Are you obsessed? 

It’s a lot easier to get someone else to believe in your work if you believe in it first. 

I’ve been in the music business a long time (roughly 20 years at this point), and I’ve seen all kinds of motivations for pursuing creativity as a career. 

Money. 

Fame. 

Status. 

Heck, I’ve even come across people who seem to think that working in arts and entertainment will somehow be easier than a “real” job, which is why they want to do it. 

If you’re anything like me, this last one probably has you laughing. 

Creating anything for a living is difficult. 

But earning a steady paycheck from art is even more difficult. 

If you want to go the distance, you have to become obsessed. 

Audit your time 

Think about how you spent your time as a kid. 

Did you make things just for the fun of it? 

Did you get lost in your creative passions and simply lose track of time? 

I know I certainly did. 

I got my first set of drums at nine years old, and from that point forward, I played every single day. 

For hours. 

(Shout out to my parents for putting up with the noise) 

I became obsessed. 

And that obsession led to improvement, which led to mastery, which led to opportunities, which ultimately led to arenas, record deals, and sharing the stage with some of the highest selling acts in modern music. 

But at my core, I just wanted to play the drums. 

And that’s the point. 

Symptoms and side effects 

Obsession is a precursor for mastery. 

And mastery is what changes lives. 

If you want to master something, fall in love with it. 

If you’re not in love with it, someone else who is in love with it will come along and outperform you with 50% of the effort. 

And they’ll get all of the side effects too many people desperately crave. 

See, mastery leads to opportunity. 

Opportunity leads to influence. 

And influence leads to things like money, fame, status, or whatever else a large swath of the population is constantly chasing. 

The problem is everybody wants these side effects without earning the one thing that earns them. 

Mastery. 

Which starts with obsession. 

The reality 

The truth is that, nowadays, being a creator requires polymathy. 

It’s no longer good enough to be a specialist in one niche, specific thing (at least not where being a creator is concerned). 

Well, that’s not the case in all domains (there are always obvious exceptions), but if you want to build an entrepreneurial world around your creative work, you’ll have to do a lot of different things. 

So many people (artists, especially) complain about this online all the time, but it is the current state of affairs, whether we like it or not. 

Things like music, sound, video, editing, storytelling—these are all core components of creating and scaling a lasting creative brand in the modern world. 

So if you want to build a business on top of your work, become obsessed with these things. 

Go deep down the rabbit hole on the things that fascinate you and become obsessed. 

Master them, then watch your life change.