Studio Life Is the Life for Me

Studio Life Is the Life for Me

Roll me over and set me free

The cowboy’s life is the life for me…

–Thin Lizzy, “Cowboy Song”

Over the past week, I’ve spent many hours engaged in what I call “studio life.” Now, by studio life, I am referring to both a TV studio on one side of the country, and a music recording studio on the opposite side of the country.

Last Friday, I was in a Washington, D.C.-area TV studio to record a video for a project that I am extremely excited about. This project is designed to help individual investors simply and easily participate in two of the best “alternative asset” classes in the market today.

Now, as much as I want to tell you all about this new venture right now, my publisher isn’t quite ready yet for me to reveal the details. However, over the next several weeks, I will be writing about these asset classes in The Deep Woods, so that you can get your mind wrapped around the topics in question, and why I think they’ll be the “next big thing” for investors looking for that alpha “force multiplier” we all seek.

Your editor filming content for the soon-to-be released “force multiplier” investing service.

After my TV studio session on Friday, the next day I flew back to Southern California. One day later, I found myself in another studio, this time for a 12-hour session of recording for my passion project — an album of songs I’ve composed and performed.

Interestingly, the whole whirlwind of filming a video one day, on one coast, and then recording for a full day on the opposite coast, got me thinking about just how much I love “studio life.”

I read once that the affliction known as “glossophobia,” more commonly known as the fear of public speaking, is the most common phobia ahead of death, spiders or heights. Now, I am not a big fan of spiders, but death, heights and especially fear of public speaking aren’t things I’m worried about.

First, we all know we are going to die, and knowing this shouldn’t produce fear. I mean, why be afraid of something you know is going to happen? As for heights, well, my stint as a U.S. Army paratrooper cured any queasiness on that front. Hey, there’s nothing like standing in the door of a C-130 transport plane and looking down at the ground some 1,200 feet up to make you shed any fear of heights.

Now, when it comes to public speaking, well, it is here that I am most at home, as I love being on display while teaching people how to do what I know how to do best — helping investors make money in the markets. The way I see it, being in front of a camera to teach investors, or being in front a microphone singing with a guitar or while playing piano, is just another aspect of doing what I love to do best — i.e., sharing my knowledge and passions with others.

Your editor at 4^th Street Recording with violinist and vocalist Jessy Greene, who toured and/or recorded with artists such as the Foo Fighters, P!nk, Wilco, Ben Harper, Tom Freund and Glen Campbell. She is a featured player on my new project.

You see, creating content of all sorts, from information to music, is one of my greatest pleasures and passions. I love it because it starts with an idea. Then, that idea is cultivated via thinking and researching and then writing — either via prose such as you find in The Deep Woods or in my other advisory services, or via musical notes such as what you will be able to listen to on the new album.

Of course, to make these things happen and to bring them to you in the best possible way, it all comes together with the “studio life.”

So, while rockers Thin Lizzy told us that “The cowboy’s life is the life for me,” I have to alter that lyric a bit and say that “The studio life is the life for me.”

In the very near future, you will be able to watch and listen to the byproducts of last weekend’s dual-coast studio sessions — so stay tuned here each week for all the soon-to-be-unveiled details.

Embrace the Moment  

“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”

–Omar Khayyam

It might seem a bit obvious to say that this moment is your life; however, upon reflection, it’s not that intuitive. In fact, most of us spend our moments “lost in thought” worried about things we’ve done in the past and even more worried about things that might happen in the future.

But as Persian polymath Omar Khayyam reminds us, this moment is your life. And realizing that this moment is your life is reason enough to be happy. So, embrace each moment, painful or joyful, chaotic or serene, mundane or sublime. It is each moment that is your life, so embrace the now.

Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote that you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. Click here to ask Jim.

In the name of the best within us,

Jim Woods