My 10 Rules for Success In Music (works like magic)
Success in music or art means different things for all of us. But the rules for success I outline in this post will get you to wherever it is you’re trying to go.
Not to get all sappy on you, but these success pillars are like tickets to reaching goals and living a happier, more creatively fulfilled life.
A lot of these ideas circle back to the idea of having a growth mindset, so that’s definitely another great place to look and explore.
But for me, these 10 rules of success encompass all the biggest things that have helped me become a better musician, producer and general human being with entrepreneurial ambitions.
So let’s dive in and explore these. I’m psyched to have you here and I hope this post inspires you and offers some new insights.
Now let’s get it!
1. Listen More Than You Speak
This could be a little too on the nose when first reading.
I mean, yes we should listen to music actively and pick things apart from an analytical place, asking questions like: how would I recreate that sound and effect? Or how would I do things differently?
But what I really mean here is to limit our talking on subjects and opinions and instead listen to other musicians and artist’s views.
After all, when we speak, we’re only repeating what we already know.
Growing as a musician (or in any field) requires constant learning and an ability to evolve and adjust your views and ideas based on new evidence (or other factors).
It helps me to remember one simple truth: everyone knows something you don’t know.
Listening (beyond the notes) is a skill every musician should recognize and harness.
2. Do More Than You Say
Similar to listening more than you speak, success disproportionately hinges on doing more than you say.
Put another way, take action and do the things you talk about doing – consistently and at scale.
The cool thing about this simple truth, or formula, for success is even a little doing goes a long way.
Consider the 1% rule of getting better at anything.
1% daily improvement overtime (mathematically) compounds to huge, exponential growth. I’m definitely not the first person to use this motivational equation, but here it is:
(1.01)^365 = 37.7 but (1.00)^365 = 1.00.
Consistently doing ordinary things for an unordinary amount of time leads to extraordinary results (thank you Alex Hormozi for that phrasing).
So simply, and consistently, do more than you say.
3. Give More Than You Take
Let’s keep things moving with this theme of ___ more than you ___.
I love this next one: give more than you take. It’s simple, it’s sweet – it’s selfless.
This can be considered a core tenet for doing good business and having successful marketing. So as modern entrepreneurial musicians, we should definitely remember it.
But what do I mean by giving more than you take?
Put simply, it’s a larger focus on adding value and considering your audience first, before going for the ask, or the sell.
For example, if the majority of your posts and IG stories are asking your followers to go stream your new song, download your pre-save or check out your new ___, then you’re probably missing the mark on this rule for success.
Adding value and giving more than you take will, over time, give you the best results, the most sustainable growth and an unbreakable brand. We just need to be patient.
Which leads me to the next rule of success.
4. Patience – There Are No Finish Lines
Slow and steady wins the race. Patience is a virtue. The hare and the tortoise.
We all know the stories and the adages. But do we listen? Well, sometimes. But let this be another gentle reminder (myself included, as I sit here and write this post).
I love the idea of there being no finish lines. After all, reaching a goal for the sake of reaching the goal, and then just being done sounds pretty boring – and probably creates some future dystopian nihilism.
I digress.
Patience is key to growth. This circles back to the 1% concept and how slow, seemingly small (but consistent) effort compounds over time.
We should recognize that our goal posts will always be moving, and we will always be learning and improving.
So rather than rapid growth and reaching some “final” macro goal, let’s keep things patience, sustainable and simply aim for checkpoints over finish lines.
Patience, calmness and focus look and feel way better than frantic speed or rushed decisions and actions.
5. Be Obsessed With What You’re Making
I don’t think musicians are alone on this. But I think it’s unfortunately common to be overly critical of the thing we’re making or doing.
Like it’s not quite good enough. Not up to snuff, because it’s not this person or that band.
Comparison kills creativity. BUT, clarity, happiness and self love boost creativity.
So learning to absolutely love what you’re creating or the process your making is an essential framework for success.
It’s also contagious.
If you truly love what you’re doing, the thing will be better and people will feel and pick up on that energy.
So do what you need to do to get to a place of self appreciation and a love for your own music or thing. For example, compare your current talent to your past work – notice the improvement.
Or, step away from your project and create some objectivity. When you come back, you may find that the sounds you’re working on feel fresh and amazing.
It can take some practice, but learning to love what you’re doing and making is a priority that should not be skipped or pushed aside.
6. Reframe Weaknesses + Mistakes
I have a running list of my strengths and weaknesses. But I don’t call my weak points weaknesses.
I call them ‘Opportunity Doors – Skills to Look Forward To’.
A bit cheesy? Sure. But a healthy, growth-oriented perspective? Absolutely.
Reframing setbacks, failures and weaknesses as opportunities and learning moments is one of the most common traits for successful people. And it’s incredibly liberating.
I used to stress like crazy about my “deficiencies”. This created anxieties and confidence issues, to the point of me not even wanting to work on them because I knew I was going to suck…and that sucks.
For example, music production required a beginner’s mindset and a lot of focused work, which I put off for way too long.
I had been playing guitar for like 20 years, but in the computer, I felt like a complete beginner.
But as soon as I acknowledged my weaknesses and reframed them as exciting paths forward to my next skill level, I started seeing practice and skill-building as the opportunities they are.
So make a list of your strengths and weaknesses – reframe and embrace your weak points as opportunities.
Chip away at your weak points, slowly moving them from your weaknesses column to an intermediary ‘In Progress’ category, and eventually into your strengths column.
You can learn more about this process of how to create a SWOT analysis here.
7. Never Stop Learning
Never assume you know everything.
Let’s consider the Dunning-Kruger effect to highlight things. This is an extreme example. But the idea comes from a paper by Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. So what is it?
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby we believe that we know more than we actually do on a given topic, stemming from some initial introductory information. The more we learn on the topic however, the more we realize we don’t know.
Here’s an illustration I put together as a modern example:
So the benefit of accepting (and acting on) the reality that we don’t know everything means you’ll be perpetually stacking skills, making unique connections and becoming more competitive than most in your niche or genre.
For example, I watched a video earlier today on how harmonic/overtone series and sine waves work (you can watch it here). It’s super fascinating (if you’re a musician).
But after the video, I felt like I knew all about the subject – a true expert. Right? Oof, no, of course not.
But that’s OK – it’s actually exciting that there’s so much more to learn about literally everything.
So keep forging forward and never assume you know it all.
A quick caveat: You do not need to be a specialist-level expert with all the information to be amazing and to do or make great music.
But a keen focus on continually learning means you’re staying humble and always sharpening your skills and your competitive edge.
8. Self Inspiration Beats External Validation
I’ve recently been a bit obsessed with this idea: becoming your own source of inspiration.
And I don’t mean the narcissistic kind of self love – but the healthy and motivating kind.
Belief in yourself and an appreciation for what you’re doing and how far you’ve come is super healthy.
External validation is temporary, fleeting and unreliable. You’ll never get enough likes or comments to feel fulfilled and validated if that’s where your validation metric is coming from.
What’s worse, is the inevitable negative feedback and troll comments will disproportionately influence your psyche, confidence and happiness.
So be inspired by how awesome you actually are. This goes back to loving what you’re doing and making. But self love is essential for musicians and creatives (and anyone, really).
The last couple rules for success dig into this topic (more or less) in a bit more detail.
9. Self Awareness
Self awareness is one of those things that sounds way easier than it actually is.
But knowing who you are, your character traits and who you’re aiming to become is incredibly powerful and important.
And going even deeper, understanding your habits and the cues to those habits is critical.
As musicians, it’s easy to compare or think we need to act, look or create in a certain way or style – to appease the algorithms and trends that be.
But let’s avoid that. Dig deep, and consider who you are really.
It can help to think of who you are outside of music or beyond your core thing (other passions, personality and character traits, etc.).
What, or who, inspires you? What is your purpose and what are your values?
This is sometimes called our artist persona, and it’s an important thought exercise to do and review periodically. Knowing ourselves is enlightening and insightful.
It can help with decision making and knowing where to put our focus and why we react to certain things in certain ways.
All of this boosts our likelihood of success in music (and life).
10. Self Care
No success list would be complete without mention of self care.
For me, this mainly means taking care of my body, my mind and my social life.
Meditation is a big part of that. So let’s start there.
I’m a huge supporter of meditation, optimism and gratitude.
I think meditation can mean different things for everyone. There are many different reasons, goals and ways of doing it. And I am by no means an expert.
But it’s something that’s been incredibly rewarding for me in my life.
Related to meditation, I also practice gratitude and acknowledging that I’ve got a lot of awesome things going for me.
Have I met my bigger macro goals yet? No. But I'm on my way and I’ve chipped away at a lot of the smaller ones. I’ve made strides and I have the ability, health and mindset to do it all.
Beyond this, I prioritize getting enough quality sleep, eating foods that agree with my body and surrounding myself with people who make me happy and motivated.
In short, self care is everything (and should have maybe been at the top of this list).
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