Fail your way to the top.

So, after one of the busiest days I've had in quite awhile (I had a breakfast date with my roommate AND hit the gym and was at the office just after 10Am. This is remarkable for me), I got on the road to Michigan late yesterday afternoon after I was done in the studio. Aside from having no interior lights and expired Michigan tags (b/c THAT'S smart...), the drive was rather pleasant. I brought my two precious poochies with me and I am simply convinced that I have the best dogs in all the world. They are seriously the best car dogs I have ever seen. They don't move, they sleep, the ENTIRE way. I let them out once at a rest area just past Cincinnatti and it was adorable. I let them off their leashes and just watched them run around forever. Fed em. Put em in the car. And off we went for another 4 hours til we reached fabulous Belleville.

My manager gave me this book on tape (yes, you read that correctly). She downloaded it onto my iPod and said that I HAD to listen to at least part of it. I asked her if this was b/c she thought I was emo-depressed (b/c honestly, I'm not at this particular time for once) and she said no. It was just for enlightment and to help with business stuff too. So...since I didn't want to make Krista listen to this "book on tape" on the drive back to Nashville on Sunday, I started listening. At first, I was bored out of my mind. But the further I got into it, the more interesting it became. I actually listened to the WHOLE thing...it took just over 6-ish hours. I know, you're impressed. You should be.

The book is called "The Slight Edge" and I can't remember the guy who wrote it right now. But it just basically talks about all those small decisions that you make, that aren't drastic and come with dramatic results in that exact moment (a piece of pizza over a salad, to take a walk around the neighborhood before settling on the couch for the rest of the night, reading 10 pages of a GOOD, "self-help, self-motivating, inspirational" book, not giving into negative, venting, gossping conversations with friends so often). However, all those times you say, "Well, it's okay for now." or "It isn't going to kill me to skip this, or eat this instead" add up. And then it DOES matter, it DOES "kill" you. B/c we get in the habit of quitting. B/c at first, "failure" or "quitting" hurts us, but the more we do it, the easier it becomes. B/c it's just as easy NOT to do something as it is to DO it. Also, it talks about how we are so hell-bent on seeing results NOW. We want to lose 10 lbs NOW, we want to have money in the bank NOW, we want to become better people NOW. However, if you would commit to improving yourself .003% each and every day, whether it's by taking that walk, eating something healthy, reading a bit of that book, saving $10 of that check you just got, changing the subject when a conversation with a friend starts to turn towards the negative, etc. then by the end of the year...you'd have improved yourself almost 100%. It made SO much sense to me. It also talks about closing up incomplete things in your past b/c then you have no more ties to it. Successful people get pulled by the future. Unsuccessful people get pulled by the past. Successful people fail millions of times before they are successful. "Fail your way to the top." Also...there's a difference in being BUSY and being PRODUCTIVE. That was a huge one for me. I feel like I'm constantly busy, busy, busy. Working out, going to the office or singing a demo in the studio, running errands (tanning, drug store, grocery shopping, bank, post office, whatev), taking the dogs for a walk, picking up the house, seeing friends, and so on...but am I truly being PRODUCTIVE? Am I any further along than the day before, personally or professionally? Think about it.

Anywho...
I'm not preaching at all. I just wanted to defend my 6.5 hours of self help, book on tape. Haha.

I'm sitting at my family's computer. Everyone's at work and/or school. I'm alone in the house with FIVE dogs. Yes, count that...FIVE. I'm about to take my two to go visit Granny for a few hours. Then I'm picking my youngest sister, Erin up at school and we're gonna go visit my other little sister, Lindsey, at work. Fun fun. Then I'm gonna go run at the high school's track, shower, and meet a bunch of girlfriends from back in the day for dinner. Woohoo!

Peace.

P.S. Just found out that Gibson has given me TWO FREE guitars! AND, I have THREE shows during Fan Fair this year!!! OW OW!