Pursuing Excellence Without Selling Your Soul

It's tough to create. It's even tougher when you are raising a family and trying to delegate your time in so many different directions. I find myself constantly trying to find the time to spend on my creative pursuits but am frequently unsuccessful due to the many trials of parenthood. That leads me to ask the question, is pursuing musical excellence worth the selling of one's soul? I think not.

I often get frustrated because I have so many musical ideas in my head, I don't seem to have the time to get them on paper, recorded, mixed and mastered, and shared with the world. As more time passes, more song ideas line up in my mind, waiting their turn to get exposed to the world. I'll admit that this backlog of music has caused me to feel unsuccessful as a musician. After all, it is our duty as musicians to create and share our music with all. But when I look at why I can't create as often as I'd like, I realize that it is entirely worth it.

Most of my musical creations are crafted at night, after all the kids are in bed and the house is quiet. After a long day of work and a night full of kid activities, most times I don't feel like heading down to the studio to work, even if I want to. I am too tired to create and mustering the energy becomes difficult when what I really need is to sleep to prepare for the next long day. Not to mention, the quiet times after the kids sleep is also the time that I use to spend with my wife, Kelly.

While we do record and work on songs together, it's also important to spend time with each other not focused on musical things. I know that if I did spend more time on music, my family life would suffer. No matter how great I want to be as a musician, I much more want to be great as a father and a husband. So while the ideas in my head keep getting longer, they'll have to wait their turn.