Ep5: Real Artist Don’t Starve: Life-Changing Lessons Learned (Part 1)

Episode number five, real artists don’t start. Part one, the life-changing principles I learned.

Well hello and welcome to the Food for Musical Thoughts podcast with Elishema, the diary of a music artist.

Here I share ideas to feel creative, bro, and give you a sneak peek into my life as a music artist for inspiration.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing some principles I learned from the book by Jeff Goins called Real Artists Don’t Start.

I consider these principles to be life-changing if applied.

It is said that knowledge is power, but I believe knowledge when applied is where the true power lies.

It almost rhymes.

So anyway, let’s dive in.

So for the past week, I have been listening to the audio book Real Artists Don’t Start.

Timeless strategies for thriving in the new creative page by Jeff Goins.

In the book, he outlines what makes the difference between the starving artists and the thriving artists.

He gives key principles and plenty of examples of artists who’ve thrived during their time.

Sharing stories about artists across a large time frame from the Renaissance era occurring around the 15th and 16th century up until now, the 21st century.

In my opinion, it’s a really inspiring, insightful, and action-oriented book.

The messages he deliver in the book have served as reminders to me about the way I need to be approaching my career as an artist.

And honestly, I see being an artist is more of a lifestyle these days than just a career.

But that’s a topic for another time.

As of now, I’m still listening to the audiobook.

I got about an hour and 40 minutes left to go, but I wanted to share some key concepts that I’ve learned from the book so far.

And when I finish the book, I’ll do a part two episode to share some final thoughts and key takeaways.

So in the book, Jeff Goin’s lists what he calls the “principles” every thriving artist lives by and compares them with what he consider starving artists mentality for the principles they live by.

So I’ll be paraphrasing the principles here using different terms.

I’ll use struggling artists in place of starving artists and prosperous artists in place of thriving artists.

To get Jeff Goin’s original breakdown, you can check out the book, I’ll link to it in the show notes.

So there are 12 principles in total, and here is my paraphrasing of those principles.

One, the struggling artist believes being an artist is a trait that you are born with.

The prosperous artist knows you can become an artist.

Two, the struggling artist aims to be original.

The prosperous artist borrows immensely from their influences.

Three, the struggling artist believes their talent is sufficient to get them by.

The prosperous artist studies under an experienced master.

Four, the struggling artist is unyielding on everything.

The prosperous artist is unyielding on the important stuff.

Five, the struggling artist patiently waits for recognition.

The prosperous artist actively fosters relationships with supporters.

Six, the struggling artist believes artistic expression can thrive in any environment.

The prosperous artist seeks out environments where creative work is already occurring.

Seven, the struggling artist always works in isolation.

The prosperous artist seeks opportunities for collaboration with others.

Eight, the struggling artist does his work privately.

The prosperous artist homes their craft in public.

Number nine, the struggling artist will work without pay.

The prosperous artist always works in exchange for some form of compensation.

Ten, the struggling artist succumbs to selling out prematurely.

The prosperous artist maintains ownership over their work.

Eleven, the struggling artist masters one skill, the prosperous artist masters many skills.

Number 12, the struggling artist hates needing to rely on money.

The prosperous artist earns an income to support their artistic endeavors.

These are the principles paraphrased in my own words.

I can relate to a lot of these, which I titled as the struggling artist.

I definitely need to work on it.

But then I also do adhere to some of the prosperous artist principles already.

The prosperous artist masters many skills.

I’m not just a singer, I’m not just a songwriter, now I’m a podcaster.

I’ve learned marketing skills as well as website development skills.

It’s a lot of skills that I’ve learned.

Honestly, at one point in time, I thought to myself, I thought I was doing too much.

I guess that was coming from the struggling artist mindset of thinking, okay, I just need to work with this one skill.

Why am I trying to diversify?

Let me just focus on being a singer and just do that.

But even the most wealthiest people have multiple strings of income.

As we can see, the prosperous artist masters many skills.

So that’s important to remember. And to master all 12 would be fantastic.

So for the remainder of the book, he explores these 12 principles in the context of three overarching things, which are mindset, marketing and making money.

While listening to the audiobook, I would find myself saying, yes, I need to stop doing that.

Or, okay, I need to adopt this strategy.

So it was a lot of aha moments for me throughout the whole book.

And I’m definitely going to listen to it a second time.

Maybe even a third, I mean repetition is very important to really absorbing things.

So I’m definitely going to be like, make this one of my reference books that I refer back to often.

And overall, there’s so many gyms in a book.

And if I can just apply three or four of these principles at the least, I mean, I feel like my life as an artist will be so much more fulfilling.

And ultimately, allow me to prosper a whole lot more.

So to sum it all up in conclusion, I totally recommend anyone who is serious about their art, their music, or is a creative type to read or listen to this book.

If you want a copy of the paraphrase principles, the struggling artist versus the prosperous artist, I will provide a link on the show notes page to download it.

And to see the original principles by Jeff Goins, the starving artist versus the thriving artists.

Again, check out the book. I’ll leave a link to that on the show notes page.

And to see the show notes for this episode, you can visit foodformusicalthoughts.com/ep5.

If you have a suggestion for the podcast or a topic you’d like for me to cover, please contact me.

I’m always open to hearing from listeners.

The link for that is also on the show notes page.

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So thank you so much for tuning in.

I hope this episode inspires some musical thoughts.

I am wishing you a great day evening or night.

Bye for now.