christinaluna’s posterous

Never let anyone define your work.

And if you're a woman reading this --- let me rephrase and say --

Never let a man define your work.

I will admit I am guilty of letting this happen. But never again. But really -- will our work really reflect the vision in your mind as long as other people's visions are in the way?

To me, an artist is at his or her best when left alone in their natural state of creativity.

If I meddled with that creativity, it wouldn't be them would it?

This applies to all types of work.

I hope this at least stands out in my own work.

Signing off.

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I'm really used to making a lot of decisions on my own. I'm big on following my heart, my gut, my instinct... whatever you'd like to call it. But lately it seems like everyone else's guts are spilling onto my plate. (Makes me think of the old game show Double Dare. Makes me think of the deer on the highway. Sorry gross.) It seems that everyone has a newfound interest in my decision making. In the positive perspective, there is an overwhelming support coming in. In the negative perspective, there is a lot of opinions clouding my own perspective.

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Today marks what would of been the 30th birthday of my dear friend Adrian Feir, who passed away January 6, 2000. Every time her birthday or death anniversary comes around, it serves as a reminder of where my work started. If you haven't heard the story yet -- my best friend passed away from Lymphoma Cancer. Before she passed away, Make-A-Wish Foundation granted her a wish to go to Australia. And after her passing I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great to do something for Make-A-Wish Foundation? I put together a benefit show for them in memory of my friend. I had no idea that one event would change my life direction and career.

It's been almost ten years -- and today a boomerang from Adrian's trip to Australia and a framed children's drawing of Australia from Make-A-Wish Foundation preciously hang on my wall.

In those moments where I can't seem to understand why I've been put in this place, just seeing that on my wall reminds me --- that I can only embrace the unexpected.

What's next? I have no idea.

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This is one of the few birthdays where I decided to spend it in quiet. There has been a lot going on with my work, lots of travel, and a lot of noise in my mind. Good noise of course. So every bit of quiet I can get to clear my mind, to relax or to even just close my eyes is quite precious right now.

Those Sweet Words - Norah Jones

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Now I really feel like working!

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You've probably heard me say this before.

"Good things happen over time. Great things happen all at once."

I've been having trouble sleeping, for the basic fact that great things are happening to me right now -- all at once. I'm realizing that when those great things do hit your life, the biggest test and challenge is being able to handle it all.

How am I doing so far? Fortunately there is no measuring stick to tell me. And if there was, I want to say that I could be doing better. I give myself another two weeks to finally adjust, before something else happens causing me to once again readjust. Or maybe I should accept the fact that you don't necessarily have to have stability to feel stable. Okay.. totally not making sense. But you get it right?

Case in point ...

I'm flowing from one project to the next, one task to the next -- with no starting point in mind, no end point in mind -- the only thing in mind is the fact that it's on my to do list and I'm supposed to get it done. Not much time to ponder, not much time to analyze, not much to think twice about whether or not the task you originally put on your to do list is going to work or not --- and very little time to look at a project, try to understand what your gut tells you and cut if off the list before it potentially grows into a major disaster.

No stability but I feel stable.

Maybe because I know that despite my mind flowing from one thing to the next --- it feels quite nice knowing that it's just getting done. But you see -- I use the word "flowing" because that's exactly how it feels. It's flowing and it doesn't feel stressful, doesn't feel like a headache --- although I feel quite tired ---

I feel ......

great.

It feels great to drive by a "For Lease" sign and stare at the property trying to decide if that's going to be your company's home, without freaking out or doubting the ability to do so.

It feels great to wake up at 6am, jump into a flooded inbox of e-mails, answer a whole bunch of calls, stare at contracts, delete/add dates to your touring calendar, tweet about artist gigs, watch new music videos, send sales kits ---

all in the name of a bunch of very talented artists.

And then the best parts of the day?

The normal regular day banter of these talented gifted kids I work with.

Listening to your artist talk about longboarding.

Looking at the millions of food pictures posted by your artist.

Listening to an artist tell you their highlights of their day which could be as exciting as going to the store, and then their lows of their day ---

And then listening to an artist tell you about their dreams and their aspirations -- I become even more convinced that my own dreams really are all about making theirs happen.

It feels great .... just sitting here wondering why I ever let an artist put a sticker of an axe on my phone...

It really is great.

Thank you Creator.

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"All anyone requires to start a successful career is a sound mind, a healthy body, and a genuine desire to be of as much service as possible to as many people as possible." ~ Napoleon Hill

Can you do me a favor? If I should ever veer away, please let me know.

I think what's always been interesting about my work, is that it has always revolved around servicing others -- whether servicing artists, events, clients -- service continues to be a big factor in the outcome of your business and most importantly in the outcome of your personal life's activities.

The last eight months have been quite an adventure. And it never ceases to amaze me how every year is an adventure with some kind of theme revolving around it. When this year started, I knew what my test would be -- what my big life question would be...

What do you value most in your life? What are you willing to sacrifice? And from my past experience of sacrificing one for the other -- I've come to a much better balance. There are just some things not worth sacrificing. And once you chop off all of the unnecessary things in your life, the things that are left over don’t have to compete for your time and attention. They simply begin to fit all together in your life nice and snugly.

Sleep snugly guys. God bless.

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"Work smarter, not harder."

Have you heard of that phrase? It's one of those phrases right now that just really makes sense to me. If you're not eating, sleeping, rejuvenating somehow .... you really are working way too hard. (Please note this is a rare case for me to be up at 2:00am to be writing this! haha)

I'm amazed. After changing some of my lifestyle habits, I have never felt so much more productive and healthy. This job of mine is growing on me. It's taking me less time these days to handle certain tasks.

Case in point, last week. One of my newest artists into the family made a trip out here to work with me for the week. It turned out to be one of the most productive weeks I've ever seen. Was strange to see it -- because everything that we did in one week -- I can remember it used to take a whole month's time to do. I won't even try to figure it out. Just happy to see it happen.

Working smarter, not harder. I'd like to stay on that tip.

Make it rain.

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This is what my to do list looks like.

1) Concert budget

2) New artist casebook

3) Stare at CRM

4) Check on Tour Support Manager on the road.

5) Update gig calendar

6) Create spreadsheets

7) Stare at CRM again.

8) Don't drink coffee.

9) You better take a walk.

10) E-mail to the people who e-mailed you.

11) E-mail the crew.

12) E-mail the artists.

13) E-mail self.

14) Don't forget to talk to the Creator.

15) Stare at CRM again before sleeping.

Isn't my industry glamorous? Thought you knew. Happy Monday.

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