The Comparison Game is a Losers Game...
Because there will always be somebody better than you are. There will always be someone who has more resources, more money, who does something for very different reasons than you...
I just finished a Skype session (a coaching session) with a couple out in Atlanta, who are a singer songwriter team and who wanted to get some advice for developing their sound, they're going into the studio at the end of the month. And, I could not believe how they were so trapped in the comparison game.
You'll never win if you get trapped in the comparison game. If you're looking at the music business in a manner that says "I gotta be #1," or "I must be a big, big star," don't get allow yourself to get trapped in that. Think to yourself, what does that even mean? If you pursue that line of thought, you'll get your head handed to you in this business.
If you try to play the game of "I'm the biggest," or "I'm headed to the top," you will have your guts handed to you every time. The very attitude of "I'm the biggest thing ever" ...nobody wants to be around that. That whole attitude is a losers game... that's all it is. If you try to play that competition game of, I'm the greatest - I'm the best, (before you even have an album out), you'll lose every time.
Musicians who haven't lived in LA, who haven't been to New York, who haven't been to London England, you just don't understand the resources that some people have. The skills some of these musicians have. The money that some people have - how can you compete? It's unreal what's going on in this business. There's million dollar deals being made every day.
Instead, you have to focus on what you need from your music, and what's enough for you in your career. You can have huge goals and you can have fantastic dreams, I'd definitely encourage that! You should never settle for less than who you really are. Or, for who you feel that you can become.
You just have to define what that is. What is right for you. And, focus on that and what you feel you need to do. From what I see, (a lot of the time), is that most players are coming up short. Most players have way more potential than they're giving themselves credit for. They just need to work harder. To do more.
Don't smoke pot every day, don't get drunk on the weekends. Don't waste your time... There's NOTHING more valuable than your focus.
Sort yourself out, and understand that the comparison thing is a losers game. If you're trying to play the music game and you notice that you are starting to bury yourself in debt, just to be at a level you're not... at a level that you can't win at, (because you'll never have enough money), then you're playing the losers game.
And, when you play a losers game you'll always come up short. They'll always be people there trying to get you to play the game, to spend more of your money - more money than you have, to eventually bury yourself in debt.
Just be sure to take your advice from people who are multi-decade success stories in this business. Always remember to consider where you are getting your advice from. Always consider that, if they aren't a success, don't listen to those people.
Take your advice from people who have their act together. That's how you'll make this crazy business work for you - how you need it to work for you!
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