Diversity and drive are two key ingredients to success as a musician. Another one is luck, you know, right place and right time but, that isn’t really something that you can predict or plan for. The first two I mentioned are well within your control as a human being. Let’s talk about them and I’ll explain how they pertain to me, as I only know my point of view and how I use them to my advantage. 

Number one: diversity. I look at this as a relative thing. For myself, I want to be diverse in the things that resonate with me. I’m not a Jazz or Latin guy, so I spend very little time on acquiring those skills. Not to say that I won’t in the future if I feel a shift in taste. It’s just not in the forefront right now. I focus on Rock, Pop, and Electronic with a dash of Hip Hop, as those are genres of music I enjoy playing and that speak to me. I also want to be diverse in my musical tastes and focus on my strengths as a musician, doubling and even tripling down on them. Not to say I neglect my weakness’, I just make sure that I really understand my strengths. Your personality directly translates into how you write, play and perform as a musician. 

The second thing is drive and it can be a bit more tricky. Some people are naturally driven and some are not. If you’re naturally driven like myself, then it’s a bit easier to keep pushing forward because you don’t really have to work that hard to acquire the drive. You see something you want, you understand that it’s not easy and that time, energy and work are going to have to be put into it. Once you understand those things, you just start doing it. At least that’s how I work. If you’re not naturally driven, you need to find something that inspires that drive in you or trick yourself into being driven. I know that last thing I said sounds a bit weird and you’re probably saying to yourself, “Chris, how do you trick yourself into being driven?” Not easy but doable. You just kinda have to brainwash yourself and find things that motivate you that are tangible marks along the way. Having faith in what you want is another big thing, how bad do you want it? Being as honest with yourself is really important, shoot for reasonable things, but shoot extremely high and go full force. 

Now, there is a third part to this - It has a shitty name and it’s called struggle. Struggle is a bitch and will test you constantly. It will dangle that delicious carrot of prosperity in front of you and then pull it away. Every now and again, it will throw you a crumb so that you’ll keep going. It’s something that is integrated into all of our lives as musicians. The only real way to combat struggle is to not give up on what you deem crucial. I can tell you about success and struggle in my world. You kind of need both for life to make sense. Struggle makes the sweet even sweeter, but also makes the lows even lower. One of the reasons why I think I’ve been able to have a decent career in music so far is that I can see the big picture. I can see what it takes and I’m not afraid to do what I need to do to make it happen. I want it so bad that I’m willing to sacrifice everything to acquire it. Being diverse, driven and also seeing the struggles will really humble you as a musician and as a human being. I firmly believe that once you accept and embrace all of that, you can truly be at peace. Being at peace will make moving forward seem effortless and help you get to where you need to go!