Your Music Job Box

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Aug 9, 2005

YOUR MUSIC JOB BOX

A job box is easy to make, and a great way to get all those icky teeny things done you don't like to deal with as a musician. I personally like to take an Altoids box, paint it with some leftover nail polish or the last blobs of whatever is on my paintbrush, then stick fun decorations I find on it (some people find this a great place to put all those banana, apple and avocado stickers or those pesky foil confetti things people like to stick in your greeting cards). Some people use a mayo or salsa jar, or just a small cardboard box. Cut up some small scraps of paper, probably 1/2" x 3/4" or so, and write a very short job on each one. Mix them up daily and pull three or so of them, more if you are really stuck for real things to do. If nothing else, your job box can be a great trigger to get you moving musically when you are just too stuck to come up with anything on your own. Also, just so they do all get done eventually, have a second box to put all the ones you've done into, so you can at least feel some sense of accomplishment as it fills up slowly.

DON'T OVERDO THEM

There should be a list of things you like to get done everyday, besides things you could put in the job box. If some of the things you find on your list can be done just a time or so a week, why not make them part of the job box, instead of making your daily list longer? If you know some chores really need to be done constantly, then maybe they do belong on a daily/weekly/monthly list, and not the job box, so you make sure they do get done in a timely manner. This is mostly intended to be a white paper syndrome cure, as well as something to help you utilize your time better, especially if you have dialup and it seems you are wasting half of your life waiting for downloads instead of doing your music. Also, try to just draw them in the morning and make up a fun rule like they all just need to be done by bedtime, so it is a more laid back venture, and you can pick the best time to accomplish each one. For example, if you draw the slip that you wrote to sing one song, you probably could do that in the car on the way to work, and not bug your spouse belting it out first thing in the morning.

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