As requested 
6 steps to manage overwhelm
1. BECOME AWARE YOU'RE OVERWHELMED. Without awareness, you can't do shit. Just acknowledge, accept, and even approve that you are feeling overwhelmed for the moment. [Things are about to change anyway]
2. TAKE 5 DEEP CONSCIOUS BREATHS. It's okay, you have time to take 5 breaths. This will help reset your nervous system and prepare you to restore effectiveness.
3. BREAK IT DOWN. Overwhelm indicates too much is going on for your system to handle. Make it manageable by breaking it down. Make a long to do list... write down all the emotions you are feeling (overwhelm is always just the top layer of other emotions)... figure out what's going on and figure out how to wrap your mind around it.
4. DETERMINE A STRATEGY. Prioritize your todo list and figure out what/when/how you will get some things done; or decide on a way you are going to move through your emotions; or decide you will reach out to friends until someone can talk (i recommend you maintain a list of "people I can reach out to for support" so that you don't have to think through this when you are overwhelmed). If you are in a somatic bind (e.g. your nervous system is fucked), your strategy should involve some kind of reset. If you're really hungry/sleepy, your strategy should involve food/rest.
5. SUBMIT! DO IT! Execute on the strategy. It's that simple. Surrender to what comes. Allow the overwhelm to shift. All is well 
6. REFLECT. You may or may not do a 100% perfect job of handling the overwhelm. That's okay. What's most important is that you tried some steps, and learned something. After you follow these steps, reflect. What worked? What didn't? What will you do differently this time? If you make a small improvement every time you run into overwhelm, it will soon enough be an easily manageable and rare occurrence.
First person to try this strategy when they are actually overwhelmed, will win a personalized 1 min french horn serenade video!
Tagging everyone who expressed interest in the strategy. And thanks Meg Southern for co-brainstorming these steps!
May peace be with you!
On how we speak to those in our lives: "The language of the soul always enhances relationships".
My coach said that to me last week.
The language of the soul... what that means to me is if I really get still, tune in with myself, and access some deeper or more "global" part that I've learned to call "my soul". Call it higher self, doesn't matter.
When I speak from this place, it enhances relationships.
When my language - or even my tone of voice - does not create harmony or enhance relationships, I can be sure that I'm not speaking from a place of my deepest truth.
So that's a simple barometer.
Is what I'm saying, or is my tone of voice, drawing love towards me or pushing it away?
If it's the latter, time to take a pause, connect with the soul! Speak from there. Enhance relationships.
At the end of the day, the quality of our relationships is a huge factor in happiness, fulfillment, and meaning.
What are your approaches to using your voice to create closeness in relationships?
“Magic happens when you’re early” part 2!
When there’s lots of spaciousness in your schedule, there’s room for the unexpected.
With bags already checked as the sun rose at Orlando airport, I had 150 minutes before takeoff to parkour my way to a perfect French horn yoga spot. EARLY!
The semantic neighborhood of “early” includes “prepared”, “relaxed”, and “abundant”.
If you’re struggling to have more of any of those energies in your life…
There are simple and practical choices around potentially less loaded, more tangible areas such as being on time for stuff.
For example:
- implementing a consistent margin policy
- be clear about endings/cutoffs, when appropriate
We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but look at outcomes - SO different.
In my view, how you relate with time can be the difference between living your dream, or living a nightmare. (Ask Victor Frankl if you think fulfillment is based on external circumstances).
So, public service announcement:
I love helping people - especially artists - with time management in connection to actualizing their dreams.
If you ever want to chat about that, you know where to find me!! (MCO Terminal B level 3 parking structure 
j/k just message me)
Question for everyone:
Who or what most influenced YOU about how you relate with time and it’s use (or misuse)??
It was only a few years ago when I first encountered the concept of accountability partners, etc.
As someone who takes my commitments seriously, I fell in love with this strategy.
But at what cost? My initial approaches were fear based, even punishment-based.
One time I told a buddy I’d finish writing some code “by 3pm or else I’ll send you $100”.
Oof. 
When I had to send him $100 after the code took longer than I expected, I sure learned a lesson.
Leaving behind direct punishment, I adopted what I now see was shame-based accountability.
“If you don’t do XYZ, I’ll be disappointed in you...“
It’s effective, to an extent. Avoiding pain (especially ostracism!) can be a powerful motivator.
But it’s not sustainable. And it’s not loving.
One time I half-jokingly asked @David Hu for some accountability and said “can you beam disappointment & shame at me if I don’t do it?”
He refused!
And that’s when I fully realized, that old paradigm is over. [thanks David for being a paragon of the new paradigm]
…
Enter generative accountability.
Chase the dream, don’t run from the nightmare.
Generative accountability is when the arrangement truly benefits both you and whoever is holding you accountable.
An all-win scenario.
When you’re really looking forward to making a contribution that other people expect of you, not doing the thing is punishment enough. 
I recently did this with a video training I wanted to make called “How music practice can improve your whole life”.
If you know me, you know I’m mega passionate about these concepts.
And my dream is to share them in digestible & scalable ways.
But, I needed a nudge.
So I made a post saying “if 15+ people comment, I’ll make a 15min video within a week”.
Enough people commented, and boom I was off to the races - and 
finished it a couple days ago
Motivated by:
- my care for the subject
- my desire to contribute
- my love of keeping commitments
That's a pretty good recipe.
….
I could have done it differently.
I could have worked in isolation and waited until it was perfect to announce (anybody ever tried this one?! lollllzzzz)
I could have asked someone who doesn’t care about the topic to hold me accountable, and maybe punish me if I fail.
I could have made a vague agreement and said “if enough people comment, I’ll make the training” (weasel!!)
...
Generative accountability includes 3 steps:
Think about what you are passionate about creating or achieving
Consider people you care about, and what is meaningful to them
Design a strategy that adds value for others while making you accountable to your desire.
A super simple one is shared accountability around work blocks. Pictured below, a unicorn coworking session with the epic Nick Platoff and Spencer Handley
We’ll jump in a call, announce our intentions, and hold space for each other to crush our goals.
No shame, no fear, no bullshit, just synergistic presence & can-do attitudes in abundance.
In the music world, there are tons of ways to design accountability plays.
Spencer Handley recently knocked this out of the park. He wanted to transcribe a song.
And his (totally amazing) guitar mastery platform Sonora Guitar Intensive has an enthusiastic audience of learners.
So Spencer committed to recording his transcription process to share with the Sonora community.
First of all, he would have left a lot of folks hanging if he hadn’t finished the transcription when he said he would.
Second, in recording his process, he was accountable to living his values and doing his best work, not procrastinating or half-assing it, or being inefficient.
With eyes watching, he had to model a respectable transcription process. [and thus create for himself a great transcription, efficiently]
And his audience got something super useful and inspiring. Win-win!
…
Patreon offers an interesting platform for this. Committed to writing and publishing a song every 2 weeks?
Get a few people to pay you $5/month for that, you are far more likely to keep cadence!
So, the 15min video training thingy dives more into Generative Accountability, plus 4 other strategies to improve your whole life with music practice:
Life Synergy Design
Inner Authentic Relating
Yin-Yang Interleaving
Progression Training
Comment “Accelerate” below or DM me if you want it for free, I'm giving it away while it's in v1.
And I’d love to hear how you use accountability to rock it (or if you’re one of those magic people who don’t like accountability, why?)
Inspiration from James Clear's newsletter, which resonates so so much with me.
Musicians, your body is your primary instrument. Refine your relationship with your body, and continuously cultivate!
"Your entire life happens inside your body. It's the one home you will always occupy and can never sell.
But you can renovate it.
If you can only pick one habit to build, exercise might be the one. Everything is downstream from how your body is functioning."
James Clear
Gratuitous exercise pic for fun, thanks Tulum jungle gym for a "rockin" workout!
“Magic Happens When I’m Early.”
That’s an affirmation that landed in my life a couple years ago - constructed from hard won experience - and it rings evermore true.
I was early to the airport recently. Like, real early. Kinda by accident, which was even cooler. I had mistakenly selected “no toll roads” in my google maps, which led to a 40+ minute longer route in my planning - but not in my execution.
So I got the airport 2.5hrs before my flight.
Rental car return was effortless. Check-in smooth.
Plenty of time to get my bags down from 56lbs to 50lbs on the dot.
Plenty of time to find out I was at the domestic bag drop and walk across the airport to international bag drop.
No sweat breezing through TSA Pre…
Plenty of time to sit and eat the delicious lunch my mom had packed me (just like elementary school, except all organic & keto
)
But the magic goes WAY beyond effortlessly gliding through an airport all the way through boarding zone 1 to my window seat where I’m typing this.
The magic is in the PRESENCE and POSSIBILITY that being early opens up.
Not having to rush, no frantic narrow focus, no fight or flight activation.
The face of the ticket agent - I can remember it.… AND the subtle impact of being present &grateful on a TSA agent.
Sure, our GDP doesn’t put a value on a grounded, regulated nervous system. But it’s worth so much.
And if you’re woo woo like me, you know that your personal vibration is the carrier frequency for the reality you manifest. Like attracts like.
APPLIED MANIFESTATION STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE EASEFUL PUNCTUALITY
HOW THE F* TO BE EARLY SO MAGIC CAN HAPPEN. Aka…
APPLIED MANIFESTATION STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE EASEFUL PUNCTUALITY
ALWAYS BAKE IN MARGIN
Think in percentages, not absolutes. I recommend 20-50% margin depending how much magic you want to happen. E.g. 30 min drive, bake in 6-15min extra. Got an hour call? Bake in 12-30min margin around the call.
THINK IN ABSOLUTES, NOT PERCENTAGES
(HA! I’m a trickster!) - a 2 or 3min margin just isn’t enough. Try increments of 5 minutes.
USE YOUR WILD IMAGINATION TO CONSIDER ANYTHING THAT MIGHT HAPPEN
Terrence McKenna says “worry is a misuse of the imagination,” but Terrence McKenna was probably late for meetings all the time 
Think about all the shit that can go wrong, within reason, and have a game plan and time to handle it.
HAVE A LOOSE PLAN & MENTALLY REHEARSE IT
I learned this from being on the orchestra audition circuit.
I would visualize playing an audition excerpt from start to finish, over and over, visualize the sound, my breathing, my fingers, my thoughts, my eyebrows even.
The night before -or even a few minutes before- you have an important “segment” of life, take a few minutes to visualize it going smoothly.
Visualize it going hilariously badly too, and how you’d handle that with grace & humor. Visualize it going smoothly again (but with a little more margin for the unknown). I guarantee this will change your life if you do it regularly.
EMBRACE THE UNKNOWN
Dude! What you think can/will happen is entirely based on your PAST EXPERIENCE.
If you want to repeat the past and stay stagnant, go ahead, your choice. But when you really make room for the unknown, holy crap - that’s when magic happens and you discover a new life to fall in love with every day.
DO SMALL TASKS AFTER, NOT BEFORE
Checking your email, responding to that WhatsApp thread, getting a matcha latte, doing your makeup, whatever. Most of the time you can do that AFTER you are early, rather than before. 
And if it MUST happen before you enjoy magical early benefits, put it in your plan and visualize it.
Refrain
When we’re early, magic happens.
I guess magic can happen when you’re late too (it has for me, with great relief at times - but requiring a lot more inner alchemy & creative effort).
MY CHALLENGE TO YOU
Name one “segment” of life you’ve got coming up - a call, meeting, exam, performance, adventure, event, or outing.
Brainstorm how you can be early and make more space for magic! I’ll hold that vision with you and bless it up double.
LMK how it goes in the comments!
Marc Gelfo is the founder of Modacity, which has transformed my practice habits during the three years that I’ve been using it.
We dig into what Marc has been up to since our last podcast chat, the power of deliberate practice, new features coming for Modacity, the new iPad edition, and more.
Enjoy, and check out this special lifetime offer that Marc has set up for Contrabass Conversations listeners!
In this episode, Marc Gelfo from Modacity and Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier from Mind Over Finger discuss elements of masterful instrumental practice and are excited to announce the Masterful Practice Challenge.
Learn skills & approaches that will forever elevate the quality of your learning.
Join us May 2-8, 2021 for this rare opportunity that includes live Q&A!
Over the course of 7 days, starting May 2nd, Marc and Renée will take you along on a journey to masterful practice.
During that week, we will cover:
- TIME MASTERY
To practice well, you must simultaneously manage your time well, and live in the timeless present.
Day 1 you will get set up in Modacity app to take advantage of its time budgeting, tracking, & planning features.
We will also cover important strategies like interleaving and timeboxing.
In right relationship with time, anything becomes possible.
- INTENTION MASTERY
By taking the time to set your intention, you bring awareness and direction to your practice.
“Priming” is a key technique for getting what you most desire from your practice sessions.
Learn the best principles for intention setting and “flexible rigor”.
- ATTENTION MASTERY
The quality of your life is determined by the focus of your attention.
On Day 3 you’ll receive a very special guided meditation download that will build your attentional capacity.
In addition, we’ll go through the various focus points that are most constructive in the practice room, and talk about how misguided attention can derail you.
- BODY MASTERY
The body is your primary instrument.
Learn how to warm up and align your body for optimal practice results.
Physiology influences mindset, emotions, ability to focus, and so much more.
Get an overview the most effective movement modalities for music practice, and explore the role of tension in performance.
- EMOTIONAL MASTERY
Your emotions can elevate you to greatness or completely destroy your day.
Begin to master the emotional aspect of practicing.
Challenging, strange, complex emotions can arise during practicing. Learn how to identify and regulate yourself so that a wave of frustration becomes an inspiration for change.
This day will cover the roles of reward & punishment, as well as our favorite tools for emotional awareness and mastery.
- Impact/Output Mastery
Your music practice impacts your body, mind, emotions, and life trajectory.
Explore the inputs, outputs, and holistic impact of your music practice. This day will help you connect to a bigger picture for the role of music in your life and relationships.
Specific journaling prompts and exercises from permaculture design will help you identify regenerative, energy positive ways to make the most of your practice.
- INTEGRATION MASTERY
No matter what you’re learning, maximize your chances of remembering it and making it your own through a conscious integration practice.
This final day offers the key to compounding lifelong learning: effective integration.
We’ll discuss the role of reflection, planning, and testing.
A final live Q&A session on Zoom will offer the chance to make sure you walk away from this challenge equipped to continue your path of practice mastery.
Welcome to episode 267 where today we have special guest, founder and CEO of Modactiy, Marc Gelfo, on to talk about practice strategy. In this episode, Marc digs beneath the surface and shares his thoughts on practicing effectively drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and his experience as an extraordinarily accomplished french hornist.
When it comes to practicing, we often talk about what you should be practicing to improve your musicianship or your jazz skills. And often some tactics are prescribed. I know that I often prescribe certain practice regimens, different things that you can do to accelerate your progress.
But we often don't talk about the deeper side, the brain side, the psychological side of practicing. How we can speed up our development by the way we think, by the way we feel physically.And all these things that are kind of meta and beneath the surface of what we normally talk about when we talk about practicing.
So, on today's show, I have very special guest Marc Gelfo, the founder of the practicing app Modacity, to get inside of all this stuff with us, to talk about the mind, the body, and music and how we can apply some real strategies for improving our practicing and improving our progress.
In this episode:
1. Marc's background on how he came to effective practicing
2. Why practicing well matters (and the consequences of not)
3. Marc's emotional, mental, and technical practice hacks
4. The role of recording your practice
5. Modacity and how it can help you practice more effectively I
In this episode, host Adam Wolf sits down with one of the most interesting people you'll ever meet. We talk about his career, his schooling, his app Modacity, and his beautiful outlook on life. Do enjoy!
This episode is sponsored by Modacity.