Premise: When you do your work authentically (i.e. you’re doing the things you feel called to do), even if it’s in multiple and what feel (to you) like disconnected directions, your actions and projects acquire a cohesiveness to external viewers. They see and make connections you never anticipated.

(Wow, that was kinda highfalutin’? How about an example?)

Some of you remember how much I struggled to redesign my web site. *smile* Finally, I realized that I was challenged by how to present myself and the numerous and varied things I wanted to do (perform, teach, Songtaneous, blog, freelance, earn a living, etc.) without appearing undisciplined, unfocused or unbelievable. (She doesn’t really do all of that!).

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I finally worked out what I wanted to say on my web site with the help of friends and family and you, faithful readers. (Posting here helps me organize my thoughts.) I drilled down to the reason I want to sing — I want to change the world. (Talk about highfalutin’ *smile*, but I do.)

Once I stated and embraced that, I had a litmus test or lens for my work and projects. When I have an idea, I ask does it support this goal? Does it feel right? (Not “Will people understand it?,” “Should I talk about this on my web site?,” “Will this confuse people?”)

It helped me talk about singing and teaching and why they’re important to me. It helped me incorporate my blog into my web site. It helped me write a page about my publishing freelance skills that doesn’t feel smarmy and inappropriate. It gave me permission to talk about how I want to do my work and music rather than trying to tailor the work and music I do to fit a certain group or audience.

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Fast forward a couple months and now I’m struggling to create my enewsletter. (Unfortunately, even after you pick an authentic direction, you’re not done with Doubt, Procrastination or Stuck.) But I talked about with friends and family and whined posted about it here and …

Last week, I mailed my first enewsletter about ways you can work or study with me this summer. (Yes, I finally finished it. Take that, Stuck!) And people responded (thanks, people!). They emailed me questions and even passed on my email to others which is how I met my newest friend and fan, B.

B called me after someone forwarded her my newsletter. She’s working on her own start-up, entrepreneurial, self-employed, service-oriented adventure and she liked my model. (I have a model! How cool is that?!?) She complimented me on my web site and blog and praised how all of the content fit together and supported my vision statement – artistry through improvisation.

In fact, she explained to me how presenting my numerous and disparate work areas (vocalist, instructor, web designer, publishing and marketing freelancer) was improvisational. She saw my presentations on my site from the navigation menus, to the music samples to the photo slideshow as improvisational solutions. (Whaddya know?)

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The moral of the story? You don’t have to do all the work. You have to do your work. Your work is to drill down to the essence of who you are, what you want to do and why you want to do it. If you’re brave and authentic when you communicate it, your audience (readers, fans, right people, etc.) will put the pieces together in ways that fit for them. (Some of which, you could have never even imagined. *smile*)

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Don’t forget if you’re in the Twin Cities area – we’re celebrating 3 years of Songtaneous this Saturday.

I don’t know about you, but I make up rules for myself all the time. Seriously, ALL OF THE TIME. (It’s only my improv practice that lets me know how often I do this.)

For example, I have a list of folks that I email about my upcoming performances and Songtaneous events (click here to join it *smile*). I send a fair amount of email to this list in the form of event notices and reminders, so I thought a monthly email which gathers all that info in one place would be a good idea. You know, keep my Right People in the loop.

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Wait! It just happened! My passing thought turned into a made-up rule!

• Thought: Link to a web page where you could read more about the idea of Right People.
• Made-up Rule: You cannot use the term Right People unless you link somewhere!

So I spend 45 minutes on the web looking for this term when it suddenly (er … finally) occurs to me — you don’t really care. You can (and probably did) get the meaning of Right People from context and are just (patiently?) waiting for me to get on with the rest of this post.

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Right, sorry, back to emailing my list …

I’ve wanted to spruce up the emails I send to my mailing list for a while now. But, because I haven’t designed a newsletter template yet (hello again, Stuck), I haven’t been sending a monthly email to my list.

• Thought: Send a monthly email to my mailing list.
• Thought: Ooh! Design an HTML newsletter that includes photos and links.
• Made-up Rule: You can’t send a monthly email to your mailing list until you design your newsletter.

Yes, I can see reading it here that this doesn’t make any sense.

Who told me I had to finish my newsletter design before I could email my list? For that matter, who told me I had to start my newsletter design before I could email my list?

(Yes, Yes, I know, I did. But I didn’t know I was doing it.)

For me, finding the made-up rules is at least 80% of the battle. I visit this dynamic over and over again in improvising. Who said I couldn’t use words? Who said I can’t sing about what I see around me? Who said I have to fill all the space? Who said I had to stand still? Who said …?

Once I’ve weeded out my made-up rule, I can usually figure out a solution. Most of the time, it involves breaking my made-up rule.

What would that look like?

I could send monthly text emails to my list WHILE I work on my newsletter design. I mean, that would certainly take off some pressure and maybe even encourage Perfectionism and Procrastination to go play somewhere else.

What about you? Are you making up rules that hold you back?

Those of you who know me well know that I’m a thinker.

I’m concrete, direct, thoughtful, deliberate and extremely (sometimes to the point of being  painful) literal.

So … a huge gift for me from “the spontaneous music making” is that I get to (have to?) concentrate on feeling.

Believe it or not, I’m just learning that I get to make decisions based on how I feel. And that, in many instances, this is MORE effective than the considered, practical, thoughtful decision-making I’m used to doing. (And by more effective I mean that I’m happier with the results — See? Feelings.)

Some examples:

Leaving my publishing job of 9 years to return to music school.
Thoughts: This is impractical, frivolous.
Feelings: This is right (and exhilarating and terrifying *smile*).

Coaching the kiddos’ musical.
Thoughts: I don’t have the “right kind” of experience.
Feelings: This could be fun. I’d like to work with young people.

The primary example? Songtaneous itself.

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When I think about Songtaneous, I can get bogged down in judgments and fear. Is this a good idea? Can it really help people? Is this just my thing? Is anyone else interested?

But when I think about how Songtaneous feels (and how it makes me feel), I can quiet my inner critic. Here’s why.

Songtaneous has a texture, a feel and a style all its own. In fact, Songtaneous has its own personality. It feels something like this.

Of course, it incorporates large parts of my personality since I created this version of group vocal improvisation, but Songtaneous is still its own “person.”

So when I think about how to facilitate Songtaneous, or how to write about Songtaneous, or how to dress (design) Songtaneous, Songtaneous has a lot to say about those decisions.

I can feel it.