Specific Advice #1: Lesson on finding meaning and purpose

Welcome, to the very first edition of specific advice.

Last week I asked you a question

And here are the results

Now that it’s decided we’ll do 2 letters per week let’s start.

Let’s call our brother here “S’. And to tell you the advice I give is not absolute nor it is the path you should follow.

What I’m going to share is my perspective about your situation and what I would do instead.

Clearly “S” is afraid of doing what he wants. So right now he’s settling for a comfortable job.

Because it’ll pay well, will keep him fed and not ruin his future.

And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I agree with having a ffa

I do not agree with the notion you should quit your job and pursue your passion,

First let’s tackle this.

Our friend here says he struggles with staying consistent and being dedicated.

The problem is whether he is too stressed on his apprentice job that he is unable to work with music on his free time or he just doesn’t have the discipline to rawdog it.

But I think that’s all a cope.

I do not think anyone who wants to succeed cannot find time to dedicate and pursue his/her craft.

The advice here boils down to one thing “How bad do you want it?”

Are you just making excuses so you can feel good about failing as an artist?

Or are you just pretending to be serious about being a music label artist for an A&R?

I don’t know anything about the music industry but every struggle has the same themes. The difference is the person walking the path.

You see not to brag but I got 2 jobs I’m doing. I take care of clients work and have a day time job. And I’m running this newsletter business of mine which makes me affiliate money.

I sometimes barely get enough free time. Everything is done with a mind on the future.

What you lack right now is dedication.

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You will suffer both ways. If you continue working on the job you don’t like as an insurance broker, you will feel good at first with the money you’re making but after 5-10 years you will feel miserable and hollow. Because deep down you know you don’t like it.

And if you quit your job and work as a music producer with no guaranteed future, your journey will be full of doubt and hardships.

Either way you’ll suffer.

And no I’m not telling you to quit your job and become immediately pursue doing A&R.

The smart way to go about this is finish your apprenticeship while doing music gigs at the side.

You mentioned “I’m a music producer and artist, but starting to manage an artist friend of mine which is working quite well”.

Managing people is harder than managing yourself. Your key skill here will be observation,

And since you’re doing both jobs just keep doing it. Do your insurance broker as your main source of income and gradually replace it doing A&R

Yes your output quality will be worse. Yes you will not be able to focus. But you have to responsible here. You can’t just cut out all money flow to your life. That will fuck you up. You need a safety net.

You need to preemptively take financial loss and still be functional (don’t end up homeless or you’ll lose all chances).

And you’re young. I mean you’re only 19. You aren’t supposed to get life figured out that fast.

Chances are you might even change careers as you get older.

You never know what life will give you.

So the key here is treat your apprenticeship like a failsafe.

As much as I want to say go quit your apprenticeship and go follow your passion —that is stupid.

This is real life. And real life has real consequences.

If you let emotions decide you will be up for a lot of pain.

Honestly if you can’t even stay consistent to the gym and workout, how will you stay consistent on pursuing your life task doing A&R for music labels?

You need to blindly trust yourself with your direction. If you can’t even be disciplined and stay consistent going to the gym, being consistent with managing artists will be way harder to you.

Build your discipline first. Right now you are spread too thin and are thinking about the big problems when the answer is already present.

Your first job is being consistent and being disciplined. Dedicate time to being consistent to the gym.

What you need right now is not quitting your job or quit your music producer gigs. What you need is to build obsession and dedication.

If you cannot work with simple things like building discipline, you will not have them at things that really matter. You will quit being a music label for A&R because being consistent and managing people is way harder than going to the gym.

What you need right now is learn how to be disciplined and stay consistent.

When you follow your own path, no one tells you what to do. Most people waste their time and become lazy.

When you have a job, you have a boss to please, a set of rules to follow.

Following your own path is harder. Because you are your own boss and employer at the same time.

No one will get angry at you if you fail.

It will be your responsibility alone.

What you need is do rawdog both your apprenticeship and music gigs.

Take them seriously. That’s what you lack.

You are treating this like it’s child play. It’s your life be serious about it. Then you’ll be successful.

That’s all. You’ll be surprised how many people don’t take their life seriously and just go along with the flow.

See you next time

-Noat

PS: If you found this post help and need some clarification - feel free to reply and ask away. I will respond.

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