Derek, wow you were a driven kid! What lead you to be in such a hurry to get through school?
There's no speed limit (2009)
11–20 of 214 posts
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#12Derek, wow you were a driven kid! What lead you to be in such a hurry to get through school?
I was in a hurry to get famous!
I wanted to be a rock star. Ain't no fun waiting 'round to be a millionaire! Gotta hurry.
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#13My favorite nugget:
" I run across kids all the time who say they want to be a great musician. I tell them I can help, and tell them to show up at my studio at 9am if they're serious. Almost nobody ever does."
I've learned this after so many years. Everyone talks about wanting to be successful. No one ever means it. Having someone just show up is a miracle.
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#14Darn it.. Sometimes i wish i had found a teacher like this. i.e: someone who could teach at my pace and not the class' average pace.
I think you have to go outside the school to find those kind of teachers. They've got an intrinsic motivation to prove they can teach better than the school's standard pace.
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#15Surprised to see a post of mine here on Hacker News. (First time in a long time. Thanks!) Feel free to ask me absolutely anything here.
I've seen this post before, but I was glad to reread it. A bit off-topic, but could you tell us about your sleep schedule?
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#16It's definitely helpful to understand that there is no real speed limit.
Conversely, I think it's also useful to think that there's no rush.
I sometimes get in my head that "if I don't have X millions by the time I'm 30, I'll be a failure."
I realized it's too stressful to think that way.
It's probably more important to think there are no speed requirements at all. Move as slow or as fast as you need/want.
Great post!
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#17Surprised to see a post of mine here on Hacker News. (First time in a long time. Thanks!) Feel free to ask me absolutely anything here.
I had read this story the first time, and now I've remembered right away the question I couldn't ask then: without a Kimo near, is there any book that explain the same harmony knowledge and allows a no-speed-limit approach?
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see how it is useful. a) The first instance of Berklee shows the full name, which isn't "University of California, Berk(lee|eley)". b) It consistently says Berklee in the article, never Berkeley, so there's no confusion caused by inconsistency. c) Your comment implies that the author is an idiot who can't even spell the name of the college he attended; which is impolite at best.
It's OK. It's a common confusion. My senior year (at Berklee) the company that prints up our report cards sent them to Berkeley California. Kind of an ongoing joke. ("Where did you go to school?" - "Berklee" - "Oh wow, that's really prestigious!" - "... College of Music." ".... oh.")
Conversely, I was speaking with someone overseas and mentioned I used to live in Berkeley, California and his response was, "oh, so you play music?"
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#19Surprised to see a post of mine here on Hacker News. (First time in a long time. Thanks!) Feel free to ask me absolutely anything here.
How do you handle stress and burnout? Even playing video games leads me to burnout. Thanks in advance. :)
Re: There's no speed limit (2009)
#20Surprised to see a post of mine here on Hacker News. (First time in a long time. Thanks!) Feel free to ask me absolutely anything here.
I've seen this post before, but I was glad to reread it. A bit off-topic, but could you tell us about your sleep schedule?
6 hours has always been enough for me.
At Berklee, I'd get a piano room every night at 10pm until midnight, when they closed. Then I'd sleep from 1am to 7am, practice some more, and go to class.
I was quite driven.
Kind of like someone who really feels if they just work their ass off they can be the next Zuckerberg, 20 years ago, being a successful musician felt more attainable. It felt like if I just practiced my ass off, wrote a lot of great songs, and put myself where the action is, I could be successful.
That kind of "I can almost taste it" feeling is the most amazing motivation, isn't it?
My friends called me "the robot" because I never hung out, never partied, never sat around in the cafeteria eating with them. I'd just grab a peanut butter sandwich and get back to work. Couldn't waste a single minute on the road to success!