Nick Papanicolaou

Bruce Springsteen’s advice to young musicians:

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Take yourself as seriously as death itself.

Don’t worry. Worry your ass off.

Have iron-clad confidence, but doubt.

It keeps you alive and alert!

Believe you are the baddest ass in town – and [that] you suck!

It keeps you honest.

Be able to keep two completely

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When we sing in the shower, we hardly expect applause. In fact, that would be awfully weird.

But online, when just about anyone might be clicking, watching or sharing, it’s disappointing to put your work into the world and hear nothing.

Nothing but a black hole that absorbs your best work and reflects nothing back.

And if that happens again and again,... See more

Developing taste is an exercise in vulnerability: it requires you to trust your instincts and preferences, even when they don’t align with current trends or the tastes of your peers. Because while having taste is cool, taste itself reflects a certain type of uncool earnestness – a commitment to one’s own obsessions and quirks.

The key ingredient in non-coercive marketing is the golden rule. We should market to others the way we'd want to be marketed to ourselves. But, as I discovered in my own journey, when we're at war with ourselves, and when we treat ourselves in shitty, coercive ways, we often end up treating others that way without realizing it.