YOU ALREADY MADE IT
We live in a results driven financially focused world. We are "taught" from an early age that success means money, recognition and sometimes even fame. But what if I told you none of that is true? What if success is nothing more than a feeling you get, a feeling that says you are right where you are supposed to be doing what you want you do?
Creating music is NOT about how much money you make or how much praise you get for your art. It's not about the glitz and the glam or the Grammies, regardless of your personal goals. It's not about the records sold, platinum or gold (I rhyme from time to time) the views on YouTube or even the listens on Spotify. It's simply about those little moments you get being a creative individual. It's about those times when you make something that truly speaks to your soul and you get goosebumps. Or that pride that comes along with seeing the sun rise up at 5 AM realizing you've been up all night doing what you love and honing your craft knowing your alarm is going to blare out like an un-tuned symphony in a few hours bringing you back to reality. Success is about the time you spent hours hunched over your computer or instrument chasing the perfect melody or the perfect chord and refusing to give up simply because this is what you do.
Once you decide that music, or any form of artistic expression is something that you DO, and not something that you just “like to do”, then you’ve already made it. You don’t make it because of your soundcloud plays or instagram likes, you made it because you chose to simply dedicate your life to something you’re passionate about. You chose to create, no matter what else is going on in your life. You chose to create, because THIS IS WHAT YOU DO.
LIFE IS REALLY SIMPLE
WE INSIST ON MAKING IT
COMPLICATED.
- CONFUCIUS
There’s nothing wrong with giving yourself professional goals, like wanting to finish X amount of songs a month, wanting to get so and so many plays, or gain a few new followers and fans. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s a necessity of this and any entertainment industry. However, that’s not why you do it. It's easy to get lost in the popularity contest that is the music industry.
If you, creating YOUR ART, is something you have consciously decided to do, it shouldn't matter if you’re making millions, working in the biggest and brightest studios and traveling the world, or whether you sit in a basement to create and put out art for your own enjoyment. This craft, and life in general, is a marathon, not a sprint. As cliché as that may be to say, sit with that, and understand what it truly means. Take some pressure off of yourself. You don’t have to make it to your goals tomorrow. When you realize your art, is in fact about those little moments, then you’ve already made it.