[Adapted from the Introduction to the book, The Ten Avenues]
Most guitar-related businesses, careers, projects, and even lives do not become complicated all at once. They accumulate complexity gradually, one reasonable decision at a time.
A new opportunity appears. A new responsibility is added. A project begins. A service expands. A commitment is made. Something changes. Something succeeds. Something doesn’t.
At the time, our decisions may seem to make perfect sense. In fact, many of those decisions may have been exactly the right ones. The challenge is that very few people stop periodically to step back and examine how all those decisions fit together.
Years later, many capable and accomplished people find themselves asking questions they never expected to be asking:
Why does everything feel more complicated than it should be?
Why does progress seem harder than it used to be?
Why am I so busy, yet still uncertain about what deserves my attention?
Why does the future feel less clear than I thought it would be?
These questions are pretty common. They show up in businesses of every size, in professional careers, creative pursuits, entrepreneurial ventures, and sometimes in life itself. They affect people who are struggling, but they also affect people who have been successful. In many cases, success creates a new set of questions that are very different from the ones that existed at the beginning.
I recently wrote a short new book called The Ten Avenues to help start conversations that can answer those questions... and others.
Over many years in the guitar-related industry and others, I’ve had the opportunity to work with businesses large and small, launch ventures of my own, help others navigate change, and occasionally learn some things the hard way.
While the circumstances are always different, I’ve been amazed by how often the same patterns, challenges, opportunities, and questions continue to appear. The Ten Avenues ultimately emerged from those observations.
To be clear, I’m not providing formulas or offering universal solutions. And certainly not pretending that every situation is the same. Instead, this book explores ten strategic avenues of thought that seem to appear repeatedly across businesses, projects, organizations, creative endeavors, and personal journeys.
Because avenues lead somewhere.
An avenue is not a Destination. It is a path worth exploring.
Some avenues may confirm what you already suspect. Others may challenge assumptions you’ve held for years. A few may reveal opportunities that were difficult to see from where you were standing. The goal is not to travel every avenue. It should be to identify the ones most relevant to your situation and explore where they might lead.
Good news… The Ten Avenues (Expanded Edition) is available for immediate download. It’s only 38 pages and I’m confident that the small price and the little time you invest in reading it will be well worth the value you’ll get out of it. Even if it’s just a nugget. Often those nuggets are pure gold.
Get your copy at: https://thetenavenues.com
As you read, resist the temptation to search for the “right” avenue.
Instead, pay attention to the ideas that create a reaction. The ones that make you pause. The ones that feel surprisingly relevant. The ones that continue lingering in your thoughts after you’ve turned the page.
Those are often the places worth exploring.
One thing I’ve learned is that significant progress rarely begins with a better answer. More often, it begins with a better question.
And sometimes the most valuable question might simply be:
What avenue have I not considered?
Jeffrey D Brown is a strategist, author, and long-time creative professional who has helped guitar-related businesses and professionals cut through complexity, regain momentum, and move forward with purpose… for decades. Learn more about his work at jeffreydbrown.com.
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