Derek Sivers

I was uncomfortable, unhappy, and restless. I didn’t want to meet new people, because I felt I was giving the wrong impression. Something wasn’t right. It took me months to figure out the real problem: My clothes don’t fit anymore!

In 1990, at the age of 20, I moved to New York City and got a job as the tape room guy for Warner/Chappell Music Publishing.

A musician had manufactured 10,000 copies of his CD in anticipation of 10,000 orders that were sure to come through that week.

I hear lots of business plans.

I’ve always used freedom as the compass to guide my decisions.

One approach to music is to do whatever you want. Absolutely anything goes. But to me, that’s too free. It’s anti-inspiring because having infinite options is overwhelming.

You know those people whose lives are transformed by meditation or yoga or something like that?

I don’t usually talk about money, but a friend asked me what it was like to get rich, and he wanted to know specifics, so I told him my story.

If you’re in doubt about something that’s not in your life, try it. Things are so different in practice versus in theory. The only way to know is to experience it yourself.

Watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s great TED talk called “Your elusive creative genius”.

You would think this would be a basic life skill, but it seems almost nobody knows it, so please spread the word.

In 1991 I was 22 years old, and had moved to New York City to be a professional musician. I had a little home studio, and was doing some random gigs around town.

Like everyone, I live in a little house with many doors and windows.

I wanted to learn about the world, so I went travelling.

First, see my previous article about PostgreSQL functions at sivers.org/pg. That article gave tiny examples, but no finished working code.

Here’s an idea: Create a little school somewhere remote. School of what? School of mastery.

The listening algorithm

When someone becomes an expert at something, you know what else they become? Annoying.

Cross the world four times.

David grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, with five brothers and sisters.