- There are three essential qualities into turning your life into your dream life: delusion, persistence, gratitude
Delusion
- “You have to be careful what you think about, because it comes true.”
- When you set your achievement in the future, you’re already putting it off. The future never comes. It will always remain the future. You need to say “I am successful.” You need to believe so deeply that you are just waiting for the world to catch up.
- Living off delusion is healthy. Everything is unrealistic until it’s not. Follow your dream despite its contraction with the known reality and the rational expectations and assumptions of other people
- Become addicted to the craft. After the show, Russ partied with the fans but the whole time he was itching to get back into the hotel to record.
- Get so lost in your passion that the numbers on a clock aren’t real. Time isn’t real. Just clocks.
- Detach from the when. If you’re too attached to the when, you will be fighting the natural flow of the universe. It knows the exact right moment everything needs to happen.
- Fuck the points. Play for the love of the game.
Persistance
- “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”
- A lot of people think talent is the essential factor. Their wrong. The X-factor is hard work.
- DIEMON – Do It Everyday Music Or Nothing
- A mastermind – when you and another person come together to create a whole new force (1+1=3)
- DIEMON took on new artists and when they didn’t blow up right away, they stopped. They were too attached to when.
- The world doesn’t bet on talent. It bets on people who believe in themselves. The world rewards confidence and belief.
- Mindset: “I’m going to out-work and out-believe you.”
- What most people don’t realize is if you’re honest about your vulnerabilities and you wear them like a proud badge, people can’t use them against you.
- Instead of putting your best foot forward, put all your feet forward.
- People always downplay how bad they want something so if they end up not getting it they don’t look stupid
- What would happen if you wanted something unabashedly? If you had said it out loud, you would have fought harder for it.
- If you are living for the approval of someone else, you will always have a void. Fill the void with self-approval, which will blossom into self-love
- You can control your work and your self-belief, but not the timing. Patience is essential
- When nothing works, keep working
- Have tunnel vision on a goal and keep your head down. Don’t distract yourself with the constant need to look up and look around
- The world was telling Russ it was not going to work. Journalists told him it wasn’t going to work. He put out 11 projects and nothing took off. The takeaway for Russ? He was now highly versed it what didn’t work.
- In June 2015, Russ made $620. In June 2016, Russ made $102,000. Never stop studying.
- Your life is on the line. You should be the only one taking the shot.
- Don’t fall asleep on yourself. YOU are the answer.
- “Be realistic” is the worst advice Russ has ever got.
- Why spend time trying to dim your own light out of fear it could get in someone else’s eyes? If their light was shining they wouldn’t even see it.
- Move with purpose
- Move with urgency
- There is always something to be done. As long as you are accomplishing one small facet of the bigger picture every day then you are spending your time wisely. Don’t worry about being perfect. Be more concerned with being productive. Think less. Do more.
- Keep doing. Keep making. Keep pushing. Do it so you can do it again. Get in as many reps as possible.
- You have to be okay with not being great for a year or ten. You will continuously strive to be the best version of yourself – there is always more to be done.
Gratitude
- Gratitude is your way of telling the universe, “Thank you, I’ll have some more.”
- Celebrate what you want to have more of.
- Get obsessed with the idea of a better you.
- Russ is often asked which artists inspire him. “Future me.”
- “What if it can turn out better than you can imagine?”
- The journey is the success
- The thrill of the journey is embracing newness as long as its inline with your purpose.
- Remind yourself what you can control: your thoughts, what you put out into the world, and your behavior
- When you are down and you rise up, you feel more powerful than you ever did. On the other side of adversity is strength.
- The journey begins and ends with you. Keep going.