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the most expensive thing I spend is time.
I don’t have a receipt that can get me back the time I’ve put into something. That’s why you have to place a premium value on how you spend the limited time you have.
it’s always nice to pick up a check. But a check is never more important than an experience you value.
Money is the goal, but oftentimes in order to get it, you have to retrain your brain to value experience.
If you weren’t blessed with any of those advantages, you have to figure out how to get access to whatever world you’re trying to get a start in. And a lot of times the easiest way to break in is by working for free—as
the labels could build on momentum, but they were limited when it came to creating
I needed to create my own energy, not hope that someone was going to flip a switch for me.
Having a realistic understanding of what a record company wasn’t going to do for me probably saved my career.
If you’re interning in an industry that you’re passionate about, you’re not being exploited. It’s just up to you to get the most out of the experience.
An internship is an open door. Once you’re in, you must take it upon yourself to check out every room in the house.
you parlay being in the building into making other connections.
Capitalize on that opportunity. Ask questions, make observations, and soak up game. Even if it doesn’t lead to an actual job down the road—though it might—you’ll leave the situation with a tremendous leg up on your competition.
if you can make a convincing case that you can add value to an organization, they’re going to find a spot for you. Once you’ve got that spot, now you can build up your value. Either within that organization or in another one once you get some experience and titles under your belt.
While it’s critical to establish your worth, once you do, the most important thing you can do is get it down on paper. Getting all your agreements, promises, and plans down on paper in the form of a contract is absolutely essential. Never let your value rest on someone’s “word.”
When the money starts coming in, the knives start coming out.
promises aren’t worth shit. You have to get papered up.
Whether you’re collaborating on an album, a TV script, a landscaping business, or a brewery, you need to get the
terms and expectations on paper before you sink too much of your tim...
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jealousy and envy are real. They might be buried so deep in a person’s nature that it could take years for them to come out, but they’ll find a way if there’s money involved. Protect yourself. Put it on paper.
Look around you. Everything changes. Everything on this earth is in a continuous state of evolving. . . . You were not put on this earth to remain stagnant.
In every profession or field, the most successful people are always the ones who refuse to settle into the status quo, who don’t get satisfied and complacent once they achieve something, but always push toward the next goal or challenge.
Conversely, people who get too comfortable or are unwilling to adapt are usually the ones who get left behind.
No matter what you do, you have to be able to accept that your role is going to change.
it is the evolution and not the rewards themselves that matters to us and to those around us. This means that for most people success is struggling and evolving as effectively as possible.
The moment I close the door on my personal evolution is the moment I need to hang it up.
I conceived Power for my audience and my audience only. I wasn’t trying to tap into a new demographic or attract a wider viewership. I understood I was going to get one chance to get it right with Power, and in order to do that, I had to speak directly to my people.
growth is often the key element in any successful journey.
a true star must possess four fundamental abilities: create great material, be a high-energy live performer, have a unique appearance, and possess a strong personality.
Age isn’t about what year you were born—it’s about how you approach the year you’re in right now. If you’re open to new experiences, willing to take chances, and curious about new topics, you’re young. Period.
If you feel stuck yourself, then you have to have the courage to come out of whatever little cocoon you’ve wrapped around yourself and experience all the excitement the world still has to offer.
You might not ever be able to read the writing on the wall, but what you can read is the energy around you. If
you’re willing to be observant and listen, you’ll find the messages that energy carries are spelled out almost as clearly as Belshazzar’s warning.
The world will see you the way you see you. And treat you the way you treat yourself.
As long as I’m always myself, no one can beat me at that. As long as you’re comfortable walking your truth, no one will ever beat you at being you, either.
COMPETITION BRINGS OUT THE BEST
the better your opponent is, the better you become.
When I’m trying to get in the zone creatively, I’ll catalog ten of those moments in my head. It doesn’t even have to be a complete song; it could just be a great hook or a catchy chorus. I’ll collect all those moments and label them my creative competition.
The entire time I’m recording, I’ll refer back to those moments. If I’m listening to a verse I just laid down, I’ll ask myself, “Was it as fire as ‘Whoa’”? If the answer is no, then I need to go back in the booth and give it another shot. Same thing with each chorus or hook that I compose. I’ll compare it to those great moments I’ve cataloged. If I feel like it’s falling short, I go back and do it again. I keep holding up what I’ve done against those moments I’ve cataloged and ask myself, “Is it good enough?”
Now, is every song I record going to be a classic like “Whoa” or “The Bridge Is Over”? Of course not. But by forcing myself to measure up against a song ...
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in order to push yourself to be great that way, the first thing you have to be able to do is appreciate the greatness in others.
No matter what you do, or what your field, there is someone else great in it, too. So instead of believing your own hype, identify that individual and make them your competition.
keep your emotions out of the process.
You have to put yourself against the opponent who not only gives you the best chance of winning, but also leaves you in a more favorable position if you do end up losing.
You can join a losing fight and still come out of it with something valuable.
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.
“Many people dream of success. To me, success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection,” Honda said. “In fact, success represents 1 percent of your work, which results only from the 99 percent that is called failure.”
A lot of people have great ideas. Only a small percentage of them have the passion and work ethic to actually follow through and put it into motion.
How that person responds to their failure is going to determine the outcome of their journey.
Approach failures the same way that Honda did: as a tool that can help you get things right the next time.
Don’t look at failure as something you need to distance yourself from. Try to embrace it instead.
