Mixing Music & Business
I recently sat down with a senior executive to talk business. He’s worked for major firms like the Financial Times and a well-known taxi company, so he’s seen it all. But while our meeting was set up for professional reasons, our real connection was music.
He’s a guitarist. I’m a DJ.
And as much as business was on the agenda, our conversation naturally flowed into something deeper: the intersection of work, creativity, and resistance. Here’s what we landed on:
- Work-life balance is just life. There’s no separation—it’s all one thing, and the trick is to design it in a way that works for you.
- Living authentically as an artist matters. Whether you’re leading a company or producing music, your creativity is part of who you are. Ignoring it only leads to frustration.
- Freedom to integrate creativity into work leads to happier, more engaged people. The best workplaces don’t treat personal passions as distractions but as fuel for innovation and well-being.
The Real Challenge: Resistance
But the core of our discussion was something every artist knows well—resistance. That invisible force that keeps you from creating, from practicing, from doing the thing you know you need to do.
Stephen Pressfield talks about this in The War of Art—how showing up, every day, is the only way to beat it. And my friend has his own system for making sure he turns up.
He’s arranged his workspace so that when he’s done with work, all he has to do is make a single connection, turn off his screen, and he’s playing his guitar. Just a small tweak in setup removed the friction. Without it? He wouldn’t play. Even a few extra steps to grab his instrument were enough of a barrier.
But when he does play? The way he described it—his whole face lit up. That feeling of flow, of connection, of being exactly where he’s meant to be.
Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Is
We get one life. One shot at this. If you’re an artist—whether that means guitars, DJing, writing, or painting—you owe it to yourself to show up. To eliminate resistance. To make it easy to step into the thing you love.
For him, it’s guitars. For me, it’s DJing.
And like Pressfield says, you have to put your ass where your heart is. Because in the end, success isn’t about talent—it’s about turning up. Every single day.
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