Can music help you achieve goals?
Music can comfort, console, and energize. It marks events and can summon special and fun memories. Let me give you some examples of how music has done this for me. In 1987, my husband and I got married. We had chosen a special song for the first dance which I cannot recall. What I can recall is that the band did not play that song but mistakenly played “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang. Anyone who attended a wedding in the 80s and 90s remembers this song! I remember laughing at the time and this memory still makes me smile today.
Early in my career as an accounting and finance professional, most of the people more senior than me were men and I was often the only woman sitting at the board table. When I felt deflated by this, I had a song that I would call my anthem. “Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves” by the Eurythmics and with Aretha Franklin. The lyrics grabbed me. “. . . behind every great man, there had to be a great woman. . . You know that it’s no longer true, so we’re comin’ out of the kitchen, ‘cause there’s somethin’ we forgot to say to you, we say, Sisters are doin’ it for themselves, Standin’ on their own two feet, And ringin’ on their own bells.” I would play this song loudly in my car and the impact was immediate. I felt energized, uplifted, and had more confidence.
In 2012, my sister Annemarie died suddenly and tragically. Somehow, I stumbled on the song, “I can only Imagine” by MercyMe with the chorus, “I can only imagine, what it will be like, when I walk by your side.” Now, I know that the song does not reference my sister, but I envisioned being with her again and it had a calming effect during troubled times.
But can music help you achieve goals? I think it can! I recently started a challenge to run 3 miles in 30 days with no walking. To many people, this would not be difficult, but it was a challenge for me. On one particular run, I had a lot of negative self-talk. “You are so slow,” “You are not a runner, and you don’t look like one.” The next time I ran, I selected music that was spiritual and that had the impact of lifting me and focusing on the positive, not the negative.
Sometimes when we are working on a goal, we can get stuck and unable to move forward. Maybe you aren’t feeling motivated to work on your goal activity. Maybe your creativity is stagnant. Maybe you are discouraged by the lack of progress. If this is the case, find a song with a rhythm or lyrics that speak to your current situation. Look for inspiration. It might be the one thing that gets you back on track.
Allow music to be your reminder of special memories, lyrics to get you through rough times but also use music to be an inspiration to achieve your goals.