Be different, me-too is everywhere. But different is a state of mind, that too often goes untaught in today’s society., which is one of the reasons why so much “classic” music was made by baby boomers. Life was not as hard, their parents were not solely focused on ensuring their children got a leg up in life, college was not considered to be a trade school, but a place to have different experiences and open your mind. For the last few decades, all the innovation has been in tech, where people have been unafraid to challenge/break the rules. In music, creators didn’t go to college at all. In tech, they dropped out because they got what they needed and saw opportunities to change the world elsewhere. And that was the mission, to change the world, which used to be the case in music.

Hone your chops. The basics never go out of style, they’re a jumping-off point. It’s the extraneous that pays dividends. That film or TV series you saw, that picnic you went to. I’m not saying to live a life of hedonism, just that if you’ve had no experiences, you’ve got nothing to say. The script has been flipped where people see everything as being about instant success and money, whereas today, when literally everybody can be famous for a brief while, it’s all about careers/staying power.

Be unafraid to state or do the unpopular. Sure, shock effect can work, but living in an era of constant shock, it has less impact. So the unpopular is less about the exterior than the interior. March to the beat of a different drummer. Chances are if you’re good at getting along, being part of the group, you’re not going to change the world. Our heroes, those who make a difference, are singular, with a vision. Whether it be Steve Jobs or even Elon Musk. I’d love to list a series of musical acts, but we haven’t had that spirit here since the internet became popular.

Use the tools, don’t be the tools. Use social media platforms, don’t become them. In other words, unless you’re making a living being an influencer, unless that’s your goal, don’t focus all your time and effort on that concentration. Then again, don’t avoid it.

Ignore the mores of the baby boomer generation, which is anti-tech. We are never going backwards. Social media is here to stay, whether it’s the same platforms or different ones. People have a need to connect.

Don’t count on the institution to solve your social problems. You can’t solve bullying by going to the principal, you’ve got to address it head-on yourself. And sometimes there’s no solution other than grinning and bearing it. But everything you’ve heard is true, life is long, bullies fade into the background and you can thrive, the bad experiences growing up only serve to toughen you up.

People don’t want you to be successful, because it makes them question their own success, i.e. how good, how important they are. Which is why you have bullies in business. Those in power will do their best to thwart you, because they don’t want to be challenged. Life is about putting yourself in the proper circles, gaining experience and seeing how to thrive.

Find out what your area of expertise is and focus there. You may think you want to be an athlete or musician, but there are many other avenues to pursue if you just realize what you’re good at. Everybody is unique, everybody has something to add, it’s just a matter of perspective, seeing that you have this advantage.

Question authority. Sure, some rules are valid, but many are outdated and others are there just to protect the infrastructure.

If it came easy, it’s not going to last. Success depends upon hard work.

Keep innovating or you die. You’ve got to disrupt yourself. You can’t be a prisoner of your customer/audience. Giving people what they want is a fool’s errand, at best it is for business, not art.

Take advice with a grain of salt. Too many either reject all advice or accept it. Bottom line, many have experience and wisdom that you can benefit from. But you must be able to parse fact from fiction. This is a skill.

There is no one major breakthrough, no moment that lifts you into the land of success, but many minor triumphs.

No one can reach everybody, don’t try to. This just means you’re blanding/dumbing your product down.

People want information.

People want someone/something to believe in. In the past, it was almost always artists, today it’s mostly corporations. Like Apple. Because these lauded corporations are all about creating excellence on the bleeding edge, delivering what you could not even think of yourself. Artists today are mini-corporations, whored out to the man making expedient business decisions.

Get in bed with sponsors at your peril. Their mission is different from yours. They detract from people’s belief in you. There’s plenty of money if you go your own way, if you’re great.

If you’re not great, give up or double-down to be better. And maximize the product. Unless you’re a lyricist as good as Bob Dylan, the person singing your songs should have a voice as good as one of the Beatles.

Don’t try to convince people you’re great, either they know it/accept it, or they don’t.

Your job is not being a star, your job is to create. Don’t be burdened by the constructs of the past. Craigslist killed newspapers by superseding the classifieds. The album was a result of technology, i.e. being able to put a certain amount of music on a piece of plastic. If you’re not looking forward, you’re burdened by the past.