What is Success?

What is SUCCESS?

But even before this question, a rather intriguing question passed my mind

What if I am already successful, but I don’t know it?

 

I have been basically torturing myself from the last one month or so regarding the issue of success. I was beating myself up, berating myself and criticizing myself in the meanest ways possible! At the basis of this was comparison to other people whom I perceive to be “successful”. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that I am a full-time musician. And for artists and musicians, success is even more hard to define. Would I call Justin Bieber/Lady Gaga successful? I don’t know. I don’t look up to them and so I actually I don’t care if they failed or not. But I’d say Sting is very successful. Not because of the money or the glamour, but because he does exactly what he wants to do, sings his own songs all around the world. That for me is success. Doing exactly what you want to do and getting paid for it! But everyone can’t be Sting. For example, do you think Sting’s guitar tech or his sound engineer go home and cry because they’ve failed to be on stage with a bass guitar singing a song they’ve written? NO! Because I’m sure they’re pretty satisfied being on Sting’s team and doing exactly what they gain satisfaction from…mixing sound, tuning his guitars etc.

I just thought of all this. From the time I picked up the guitar for the first time when I was 16, I knew that I wanted to play guitar all the time, make music, sing and have fun. And you know what? I’m doing JUST THAT. Isn’t that success? I think it IS! I have been so busy driving myself paranoid because I am not yet on my way to becoming Sting-like, that I haven’t had a moment to acknowledge my success. I am already successful! I have enough money right now that I can sit throughout the day reading books and watching movies and then going out for leisure walks, working out, practising different styles of music on my guitar, buy new equipment etc. That IS success!

Now I am not saying that I am satisfied and that I don’t want anymore money or exciting opportunities to play and perform. But that will happen joyfully only after I’ve fully acknowledged my first successful milestone: Surviving successfully as an independent musician. And I’ve done pretty well upto here…including releasing my debut music album last year.

I have always been relatively shy considering that I am a performer, an artist. I am not flashy or flamboyant even in my daily life. I’m not loud or attention-seeking in conversation- it’s just who I am. And as of today I feel that I won’t feel too bad if I don’t develop showman-ship like some of my idols or my contemporaries. That would be like going against the grain of who I am as a person. I am all for learning and growing and imbibing desirable qualities, but I feel foolish even to imagine being a loud, extroverted performer. From this point on, I have a few dreams and ideas about my future life which truly make me happy. And being ridiculously famous isn’t one of them. I have had the great fortune of being closely connected with a lot of high-achieving, super-famous individuals and friends. One of them gave me a very interesting and intelligent definition of fame. He said that fame only indicates how many people approve or disapprove of you. That’s it. There’s nothing beyond it. It makes so much sense. So for any kind of artists, it’s even more pertinent. Talking of Sting, I recently discovered that not everyone like him! It was shocking to find forums on the internet actually dissing him and his music. So basically a certain number of people dislike him+certain number of people like him=Sting’s fame. Approval+Disapproval. Likes+Dislikes. And I after realizing this, I am not getting along famously with idea of fame 🙂

I have anyway always composed, sung and played what I like. I almost never listen to people when it comes to musical or artistic choices. I can’t be any other way because this way makes me immensely happy. To listen to my own songs exactly the way I wanted them to sound is an unmatched feeling and so, I don’t think I will be affected much by the opinions of listeners.

I’d rather be true to my calling, true to my adventure, making pots and pots of money, travel around the world, soaking in culture, forging friendships, read a lot, attend performances, wake up at noon if I feel like it, build my body, acquire new skills and be happy in my personal life. That will be success for me. But success is not one event or one day or one situation…it’s an ongoing thing. It’s a process. Although I do realize now that I CANNOT get to success from a feeling of failure. Success leads to success. I’ve only failed in being successful at something that I didn’t want to be successful at to begin with! I am okay with that!

So what’s YOUR idea of success?

 

Wishlist 2013

These are wishes, not horses; aptly so.  This is what I expect from life in 2013:

1. More wealth
2. More health
3. More conversations
4. More memories
5. More friends
6. More travel
7. More music
8. More dreams
9. More heart
10. More honesty
11. More integrity
12. More generosity
13. More togetherness
14. More courage
15. More companionship
16. More meaning
17. More laughter
18. More dance
19. More hand-holding
20. More hugs
21. More liberty
22. More freedom
23. More independence
24. More offline
25. More sunrises
26. More mountains
27. More lakes
28. More trees
29. More beauty
30. More growth
31. More learning
32. More knowledge
33. More compositions
34. More poetry
35. More satisfaction
36. More bliss
37. More blessings
38. More selflessness
39. More moments
40. More communication
41. More deliciousness
42. More fragrance
43. More security
44. More fun
45. More muscle
46. More inspiration
47. More anticipation
48. More surprises
49. More room
50. More LOVE!

30 day Challenge no.3! Ableton.

I have finally decided what my 3rd 30-day challenge is going to be.

For the next 30 days starting today, I will learn one new technique about Ableton Live 8 and fully know to apply it.

Ableton Live is a superb production/recording/performance music software and I know in my heart that I want to master it. But like many other things, I knew I was avoiding doing it because of self-limiting beliefs. Since I have been a guitarist and a singer-songwriter, I have thought myself more capable of working with an “acoustic heart” and that electronic music wouldn’t come naturally to me. Hence I want to see what gains in knowledge happen at the end of 30 days 🙂

So again, like with the principles of fitness everything happens incrementally and so will this; one step at a time.

30 day Challenge no. 2: Accomplished!

At the onset, I apologize for my extended absence from blogging daily. Good news is that my 30-day challenge was successfully completed. Now working out is a habit and I can safely say that I can’t live without it 🙂

There were a couple of unexpected hurdles along the way to the 30 days. For one, I was hit by a massive common cold attack that took some time to recover. But what I did during the time when I couldn’t get my body to exercise was, I ate healthy. And very very consciously.

I can already see changes in my body and I am very inspired because of that! Also, I took swimming classes. I have only attended 2 till now. But considering that I am awfully scared of swimming pools, this was a giant step for me. So hoping to continue that without making excuses!

Now I understand why they say that working out can change your life! There are so many hidden lessons in this whole process of working out towards fitness. Since the changes in the body happen so incrementally, you know for sure that one week of exercise is not going to get you to your desired goal. Hence patience becomes necessary. Eating the elephant piece by piece comes next. So planning follows. Sore muscles are evidence of changes taking place inside the body even if you can’t see it on the surface as yet. Faith in the goal, no matter how impossible, comes automatically. Also, personally I noticed that I wouldn’t push my body enough when I worked out earlier. But now I am driven more because I know I am making lifestyle changes, painstakingly planning my meals, avoiding falling to temptation to eat pizza etc. And I eat more consciously because I know that I am really giving each work out my 100%. So this diet and exercise motivation is now feeding off each other, which is great!

What I mean is, that exercise has now made it clear to me that with every goal in life, it has to be done in a similar way: one piece at a time, with faith, patience and confidence that it’s going to happen even if I can’t see “how” just as yet. I think, if I HAD to choose a religion, it would be Fitness 😀 Because it’s makes you an awesome person!

Now I am really feeling lost without a 30-day challenge. Any ideas on what it should be?

 

Day-19

So I have signed up for swimming lessons and at the exact time I have got a cold. That’s pretty guilt-inducing for me considering that my mother stubbornly believes that I never finish anything.
But I am still exercising anyway. If the cold is not too bothersome or accompanied by fever then it might actually be a good idea to work out. I have noticed that the cold’s effects somehow lessen.
Anyway the great part is that I inadvertently did TWO workouts. One was in the morning and right now when I got my new set of dumbells home from the car. Boy were they heavy!!

Ta-dah!! Yes the plates can be removed. Red, yellow and blue weigh 1.5, 1 and 0.8 kg respectively. The bar itself weighs 1kg. So in all 7.6 kg.
Looking forward to working out tomorrow like never before! 😉

Day 18, Day 17

So I totally forgot to make a blog entry yesterday. But that’s because I was buying a new set of dumbells 🙂 Also, my exercise plan is ready. This is what I am following.

Yesterday was a little challenging for me even mentally. As I was getting dressed to step out, I noticed that my belly had become bigger than what it was even before I started working out! I was a little scared, demotivated, negative about how I couldn’t fit well into what I was wearing. The entire evening I was very conscious of my body. But then the reason for the sudden bloating hit me as I was driving back! It was RICE! This was probably the second time only in the past fortnight that I ate rice for lunch and I don’t think I am going to eat rice again till I achieve my exercise goal. I read online about rice and stomach bloating. Apparently, rice “swells” in the stomach after absorbing liquids inside. Another theory was that sometimes the bacteria in the large intestine that help with digestion of rice start producing gas because of which this sudden bloating occurs. Whatever it was, I was feeling bloated like crazy! And it’s not a nice feeling. After all the workouts and planning the diets, it doesn’t feel good when the tummy protrudes even more than what it was at the beginning!

Anyhow, thankfully the bloating mystery is solved 🙂 Also I have bought a Kilo of whey protein powder so that there’s a commitment to finishing it.

I am going to put up a lot of pictures today. So stay tuned!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/female-20to39-muscle-building/training

Day 15- Half way there

And to mark this achievement, I gifted myself a rest day. I went to the mall and decided what I would gift myself on the 30th day 🙂
Tomorrow morning run!
Oh by the way, I bought a big Panasonic TV today. I didn’t watch TV for 4 years now. But I am excited about the DLNA and the fact that I will able to stream movies to the TV from my laptop over wifi. Yeah am a sucker for technology. Will post pictures soon.

Day 14- Biceps

Oops! I forgot to update the blog yesterday. But this was my exercise plan:

Mountain climbers- 30/20

Standing elbows to knees- 30/20

Bicep curls- 15/12/12– 8 pounds

Hammer curls 15/12/10– 8 pounds

Basic crunch- 25/25

Skyreachers- 20/15 (not as easy as they look)

Reverse crunch- 20/20

Situps- 20/20

I am not too sure about Situps and then there are a lot of conflicting articles on fitness websites. What do you guys think? Should situps be done at all?

Day 13- Triceps

Mountain climbers-30/30/30

Tricep extension- 15/12/12–8 pounds

Reverse dips- 10/10/10

Tricep kickbacks- 15/12/12– 8 pounds

Reverse crunches- 25/25/25

Standing knee to elbows- 25/20/20

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Day 12- Got moving

Only I know how I fought heavy inertia and went for a run! Of course post running I felt fabulous. It’s the getting up and going part that’s the challenge! Came back, cooked. I feel great!
Will post more tomorrow. Off to bed. Tomorrow weight training day.