💡✍️ADN #054: 42 Lessons From The Last 52 Weeks
Dec 03, 2023Hey Friends -
Welcome to the Artist Development Newsletter.
Every Sunday, I send an email providing actionable tips for artists and industry on one area of the music business.
Last week, we talked about normalcy and how to fight it off.
You can re-read last week’s newsletter here if you want to refresh.
Below are 42 lessons, thoughts, writings, and readings I’ve gathered in the last 52 weeks.
Some life, some music.
All can be applied to both.
You can read them in 4 minutes or less.
I hope a few may help you wherever you are today.
Links are in bold if you want to read more.
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1. The first step toward progress is to want to progress.
2. Creation is the art of turning nothing into something.
3. “I’m not sure” is a green light — not a red light.
4. Constraints Create Creativity — If I give you a guitar to write a song called “Luck,” it is easier than saying, “Write a song.”
6. The more you create, the more you want to create.
7. It doesn’t matter what your creative process is — it only matters that you have one.
8. The ability to see your idea through is as important as the idea itself.
9. What you create comes from what you consume.
10. Failure helps you develop as an artist — “What not to do” is as valuable as “What to do.”
11. Even the most extraordinary artists doubt their ideas.
12. You have nothing to lose but time, so start!
13. Different is good.
14. We all write about the same things. It’s your perspective that makes your writing yours.
15. Don’t assume you know your idea until it’s complete.
16. Your song will be just what someone needs, even if it’s not what everyone needs.
17. Create the world you wish existed for your audience.
18. Being original is in your angle, not your idea.
19. Write solo.
20. Collaborate.
21. Quantity of quality is the goal.
22. Don’t be an asshole.
23. What’s best for your fans is what is best for you.
24. Make people decide if they love or hate you (the middle is boring.)
25. Failure is a step towards success.
26. Write what you don’t know.
28. Ask questions.
29. Question answers.
30. You can create something as timeless as your heroes.
31. Get to the finish line with your ideas. You can always change your mind.
32. Don’t burn bridges you can’t see the other side of.
33. The song you write today will sound different tomorrow.
34. There is nothing better than progress.
35. Songs are assets that only cost the time it takes to create them.
36. The more you ask, the more you find.
37. Enjoy the process, not the result.
38. Where you were isn’t where you are, and where you are isn’t where you’re going.
39. Dream like anything is possible.
40. Focus like there is only one thing to do.
41. It won’t all happen overnight.
42. It WILL all happen with time & effort.
See you next Sunday!
Neil Mason
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