Less is More Creating art requires undiluted focus. Focus that will never be found in the company of friends, beeping cell phones, or the television. To do anything worthwhile requires your undivided attention, persistence, and time. So stop multitasking unless you want to do everything mediocre. Stop trying to do a million things at once unless you don’t want to do anything worthwhile. Find time in your day or your night when you can truly be free from the trespasses of other people. Go to the library. Put the cell phone away. Lock yourself in your room and turn the damn laptop off. Put another way by Jordan Grafman, chief of...

Learning Things the Hard Way The road to becoming an artist is not a straight or linear road. I should know, I spent the last few years of my life trying to become great with little to no progress. I practiced scales and modes, learned music theory, and assaulted my ears with robotic musical tones all because I thought that’s what you had to do. But I haven’t become a musician. I haven’t become good. I haven’t even scratched the surface of mediocre. What I did was become frustrated and uninspired. After almost five years the only things I can regurgitate on my instrument are linear patterns of notes with no musical...