Musicians are a special breed of people, who have the ability to touch and change people. I’ve had my fair share of interactions with them over the years, some good and some bad – but it is lessons learnt. These are from observation, which I do a lot, I learn so much from people. Whenever I meet a musician I ask a million questions because there is power in knowledge and learning from other people’s mistakes and current situation. I’ve also learnt from my own mistakes, I have more than I have desired, and I’ve tried to make sure I don’t repeat them.

Here are some things I think every musician needs:

Criticism

Healthy criticism is needed to get the best out of any musician. Pride is the only thing that stops this from happening. I’ve seen a many artists not take healthy criticism and it has hindered their growth altogether. People who always agree or like what you do are not good for you. ‘YES” man people are bad for you! On the point of criticism, I think it is important to know that the criticism you should take is healthy criticism – not any criticism. If you not taking any criticism you’ve fallen in love with the delusion that you the greatest musician – you not.

Work ethic

This is the separator from good artists to great artists. I usually ask myself what am I doing that I should not be doing or could be doing better. What can I do better that another musician is doing and how consistent am I.  The three themes I could put into this is; 1.) Introspection, 2.) Inspection and 3.) Implementation. All three of these need to be implemented. A lot of musicians don’t believe in hard work, they only believe in doing better than other musicians. I also believe that people who work hard or have an unmatched work ethic do so from the motivation of not just being rich. Money/fame are bad motivators, because having money does not mean you happier. Try work harder, smarter than anyone, because it bears results.

Brand distinctiveness

There are a million musicians. There is a lot of us, we all have to be special in different ways. We can’t be the same, we can’t all sound the same, look the same and do things the same. Usually our differences are what make us unique and special. If you are a musician than you are a brand. This might mean you play different, if you are a rapper there must be something you do different, if you a producer, do what no other producer is doing. Your brand must be different – so you can standout! People are attracted to what is not “normal”

No expectations

I think it’s important to lower expectations because people are going to disappoint you. The people you expect support from, won’t support you. People don’t do things they have promised. I’ve had to learn this the hard way and it creates enemies. The problem with expectations is that you end up hating people and sometimes these are unvoiced expectations. The best is to try limit people’s services and do stuff yourself or depend one someone else less skilled for the time being. Also, watch your heart people are not perfect and you the furthest from it as well.

I hope this helps you, if it does please pass it over to anyone who wants.

Follow Lux Kent on Twitter: @Lux_Kent.