Did I Ever Wake Up?, Pt. 3

The integrity I once held amongst my judgment had disappeared.

Could this be just a phase?

As the seconds pass I′m starting to think not.

And as the seconds passed even further I'm beginning to enjoy the thought.

Does beauty only exist if recognised?

If so, can we resurrect the ugly?

Do we singlehandedly have the ability to break the unfixable?

Can we adopt the unknown?

Have we not eolved enough to earn a new sense?

I want to feel, not feel as in touch, but really feel.

I want to look someone in the eyes and know every intention of theirs.

I demand to see all genuine and in pure.

At least we′ll be feeling truths.

Have I arrived yet?

Chapter 5- No Hope

The death of procrastination.

I imagine every single person you know uses the word "hope" at least once a day.

We've been taught since birth if you want something, you should hope for it.

We should hope we get the job, hope we make the team, hope for peace and just hope it all works out.

Well you know what?

This is completely incorrect.

Do not hope for anything.

I've always found the word to be contradictory to what it′s supposed to represent.

It′s saying "

I would like for it to happen, but if it doesn't, well, that′s ok too".

It's like ordering your favourite meal, only to watch it slowly grow mould and spoil in front of you.

Or like stopping dead in your tracks halfway across a tightrope.

You can only balance in the middle for so long before you fall.

You must pick a side.

It′s important to let the universe know exactly where you stand.

Pinpoint your expectations and never loose confidence in them.

In my mind, there's only one possibility: What I want, I will get.

I have no doubt I will get it, because I don′t doubt myself.

I know I'm capable of getting anything I desire.

There is no Plan B because my Plan A is going to work.

How can you be sure it's going to work?

Easy.

Replace the word "hope" with "action".

Do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.

I wanted to rap for a solid year before I recorded my first song.

I had no idea how to get into a studio or find beats to rap on.

It took me 12 months to realise that the real missing piece was me.

If someone else could own a studio and make beats, then so could I.

A little research and some help from a local guitar centre worker led me to all that I needed.

I saved up $250 and bought myself a microphone, a MIDI keyboard, and a program called Reason.

All of a sudded I had my own studio.

But now I was presented with a whole other challenge.

I had no idea how to use any of it.

Fortunately for our generation, we have the Internet.

Anything we want to know is literally at our fingertips.

I spent many nights hibernating in a constant state of trial and error.

Eventually I understood the programs enough and began working on the first piece of MOD SUN music, properly titled "

All by myself".

You can achieve anything on your own.

If you expect anyone else to do it for you, it may never happen.

I give my utmost respect to any entrepreneur.

The nobility of sacrificing comfort to start a business is uncharted. "

Business" is another word that′s been abused.

When people say "don′t mix business with friendship" I always think to myself sarcastically "right, because strangers are much more trustworthy".

Business is an activity that someone is engaged in.

Your life is your business.

You're the CEO making every decision of your life, and the world is filled with your employees.

It′s your choice how many hours you want to work.

You can take as many days off as you'd like, but why not make your work feel like a vacation?

If you love your job, you′ll never work a day of your life.

Figure out what you love to do, and dedicate yourself to it entirely.

Be inspired.

The top of my left arm is covered with faves of people I've admired.

Fellow Minnesotan Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Bob Marley, Janice Joplin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jimmy Hendrix.

They′ve all played major roles in making me the person I am.

I really didn't learn the majority of my personal knowledge in school.

These people were my teachers.

Instead of studying math and science, I was figuring out how they managed to attain this incredible lifestyle of freedom and artistic expression.

The intention isn't to become a carbon copy of other people, but rather to take your favourite influences from each of them and create something entirely new.

Allow yourself to enjoy other people′s presence and find your inspiration.

Chapter 6- Theres no Such Thing as Hard

I must be a genius.

What do you thing the most complex thing in the universe is?

The Internet?

Electricity?

Space shuttles?

Setting the clock on a VCR?

All very close, but the correct answer is you.

The human body is singlehadly the most complicated thing ever created.

Simply being born makes you incredibly smart.

You breathe in an out anywhere from fifteen to twenty five times per minute without even thinking about it.

Ever day your heart beats more than 100, 000 times.

We run marathons and drive cars, build skylines and crests entire languages.

You′re effortlessly operating the most complicated machine in existence, and if you can do that, everything else is simple.

There's no such thing as hard.

Everything is easy, some things just take longer than others.

Anytime someone tells you to be realistic, reply back, "enjoy your flight".

Does a large, metal, sphere-like object filled with hundreds of passengers soaring at 30, 000 feet above sea level sound realistic?

Today, thousands of flights will take off and land all around the globe without a hitch.

It took time and effort to perfect it.

There′s no such thing as hard.

You can do anything, especially if someone else has already done it.

Let's say your dream in life is to act in major motion pictures.

Who′s your favourite actor?

Mine is Jack Nicholson, so let's use him as our example.

Not only can you be just as good as Jack is, you can even do it better than him.

No disrespect to any of his accomplishments, I′m just saying you were able to watch how he did it.

Jack has been kind enough to offer us the answer book to his success.

We have the ability to study all he did and didn't.

We can watch every movie, read every interview, and essentially be taught by Jack himself on how to do what he did.

You can literally become the best parts of everyone who has inspired you.

It's all right there in front of you.

From this point on, it′s on you to become prepared.

Once you are prepared, you will meet opportunity.

And once you meet opportunity, fortune will follow.

There′s no such thing as hard.

No one is born with talent.

We all enter the world with one thing in common.

Choices.

Legendary basketball players like Michael Jordon and Larry Bird didn't slam dunk the first time they touched a ball.

They picked it up and decided they loved the way it felt as the ball rolled silently off their fingertips.

On the other hand, if they didn′t decide they loved the way it felt, they wouldn't just be walking around with this amazing ability living inside them.

They grew the idea of being a great basketball player from a little tiny seed called desire.

Without a doubt a lot of practice goes in to the growth of this legacy, but we′ve all been given the most essential thing we can sacrifice to ensure success.

And that is simply: time.

The amount of energy you focus on something will determine how great you become.

Drive and persistence will take you much farther than skill in every aspect of life.

Just give your time to the things you want.

That's all it takes.

There′s no such thing as hard.

It's not about doing certain things, it's about doing things a certain way.

I′ll never forget the first time I saw one of my friends Pat Brown one stage.

We were opening for Pat′s band in a venue in Burnsville Minnesota called The Garage.

Pat's reputation preceded him as the best young musician around.

He was a fifteen year old kid who was teaching guitar lessons to people twice his age.

Not only was Pat a very skilled guitar player, he was also a classically trained pianist and pitch perfect singer.

Needless to say, I was intrigued and couldn′t wait to see him perform.

Pat's band took the stage and I instantly saw all these things come to life.

He was singing amazing melodies, flawlessly picking each string of his guitar and had charisma like his father was Mick Jagger.

He held everyone′s attention, including mine.

That moment, I decided I had to be in a band with this guy.

At that time I wasn't a very experienced musician and the current drummer Pat was playing with was very good.

I was completely self-taught and didn′t know a thing about music theory, but I did know how to make an impression.

I would convince him that I had something much more valuable than skill.

I had drive.

I was committed to making it in music and I wasnt ever going to give up.

Drive will take you much further than talent ever could.

I knew that if I were ever in a band with him, I would be that much closer to the life I desired so much.

Some time went by, but I stayed persistent, and eventually a message from Flip

Triggs87 appeared on my AOL instant messenger.

It was Pat.

He asked if I wanted to try out for a new band he was about to start.

I jumped at the opportunity and accepted the offer.

There's no such thing as hard.

Keep fate on speed dial.

It's so wild that when I look back on my life, all the incidents that seemed bad actually led me to better opportunities.

It takes some time for some of these things to make sense, but one day they will all line up.

Some of the grimace moments of my life were actually events that needed to take place in order for me to be where I am today.

So, just how did I get here?