Let’s talk about motivation.
Why does anyone do what they do?
For a lot of folks, money is the answer. If you live in the USA, money is a requirement to do pretty much anything. We owe, we owe, so off to work we go. Most of the country has credit card debt, and even if you don’t, you probably have at least a car payment (which means insurance), and a mortgage or rent. Plus, you know. Basics like food, electricity, and water. A source of income is required to live reasonably well.
But, not all of us are driven primarily by the need for cash. I submit myself as an example. Not only am I not driven to make boatloads of cash, I never have been. I’ll give you an example from my childhood.
I went to a boarding school for grades 7-9. Students often sometimes sold slices of pizza from a local pizzeria to make extra money. The place was great, man. I can still see, smell and taste that stuff. In any case, on one of my mom’s visits, she bought me an extra pizza to take back to school. She didn’t know about the selling; she was doing it to be nice to me. I could have made at least two dollars a slice, and perhaps as much as five. What do you think I did?
Yup. I ate that damn thing myself. I may have shared with my best friend at the time; I can’t say for sure. I chose satisfying my taste buds over putting some pretty good cash in my pocket. What does that say about me?
Well, yeah. I’m still fat. I still love to eat. That’s not what I mean.
Would someone whose main purpose in life was making as much money as possible do the same thing? I think not. Neither would anyone who had whatever is necessary to become ultra successful in any given field. But me? I did what satisfied me.
I still. Do.
Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s bad. Let’s look at how that relates to what I consider my purpose in life; music. I make music that moves me. I don’t do it because I think it will make me large piles of money, though my goal as a teen was to be a rock star. By the time I was in my 30s, that morphed into making a living. That’s where it still is. But, even that isn’t quite so simple. I want to do it on my terms, meaning making it with my music. I don’t want to back up anyone else (though I will back the right people) and I’m not interested in primarily playing cover tunes. If I can’t find an audience with my stuff, I’ll just keep working whatever job I can to pay my bills while I toil away with what stirs my soul. For better or worse.
That’s who I am.
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