25: How to make Plans and stay focused on your Music Career

How can you sustain a long-lasting career in the music industry while maintaining your passion and drive? In this episode, Dutch drummer Joost Lijbaart shares his insights into the art of making plans and staying focused, drawing inspiration from the Japanese concept of Ikigai. Joost explains how aligning love, money, skills, and contribution forms a powerful checklist that can guide musicians through every stage of their career. From booking tours and producing albums to finding your unique identity, Joost's approach serves as a roadmap for achieving a meaningful and fulfilling life in music.

You'll hear compelling stories of legendary musicians like Willie Nelson and Roy Haynes, who continue to perform well into their late years, driven by their passion and purpose. Joost also discusses how the Ikigai system has influenced his own journey and teaching, emphasizing the importance of knowing why you do what you do. Whether you're a seasoned musician or just starting out, this episode is packed with wisdom and practical advice to help you stay passionate and focused on your musical path. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from Joost's invaluable experience and depth of knowledge.

Joost is an outstanding drummer from the Netherlands and has over 30 years experience with booking bands and touring all over the world  (over 90 countries) , including his own bands/projects.

Joost's  Website: https://joostlijbaart.com

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:32

Joost how to make plans and how to stay focused.

Speaker 2: 0:36

Very good question, mike, because the longer you are working in music business, the more important this gets, because on a certain moment, you have been maybe 10 times to Japan, you have been maybe 20 times to Canada and everything. And what will be the next step? For myself and also for my students, I really believe very much in two strong words, that's belief and contribution. So, basically, do the stuff what you believe. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls this always your mission. So to say, your mission and your vision.

Speaker 2: 1:13

I'm a big fan of the Japanese system called Ikigai, which is basically a recipe for a meaningful life. What is a meaningful life? A meaningful life is that you are actually in the middle of four elements. One element is love. You have to love what you do, every moment of it. You have to enjoy it. You have to have fun Super important. The opposite of fun is also that you need money for it, because what you do has to be paid. So the second one is money. The third one is skills, which means are you good in what you do? The better you are in what you do, the more money you will get and even the more fun it also will generate. If you are very good in what you do. Obviously, the fourth element is also there, and that's basically contribution.

Speaker 2: 2:09

What do you contribute to the world? What is not there yet? So, in our working field, in music, what do we add to music? What is not there yet? So in which way are we sticking out? Not in the way that we are better than other ones, but more what is our unique identity? If you have these four elements in what you do, most of the time you know pretty well on your intuition what you need to do and what is the next step, because with every tour I book or every band I have, or every new album I make, I always think of those four things. Do I? I really love it? Is it good enough? Can we contribute something to it, and what actually is it paying if we are doing a tour? If you do that, then this is a pretty good checklist, I think, for knowing what will be your next step.

Speaker 1: 3:05

How did you get across the Ikigai system?

Speaker 2: 3:07

I saw it actually once on the internet. How did you get across the Ikigai system? I saw it actually once on the internet. There's an interesting documentary on Netflix which goes over five countries in the world where people grow very old Okinawa, where especially women grow older than 108 years old quite easily. Okinawa and Japan, yeah, and basically they say it has to do with the Ikigai system, but it also has to do with social life and a meaningful life. So even people of 108 years old, they live their Ikigai. They have still something to do what they really love to do. For us as musicians, this is pretty normal. You know, a couple of days ago the news came in that david sandworm passed away. He was 78 years old and he was still planning a tour for next year. I think that's amazing. You know, I know that willie nelson is over 90. He's still touring. Can you believe it, roy, Roy Haynes.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Roy Haynes is 99. 99, still playing. He played with Parker Amazing. And we have our national iconic drummer, john Engels. Yeah, he's 89. He can't stop playing. No Well, I hope.

Speaker 2: 4:20

I'm in the same situation. Yeah, 89, 90.

Speaker 1: 4:25

But I mean John is a good example because we know him and he's always so positive. He's always, I mean, he must have his moments. But you know, whenever this of course the music as such which keeps him alive. And you know, I mean I saw that with Toots. I played with Toots Tillemans for many years and what kept him going was the love for music. And he was in his eighties and we did, we did these tours in Japan and he was always energetic and the music kept him going was the love for music. He was in his 80s and we did these tours in Japan and he was always energetic and the music kept him going.

Speaker 2: 4:55

It's basically also knowing why you are doing it. If you know why you are doing what you are doing, it gives you always energy and this is what you see with all those people. They live the life they want to live. Lots of people who have day jobs, they actually work to retire and musicians. Actually, they work all the time. They invest money and time so they actually can work and they can keep on working.

Speaker 1: 5:24

In the next episodes. I want to talk with you about money yeah, About finances. Let's do that Because I want to have your take on money. About finances, let's do that Because I want to have your take on this.

Speaker 2: 5:32

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:32

And thank you for this one. Really insightful information and everybody check out Ikigai. I'll put the details in the show notes.