training for 20 to 30 minutes three times a week
- Get up from the computer once every hour to stretch and move

Wealthy

- Write, publish and promote two new books this year
- Go through my audio and video archives and create at least five new info-products this year
- Pay off the Visa card bill and home equity loan

Now get out a notebook or journal, or open a new document on your computer. Type in the three category headings: Happy, Healthy and Wealthy. Then start adding meaningful goals in each of the three areas. And make certain there's an equal balance between them all.

Do this -- really do this! -- and you'll have a happier, healthier and wealthier year in 2010.

-Bob

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