What they couldn’t get right is that leadership isn’t consensus.
Leadership is standing up and saying, “Ladies, I will be in Cartagena on these dates to celebrate our birthday… by myself if I have to. I hope you can make it.”
Nini Nguyen, from What Leaders Can Learn From Type-A Personalities
I’m not a leader in business, but I would like to be a leader in my life generally.
And this is something I screw up all the time. Note to self.
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Vulnerable is the only way we can feel when we truly share the art we’ve made. When we share it, when we connect, we have shifted the power and made ourselves naked in front of the person we’ve given the gift of our art to. We have no excuses, no manual to point to, no standard operating procedures to protect us. And that is part of our gift.
~ Seth Godin
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Finally, when it comes to your own self-opinion, try to have some ironic distance from it. Make yourself aware of its existence and how it operates within you. Come to terms with the fact that you are not as free and autonomous as you like to believe. You do conform to the opinions of the groups you belong to; You do buy products because of subliminal influence; You can be manipulated. Realize as well that you are not as good as the idealized image of your self-opinion.
~ Robert Greene
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Sometimes, our heads won’t stop thinking about something. Our thoughts will spin around and around, not willing to let go, obsessing. It might be about another person, a big event coming up, or about ourselves. It might be overthinking a decision, big or small.
~ Leo Babauta from, How to Let Go of Obsessive Overthinking – Zen Habits Website
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I read this the other day after its being queued for ages. It was eerily apropos of a really bad mood that I was in. Except I read it just after I had deployed Babauta’s “face the fear” strategy that he describes. It definitely works. And for some reason, Yoda’s admonishment that, “named your fear must be, before banish it you can,” sprung to mind.
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How can podcasting serve as a tool for musicians to grow their audience, overcome challenges, and share their personal and professional journeys?
Exploring the intersection of music, entrepreneurship, and mental health highlights new paths for creative growth.
I think the way that musicians can use podcasting to their advantage is by talking about other subjects… other than trying to sell their music.
~ Simon Christopher Pellett (13:53)
The conversation examines how musicians can leverage podcasting to enhance their careers, foster deeper connections with their audiences, and navigate challenges in the music industry. Simon discusses the evolving landscape of creative media and entrepreneurship, emphasizing how podcasting allows artists to bypass traditional gatekeepers, explore diverse topics, and reach new audiences. Examples highlight the importance of reframing perspectives and embracing opportunities for growth, even in challenging circumstances.
Mental health emerges as a significant theme, with reflections on how personal struggles can shape professional journeys. The conversation touches on the Simon’s own experiences with anxiety and depression, showing how podcasting became a tool for self-expression and connection. Practical advice for musicians includes the benefits of sharing diverse interests, collaborating with a team, and finding unique ways to market their work.
Takeaways
Using podcasting for connection — Musicians can connect with audiences by exploring personal and professional stories beyond their music.
Breaking down barriers — Podcasting removes gatekeepers, offering direct access to audiences and creative freedom.
Reframing success — Shifting perspectives from single big breaks to long-term, consistent efforts helps musicians approach success realistically.
Mental health awareness — Discussing mental health reduces stigma and fosters a sense of community and understanding.
Team collaboration — Successful musical projects benefit from clear communication and delegation of roles among team members.
Marketing innovation — Sharing interests beyond music, like food or sports, helps artists engage audiences creatively and broaden their reach.
Entrepreneurial mindset — Applying business principles and leveraging unique opportunities allows musicians to sustain their careers.
Resources
Music On Your Own Terms Podcast — Simon’s podcast focusing on entrepreneurship, mental health, and the music industry.
Song Exploder Podcast — A podcast exploring the stories behind songs, featuring in-depth discussions with artists.
Simon Tam — Member of the band The Slants, known for innovative marketing strategies like Yelp-based band promotion.
CD Baby — A platform for independent musicians to distribute and promote their music.
Tony Robbins — Author and motivational speaker whose content inspired the speaker’s personal growth journey.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind. Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, and too many distractions lead to a heavy mind. Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved and takes us from mentally fat to fit.
~ Naval Ravikant
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First tell yourself what sort of man you want to be; then act accordingly in all you do. For in almost everything else we see this to be the practice. Athletes first determine what kind of athlete they want to be, and then act accordingly. … You will find the same in the arts. If you are a carpenter, you will have these procedures, if a blacksmith, those. For, if we do not refer each of our actions to some standard, we shall be acting at random; if to an improper standard, we shall fail utterly.
~ Epictetus
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The problem is that our New Tools are winning the battle of attention. We’ve gotten to the point where the tools use us as much as we use them. This new reality means we need to re-examine our relationship with our New Tools.
~ Shane Parrish from, Don’t Let Your (Technology) Tools Use You
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Also see, Jaron Lanier‘s comments about the Internet in general and social networks in particular. I consider myself fully innoculated against information overload and against my tools using me.
And yet, my mind wanders. I sit down to try to write out a blog post or three, and I find myself doing other things. The majority of my disruptions these days are simply ducking into my various projects and messaging platforms. The problem is that when I do, there’s always something to do. It’s not some inifite scroll that catches my eye, but rather a new message—from one of dozens of ongoing conversations—or something I spot which can be improved.
It’s not enough to simply do only productive things. No rather, I actually do far too many different productive things. A minute here replying to this person, two minutes there improving this little feature, 5 minutes writing a bug report, 10 minutes responding to a product vendor, … where was I? Right, trying to write this blog post.
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It’s easier for Artist Today to post to Medium than it is to build her own site so Artist Tomorrow has a place to live when yet another publishing platform dies or becomes watered down by crap. It takes hard work and conviction to build your own thing — and it takes relationships, which are greater investments than ad dollars.
~ Steven Pressfield from, What It Takes: Common Sense
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I’m nobody. Nobody’s asking me why I’m not posting on Medium. Although, come to think of it, people do ask me why I don’t post on LinkedIn, and some people ask why I left Facebook… Anyway, you didn’t ask, but you’re still reading.
Truth be told, all the problems come from you, the aggregate readers (viewers, etc.) on the Internet. You have avoided doing the slightly-harder-than-droolingly-easy work of finding and following the things you care about. It’s easy to open an account on feedbin.com and to start following what you want to read. (And if something doesn’t play well with FeedBin, then it’s not actually on the open Internet and I encourage you to shun and shame it.) If you actively follow the things you care about, (using the Internet and software of course,) then you don’t need the middlemen; you don’t need the search engines and the social platforms.
Aside: Exactly ZERO percent of the stuff I share and talk about on this blog is discovered by search engines or social networks. (Just checked, and I have 485 things queued up as “that’s interesting, I should read it more carefully and look into it.” It was 486, until I created this post.) The kernels are found through my actively following many hundreds of different things. I receive exactly ZERO email newsletters [that’s a lie, I route a precious few into FeedBin :] Sure, I may go down search engine or social network rabbit holes learning more. But the things I care about I follow intentionally.
Once you start following things, you might even grow to love those things. One day you’ll realize that you even value those things so much that you voluntarily throw some money at them to support their work.
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Buy less, buy better. Notice the materiality of the things you use. Live in your body. Feel the ground when you walk. Chop wood, carry water.
~ David Cain, from We Are Not Materialistic Enough
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Go read this. In fact, go read everything on Raptitude.
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After a couple weeks without news, I got past the hump and wasn’t craving it so much anymore. At this point I began reflecting on the habit from a distance, and I made the following observations …
~ Steve Pavlina from, Overcoming News Addiction – Steve Pavlina
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100%
I substituted a syndication reader‡ and never looked back. I now read only the sources I want, when I want. Nothing beats my morning caffeine accompanied by a scroll through my feed reader. NOTHING I read is a “standard” news source. :)
‡ I suggest collecting your feeds into http://www.feedbin.com and then using Reeder (IOS, Mac).
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There are only so many hours in the day, right? If I didn’t constantly plan, I’d never get anywhere. Did a million things today, work on the computer, reading, daily stretching and sitting (hip ROM work as I do various things while sitting on the floor), and as the afternoon fades… yardwork must be done. Maybe some pushups later. Maybe.
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Strength doesn’t come from winning, strength comes from struggling.
~ unknown
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Some people are so poor, all they have is money.
~ unknown
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A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
~ Albert Einstein
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They light the falls and have fireworks… okay eh?!
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Niagara falls at night :)
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Hello America! (from the Canadian side :)
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