MasterMind Drummer
July 15th, 2024
Newsletter #30
Nothing Happens When You Say No…
Welcome back!
Today marks Newsletter #30!
Somehow, through hell and high water, each week I’ve managed to slow things down enough to get my thoughts and ideas out in the form of a MasterMind Drummer Newsletter, and we are now up to #30!
Amazing stuff.
You’ll remember, January 1st fell on a Monday this year, so as we were leading up to the start of the new year, and I was forming the MasterMind Drummer concept in my head (developing the person alongside the player), I saw a great opportunity to start this newsletter journey on the 1st, and on a Monday. This really worked with my OCD… haha.
And here we are now, at #30.
Its amazing what can happen if you just commit, follow through, and keep showing up.
So anyway, I hope you’ve had a positive and productive week since we last caught up.
I’ve just come out of a pretty gnarly 7 days, and when I look at my calendar over the next few weeks, its only really the beginning…
First up, before we dive into what’s been happening, I just wanted to say thanks to those who shared positive feedback on my re-release of ‘The Key To Double Stroke Mastery 2.0’. It’s very much appreciated.
As mentioned last week, I went to the trouble of refliming the course, to bring it inline with the rest of the MasterMind Drummer courses, as well as adding a few more details too, and the feedback has been great!
Once again, Doubles are ground zero when it comes to your drumming journey. If they aren’t world-class, stop everything, and go spend the necessary time getting them there. Everything on the kit will get much much easier, trust me…
I always try to look after my Newsletter subs the best I can, so this week, use the code MASTERMIND10 for $10 off ‘The Key To Double Stroke Mastery 2.0’.
Get yours HERE
————–
So, what have I been up to?
Well, this time last week I was packing my bags and doing my best to get my 7 pieces of luggage all under 23kgs each.
Yes, you read that right, 7 pieces! It sounds like a nightmare, right? I thought so too, but in the end, it wasn’t that bad.
So why did I have 7 pieces of luggage? I mean, who in their right mind would travel with that many pieces of luggage?
I do everything in my power to travel as efficiently and as lightly as possible, especially when it comes to touring or anything band related, and 7 pieces is definitely not that.
Well, it started off with announcing my band Black Comet would be kicking off its nationwide winter tour in the South Island. Specifically, Wanaka, Queenstown, and Dunedin.
We have our debut album dropping soon, so to celebrate, we wanted to make sure we got on the road, and got to some new areas we hadn’t been to yet, performing to as many people as we could possibly muster.
(I’ll add, we sold-out all 3 shows!!!)
Not soon after this tour was announced, I received an email from one of my 30-Day students, who happened to be Wanaka based, asking if I would be willing to hold a MasterMind Drummer Clinic in Wanaka, too. The night before the Black Comet show.
I didn’t say yes immediately, but I didn’t say no either.
Well, why not? I thought. One thing I realised a long, long time ago, is nothing happens when you say no. Nothing. But at the very least, something happens when you say yes. That, I can guarantee.
Not quite the revelation you were hoping for, right? Haha. I know this sounds obvious, but you will be surprised at how many amazing opportunities are missed by people, purely because they have built ‘no’ into their vocabulary, by default.
*We are our own worst enemy when it comes to personal progress*
I always say, I’m naturally quite a lazy and unmotivated person (believe it or not), and I would put saying ‘no’ to things in that category also. So, I just do my absolute best to keep that person at bay at all times.
I do this by doing hard things, daily.
Things like exercise, drum practice, writing, reading, staying off my phone at times of productivity, anything I can do to challenge myself daily, and push against that inner-b*tch thats just screaming to do ‘bugger all’, I do it.
It’s much easier to say no, to not do the clinic, to stay home an extra couple of days with the family, and have things roll out as they were initially planned, but that is exactly why I had to say yes.
Remember what we spoke about last week? In regard to Steven Pressfield’s book ‘The War Of Art’? Simply put, saying ‘no’ is the resistance rearing its ugly head and doing everything in its power to keep you in a state of homeostasis.
“Homeostasis is the tendency to resist change in order to maintain a stable, relatively constant environment.”
When it comes to progress and moving forward, homeostasis is not a good thing.
I mean, let’s boil it down. It’s really just as simple as changing my flights, setting up the ticketing online, organising a KDrums kit, landing two days earlier… etc etc. Thats it. Its just details. Easy enough.
So that’s what I did.
First, I spoke with Ben from KDrums, and asked if he can organise a kit for me in Wanaka. When it comes to doing drum clinics/workshops here in NZ, if I can’t play a KDrums kit, I won’t do the clinic.
Why?
Well, because I play KDrums, and I am very proud of this fact. So if I am going to go to the trouble of doing a drum clinic, and present all my ideas to an audience, I will put my ‘best foot forward‘, and play the gear I am most comfortable and proud to play.
Ben was immediately all in and said he’d organise getting a kit freighted down, so I booked the clinic, booked the venue, changed my flights, and we made it happen.
Now, in honour of keeping things fluid and going with the flow, the only change to this plan was, due to weather issues in the week leading up, freight all over the country had been disrupted.
This meant that instead of freighting the kit down, I would take it with me on the plane.
My initial thought was that this was going to be a nightmare, but guess what… It wasn’t.
At 5:30am, I rolled into the Tauranga Airport with 7 cases – which included 4 drum cases and 3 personal, and the staff there were fantastic. They didn’t even bat an eyelid.
And then, to make things even smoother, my student Gavin, (the one that reached out and asked if I would put the clinic on), offered to pick me up at the other end, once I landed in Queestown with my 7 cases. What a guy!
They say, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. Well, it turns out it also ‘takes a village to host a Stan’.
The locals rallied together and helped me with everything I needed, once on the ground. So, accommodation, my hardware requirements, live sound on the evening, etc etc. Everything was sorted. What an amazing community.
And the result? An awesome evening presenting my MasterMind Drummer Clinic to the Wanaka community.
Now, I say ‘community’, and not ‘drum community’, because we had bass players, guitarists, filmmakers, photographers, as well as drummers, too!
And that is what I find with these MasterMind Clinics. They are not just for drummers, they are for creatives in general.
What I dive into in these clinics, is for ALL creatives. The drums are just the vehicle for the message.
So, what’s the message with this newsletter here? What’s the point of all this? I say this as, ultimately, I know that (aside from myself and the local community) it’s not THAT big of a deal that I put another clinic on. I’m no hero…
Well, the message goes back to the title. Simply, say YES more.
Opportunity can only come from saying yes to things, so give yourself that advantage and increase the odds of good things happening, by saying yes more.
What you’ll find too, is often when you say yes to something, more opportunities can now present themselves. Much like moving towards a goal, deviations stem off the initial journey, deviations that would never have happened had you not said yes in the first place.
So, keep things simple, and remember…
Nothing Happens When You Say No…
Let’s leave it there this week. I have more shows to prep for, lessons to film, courses to create, orders to ship, etc etc. Oh, and I might try to get some sleep at some point, too 😉
As always, thanks for taking the time, and thanks for all your feedback, too. I really appreciate it.
I read them all. So please, if you have any thoughts, send them through, and let’s get a dialogue happening.
Don’t forget… Stay hungry! See you next week.
Stan