034 – Bad Instructions, Bad Results!

If you receive bad instruction, you’ll get bad results. Obviously, right? And to be fair, there are people out there who are intentionally steering you in the wrong direction. But sometimes, the best instructions can still go through the wrong filter, leading to subpar results. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares why this happens. Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Trying and failing to open a bag of cereal 01:07 – Getting and interpreting instructions 01:46 – What happens when you get the recipe wrong? 02:43 – “Gurus” steering you in the wrong direction 03:59 – Even with the best instructions, you can still mess it up 04:38 – The importance of ongoing self-education Transcript: I was opening a bag of cereal this morning. You notice how sometimes they have instructions on them, like “Tear here?” So, I was trying to tear it open, and I managed to remove some of the material but not enough of it… the tear should have been a little bit lower. So, the bag did not open. Now I'm trying to pull it open and that's not happening. Of course, at that point, scissors and knives come out to cut. It's one of those resealable bags, right? If you do it wrong – now, I managed to avoid this – but if you do it wrong, you end up ruining the resealable parts. Then the bag is cut open and the entire system is ruined. But what this reminded me of was the fact that sometimes we get instructions from our coaches or mentors, the people who are guiding us in our careers. It could even be our managers. Now, their advice could be perfectly on point, but sometimes the way we hear it and interpret it and then put it into action simply won’t work. The advice you receive could be on point. But the way you interpret it and put it into action could be flawed.Share on X So, even with the best instructions, you can run into situations where it was not executed correctly. It was not interpreted correctly. And because it ended up filtering through you, you did not get the expected results from the action. And this is what we run into most with our training. I think most experts are well-meaning. You can certainly identify those who are just out there constantly selling on webinars every day, all the time, every week. “Webinar, webinar, webinar, come see my webinar. buy my course, buy my thing, buy my stack, buy my offer.” I'm not saying that's wrong, but I think some people do have more of a money motive than a willingness, inclination, or passion to help others. But the point is if we're actively looking and questioning what we're hearing, then we're not receiving bad advice. Now, sometimes we are. But we're not generally receiving bad advice though. So, we think we heard it right and we did it right and we executed correctly and for some reason, the recipe doesn't work, and the cake tastes horrible. That's human error. Then on the other hand, of course, you will find people that don't give you the right instructions or don't give them to you in a way that could even be interpreted and executed properly by you. Now, mindset advice is sometimes like this, and mindset is more about, “Let me get my attitude and thinking straight so that I can go and do the things that I need to do without having to constantly contend with distractions and negative feedback and negative comments” because those things are going to come whether you like it or not. Some people just aren't going to like you or they’re not going to like what you do. But if you have the right mindset, you won't be held back by negative comments and negative reviews and… God forbid death threats, which is not fun for anyone. Some of my friends have received those too. But mainly we're talking about practical advice on how to book more gigs or how to set up an online music career or get your website right and that kind of thing. And sometimes we do get completely wrong instructions. Some are only interested in making money off you. The point is we can still mess it up with the best instructions available. And if that's what's happening, we need to take a closer look. What did we miss? Even with the best instruction available, you can still mess it up.Share on X I learned James Schramko's Own The Racecourse method when I rebuilt Music Entrepreneur HQ many years ago. It’s a powerful strategy and it did magnetically attract a lot of traffic because I was consistently doing the right things. I still missed certain pieces, though, which didn't help me stay relevant. And that's no good, right? If you have a strategy and you're executing it and it's working, you want to stay relevant with your audience. And I think this also gives a lot more credence and testament to the importance of ongoing self-education. You’ve got to become a lifelong learner. You’ve got to keep learning and be willing to change and adapt. Be a lifelong longer. Be willing to change. Be willing to adapt. Share on X Sometimes you've done things so long a certain way that it can be difficult to change. You can get set in your ways. Sometimes it can sound so exhausting to learn something new. “We've always done it this way” and changing it to a new way. It's going to be a learning curve, but I think the best entrepreneurs and the best artists are always those who are willing to adapt their practices to be as effective as they can be.