My believe is you don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate.
You can’t ever be ahead of anyone else in any case. I remember giving a speech in college on two types of freedoms that I wrestle till this day.
I call them the freedom of the businessman and the freedom of the artist.
They are like a teeter-totter most of the time. You can have one but forgo the other.
The Freedom of the Businessman is not the same as financial freedom (which can be attained through success in the arts). The Freedom of the Businessman is the opportunity gained from following the life path that leads to influential networks, wealth, social status etc.
This type of freedom comes at a price as well. The price of conformity and structure has to be continually maintained by the person. Deciding to deviate from this system at any point will cut you out of this freedom.
The Freedom of the Artist is carefree (do what you love) and live life for the moment. This freedom usually brings satisfaction of career. You have the option to conform or not conform to culturally accepted norms. The drawbacks in most cases are that you live poor with no influence in society. You have little structure in life but interesting and sometimes adventurous one. Unless the person transitions his/her talents into practical “marketable” commodity, or has great luck; they are destined for long-term financial/societal struggle.
I believe if you can balance the two, you can have a life that’s…well “balanced” lol (pun intended?). Begin your life exploring your talents and nurture them. Having the Freedom of an Artist doesn’t mean you have to be an artist, it just means following your bliss as they say. Once you have done this, you should think practical.
Unfortunately you are not the center of the world or the center of society. This reason you need to be realistic if you want to live a well off life. Find a way to make a living off your talents or get a 9-5 job and do your thing on the side. There is nothing wrong with the latter, many artists and people work this way.
Well that’s it. Thanks for reading. Leave comments below.
Jaime Saucedo 