Whether you are a singer-songwriter or a founder of a tech startup, it is very likely that you are your own boss. When you are the one that must make sure you stay on task and accomplish things within a certain timeframe there can be many challenges. If you have friends that don’t understand the lifestyle (hopefully, like me, you have at least a handful) it can prove very difficult to achieve a work/life balance. Here are a few things I’ve found immensely helpful when it comes to being my own boss and maintaining a (somewhat) healthy lifestyle. Some are related to health and others are related to time management and expanding your mind. I hope you find at least a few of these to be useful.

Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning

This cannot be emphasized enough. Regardless of what time you wake up you must drink a glass of water immediately. Most of us don’t realize how incredibly dehydrated we become overnight. I live in Boston and, like many other residents of this fine city, have no control of the heat in my apartment. When I wake up in the morning that glass of water does more than anything to get me moving in the right direction for a productive day.

Read books

I love reading blogs because they talk about the here and now but books are under-appreciated by too many people that lead a digital lifestyle. Reading makes you a better writer and an even better thinker. Sit down and completely immerse yourself in a book every day. If you like keeping track of your progress sign up for GoodReads.

Plan ahead and learn best practices for scheduling

You may not be very busy. You may say to yourself, “I can remember that appointment.” If you are progressing you will undoubtedly begin to have fuller schedule. It’s important not to learn the best way of organizing it once you are scrambling to keep track. My iCal is one of the first things I consult each day and it’s a good habit. Make sure to set alerts so even if you forget to check your calendar you’ll still have an hour to get across town for that meeting.

There are no regular business hours

If you are running your own business you need to be ready to be working late into the night, before normal people wake up and at other times in between. Time off is healthy and needed but it is not something that can be set in stone. If you are your own boss the weekends are not time off. If you really care about your business you need to do the work whenever it needs to be done.

If you have a smartphone there is no excuse

If you have a phone that is connected to the internet and the person you are taking too long to contact knows this it comes off really badly. A friend once told me she doesn’t have a smartphone because she does not want to have to work on her off time. It’s a great idea for someone like her that isn’t their own boss. When you are calling the shots you need to be ready to get to work or put out fires on a moment’s notice.

“I regret that workout,” said no one ever.

Needless to say, I’m not an athlete. Even if you are not one it’s important to train your body and stay in (relatively) good shape in order to succeed. This is not about self image, it’s about the fact that it’s incredibly unhealthy to have fat hanging off of our bodies. I started the couch-to-5k program and it changed my view of training. I am able to do 5k in under 30 minutes which, while nowhere near competition status, would have been a fantasy for me in High School. Find out if working out feels better for you in the morning or at night then do it every day. If you have problems following through I’d suggest GymPact though I’ve never used it personally. The dread of having to pay if you don’t work out is likely a strong motivator for many people.

Have people to talk to.

Running your own business is very fulfilling even if you don’t succeed monetarily. The experiences, however painful or stressful at times, are incredibly valuable and enrich you as a person. You need people to talk to about the things that are bothering you. It could be other co-founders/confidants over coffee every week. It could also be a friend to discuss relationship dilemmas and things not related to your business. You need someone to talk to that will listen and relate to what you are going through. Starting a business is very difficult and keeping the struggles to yourself can be harmful to your health. Make sure you treat those that support you with warmth and show how much you care.

This is just a start. I’ll be posting more thoughts and things I’ve learned about being my own boss as time goes on. Take care of yourselves out there!

If you are in a band it is very likely that you greatly enjoy the genre of music your band plays. This is very valuable because it means you have opinions and ethos that are in alignment with most of your fans and potential audience (read: customers).

Because of this, you should constantly be looking through your “fan lens” as you think about what you do with your band. By that I mean you should look at what you are doing from the perspective of someone that loves the genre of music that your band plays. Do this when deciding on what kind of merch you will be producing, how you will engage with your audience online, etc.

As a fan of punk music would branded shot glasses be something I would like?

As a fan of New Orleans jazz am I usually looking for information on Twitter or artist/venue websites?

New Idea X
When you get excited about new idea x it can sometimes blind you and make it difficult to remember who your audience is and what they actually want. The easiest way to test the viability of any idea is to pause and ask yourself, “is this something that I as a fan of this genre would want/use/buy/watch/enjoy?” You must be honest with yourself in your assessment of x. If you aren’t sure it doesn’t hurt to gather additional data by asking a few fans.

Never lose sight of the fact that your ability to view at your band as a fan of the genre is of incredible value.

The music industry has moved to a place where artists need to do far more than create and perform. They must now engage with their audience in a way that just wasn’t possible even a decade ago. This requires work and time; both of which are finite resources. On top of that they must book their shows, collect emails, get press, and somehow monetize their art so they can continue to make it.

The skill sets required for creating art that resonates and running a successful business are not intrinsically linked. This leads many artists to bring on managers to run certain aspects of their careers that they feel fall outside of their art. This could be a smart move or a very savvy one - it all depends on the responsibility that the artist entrusts their manager with and if they really should be counted on as much as they are.

By bringing on outside management, a singer-songwriter or band is, in theory, reducing the amount of business they must attend to so they can focus their energies on creative endeavors. The artist is responsible for the actions of their management and any mistake by management reflects poorly on the artist that chose them.

As artists we must realize that all actions by the people chosen as our managers will reflect on us directly. Our management missing a deadline equals us missing a deadline. Our management being rude to the sound guy at a show equals us being rude to the sound guy at a show.

It’s not nearly all bad though. Managers can help take us from a great band to a great business which, like it or not, is what we must be in order to keep creating art.

How do we know a great manager when we see one?

• They do less talking and more listening.
• They ask for clarification when needed.
• They are eager to help.
• They are respectful to everyone, not just the artist.
• They are adaptable.
• They are accountable.
• Last-minute changes don’t disturb them.
• They thrive under pressure.

As artists we must remember that we are our own responsibility. When we pass off work to others we are still held accountable when it is done poorly or not at all. Choose wisely.

“I’m so close, please help, just a few more votes!”

Competitions are quickly becoming the go-to strategy for companies to source products and ideas from a large pool of people for far lower costs than ever before. They dangle a prize that ranges from life-altering (record deal, investment, etc) to very appealing for most people (a few thousand dollars) in exchange for a product or idea that they would normally be paying much more for outside of this environment.  

Competitions are about tantalizing as many hopeful individuals to enter and vie for the prize as possible.  They are about filling the tank with as many fish as possible even though there is only enough food to feed one fish and they know full well the rest will be swimming around searching fruitlessly.

The creators of competitions don’t care if all of the other fish die.  They do not care about you in the slightest.  They care about the results.  They care that they are getting everyone to tread water for them when traditionally the amount they spend on the prize would have been put towards commissioning a single entity to come up with an idea or product.  That entity may not have generated something appealing and then process must be repeated.

Competitions are distractions for creators. They are not about promoting us, they are about promoting the brands that sponsor them.  From shows like the Voice to numerous examples of online competitions that barely pass the smell test, we have witnessed a culture where the perceived path to mainstream success has been bastardized into a game show-esque competition.

Work tirelessly on your ideas and your creations.  When you find your audience, the people that they resonate with, you will have won the real competition.

As pointed out by my friend Kayleigh Mill in her recent post, stealing a physical item has both shared and disimilar implications when contrasted with downloading something illegally. There are morals at play here and laws as well.

The cost of replacing a stolen digital item is free. I feel that this is partially how people that download illegally can (sub)consciously justify the behavior even if they wouldn’t steal the cheap plastic Ray-Ban knockoffs at the gas station.

The cost of replacing the physical good (let’s keep this discussion on topic and stick with a CD sold by the artist rather than a cup of coffee) is higher because it is not as simple as duplicating a file.

Let’s face it, there is also the fear of getting caught that stops many people from stealing physical items. Imagine if everyone knew there was no chance (0%) of getting caught for stealing items in real life. The fact that it is immoral behavior would cause many to refrain but with an absence of any law enforcement it’s clear that some new people would begin stealing.

It has also become quite clear that the “ownership” of a “purchased” digital file is dubious at best. The court’s recent ruling against Redigi, a Cambridge company that allowed users to sell and transfer purchased music, only goes to confirm that ownership of a digital file comes with many more exceptions and strings attached than a physical item.

An interesting conversation just took place at MIT’s Media Lab regarding large companies and if they have a place on crowdfunding websites.

Yancey Strickler, a co-founder of Kickstarter, was very even-tempered as he responded to a somewhat pushy young man working at a “billion dollar company” asking if there was room for big businesses on the platform.

Strickler immediately said no, there is no place on Kickstarter for big corporations.  The young man pressed on, saying that large companies bring with them a level of trust that they will make good on the promises to pledges. 

Kickstarter currently offers no guarantee that you will ever see what you pledged for.  The purpose of Kickstater, as Strickler went on to point out, is for gathering support for projects that would likely not be able to happen otherwise.  

Sometimes, even with successful funding and the best intentions, projects will fail.  Kickstarter is not meant to be site for pre-purchasing products that will definitely be released no matter what.  Sony does not need to put preorders for the Playstation 4 on a crowdfunding site and they shouldn’t because that dilutes the purpose of this kind of platform.

Strickler cited how Etsy had to decide where to draw the line when it came to the types of people they would allow to sell creations.  At first they had kept it rather ambiguous and said the items simply needed to be vintage or handmade.  As time went on Etsy became more specific and stated that only projects by two or fewer people would be eligible to be listed on the site.

Etsy drew a line in the sand.  Kickstarter has yet to do so even though they have discussed this issue internally since very early on.  They will likely need to take a public stance soon as larger corporations view the success of Double Fine, Veronica Mars, and other projects that show the scale and support valued projects can receive.

No one cares because you have not yet given them a reason to.

Give them a reason to care.  I work on this every day.

This was adopted almost word-for-word from a post by future rock & roll star Amy Mantis called “On Being in a Band” because I wanted to draw the link between bands and tech startups.

Being in a startup is one of the hardest things in the world.  You’re in this very intricate relationship with several people (co-founders, first employees, customers, investors and advisors).  Everyone’s emotions are involved.  Everyone’s fates are tied together.  It’s the most personal business to ever exist.  It’s a team, it’s a group effort, everyone is pulling in the same direction.  If everyone isn’t on the same page then you get nowhere.

To quote Ben Horowitz in his essay, The Struggle:

The Struggle is where greatness comes from.

I agree with that 100%.

Being in a startup is a grind.  The tech industry is a grind, as I’ve said many times before.  If you’re not prepared for the grind, get the hell out of here.

If you are in a startup, you’re responsible for more than yourself and your own happiness.  Being selfish is not tolerable.  You give up your rights to be selfish when you’re in a startup.  I do so many things that I don’t want to do but know that I have to do them for the sake of the startup (but at the same time I have more fun that many can believe is possible).  I’m not tooting my own horn here - I’m being honest.  I will always bend over backwards for the people I work with and the startup we care so much for.  Ask anyone.

The response to the NDAs in the Berklee classroom post has been pretty interesting thus far.

I have only 310 friends on Facebook and only about 1/3 are from Berklee. In a little over 24 hours the post was read by over 500 different people and most are presumably from Berklee.

The reaction was fascinating.  Many people were surprised to hear about what happened in that Berklee classroom but even more of those that read were happy to have been presented with an opportunity to learn about non-disclosure agreements, something that has never been discussed in any of the course I had attended at the college.  

There were of course some people that disagreed with my post.  It usually had less to do with the idea of NDAs in the classroom and more with the perceived value of an idea that has yet to be executed and the desire to protect it.  Some people thought the post was harsh but I don’t believe it was.

The post was not about shaming anyone.  If that had been the purpose I would not have been so careful to be vague in my descriptions of the events.  We had all been presented with a teachable moment.

My hope is that this post started a conversation in the Berklee community about ideas, protecting your creations, and whether or not legal documents belong in the classroom.

Personally I feel Berklee as an institution should take this time to reflect and consider if it might be sensible to enact a policy similar to that of Stanford University.

“NDAs are generally NOT permitted for class projects at Stanford. Students should not be asked to sign an NDA in order to participate in a class project, and companies should not provide any information to project-based classes if they are not willing to permit the information to be made public.” (link)

It’s good to have these conversations.  Hopefully we can move forward as a more informed community and reconsider the way we share ideas and innovate.

“Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.” - Henry Ford

Yesterday afternoon I met with two budding Berklee entrepreneurs who were excited to talk with me about their new idea for monetizing music.  I’m not going to go into details because I know they aren’t ready for the conversation to go public.  We talked about a variety of things from getting savvy with code to being open to sharing your ideas so you can receive feedback.  The discussion turned to confidentiality and I explained why most people in the tech world avoid entrepreneurs that try to get them to sign an NDA.  I thought this would be the first and last time I discussed non-disclosure agreements this week or maybe even this month.

Needless to say, I was taken aback when I learned that an entire class at Berklee College of Music had signed NDAs for another student’s startup earlier in the day.  On top of that, the startup was barely past the idea phase - just some sketches in a notebook.  This is bad.  Really, really bad.  It speaks to a lack of understanding by both Berklee and all students involved about the implications of an NDA.

NDAs: little good, much bad, very ugly

There is certainly an upside in guilting people into signing your NDA.  If any of the signees had an idea like yours, or decide to do anything even remotely similar in the future, you can attempt to sue them and have a signed document to back your side of the story.

A non-disclosure agreement is armor for a person that irrationally believes someone else will steal their idea.  It’s an attempt at protecting themselves against people that can execute better.

(Update 2/27 - to be fair, some entrepreneurs may not even realize this.)

The downsides for the entrepreneur asking someone to sign an NDA are numerous.  Almost anyone who is in the tech business will immediately label you as a complete noob (yes, I just wrote noob) or someone that could be overly litigious and dangerous.  Investors (VCs or angels) will almost always refuse to sign an NDA because they could very well have someone come in with the same idea as yours 5 minutes after you leave.

There is NO UPSIDE to signing an NDA, especially if you know nothing about the business to begin with.  If you know nothing about the business, like the students in that Berklee classroom, you could be opening yourself up to all sorts of trouble.  How do you know your notepad doesn’t have very similar sketches to what the entrepreneur asking you to sign an NDA is working on?

So why do people ask you to sign an NDA?

They could be scared someone will take their idea and make millions of dollars.

In reality, any idea is worth very little.  Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby and Berklee alum, writes that ideas are just a multiplier of execution.  In fact, he believes a multi-million dollar idea with zero execution is worth $20. The reason these entrepreneurs are scared is because they know full well that as nontechnical people working in a technical space their chances of successfully executing on the idea are slim to none.  There are certainly outliers, but a technical co-founder is incredibly vital to achieving a win.  Even then, the vast majority of startups fail.

Your idea isn’t original

No, it really isn’t.  Here’s a story from my time in elementary school:

A good friend of mine was an aspiring chef.  He made a soup that everyone loved.  It was tomato soup with mozzarella cheese and oregano.  He called it pizza soup.  One day, months or even years after he made his first pizza soup, we were getting food at our schools cafeteria and what do you think they were serving?  That’s right, pizza soup.  My friend freaked out.  They had stolen his idea!

No, the lunch lady hadn’t stolen his idea.  She didn’t even know he had the idea in the first place.  There are over 300 million people in the United States alone.  Chances are, hundreds of them had also thought up pizza soup before my friend had.

Jack Dorsey recently quoted author William Gibson who said, “the future has already arrived, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.”  There are likely people who have been working for months or even years on the idea you personally just came up with.  Does that mean you should not follow through with your vision?  It depends.  Do you think you are the right person to bring your idea to market?  Do you have what it takes to distribute this product?

NDAs in the classroom are a terrible idea

Perhaps Berklee College of Music is just entirely new to the concept of discussing technology and startups, but NDAs should really have no place in the classroom.  Berklee students should be wiser than to just sign anything placed in front of them.  Berklee Professors should know better than to bring legal documents into a classroom setting.  What’s worse is that at least one student said they felt as if refusing to sign the NDA would prevent him or her from staying enrolled in the class (though this was never stated outright).

Stanford University is a technology/startup leader.  Let’s see what they have to say with regard to NDAs in the classroom:

“NDAs are generally NOT permitted for class projects at Stanford. Students should not be asked to sign an NDA in order to participate in a class project, and companies should not provide any information to project-based classes if they are not willing to permit the information to be made public.” (link)

Berklee should take a note from Stanford, a school that should be looked to as an authority on these sorts of practices.

NDA… No Don’t Ask…

Non-disclosure agreements don’t belong in the classroom.  In many circumstances they don’t even belong in tech startups.  I can only hope that Berklee, the professors and students, will realize just how harmful NDAs can be to discourse, learning and innovation.

There they were, a classroom full of music business students who have heard time and time again how artists had been screwed by signing documents they did not understand.  Had they just made the same mistake?

Let’s continue this discussion both online and in-person.

Additional Reading:

5 reasons why I won’t steal your idea

NDA == Fail

The Weird Economics of Information

UPDATE (2/27/13): This post has continued to garner attention.  Since it’s being linked to directly I think it is important that readers also look at the follow-up post titled Fallout that further explains why I posted this and what I hope to see happen going forward at all learning institutions.

My friend was excited.  Excited enough that he would send a text knowing I was probably still in bed.  His business idea, which he had thought would take a few years to become viable, was already picking up steam in the collective consciousness.  There is nothing better than the wave arriving earlier than you had anticipated if you are prepared to hop up on your board and start surfing.  He asked if someone would fund a young guy who had not finished college on a capital-intensive venture.  I told him yes, but he would need killer advisors and mentors that had the experience that he lacked.

His response, quite typical of our generation, was, ”So pretty much I just have a shitload of networking to do?”

Nothing against my friend, but we have collectively become the networking generation.  As a group we are constantly reaching out for the weakest connections and the ambition of breaking 500+ on LinkedIn.  After being involved with startups and the music industry for a while now it has gotten a bit frustrating.

I texted back, “You need to build relationships.  To me, networking always feels like flies jumping from one pile of shit to another.”

My friend laughed and agreed.

The value you can extract from a relationship is directly related to the amount of value you put in.  Think about that person you are meeting for the first time as a human being, not just a pile of flesh you can pitch your startup to.  The entire entrepreneurial community thrives on meaningful relationships.  Let’s become the relationship generation.

I’ve never actually watched a Star Trek movie outside of the modern JJ Abrahams interpretation but this moment in The Wrath of Khan has become part of our cultural lexicon:

Yelling “Khaaaaan!” is a way to express dispair and frustration.

Just 10 minutes ago I saw I had received a Facebook message from my friend Kyle Billings about PG’s most recent essay titled How to Get Startup Ideas.  Kyle had outlined some insightful thoughts in multiple paragraphs so I attempted to address all of them in my own extended Facebook message.

The problem was not FB’s messaging system, but with the user interface on the Facebook iPad app.  I accidentally tapped outside the sliver of a messaging column and POOF, my paragraphs-long response was gone.  I futilely looked to see if Facebook had saved it in the message history between us but sadly they had not. “KHAAAAAAAN!”

I told Kyle I needed to get to a computer before I could rewrite my response because I feared the same problem reoccurring.  Instead of responding to him I’m writing this blog post.

                                  What’s your “Wrath of Khan” Moment?

No one is waiting for you

Doors open and doors close.

They don’t open for you but there is the chance to get inside - or outside if you want some air. 

When an opportunity arises there will be no marching band declaring it loudly for all to hear.  You need to look for signals and be ready.  So much of success comes not from a handout but from being able to detect the opportunities that few else are able to perceive.  It’s about looking at and playing every angle that could work.  

There is no room for being unethical but simply deviating from the norm can sometimes be misconstrued as such by the majority.  These are the people that want to color inside the lines and it frightens them when they see someone who dares to color outside of them.

How do you know when the door is open?  Sometimes it is unlocked and you will not know until you try the handle.

This is exactly how I got to Midem, the world’s largest music industry conference, for free.  I pushed and received a grant from my college then hustled my way to a free conference pass using a combination of LinkedIn and email.  The entire time I was respectful but firm.  Present a value proposition for all parties, tell your story and move fast.  I almost didn’t move fast enough-I found out I had been granted a conference pass the day before I flew from Boston to Cannes.  If I hadn’t made it to Cannes I would have lost nothing but a few hours of time.

No one is waiting for you.  Quit waiting for opportunities and instead seek them out.

They may not say it but you can tell.  

It’s the way they look at you when you when you are talking.

It’s when you know that as soon as you get off the phone they are turning to their friend or co-worker and saying, “those guys are insane.”

They see risk. You see opportunity.

We saw a big problem.  Physical album sales were sinking.  Ease of access was trumping ownership, causing digital downloads to lose traction to subscription models.

The music industry has long been a fairly pessimistic one.  We did not want to look at it in this light.  Instead of fretting about the problem we decided to act on a big opportunity for artists.

We created Bundio, a direct-to-fan subscription platform where artists could easily create their own subscriptions, choose how much they wanted to charge per month for access, and make the process convenient and straightforward for all parties.  It is built on top of Dropbox, making distribution painless.

A big opportunity lies in monetizing content that isn’t ready or able to be placed on Spotify or iTunes.  An artist creates much more than what ends up on the official release. Since the inception of the iTunes store and the ability to purchase single tracks, many artists are moving towards creating incremental releases.  Periodically releasing new content works very well with a subscription model.  Bundio not only helps to keep fans engaged, but gives an artist a recurring revenue stream and a quicker feedback loop.

We will be launching very soon.  

We don’t believe in waiting.  Dive into Bundio right now.  Join as a creator or check out the current bundios that you can subscribe to.  Email us if you have any comments or questions.

                        Co-founders Julian (@iamweisser) and Danny (@danman01)

I was watching a Danish film on Netflix a few weeks ago called Klown.  I had never heard of the movie but after reading the synopsis I decided to give it a try.  From watching the film I discovered comedians Frank Hvam and Casper Christensen.  I learned the film was based on their TV show called Klovn and ordered the entire series on DVD.  Now I’m (cautiously) looking forward to the American remake by Todd Phillips starring Danny McBride.

Why am I talking about Netflix when I typically discuss startups and the music industry?  The ability to consume any and all content has become essential to discovery of the next thing we will love.  From Spotify to YouTube, the cost of experimenting with brand new content and creators has been lowered considerably.  We no longer need to buy an entire album only to realize we like nothing but the single.  We no longer need to worry about being fiscally cautious when it comes to discovery.  While the source of discovery will often be on a blog, Twitter, or other social media platform, we instinctively use these services to immediately experience what we just heard about.  With these services, we can graze on a plentiful pasture of content; continuing to chew on what we find palatable and spitting out what is not to our taste.

There will continue to be a debate over sensible compensation for streaming content.  It is a very real problem that needs further discussion and research.  At the same time, artists need to realize that any all-you-can-eat service, free (YouTube) or paid (Spotify), will never be the ideal platform to seek out their biggest revenue streams.  It is simply impossible for a fraction of a user’s monthly subscription to equal a CD sale.  What is often lost in the discussion about streams is that the user is not paying specifically for any one artist’s music or else they would just buy a handful of albums and be done.  They are paying for an ocean; a place to swim deep and see what lies below the surface of familiarity.  

While all-you-can-eat content consumption enables anyone to experiment with little risk other than time wasted, there is notably less intimacy between creator and listener.  The casual listener gets whatever is available and then either moves on to the next creator or becomes a fan and wants more.   When a casual listener changes into a fan this is the time to move them off of the buffet line and convert them into both a customer and evangelist.  This is the type of person that will want more than the average listener.  They will seek it out at live performances (or movie screenings in the case of Netflix) and online in the form of behind the scenes footage, exclusive tracks, and demos.

It’s time we looked at all-you-can-eat services differently.  They are a place for your future fans to find you.  Once they do, it becomes time to grow the relationship and move it outside of the cluttered landscape.

I’m not a fan of “best of x” lists.  Instead, here are some of the things I experienced this year that were remarkable.

Film:

Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson paints each scene with vibrant textures and colors.  The movie takes place in 1965 on an island off the coast of New England and tells the story of two pre-teens that fall in love and run away together into the rough wilderness as their town goes searching for them.  It tests the belief in the innocence of childhood.  Anderson usually has old characters that behave like children so it is fitting that he finally had two child protagonists.

Beasts of the Southern Wild - The story of a little girl living in an off the grid town in Louisiana with her dying father.  The water is rising and the town has the very real fear of being swept away.  The girl and her father are played brilliantly by untrained actors.  It brings another layer of grit and reality.

Klown - Technically not a 2012 release but that is when it finally reached movie theaters in the United States.  This is the sort of movie that Judd Apatow aspires to make but, in my opinion, almost always falls short of.  This film was considered very raunchy but the amount of heart and range of emotion that the characters display is what makes it so special.  The Danish version of Curb Your Enthusiasm in film format.

Books:

The Icarus Deception - Seth Godin is at it again with this book about how everyone should be aiming higher and thinking of themselves as artists.  The Icarus Deception is that Icarus was only told not to fly too high.  He was actually told not to fly too low to the water either.  If you want to soar in the new year you should read this book.

The Founder’s Dilemmas - This book is essential reading if you want to build a business with others.  Whether a startup or a band, being on the same page with regard to goals and ambitions is crucial.  Noam Wasserman examines thousands of companies and the struggles they faced.

Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City - Brad Feld (TechStars) knows a quite a bit about building amazing entrepreneurial communities.  This book is an important read for the hacker that feels like they are living in isolation.  Few towns are as nice for startups as Boston and Cambridge.

Music:

Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas - “I love to speak with Leonard. He’s a sportsman and a shepherd. He’s a lazy bastard. Living in a suit.”  The opening lines to the ethereal Going Home, the leadoff track to Old Ideas explain exactly why I love Leonard Cohen.  His mood is always heavy and he can be a sarcastic ass but he has the wisdom of a saint.  Unlike Bob Dylan’s recent music, this album sits comfortably next to older works.  Cohen has lost nothing.  If anything, he’s has gained an even deeper perspective.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band, St. Peter and 57th St. - One of the best New Orleans jazz groups took over Carnegie hall to celebrate their history.  They are joined by Del McCoury, Allen Toussaint, Steve Earle, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Trombone Shorty, and many others.  The best NOLA jazz is recorded live because it captures the spirit, joy and sorrow of the moment in which it happened.

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan - A mixed bag (Kesha singing Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright?) but containing more than enough goodness to make a it a must-listen.  Look at the track list yourself.  My favorite tracks include Mark Knopfler’s Restless Farewell, Elvis Costello’s License to Kill, and Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band’s funky take of Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream.

Boston Music:

The Dwells, Fortieth Floor - After Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings there came a flood of folksy duos but few came close to what made them so special.  The Dwells are less inspired by Welch and owe more to cosmic Americana such as Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.  Their music is slow, even-tempered, and sparsely arranged.  Good for an early morning or at the end of a long night.

Charlie the Most, self-titled - I’ve followed this group grow from the very beginning when they were known as the “Boylston Collective” and it’s been amazing to watch their growth.  The songs meet at the crossroads of southern blues, old school funk, and Zappa crazy.  Keep an eye out for this band because they will be playing in your town soon.

Eleven Dollar Bills, self-titled - This is another group that has me very excited for what is happening in Boston-even though they’ve since moved to Chicago to spread the gospel.  Indie rock is far from dead but there are plenty of artists trying to drown in out.  Eleven Dollar Bills has a timeless sound; they could have been playing this music in the 70s but they were born later and this decade still suits them fine.  Imagine heavy rock and roll mixed with bandleader Jordan Casty’s voice that sounds like a distant relative of both Roy Orbison and Jimi Hendrix.

Fill in the blank.  This is a quote about baseball but it’s applicable to anything including startups and bands.

Former Red Sox pitcher Mark Melancon in the Boston Globe.

Some people find every decision difficult to make.  Others with very busy lives find even the most simple decisions taxing.  In a recent Vanity Fair piece, President Obama described why he only wears blue or grey suits:

 “I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make,”

The President of the United States should not be spending his time thinking about what suit to wear when there is so much to be considered.  There are likely things you can do to remove unimportant decision-making from your life.

But sometimes you need to make a decision.

There will be moments in life that force you to choose between what you were doing and what you could be doing.  There will be times where you cannot choose to do it all.

The above Facebook comments were in response to a sophomore’s status about feeling like he was stretching himself too thin at Berklee College of Music.  They were made tongue-in-cheek but both were serious.  My comment meant that you should always be prepared for change.

I don’t know the young man very well but I do know how involved he is with many activities both in school and out.  There is nothing wrong with huge ambition and I respect him greatly for that.  Outside of classes and 3 (THREE!) ensembles he has done an internship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, works at the Box Office for the Berklee Performance Center, and is the Musical Theatre Orchestra Assistant Manager.

College is a place to experiment both academically and, for some, in other ways as well.  It’s a time to discover what you really care about.  There’s a good reason so many college students transfer, take time off, etc; curious individuals seek to use this time to learn about themselves and what they want to be.

After you find out what that is, it becomes the time to focus.  That doesn’t mean you cannot change your mind later.  Be completely open to pivoting because you probably will need or want to at some point in life.

Yes, many people have heard that Facebook’s Poke app looks strikingly similar to one built by a company that declined to be acquired by them.  That’s an entirely different topic than what I am touching on today.

The brilliance of SMS and email is that they aren’t fleeting.

I’m pretty young but my elders have from time-to-time waxed nostalgic (or complained) about waiting by a phone for a highly anticipated phone call-a significant other, business associate, etc.  Answering machines only somewhat diminished the need to be nearby since there was no way of knowing if you had missed a call when you weren’t at home.

Facebook’s Poke app eschews the positives of modern communications systems and forces us to look at a message, video, or image quickly before it “self-destructs.”  The app forces immediacy on us and what is even worse than this element is something that should be glaringly obvious:

The content of the poke IS NOT IMPORTANT.

It simply cannot be important.  Why?  Well, who in their right mind would send an important message with the very possible chance that the recipient will not see it?  That would be idiotic.

This is terrible.  It means Facebook (and the user Poking you) is pushing you to look at something of little importance immediately upon receiving the message.  They want you to drop what you are doing to look at a picture of a cat making a derpy face.  

They’ve changed the poke from a suggestive (playful? sexual?) action to an(other?) irritating online behavior lacking of any particular meaning.