A few days ago I listened to a podcast conversation with Thomas Curran, author of The Perfection Trap. In his book, Curran cautions against striving for more at all costs and argues for the “power of good enough”, as the subtitle puts it. As I listened, it reminded me of a story I came across…
Read moreThe Miracle of Art
If you ask me what my favourite song is that I’ve written, I’ll almost always say it’s the most recent one. Deep down, I know this isn’t necessarily true, but it’s simply a manifestation of the recency bias. Put another way, I tend to think more fondly of my most recent songs compared to older…
Read moreShine Your Light
A few days ago I popped into my local Waterstones bookstore, the one on Deansgate in central Manchester. I’d taken a quick detour to browse through the new books on display, as I do on my evening walks, with my left ear plugged with a podcast and my right one free to keep me tuned…
Read moreThe Gift That Keeps On Giving
I attended a wedding yesterday. My friends got married, to each other. It was a lovely event, a blissful ceremony, a wonderful time all around. The bride also happens to be a former colleague, one who has always appreciated and encouraged my art. So when, a few months ago, over coffee, she asked if I’d…
Read moreAudience of One
Years ago, when I went public with my music, a well-meaning individual gave me some advice. They told me the music business is a numbers game, and went on to explain that to be successful, an artist must do two things. First, an artist must aim to appeal to a broad range of people in…
Read moreOn Attention
There’s a story about two young fish swimming in the sea. As they swim, they come across a third, much older fish. “Fellas, how’s the water this morning?” asks the older fish. The two young fish glance at each other, and back at the older fish. Not to be rude, they exchange pleasantries with the…
Read moreOn Solitude
I’ve spent the last few days reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. For the uninitiated, Newport is something of a unicorn. He’s a computer science professor and writer who is now in his early 40s, making him an elder millennial, and – wait for it – he’s never had a social media account. Suffice it…
Read moreOn Failure
Failure is an attention-grabbing word, isn’t it? It’s the one thing nobody wants to be, the one thing nobody wants to do, the one thing nobody wants to attract. Nobody wants to be a failure, nobody wants to fail, and nobody wants to be caught in an endless failing loop. Or maybe I’m just speaking…
Read moreOn Leaps of Faith
Years ago I stumbled upon an article on the work of Leonard Cohen, in which he said, on the subject of his creative process, “if I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.” I found this fascinating then and I still do, because it always seemed too good to be…
Read moreCeiling and Sky
The other day I stumbled upon an old conversation between Steven Dubner and Richard Thaler. If you’re at all familiar with the Freakonomics body of work – the books, podcasts, and blogs – then you’re most definitely familiar with Dubner. Richard Thaler is just as, if not more legendary, as one of the pioneers of…
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