You can't maintain control over your direction if you keep passing the ball to someone else.
I tried to make an album for 15 years before throwing my hands up… 15 years!! And not in an awesome D'angelo epicness kinda way.. I just couldn't get it together.
I had no time. I had no budget and my friends were just too busy getting their own shit sorted.
And now when I look back at it, I think that maybe I just gave myself every excuse under the sun as to why I couldn’t make it all that time
Crazy huh?
Somewhere underneath it all, I was AFRAID of my own dream.
It happens to the best of us.
When I moved away to the island of Mauritius in 2016, I realised that if I didn’t drive my own project, I would never get it to the place I wanted it to go. Collaboration is a beautiful thing. When it aligns properly. And just like that infamous “We should catch up” empty promise some of us make to our friends, alignment doesn't always happen, because we prioritise other things.
It's OK.
YOU get to choose what you think is important to do/focus on at any stage in your life because: It’s YOUR LIFE. But I’m finding more and more, that there is a huge disconnect between what people SAY they want to do, and what they ACTUALLY want to do. We are really bad at being honest about it. Even to ourselves.
Anyway, back to my Album story:
It took 15 years (and a lot of heartache) to realise my projects need to come from ME first. I needed to express MY feelings. I needed MY voice to be heard. I needed to be front and centre. I needed it to be MY vision. It needed to tick MY boxes.
Because ultimately I was the one that had to represent it. And my soul was not going to be satisfied with meaningless (even when it came with $$$$) The creative monster inside of me wanted to be fed FIRST.
But I didn't know anything about releasing music, or the industry. I had skills, but I was still a junior. I didn’t even really know WHAT I wanted. And I didn’t even know how to KNOW what I wanted.
So I left it in the hands of others who were Better qualified Better connected Smarter at business Better suited for the driver’s seat.
AND I forgot 1 important thing. NO ONE would ever be better at being ME than ME. (get it? Read it again) And this album was supposed to be about ME.
When this hit home, I created and drove my career from a different mindset. I asked myself the right questions, I found the right team, I chose the right opportunities and I never looked back.
Nothing holds you back like your own sense of LACK. And with Certainty and Clarity comes the Success you are looking for.
SUCCESS means something different to everyone.
And these days, I’m super grateful to be able to help my fellow creatives find what it looks like for them, and work out how to get there without losing themselves.
You and I, we got this Xx
The Artist Mindset Program is back for July...Message me for details
