JP Bouvet

I had a rough day today, mentally. I was just stuck. I had the evening off and I ended up starting something I’ve been wanting to start for months. I started painting. There are certain people among us who exist in the creative world: musicians, dancers, visual artists, etc. I really believe that once you get a taste of this creative world, there is no turning back. I’ve always considered myself a creative person, but not an artist by any measure. I’m far too logical, I don’t have a beard, and my apartment is too tidy. Right? Am I hung up enough on stereotypes? We are ALL ARTISTS (if we want to be). 

  Like I said, I have been stuck on the drum set. I go to practice every day, and I force myself to stay there for two hours, and I really do make progress in some way or another, but I’m not feeling the love that I usually do. I attribute it to the fact that I’m not playing with any real people at the moment. My bands are working on albums and I’m not really a part of “the scene” here in NYC, so when things aren’t happening, I am practicing drums alone for months at a time, and I’m not gonna lie, I run out of steam. Anyway, today I went to the art store near my house and spoke to a guy with a beard (he’s obviously an artist) about what I would need to start painting. He pointed me to a starter pack with some tubes of acrylic paint and a piece of canvas and some brushes. 

  I made some art tonight. I pushed myself in a new way. Drumming, because of the monotonous fashion of my practice lately, has left me fatigued and uncreative on the drums… but we are still creative beings. Again… once you get a glimpse of that world, you can’t leave. It’s not an option to go punch holes in paper for 8 hours a day. 

  So I painted. I blasted some Kimbra, and slowly consumed some beers while I, for the first time since 9th grade, mixed colors and splotched them on a canvas. And I must say… I feel like I accomplished something today. I feel proud. I don’t even quite understand it, but I feel proud and I love what I made. No one needs to see it, but I was creative today. Unnecessarily creative, and I think I’m learning that that is an essential part of my well-being. 

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" - Benjamin Franklin

Have you ever actually thought? A string of conversations with my Grandfather lead me to telling him that the happiest I'd ever been is alone. Actually alone. On a trip in Europe with an actual inability to reach anyone. No one in the entire world knew where I was, and they weren't wondering. There was no responsibility for me to tell anyone where I was or where I was going or when I planned to depart. We agreed that this feeling was one of freedom, when your mind is actually able to think. It is uninterrupted by not only actual interruptions, but the potential interruption that is always sitting in the back of our mind. 

It certainly takes time to get into a state of deep thought, whether it be creative, reflective, or for the sake of problem solving. Not only actual distractions, but potential distractions break you from the path toward deep thought and when you return to the (now) task of thinking, you are restarting at the surface. The "potential distractions" are the true preventers. This is you thinking that you might have a text message. Did you miss a message? I wonder if Todd responded yet? I should check my email? etc. When you are actually alone, you are allowed to travel to the deepest corners of your mind. The darkest pits and the most brilliant mountaintops. These are the places that define the real you and these are the parts people are intimidated by because they might not fit in with the social norm. 

Everyone's mind contains a certain middle-ground, normal, average, tepid area. This area is the surface. It is gray. It is easy to access. It is full of unnecessary wants and it is slave to routine and shallow conversation. The deep corners and the brilliant peaks are the hardest to reach but they are you. They are infinitely deep and dark hues as well as sparkling, shining flares of colored light.Those are the defining factors of you and your personality. Imagine for one moment that throughout your life, you could have very well never even come close to accessing those areas. Everyone should be able to be happy on their own. You should, in theory, be the best company you could ever ask for. To you, you are perfect and you are your exact counterpart and I believe if one of these is not true, that means society has told you that you are wrong. You and the environment around you should be everything you need to be satisfied, not unlike a deer who lies down in the tall grasses, not threatened, not hungry, and certainly not bored. My grandfather said to me, "People in your generation don't know how to be alone. I spend many hours alone every day when your grandmother is out and about. I am never bored. I keep myself busy. And often times, I sit outside and look at the mountains and the flowers and the birds and this leaves me satisfied." And he really means it. He is able to sit and he is able to think and there is no need for other nonsense. When he speaks to you of serious matters, you do not feel threatened. His perspective on our life is beyond valuable. When he gives you advice, you feel certain it is because he loves you. When he gives you a compliment, your heart swells like you didn't know possible and you're not far from crying and wrapping your arms around him. He is honest, well read, unafraid, and wise. 

When he left home to go to the military, a message would take 3 months to arrive home and 3 months to return back to him. He grew up in a time when being alone was an obvious part of life. Today, there is almost no such thing. It is so difficult to be alone in our world that the only time I feel I have been alone, was during a road trip I took through some parts of Europe for a couple weeks in 2012. My phone was incapable of sending or receiving anything, and it was off and hidden anyways. I was in a car alone, driving through cities of people that I couldn't communicate with. No one knew where I was in the entire world and no one was asking. I had no schedule and I needed to report to no one. For a week, I spoke to only strangers and myself. That's what it took for me to be alone, and it was the closest I have ever felt to myself. It was also the happiest few days of my life to date. You may not be able to get up and go on a road trip through Europe at this point in your life but that isn't the point and that isn't the destination. Just starting to be aware of your undiscovered genius is the first step. Small steps away from the constant distractions that keep us bobbing at the surface are the place to start. Learn to turn your phone off. Learn to put your computer away. No one will ask where you are. No one needs to know where you are. Let them bob at the surface while you take a brave step into your own life. Put your feet down at the bottom of the stream, walk yourself to the shore, and watch the world float by. You'd be surprised, when you return to the water, how you will affect those around you. 

Today, I re-realized the main ingredient that causes the difference between unproductive-confused-purposelessly-floating-JP and totally-awesome-productive-constantly-progressing-getting-things-done-JP.

It is the schedule. 

I am currently in the midst of a few days of down time between gigs and pressing issues. This means that even though the infinite to-do list remains infinite, none of these things have a due date, and none of them are entirely pressing. It is times like these that I struggle the most to be productive. It is during these times that the day goes by and I'm like... what did I even do today? Or I sit at the drum set to "practice" and an hour later I'm like... zero progress was just made.

The reason is because there is NO STRUCTURE. I might have 5 things I want to focus on today but if I don't actually assign each of them a time, I sort of float between them without making any real progress because while I'm sort of half doing one of them, I'm sort of half thinking about the other 4 things, and when I'll eat lunch, and if I should have another cup of coffee, and other useless things. 

I was struggling with this earlier today, and then I was like... I need a schedule. It's easy. Open iCal. And block out every single thing you want to do today. For me, this means every single hour of the day has a little orange square on it with a name. This includes lunch and making phone calls too. Then you don't feel bad about spending an hour eating lunch because you know that, instead of looking toward the great unknown, it will be followed by 3 hours of video editing or whatever the case may be. 

Today, I schedule in an hour and a half to practice drums, followed by an hour for lunch, followed by an hour to make several phone calls regarding the booking of Dave Mackay Group's upcoming tour, followed by 3 hours of video editing, followed by an hour work out, an our for dinner, and the rest of the night to edit videos and work on new updates for my website. And I know I'm going to get all of it done because I allotted myself enough time to do each task! (how exciting)

And if something changes (like all of a sudden, I'm inspired to write a blog post), I just take everything and move it back 30 minutes. Voila. 

TRY IT. You will discover the most productive you that you have ever seen. 

Ok last thought. AND THEN, within your scheduled activities, make a sub-schedule (is that a word?)! I scheduled an hour and a half to drum today. I broke that into three 30 minute segments with a focus for each. It was one of the best practice sessions I've had in a long time. 

Scheduling will allow you to be in the moment because you've allowed yourself to immerse yourself in this task and the others will get their time to shine.

I'm not sure whether self-sustaining or self-dependent is the more fitting term but try this… There's a switch in your mind… so right now… consciously switch it. Switch it to self-sustaining mode. Now try doing everything yourself. Haircuts, food, designing, writing, advertising, booking, videoing, cleaning, scheduling, etc. The result: More passionate, efficient, output than ever. And you'll be learning and pushing yourself every day and that's a big part of why life is exciting. Challenge = Excitement = Fulfillment. 

I promise, if you need to rely on someone else to make moves, you're going to be stuck hassling people and not making moves for all eternity. And if someone else is creating everything for you, it is impossible for it to be an honest extension of yourself  This is especially applicable to the early stages of your career, or at least the part of your career before you have a million dollar budget and a team of ten employees (aka, probably forever).

If you're saying, "I don't know how to do this," just add "yet" to the end of it and you have just made the switch from the average follower to a learning, thriving, independent, inspired machine of awesomeness that expels things that you care about and created yourself with your own precious time and energy (this will feel really, really good, and make you want to do more).

1) "I'm not artsy," does not exist. 

2) "I don't have the programs." - Tip: Save all your video editing for a time when you can get the free 30 day trial of Final Cut Pro X. Save all your photo editing for a free trial or cheap download of Photoshop Elements. Look up tutorials on YouTube or elsewhere on the web and you are officially killing it. And when the trials run out, mow enough lawns or work enough hours to buy them. $300 for FCPX. $60 for Photoshop Elements.

3) Copy other people's ideas (within reason). When I make posters for events, I usually just look at a bunch of other posters and take various ideas from them to make my new one. Many great musicians, videographers, and designers do this every day.

It's not about your skill set. It's about your attitude. A broader skill set will be the result of an awesome, fearless attitude.