Every time I’ve leveled up my life, it’s been because of the people I surrounded myself with, who helped pull me in the direction I wanted to go.
I’ve done this four times in the worlds of:
- Heavy metal music
- Electronic music
- Cybersecurity
- Audio software
And I’m currently doing it to learn operating systems development.
By the time I was 16, I had released two heavy metal albums on the internet. A large reason why this happened was because I surrounded myself online with a community of people who really cared about this.
In these communities, it was completely normal to be recording your own instrumental heavy metal music, and releasing it every 6-12 months.
Imagine a real-life party for this kind of person. You walk in the room, and if you’re not personally making and releasing your own instrumental heavy metal music online, you’re going to be a bit of the odd one out.
You’re doing to do one of two things. Either, you’ll leave the room, because it’s not the room for you… Or, if you choose to keep hanging out with these people, you’ll probably start making some music.
Working at Ableton has probably been the best example of this in my life. It was one of the hardest rooms to get into, but the learning on the other side has been incredible.
I’ve been able to work with masters of the craft, who have been doing this for 20+ years. And because I’m on the same team as them, they’re incentivized to pull me up to the level I need to be at to work alongside them.
The point is: You need to find alignment between:
- the things you care about, your passions, what you want
- the spaces, rooms, and people you’re surrounding yourself with
- and the natural direction those rooms are going to pull you in.