I love the difference in responses to the two questions…
What do you do?
What are you doing?
The first one is easier to wiggle out of, or white lie, or be ambiguously as successful as you want to be.
The second one demands more reality and less ideal.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
Most artists spend most of their time waiting to be picked.
Be picked by the best record label, the most connected manager, the high powered booking agent.
They spend all their time waiting to get picked instead of picking…instead of believing.
Artists want to be believed in before they’ve proved it, but don’t want to believe in others UNLESS they’ve proved it first. (aka…artists believe in the ones they want to be picked by, but not in the ones they themselves could pick)
Artists want the very thing that they’re not willing to give to others.
The only way to begin breaking the cycle is to go first and believe in someone who hasn’t proven it yet.
That’s what you’re hoping others will do for you, so go do it first.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
It turns out we like things in the kitchen more than just approximately right.
If it goes in the fourth drawer and it gets put in the third drawer, there is panic.
We don’t really want the babysitter to unload the dishwasher.
Or the babies.
There are some things in life that need to be just right.
And a lot of other things we only think need to be just right.
The price tag for delegating tasks is that they are not going to do it exactly like you.
The price tag for not delegating tasks is that you have to do it, and there’s only so much you can do.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
It’s really tempting to tell everyone (subtly, as to not appear as an egomaniac) all the things you’re best at.
But you’re good at so many things that it’s hard to remember any of them.
The better someone gets to know you, the more receptive they’ll be to defining you by a greater number of professional strengths. The strengths will then be celebrated as opposed to forgotten due to confusion.
***This isn’t a message about staying in one single lane and not developing outside of it. It’s a message about discerning what is helpful in the moment…about developing a wide selection of strengths but knowing which ones to bring up and which ones to let rest in any given situation.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
When you’re twenty-one and broke, the dream is alive and well. In fact, I would argue twenty-one and broke is just about perfect. The fire in your gut is burning hard. Wide eyes, huge goals and nothing gets in your way.
The difference between twenty-one and thirty-one, is that if you’re thirty-one and still broke, the dream is not alive and well.
The truth is at thirty-one the dream gets reignited when you have a little jingle jangle in your pocket as opposed to being broke.
When you’re thirty-one, knowing that dinner is covered today, this week and this month actually brings the fire back.
Artists especially have a hard time simply saying out loud ‘I need some money!’
You can’t be twenty-one and broke forever. The fire that twenty-one and broke provides is really special but isn’t meant to last forever.
Sure you might need to write a better song, or book a better tour, or change managers…but maybe you just need to go make some money, honey.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
The Top Of The List
Only one can be there at a time.
What does it cost and is it worth it?
When American Idol first started, me and a bunch of friends went and tried out. We tried out because we wanted to win.
But as the season after season went along and we heard about the contracts and obligations that came along with winning, it became very clear that the winner wasn’t the winner at all.
There’s a high price for number one…on this chart, that chart, this list, that poll, metrics metrics metrics. If you want to be on the top of the list, choose your list wisely.
Or make your own.
***In case you were wondering, I sang Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com