Reading the Peter O’Tool autobiography he had some filthy rich guy approach him saying he had everything it takes to be a great actor. O’Tool said, “Yeh? Do you know how to starve?”
On books.
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Not saying hard work is overrated, but there aren’t enough paths to success for all the hard workers out there. So what’s the deciding factor? Luck, even if it’s a small part of the overall equation.
This is not a self help video, Veritasium is a science channel. It presents the also very interesting fact that, although luck is clearly a factor, you have to believe it is not to put the effort in to succeed. Thus, survivor bias, thus people think we live in a meritocracy and they should be rewarded more.
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Coming from no money and experiencing tough times builds resilience and makes you appreciate the small things more.
I had no money in my 20s. Moved out at 18 into government supported housing project. Didn’t even have a bank account until I was 30 as nothing to put in it but also meant no credit, loans of debt. Live on what you have. I was so happy and loved every week. Had a part time job in a record shop which covered me buying records and DJ gigs at the weekends which covered beer and partying. Rented a tiny room with my turntables, records, computer, cheap sampler and a korg groovebox in the corner. Sink in the other corner.
Everything a young man needs
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I was recently given his book, having enjoyed broken records a lot.
A lot of it is just new-age bullshit, occasionally it verges into the offensive or dangerous.
At one point he said that he was told his appendix burst. He opened a book in a bookshop, and it had a line from a doctor saying “ if a doctor wants to remove a part of your body, and they tell you it has no function, don’t believe this.” And decided against the surgery.
Putting something like this in a book that people might be influenced by, in my mind, shows a severe lack of judgement.
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hippies, eh?
(that is pretty irresponsible and stupid. We should probably buy him something to reset his chakras or whatever)
there aren’t enough paths to success for all the hard workers
this really depends on how you measure success. surely?
A lot of the problem with the music business as a career path is that it’s a stupidly distorted business basically selling lies and unobtanium and dreams.
If success is “being completely financially unburdened and without worry” then the music business probably never provided this for any more than a lucky(?) few and certainly can’t now it’s well and truly “disrupted”.
Also a lot of those “few” ended up in early graves, so dunno how lucky they really were.
If you want to live financially unburdened and worry free, you need to get a suit and a job as a major label record exec. Or like, a banker, which is pretty much the same.
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That video very much reminds me of the book Outliers. I suspect that’s where some of the info comes from. It is an interesting read.
Yes. But DOES electricity move through wires?
A huge portion of the „luck“ part probably is not getting obstacles thrown in your way at the wrong time or rather to get them out of the way quickly. There are so many things not under our control that interfere with the follow your dreams and work hard part, that, when there‘s no network of people around you that helps you pull through - it‘s not gonna work out well so easily.
You know, things like a 2 minute phone call that suddenly solves a problem you’ve been trying to solve for months, but nobody would even listen to you, people that know the correct buttons to push in financial, medical or legal issues, the right people to know when you have to look for a new job etc…all that type of stuff that normally would cost your time and money. Lots of it.
I’m sure he gets asked a lot about the key to success and all that and I’m sure there’s an audience waiting for it…but yeah…idk…
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there’s probably a tendency amongst all of us to acknowledge the part bad luck has played in our fortunes, yet to dismiss or overlook the part that good luck has taken.
We act as though the former is out of our control, yet the latter is somehow under our influence.
I’m not rich, but I’ve got myself to a decent position in life. I am good at what I do for a living, and I did work quite hard in my 30s once I got into an area I was focussed on.
From that point I was likely to achieve a decent level of success, but random chance still plays a part.
I benefitted hugely from somebody I worked with suddenly dropping dead.
It sounds harsh, but its true. I’m probably up quarter of a million on that event.
I certainly wouldn’t be mortgage free if they were still alive.
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Rick Rubin is living a reality not a dream. A dream is a fantasy. Follow your heart’s desire would be more practical as a desire is a need for a specific feeling. More abstract so more likely to achieve in one form or the other:
Motive and opportunity…
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On the night of the 12th I was at the Savoy Cinema on Derby Road.
Debit card records confirm this.
I went over all this at the time.
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That reminds me I use to hang out with the aged projectionist at the local cinema as a child to the point that I learned how to change the reels on the projector when he had to use the loo etc. I fell in love with a local girl in my late teens and due to some family circumstances I wish not to explain at the moment she left me a note with the projectionist to tell me that she was in love with me too and would be back in a year, but he never gave it to me. I only found out these details 20 years later after I left that small backwater town in Arkansas to move to Berlin where I became one of the top selling IMBD artists in 2002. I believe she still loves me but is married to Steve Aoki, the heir to Benihana, and I doubt she would ever leave him for me. Funny how life works out.
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When I started reading your post, I thought it I was reading the Cinema Paradisio plot.
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Referring to Rick’s position as someone who has made it and is still successful - now both as some kind of guru and a producer, there is the other side: Those who have fallen from the heights of success and have seen the dire side of the dream of fame. I recommend Nick Duerden’s “Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Pop Stars”. It discusses what follows when the dream evaporates… There’s no linearity to following your passion. Adding to this, it seems as if the rock’n’roll dream is also a generational thing in the fade out. maybe generation z is less infected by it, but more by being a tik tok celebrity.
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Life often incinerates art.
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How a Sucker Punch and the Internet Fueled My Chemical Romance’s Rise – Rolling Stone is another good read (the full book, linked is just an excerpt.) if this is interesting to anyone-
author Dan Ozzi examines the fraught decision that’s plagued some of the world’s greatest punk bands for decades: Whether or not to sign that record contract?
Sellout specifically examines the post-Nirvana goldrush as major labels descended on punk scenes with big promises and bigger stacks of money, sparking fierce debates among bands and fans over authenticity and independence. Based on a trove of original interviews and personal stories from band members and other crucial players, Ozzi examines how 11 groups — from Green Day and Blink-182 to At the Drive-In, Thursday, and Against Me! — grappled with the tension between punk’s core tenets and major label possibilities, and parses what success and failure looked like in this fraught realm.
It’s a really good look at varying degrees of success and how non-linear that can be financially from a set of legitimately talented and decades-devoted individuals.
Yes, that celebrity influencer would generally require optimizing for factors you already have, Aoki leveraging his father’s wealth and fame to become a “superstar DJ” and the algorithms give even less of a meritocracy and human networking than it was then.
Ultimately back to the topic, Rubin is all about flow and avoiding decision fatigue in his “elder statesman” role.
A lot of his life is designed around avoiding roadblocks, and that’s a lot easier when fundamental hierarchal needs were resolved when he was 18 or whatever.
Edit: From what I’m seeing his background was pretty affluent from the start, so definitely easier to lean into mysticism and the guru shtick.
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I don’t know anything about Steve Aoki’s music but heard him on NPR and he seemed to of inherited his father’s work ethic. So many things come down to upbringing; such as work ethic, how we handle our finances (aside from being born wealthy), diet etc., it can be pretty demoralizing when I think about it too much as I see myself having mostly inherited bad habits from my parents, but who knows…
I once shared a counter at with this older Japanese guy who owned a few restaurants here, I was sitting but he stood behind his seat for the hour or so I talked to him, downing soju. He went on and on about how he managed a Benihana restaurant when he first moved here and talked so respectfully about Mr. Aoki (senior) even though the guy was really demanding of his employees he kept saying something like “if he was so bad to work for they should of quit” and also told me about how the guy moved to NYC in the 60s and started his empire with an ice cream truck in Harlem. So, I think Steve Aoki’s success probably had more to do with the work ethic his father instilled in him than just being from wealth.
That soju drinking restaurateur not only had a seemingly strong work ethic when it came to his businesses but his party time too. He kept on checking his watch to make a train to where he lived outside of the city and told me once he arrived at the station he had to walk a mile due to losing his driving license.
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There were pretty much no working class record producers putting out gold and platinum albums in the early '80s. This is back when you had to rent large blocks of time at big name studios in 9 month increments. This dude was definitely loaded by the time Def Jam was formed. This isn’t a criticism, mind you.