No one cares about your success more than you do

Today's post is about an idea that I keep coming back to over and over in my life.  It's the idea that if you want to be successful in anything in life, whether it's music, relationships, business.... you name it...  It's completely up to you to make it happen.  Whatever you really want in life you can have, I truly believe that.  Even success in the music business.  Whatever experiences you want to have are out there waiting to be had.  Whatever success you want to achieve is possible.  Whatever you really want to do you can do.  But... and this is a big but and I think what holds most people back, at the end of the day, it's completely up to you to make it happen. 

I'm sure we've all heard before that nobody cares about our own success more than we do.  It's completely true.  It's not true because no one cares about you, it's not true because people are cold and mean, although a few are.  It's true because it's just the way it is.  Other people have their own dreams, their own desires and their own struggles. Other people are too busy with their own lives to care that much about yours.  No one cares about your own success more than you.

So how can you apply this to the music business and your dreams and goals?  Do you have lofty aspirations and starry eyed dreams? Big deal.  Most people have those from time to time. Dreams are a dime dozen.  Do you think you're special because you have big dreams?  You're not.  We all have dreams and desires.  Things we long for deep down.  They're beautiful things don't get me wrong, but they're not inherently special and they don't make you inherently special.  Do you think you’re special because you're talented?  I think innate talent is a little more rare than just having dreams, but it's still not that big of a deal in and of itself.  A lot of people have mad talent and don't do anything with it.  What it really boils down to is what you do with your dreams and talent.  It's all about the execution.  It's up to you to make "it" happen.  Whatever "it" is for you.  No one is going to do it for you.

I'll be the first to admit I've yet to achieve all my dreams and goals.  So don't think that I'm up on my high horse being all preachy telling you what you need to do.  I'm only sharing with you realizations I've come to after many ups in downs in both music and life.  No one is responsible for my life but me.  No one else is responsible for my happiness, my sense of self worth, my interactions with people and certainly not my success in music.  And the same goes for you. 

If you want to succeed in music take responsibility and make it happen.  Don't be a victim and bitch about all the things outside of your control like the economy, declining album sales, the public's bad taste in music and on and on.  There might be truth in a lot of these things, but it makes no sense to focus on them.  Focus on the one thing you can really control... yourself.

If you want to make money from your music, make music that’s worth paying for.  If you want people to spread the art that you’re creating, make art that’s remarkable that people will be inspired to share.  If you think there are circumstances outside of you holding you back, think again.  There is no one preventing you from creating and sharing your best work, but yourself. 

What are you going to do today to move your career forward?  What can you do all by yourself right now to move yourself in the direction you want to go?  Think about it.  I guarantee no one else is going to care about the answers to these questions more than you are.    I would tell you all about the new CD I'm working on and the awesome producer I have working on it and all the projects I have in the works right now. But would you really care?  I doubt it and I have absolutely no problem with that.