Pt. 1 of 3
I love the power of these 3 words.
I have written them down many, many times, over the years, as a way to simplify my approach to getting results.
In today’s newsletter we are going to focus in on the first word here – PURPOSE.
Grab yourself a coffee, maybe a snack too, (except if it’s the morning as fasting is a powerful tool), and strap in, it’s a loopy one, trust me. It has highs, it has lows, it has character development, subplots… The works. You’re getting proper insight into my mind at this point. So…
…Lets go!
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What’s your purpose? Really? Stop, and have a think about this…
Take two seconds right now, and please please please do it in the most cliché ‘movie-like’ kind of way.
Look off into the distance (preferably in the direction of someone who is in the room with you too, as it will weird them out), and have a really good think about this question.
Think.
Ponder.
Pontificate.
Ruminate.
Procrastinate
Hang on… Procrastinate? Don’t do that. Scratch that one, I got carried away with the ‘ates’ of it all.
Think. Ponder. Pontificate. Ruminate.
What’s your purpose?
It’s quite confronting, right? Facing such a big question at this time of the day.
I mean, here you are, enjoying yourself, minding your own business, and along I come asking you essentially ‘why are you here’? Hahahaha.
Here, being EARTH.
Here, being ALIVE.
Hell, I’m basically asking you what is the purpose of your existence? Lol.
Some ‘drum’ newsletter this has become.
Week 3, and it’s already off the rails!
All you wanted to do was quietly read away while enjoying your commodity style major brand coffee, alongside your Nutella toast, and I hit you with the ‘big one’.
(It’s the ‘crust toast’ too, as you’re all out of that ‘centre’ bread. You know, the bread that’s considered ‘the meat of it’. And to paint an even more visceral yet slightly sad scenario, let’s say it’s just Hazelnut spread – The Nutella knock-off. Just because I find that mildly humorous.)
To be fair though, in terms of that ‘commodity coffee’ jab I made, that doesn’t actually sound half bad.
I spend all this time living by the principle ’life is too short for bad coffee’, yet sometimes I admire the simplicity of really not giving a dam about where your coffee comes from, and the way in which it was processed.
The quality, the conditions, farmer pay etc. My coffee roastery I set up in Melbourne really cared about these things a LOT, and it’s rubbed off heavily I guess.
I somewhat admire the ignorance to all that. Things would be much simpler if I operated that way… Trust me.
It’s like, sometimes I think things would be so much easier if I was heavily religious.
Don’t you agree?
I am spiritual, yes. I believe we all are in some shape or form, and moralistically I concur with most religious principles… most.
But I’m not religious. It’s just not in my background.
But my point is, I admire the certainty, clarity, and almost ‘pre-determined acceptance’ the religious community have.
I suppose we refer to that as Faith. A blind understanding that all will be OK.
It has an almost ‘Mandalorian-esque’ way of accepting life.
“This is the way.”
It’s simple! I love it.
I will say too though, (and as a side note of a side note – I warned you), I very much enjoy American gospel music.
Ever since I took an interest in gospel drummers in my early 20’s, I also fell heavily down the rabbit hole of the music they accompany.
Marvin Sapp, James fortune, Fred Hammond… All absolute weapons!
I had the pleasure of jumping on a video call with Thomas Pridgen a couple of weeks back, and mentioned to him that although I’m not religious, I still identify heavily with the feelings and intent of Gospel music, and very much use it in the same capacity too.
Interesting, right? Let’s just think about THAT little nugget for a second…
I’m not religious, yet I still identify with the feelings and message Gospel music puts forward, and use it for that same purpose, too.
I mean, talk about ‘not throwing the baby out with the bath water’!
And to be honest, we should all be like that a little more in life.
Still being able to appreciate and enjoy the beauty in something, even if we don’t necessarily agree with all aspects of that said thing.
Again, just being an adult.
In this current society we are quick to judge or cut off anything that doesn’t 100% align with the way we think.
I’d wager Social Media is the biggest contributor to this.
It’s wrong.
As I said, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
I mean, another possibility here is, maybe I am religious?
Something else for me to consider, I guess.
Hmmmmm. Interesting. I’ll have to have a think over that one, I guess…
Anyway, let’s put this train back on the tracks once and for all!
PURPOSE.
As I said earlier, here you are, putting the time in with this newsletter in the hope of getting some tips on your diddles, right? Because this is a ‘drumming’ newsletter.
Your diddles are sub-par, and you’re searching for the secret sauce in these ramblings, right?
Average diddles, you might say?
No? Not it? I’m just taking a guess.
Or, maybe you wanted to know how to take your single kick to the next level and are waiting for me to drop a few ‘kick crumbs’ on the path here? Crumbs that will lead you to single kick salvation!!!!
(Woah, a biblical reference. Weird)
I call it ‘Single Kick Like Demon’. I’m not sure why, I just do.
Intuition is a powerful tool, one that I listen to as much as I can, and that line popped in my head immediately as I was writing my (soon to be released) single kick course.
It sounds direct, yet a little bit evil, and to be honest, it sounds quite exciting too!
Single Kick Like A Demon.
I’ll tell you what doesn’t work though, as another side note, combining those two things –
‘Diddle Like a Demon’
Nope. No way. Absolutely not. That one is OFF the table, and for obvious reasons.
When I’m with a student and I am teaching how to approach diddles, I often have to stop and acknowledge with the student what a terrible idea it was to name them THAT. Diddles. I mean seriously.
We’ll laugh, and then happily get back into our execution of perfect diddles.
Anyway, as we were.
You’re here, hoping for some insight on getting your pataflaflas up to scratch, yet here I am, basically asking you life’s biggest question… ‘Why are you here?’.
And why am I asking this?
Well, in short, having purpose in life is EVERYTHING.
Having an innate understanding of why you have your two feet on the ground here, is not only quite helpful, but to be honest, I think it’s your obligation and responsibility as a citizen of the universe.
Knowing your purpose is knowing yourself.
And knowing yourself is the highest of priorities we have here in life, in my opinion. Especially as our time here is so short.
Think of PURPOSE as the grandfather clock, to the wristwatch that is your GOAL.
If you were a boat, PURPOSE is the rudder steering you to your destination. The ocean is life, and will throw some heavy waves at you, but the rudder is still moving in the same direction. Even if ‘loosely’ at times.
Purpose is direction, and is essential in living a meaningful and fulfilled life. A life with clarity, drive, and focus.
So back to the original question.
What is your purpose?
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Thinking about this is very important.
And I know, it’s hard. I get it.
It’s very confronting having to face up to such a big question, but the sooner you can figure this out, the clearer the picture of life becomes, and the quicker you can sit back and enjoy the roller coaster a little more.
Me?
Well, thanks for asking!
Yes, I know my purpose.
It’s very clear to me, and to be honest, has been for some time now.
It hit me in my early teens. I’m lucky I guess.
A euphoric experience whilst playing rock groove 101, or the ‘money beat’, as we like to call it, for the very first time.
I sat down on a friend’s drum kit when I was 13, to kill some time while he was helping out on his family farm.
With sticks in hand, I played the ‘money beat’ groove – so, kick on 1 & 3, snare on 2 & 4 (oh look, a drum lesson, wow, we did it, this is a drum newsletter!), which was all purely by happenstance, I might add, and my whole body experienced a wave of euphoria come over it.
I would later realise, once I had a basis of comparison, and in my let’s say, ‘more experimental years’ , that this was pure euphoria I had generated at that moment. Something that had occurred 100% naturally. Completely unassisted.
I knew this, as at that point in time I had found more synthetic (but extremely fun) methods to generate that very same state of euphoria I had naturally pulled out from within me, from playing that money beat groove.
Ok, fuck it. I’m dancing around the bush here. But we are all adults. We can handle it, right?
What I’m saying is, that feeling of euphoria I got from playing the drums that day when I was 13, was akin to the feeling of euphoria I generated years later, in my late teens, when I started experimenting with drugs. Boom.
There, I said it. Phew! I feel better.
Oh, and I’m not joking.
Actually, now that I am thinking about it, and now that I am fleshing this out a little more here with you, I guess I’ve been chasing that initial dose of euphoria ever since. Chasing that first ‘high’ you might say.
Like a true addict! Haha.
I’m sure some of you reading this can relate, right?
I’m actually obsessed. Truly.
Without a doubt, this initial experience of euphoria at 13 years old, was an absolute gift, and thankfully made my purpose VERY clear to me from then on.
My purpose is simple, it is to become (my version of) the best drummer I possibly can, within the time I have here. That is it.
To crack MY code on this instrument.
Not yours, mine.
And the only addition I’ve made to that purpose in recent years is to get to a level of understanding with my playing, where I can in turn translate that knowledge, and in its most simplest form too.
“Staying a student makes the best teachers.”
I say it’s simple, because it is on paper. But as we all know, many factors contribute to the daily struggles of pursuing a creative outlet to its fullest.
I’m not joking when I say that everything in my life has occurred from my awareness and clear understanding of that purpose.
Even through all the ups and downs, the lefts and rights, the diagonals and inversions, the 2Ds, 3Ds, and 4Ds, life takes you through, I have still been, ever so slowly, moving towards that single purpose.
But how?
Well, once you know your purpose, you can now set a plan.
And the plan, that is the next step in this journey.
Now, I will say here too, that plan may take many different roads. Actually, I can guarantee it. But knowing your purpose first is the primary component to making a proper plan.
The plan may deviate.
It’s going to.
And sometimes WELL off track too. (Much like this newsletter)
You may be going in a straight line and have to take a hard left. It happens. But! If you zoom out, you are actually still overall moving towards that purpose, even if the pathway is not as direct as it once was.
What good is a plan if it doesn’t have a purpose to anchor itself to, right?
You actually can’t have one without the other. Not a good one anyway.
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When I started this newsletter I intended to explain and define all 3 steps –
Purpose.Plan.Action.
But in writing this I’ve realised it would be an absolute injustice to ask you such a massive question like, ‘what is your purpose?’, and then not give you the much-needed time, to let it marinate.
So that’s what I’m going to do here now.
Let it marinate.
I’m stopping here.
Purpose.Plan.Action is now a 3-part miniseries. The sort you would enjoy on HBO. You know, the classy ones.
And this here, this is part one.
So I’m going to leave you, once again, with the BIG question…
What is your purpose?
Have a think, and get back to me.
Seriously, hit me back here and share with me your purpose.
I read all my replies 🙂
Stay hungry, and see you next week,
Stan
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ps. My ‘The Key to DOUBLE STROKE mastery’ course drops in a few days. Trust me when I say that this course will sort out all your issues with attaining WORLDCLASS doubles.
pps. I will be opening the doors the March intake of my ’30-Day MasterMind Drummer Coaching Program’ in the next week or so. If you want to get in early, hit me back here and I can secure your spot. This is 30-days of accountability, whilst going deep on mechanics, practical patterns, hand and foot interplay, and nurturing creativity to its fullist.
And much much MORE!