The Indecisive Musicpreneur PDF

The Indecisive Musicpreneur
A compact book about decision-making and

action taking for artists (and humans).
Tommy Darker
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Contents
About Tommy Darker 1
Introductory note 3
Indecisiveness: living somebody else’s life 4

The ‘mystery’ of indecisiveness. 6
The breakdown and role of a decision 8

The definition 9
The breakdown 10
The 3 layers 14
An example 16
Mastering the decision flow 21

Characteristics 21
State of flow. 32
Reasons why you cannot decide in real life 34

1. Information clutter 34
2. Unclear vision 35
3. Lost in ego 35
4. Surrounded by wrong people 35
5. Unclear priorities 36
CONTENTS
6. Wrong habits 36
7. Not confident/overconfident 37
8. Not living in the present 37
9. Not starting 37
10. In search for external stimuli 38
Smart decisions: what artists need to know 39

1. Time 39
2. Creation 40
3. Business 42
4. Priorities 44
5. Humans 46
6. Conduct 47
7. Vision 48
Better decisions: Takeaways and where to focus on 51
Famous last words 55
What’s next 56
The Thank You page 57
Further reading 58
About Tommy Darker
Hello. My name is Tommy Darker. I’m a musician¹ and music
industry thinker². I’m a writer and lecturer about the culture of
the Musicpreneur and founder of Darker Music Talks³.
In August 2012 I quit my well-paid job to focus entirely on
solving a specific problem: Musicians and artists don’t make
money to sustain their living and re-invest in their art. That leads
to frustration and hurts art creation itself.
I want to simplify things and make them work for independent
musicians. My weapons: Clear overview of the shape of the
media world, marketing research, human psychology, current
trends and artistic integrity, implementing everything real time
to my own band, SideSteps, so I can prove it works.
On my way to build something extraordinary, I question every-
thing and talk with everyone who has something interesting to
say. Today’s music industry landscape needs more experiments.
We’re in the early stage of the rise of the polymath and
entrepreneurial musicians, but the Musicpreneur is not far
from being the norm.
You can contact me anytime on Twitter⁴, Facebook⁵ or email⁶. I
¹http://www.sidestepsofficial.com
²http://www.tommydarker.com/knowledge
³http://www.DarkerMusicTalks.org
⁴http://www.twitter.com/tommydarker
⁵http://www.facebook.com/tommydarker
⁶mailto:tommy@tommydarker.com?Subject=Hello%20Tommy
1
About Tommy Darker 2
love conversing and hearing people’s stories.

Use the hashtag #Musicpreneur to talk about your experiences
and connect with like-minded musicians.
“A musician who is just a musician can never be-

come a good musician” (paraphrasing the quote of
Vernon L. Smith, Nobelist in 2002, Economics)
Introductory note
It’s impressive to think about it, but the biggest problem that sep-
arates greatness from failure, playing small from going big, and
unhappiness from joy of life has nothing to do with knowledge,
technical skills, or personality!
When it comes to the reason why some people get what they
want from life, I found just one answer: better decision-making.
While some struggle with procrastination, indecisiveness and get
stuck in the same old game (although they don’t really enjoy it),
others decide to better accelerate their progress and solve one
problem after another, as if it’s a piece of cake.
What’s happening here?
Why does the majority fail to do what they have in mind?
And how can you, the future game shaper—the Musicpreneur—
build greatness and innovate with the artistic ideas and actions
you always had in mind, but often hesitated to execute?
This compact book is about decision-making and action
taking for artists (and humans).
In the following pages, I will break down the decision-making
process and will highlight practical ways to become a more
decisive and better human.
3
Indecisiveness: living
somebody else’s life
I’ve been called a ‘motivator’.
I’ve been called ‘The King of Uncommon Sense’. (thanks Frank)
They told me, “in a hazy world of Creativity, you are the Science
bit of my brain.” (whatever that might mean, Tanya)
I’ve been called a ‘superman’. (ok, not really)
On Valentine’s Day I was called a workaholic that doesn’t have
time for romance.
But, I have definitely never been called ‘indecisive’.
Disaster strikes indiscreetly, though. I became cloudy the week-
end I started writing the book about ‘how to overcome your
indecisiveness as an artist’ (the one you’re reading right now).
The irony.
Some of my thoughts?
‘It was a bad idea in the first place’
‘Maybe it’s too early to write a book, you should

improve your decisions yourself first’
‘That’s a sign yo! What were you thinking?’
4
…and much more.

I’m so passionate when working on my projects, so I said ‘wait
a minute’. I’ll research myself; I’m the perfect candidate. First,
I relaxed and accepted that I probably wouldn’t do much work
during the weekend. I started jotting thoughts down instead.
After monitoring my behaviour for a while, and writing down
my findings, I ran through my past experiences and realized
something obvious (but difficult to get a grasp of if you don’t
experience it personally):
My resistance to work comes only when I do something for
the first time. Even if I know what needs to be done, I find
reasons to slack off. Once I’ve done it, the second time begins
in a frictionless way. I tell myself ‘Yeah man, you’ve done this
before. It’s not difficult, go for it’. This is the story I tell myself.
The most valuable advice I gave to myself after an unproductive
weekend:
“Tommy, it doesn’t matter what stories you tell

to motivate yourself. They’re just stories, built to
overcome un-productivity. Positive stories repre-
sent your willingness to be productive, the intention
to do something (which does matter a lot!).
However, all that really matters is actions. What you

DO creates dents; stories are just a beautiful package
to it. A package is nothing without the essence of a
meaningful action done with the best intention in
mind – sharing global love.”*
(*words from an actual Facebook status)

‘A nice story is not far from a convincing excuse’, I thought. So I
decided to start writing. Three days later, I had finished writing
15.000 words. By the following day, I had finished editing the
book down to 10.000 words. I smirked in triumph.
The ‘mystery’ of indecisiveness.
Why are we indecisive, though? What’s the deal with our brain?
Is the wiring of our brain to blame at all? As an artist, will I ever
make a bloody right decision on a professional level? And the
shenanigans. Hot questions.
What is the definition of indecisive? From the dictionary:
Indecisive (adjective)
1 not settling an issue
2 (of a person) not having or showing the ability to

make decisions quickly and effectively.
Indecisiveness has different names. It’s ‘the lizard brain’ for Seth
Godin. ‘Resistance’ for Steven Pressfield. ‘Procrastination’ for
Jane Burka. They explain indecisiveness better than I ever could.
I highly suggest that you read their books.
No matter how it’s called, everyone faces it at some point. Some
people win, live the life they want, innovate and inspire. Others
keep doing what they learned: the default (which is defined by
others).
I’m not implying that the default is bad, and people that follow
are sad. However, once you know what you’ve been missing
while following the default, the way you see life changes. Ig-
norance is not equal with bliss.
In a way, indecisiveness prevents us from living a life with joy
and exploring its nuanced beauty.
The battle versus the default starts from a young age: it’s been
found that the first cycle of our character development ends
by the age of 7. This cycle influences the development of the
subsequent cycles.
Most of us lose that battle, it seems. Cavett Robert mentions that
95% of people are imitators. That makes for 5% of the population
making their ‘own’ decisions. Disregarding the accuracy of the
aforementioned numbers, we’re all familiar with the notion of
being stuck with decisions we’re not fully satisfied with.
It makes sense, then, to explore the world of decision-making
and see whether we can learn anything that will make our lives
a little bit better and happier.
Shall we?
Let’s start with one bold statement in mind: Indecisiveness is a
natural flaw we all have to fix.
The breakdown and role of a
decision
When I decided to write a book about decision-making and
action taking, I didn’t know where to start. There were so many
things to say that I felt paralyzed while thinking about it.
But I quickly decided to do the simplest thing: to take real life
examples and break them down, seeking if any similarities and
patterns occur.
My mind led me to recent events of my life: climbing on a
bouldering wall, a politician making a decision that would have
a global effect, and a person giving money to a homeless guy on
Christmas day.
Weird combination eh? It worked. It helped me analyze the
pillars of a decision and clarify the role it plays in a wider context.
What is a decision? How do decisions connect? When does a
decision start and when does its impact end? How do we end
up making a specific decision and what’s their role in the first
place?
Really interesting questions pop-up when one starts analyzing
seemingly trivial things we do every day, but we never thought
about investigating deeper.
Shall we make the decision and get started?
8
The definition
Exercise time. Grab a piece of paper and pen. I’m waiting. Oh,
can’t find a pen? Grab a pencil, it’s alright. Ok, now abandon the
book and take a moment to write down: What is a ‘decision’ for
you?
.
..
…
Done? Leave it on the side, you’ll see why.
As about me, I came up with a few definitions about what a
decision is:
1. Decision is the MOMENT where we externalize our inten-

tions and materialize them.
2. Decision is the CONVERSION of our intention to an
observable outcome in the physical world.
3. Decision is not a thought, it IS the action.
Combining all these elements, my definition is:
The decision is the momentary action that converts

our intention into an outcome observable in the
physical world.
What did you jot down for your definition? Say it out loud
and compare it with my version. Do they look similar, do they
complete each other in a way or are they in conflict? What can

you learn from this comparison? I’d love to hear your version,
send it at Tommy@TommyDarker.com.
The analysis of my version follows in a bit, so I can elaborate on
my way of thinking.
The breakdown
My definition can be outlined graphically in the following dia-

gram.
The decision-making process breakdown
Let’s contemplate a bit and break it down even further.

The main units of the decision-making process are:
1. Intention
2. Decision
3. Observable Outcome
Intention.
Solid scientific research has proved the impact of intention in

the physical world. In plain English, what we think whilst doing
something does have an effect on the outcome, i.e. intentions

of positive nature (let’s say, global love) have better effect over
selfish intentions (as for egoistic satisfaction) –partially justi-
fying the rightness of your decisions (and leading to personal
satisfaction as well).
Decision.
Decisions are the way through which we make sense of the

world around us and enjoy (or not) our physical presence. We
use our human minds to make decisions. They ‘translate’ our
intentions into outcomes. Our minds are of dual nature, both
divine (tied with consciousness and wholeness) and human (tied
with the egoistic mind that analyses reality) and they both serve
important purposes. Because both of our natures get observed
in the natural world through the outcomes of our decisions, and
our ultimate goal is to behave with the divine nature in mind, it
makes sense to train our human side first (in short, ‘the ego’) and
make sure we have the least distortion during the conversion.
Observable outcome.
The world we humans can observe (‘reality’) is built upon and

understood through outcomes produced by previous decisions
we didn’t choose nor were asked about. The perception of value
for each observable outcome depends on the subjective use of it,
since it has no intrinsic value on its own. As a result, our whole
reality is as valuable as we think it is. Since these outcomes are
irreversible, I can safely say that each decision is in response to
the flux around us. Making decisions is an indispensable element
of life.
I don’t say “decisions bring change”, because ‘change’ doesn’t

really exist. ‘Change’ would exist in comparison to something
static. But, in a wider context, nothing is static. Life is in flux
and dynamic (so life is equalized with change). We assume
a static context in order to observe and examine with fewer
distractions and simplicity. Which, consequently, means that all
of our decisions include a bit of intuition, since ‘lab-condition’
static is impossible to achieve in life. An observable outcome is
not static either. It is part of a bigger system, the vision, which
we’ll talk about later.
You might be wondering at this point, ‘where does action come
in?’ and ‘why do some people make decisions more easily than
others?’ Am I right?
These two factors are part of our extended decision-making
diagram, as seen below.
The chart helps us discover interesting connections. ‘Action’ and

‘motivation’ are sub-elements of the decision-making process,
working as accelerators, but not guaranteeing its success and
definitely not indispensable for it to occur. Elaborating more
on that, once you’ve clarified the nature of your intentions and
visualized the outcome in your mind, the decision comes as a

subsequent catalyst, helping the motivation and actions taken
to come seamlessly, almost automatically, justifying the form of
their existence.
Let’s break it down for a minute and put the two concepts in
perspective.
Action.
Time to demystify the importance of the actions we make.

Decision IS the action. Once the decision has been made, the
action is instantaneous and foreseen. When you make the de-
cision to save a person from a great fire, action flows without
getting predefined. The decision primes you (to save the person),
backed by the intentions (global love for life) with the perfectly
visualized outcome in mind (to see the person stay alive). Action
is directly related to proactivity and skills. The more we act, the
more frictionless it is to take action after each decision, and the
more skillful we are, the more confident we feel that we’ll get
things done.
Intrinsic motivation.
Motivation is a strong characteristic for each person, but it is

nothing but an accelerator that assists us during the decision-
making process. The internal elaboration before we make a
decision includes examining our intentions and the visualizing
an achievable outcome. Intrinsically motivated people seem to
overcome any ‘distortion factors’, because a meaningful vision
is enough to build iron motivation and persistence, accelerating
the process to overcome any barrier in the way. Motivation is

boosted by qualities such as talent and creativity, since they
bring confidence that we can achieve our goals, leading to
quicker and more proper decisions.
The 3 layers
I realized that, although every decision has its own gravity, they
could be grouped in terms of their contextual magnitude. I ended
up breaking down the decision in 3 different groups depending
on how inclusive they are, outlined below.
1. Personal
2. Topical
3. Expansive
Followed by a diagram.
Each decision involves elements of life (that includes humans

and nature) and human-made elements (the problem and context
we’re called to decide upon).
[Bottom row] The elements of life represent the side of con-
sciousness and beauty. They inspire that we’re all united as one,
love, respect, and don’t hurt each other (something that most
people wish for every day). Our goal should always be to make
decisions with the integrity of this side as a starting point – in
perspective this makes human-made problems seem trivial.
[Top row] The human-made elements create the situations
we need to decide and act upon. Everything on the top row is
human-made and primes our brain first, because this way we
make sense of our world. The outcomes of most decisions are
not irreversible and create new situations to decide upon; which
means that you can always ‘fix what’s been broken’ with another
decision.
The latter is true for one simple reason: we, humans, chose to
make the world this way, as a result of previously made decisions,
good or bad, that were made upon older decisions from people all
over the world. In other words, whether we make ‘good’ or ‘bad’
decisions, we – and everyone else – cannot rewind and undo,
but only build upon. To be precise, there’s no ‘bad decision’. The
ultimate truth is that it is a decision and we think about it in a
negative way.
The great opportunity: if we focus on the positive side of each
decision we make on the human-made side, there is always a
lesson to learn. The more decisions we make, the more lessons
to learn and opportunities to discover.
An example
Let’s see an example and how it fits into our diagrammatic
representation.
You’re climbing on a bouldering wall. The next thing you have
to decide is how to position your legs and arms in order to have
stability, where to grab in order to move upwards and how to
move your body so you can maintain balance.
Let’s analyze that for a moment.
What happens consciously.
These momentary micro-decisions happen within a restricted

environment without many external distractions. While so many
things could be happening around the country, in your neighour-
hood, on social media, all over the world, somehow you are there:
climbing and focusing on that alone. You’re ‘blocking the wider
context’ in order to be undistracted with your activity and make
better decisions, thus actions. Our example belongs to the ‘topical
decision’ layer, which is, in short, the kind of decisions that
happen within a purposefully restricted environment (remember
that there’s no ‘static’ environment, but only our assumption
about it?).
These decisions include the ‘situation’ (the topical circumstances
that we need to decide upon) and the ‘humans’ (the alive beings,
man and nature, involved in it and might be affected by our
topical decision). The optimal decision, in this case, is made with
the scope of solving the issue of the situation, while respecting
the human and nature environment and keeping our own sanity
intact.
What happens outside the building.
Because you blocked it, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. For every
topical decision we make, there is always a wider context that is
affected, one way or another. This includes the system of other
‘situations’ that happen outside the microsystem of your own
topical decision layer. While you’re climbing, a political leader
makes a decision that will change the course of history, a doctor
finds the cure for a death-spreading disease, a new revolutionary
kind of technology makes our lives faster and an army invades
a new territory. Somehow, all these things don’t matter when
you’re immersed in your climbing activity. You blocked them on
purpose and they seem distant.
However, if we think for a moment, we will realize that even
our own topical decisions affect the context around us. Some
times in a direct and easily understandable way (all climbers
could be raising money on every climbing course for Doctors
Without Borders), but most of the times indirectly and subtly
(1. climbers slowly building a culture soon-to-go-global: think of
flower-power in the 60’s or 2. the opportunity loss – you could
be doing anything else instead of climbing, and that other thing
could cause change in the global flow).
What happens subconsciously.
Except for the context, however, there is another kind of deci-

sions that happen within you, without you elaborating too much.
It’s the subconscious. Everything starts there. While climbing,
your confidence may give you a strange boost of energy and
push you higher, while a new love might make you the blurriest
mind in the world (for a good reason!). Your mood, confidence,

body language, clarity, and mental balance are some of the
attributes that are not easily observable, thus many times you
forget they exist. The human side of yours, the mind or ego, keeps
functioning while you’re conducting the exercise, influencing
the nature your decisions. A happy man will make decisions ‘of
happy nature’, while a depressed person the opposite.
How we’re feeling intrinsically about the situation we’re facing
is inextricably connected with the nature of decisions we make.
In other words, the intention of our soon-to-be-decisions is vital
for the outcome of our actions (as fundamentally highlighted in
the book). Everything starts within us. The imperfections of ego
(the human side) and beauty of being (the divide side) form our
spicy human existence and shape our decisions.
Summing up the representation of the diagram, in order to
master the wider decisions, we need to master topical decisions
first, and before that, we need to clarify the problems with our
ego.
What can you do practically?
Master your ego.
Make sure you’ve solved personal and existential issues that

hold you back from enjoying life. It’s not easy to do and the
challenge is constant. Inner peace sets the ground to cultivate in-
trinsic motivation, well-being, and confidence. It also helps you
respect, love, and avoid hurting others. But, most importantly,
it highlights the notion that every decision’s success is based
on the underlying intention. A common, but wrong perception
about ego: your identity is your actions and you need to prove
that you’re capable of doing things – for the joy of others’

expectations. The truth: identity is forged by your intentions
alone. If you intend to care, you’ll be caring. If you intend to
help, you’ll be helpful.
Solve the topical issues.
The second phase involves external situations and alive beings:

the kind of decisions we do consciously daily. Start with the
personal and wider context in mind; deciding something that
hurts your own well-being or disrupts the global love is equally
harming (and sometimes with even more long-term effects) like
hurting someone directly. The focal point is to remember that
we decide upon previously made decisions. There’s no such
thing as a ‘perfect decision’, since the perception of their value
corresponds to our expectations – which are also dynamic – and
that helps us conclude that decisions don’t have an integral value,
they have the value we give them. Even a ‘wrong’ decision is
valuable, if we’re open to the lessons they offer.
‘See’ the context changing.
Whether we realize it or not, every personal or topical decision

we make DOES affect the wider context. The way we feel about
the world affects our actions and the people around us, thus it
changes the world towards what we have in mind. Also, the sum
of topical decisions that everyone makes puts another brick in
the global vision and shapes the dynamic terrain where other
people operate and act upon. The butterfly effect is the most
commercialized analogy to think about it. The ultimate goal –
and the intention we should have in mind – is global love, respect
for all alive beings (humans and nature), and positive sentiments.
If our decisions – personal or topical – don’t contribute towards
this vision, they should be revisited. Or executed anyhow, so we
can get valuable lessons the next time.
Let’s sum up for a second.
There are 3 layers of decisions and they are inclusive: the
personal layer, the topical layer and the expansive layer. Master
the previous level before you become successful on the next one.
Intentions behind each decision are the most important part. No
decision is irreversible, and deciding more often can help us learn
faster and decide better. However, every decision we make does
affect the course of decision for other people, since it changes the
context around us, directly or indirectly.
Mastering the decision flow
If we take the aforementioned breakdown into regard, it makes
sense to isolate the adjacent parties and examine them individ-
ually to see whether we can discover practical applications and
reach a deeper understanding.
Characteristics
As a general observation, decision-making is something intrin-

sically enjoyable. Since decisions build our understanding about
life, and we give life a meaningful flow and order through them,
then what makes life enjoyable (or not) is how we think about
decision-making itself.
Decisions are a device through which we experience different
nuances of life. Consequently, deciding is the best thing to do
most times. If it works against us, we will learn something new
(that can often be amended later). If it works in our favour, it will
boost our confidence and build momentum.
In many occasions, what we decide doesn’t really matter – it’s
the momentary action of deciding that matters. An iconic artist,
Brian Eno, created Oblique Strategies, a set of cards that helped
him randomize in his creative projects and life – and make
them dynamic – by picking a different card and doing what was
written on it.
21
Mistakes, failures, and conflicts are important elements of life.

Playing safe, always doing things right, and hanging out with
people that reaffirm what we already believe can create an
echo chamber for our ego and undermine real progress. Intrinsic
confidence is a by-product of successful, observable outcomes,
not scenarios built in our heads during the decision-making
process.
Decisions are also keeping us alert, thus ‘alive’. Life is never
static; it’s a dynamic ecosystem, and decision-making is a great
reflection of it. We are often asked to consciously choose a di-
rection that could overwrite the ‘default’ flow, hence contribute
to the equilibrium of life (although most of the times we comply
to resistance and go for the default).
More and better decisions can come by killing distortion between
the apparent levels of the decision-making process.
Let’s see how this can be attained.
Understanding vision & intention.
It all starts with the end goal in mind – the dream we have
about our life. Life itself has no pre-defined goal, flow and course
of action – life is what we make it. Vision is absolutely the
most important way to navigate though this journey. A vision
is a personal choice and it embraces all the decision-making
bricks under one umbrella, giving them a common orientation. A
vision, despite its name, doesn’t have to be something of which
everybody will be jealous. It has to be your personal dream, big
or small.
Fail to have a specific life goal and you probably end up going
where you’ve been told. This will affect the nature of your
decisions, hurting their consistency.
On the other hand, a vision doesn’t claim to know all. If the
vision is too specific, it might exclude beautiful nuances of life.
A ‘S.M.A.R.T. vision’ that is designed in a manner to be Specific,
Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely is not a vision, it’s
a goal. Don’t forget, life is about enjoying, exploring and giving
an interesting taste, being a bit dreamy, naïve, and ‘foolish’ (as
Steve Jobs said). A vision gets fully shaped and polished all along
this journey.
Once the direction has been set, the decision-making process
begins to make more sense. Shaping your vision goes together
with another process: knowing the reason why you do what you
do, what your intentions are. This answers the question ‘why?’
(the most important question in my life journey).
I group our intentions in two categories: divine and human-
made. Both add their spice in life and they’re not standalone
‘good’ or ‘bad’ – it’s their outcome that brings value. It is true,
however, that the human-made side shows quite a lot of flaws
we should be aware of. The list is long, so I will only mention a
few examples on each one.
Divine intentions include:
1. Love
2. Life
3. Sharing
4. Openness
5. Peace
6. Independence
Human-made intentions include:
1. Legacy
2. Fame
3. Money
4. Ego
5. Insecurity
6. Fear
Personally, I find it helpful to ask myself ‘why do I do this?’

pretty often. My personal choices are ‘love’ and ‘independence’,
followed by ‘openness’. Asking that question in a regular fashion
ensures a life built with no regrets about decisions or nature of
actions.
Side-note: finding your vision
How do you find your vision, eh? That’s a common question,
and unfortunately I don’t have the answer for it. It would not be
arrogant to recommend a vision for every reader of this book,
since every vision is personal and can change as many times as
you want.
Since I’m talking through personal experience, I’ll tell you what
I did myself, which might inspire you find your own:
• I tried different things to see what would stick. The more

I tried, the more I knew what I enjoy doing and what I
don’t. We never know whether we want something unless
we try it, that’s why I still experiment (and always will).
• Once I found I’m passionate about music and commu-

nication (or marketing), I got immersed in it and started
deepening my understanding and skills (more on that
later).
• The more I immersed in the culture of my passions and
studied, the more I found out about the problems of the fel-
low music and marketing people. Conversing and asking,
I saw common patterns of unsolved problems appearing.
Solving the problems was something I’d happily pursue. A
vision is never a personal thing, it always involves some
kind of problem-solving.
• In a holistic vision involving others, skills are not enough,
so I had to work on training my ego mind and creating
intentions of love. I also proved my pro-independence
intention by quitting my well-paid job (I’m an ex-military
policeman).
• Conversing, refining, trying, failing, studying, deepening
the understanding, connecting the dots, they all progres-
sively shaped (and keep shaping) my vision, which is
to spread quality and open knowledge for all musicians
around the world, so they can become Musicpreneurs and
sustain a living with their art. This vision will be a bit more
polished by tomorrow (this statement is true regardless
when you read this book! Magic).
Outcome.
The more vividly you can imagine the outcome of each decision,
the more likely it is to be achieved seamlessly. It’s true that ‘if
you can imagine it, you can achieve it’. The sum of outcomes
achieved, i.e. made observable in the physical world, all work as

bricks to build the vision in mind.
Think about the person who climbs up the bouldering stage. The
good athletes can ‘see’ the outcome and visualize it so strongly,
that they are already there. There are numerous examples of
people that share this mindset; Michael Phelps is one that pops in
mind right now. It’s not science, after all, and we’ve daydreamed
since the day we’re born.
In order to achieve the desired results, people betake all sorts
of techniques. Writing their goals down, drawing them, making
a ‘goal chest’, pinning stuff all over the place, etc. My take:
do whatever helps you get results. After a while, it will come
automatically and effortlessly (without distortion in between).
Achieving will become a habit. Till then, help yourself.
Decision.
The momentary action of decision-making works like a muscle;

the more you train it, the easier it becomes to work. Sure, the first
decisions on your own can be a tough and daunting activity to
undertake, just like when you go to the gym after a long absence,
but later it feels like a piece of cake. The more you decide, the
more you up your game. That drives you to reach out for harder
and riskier decisions (riskier compared to your definition of risk
in the past).
Eventually, by stretching your decision-making abilities, you’ll
keep stretching your comfort zone. An expanded comfort zone
allows you to see the world through a different lens and enjoy it
more holistically.
How do you train your decision muscle? Make more decisions,

faster. When in dilemma, pick something fast, even if that is
the ‘wrong’ decision (a wrong decision will give you a nice
personalized lesson for the next time; as we said, nothing is
irreversible).
One of the best lessons I learned in the army is that fast decisions
are the most dangerous weapons. In a world of clutter and
indecisiveness, decisions get you ahead in the game, no matter
your skills or the tools available.
Many people talk about ‘fear of making decisions’, but, if we
approach it as the gym training, would anyone declare ‘I’m
afraid to go to the gym?’ Not really, it would sound ridiculous.
What people are afraid of is not decision-making. It’s consis-
tency. They’re afraid of keeping up with going to the gym (or
training their decision muscle).
We don’t feel comfortable committing to something, because
that’s protecting us from bad feelings, failure, rejection, and so
on. The only way to get better at decision-making, though, is
consistency.
Consistency > hard work. That’s the truth.
Once these 3 milestones of decision-making are in place – we’ve

put our vision and intentions in place, we’ve visualized the
observable outcomes, and have trained our decision muscle –
then we’re ready to go. The rest will fall into place like water
gets the shape of the tray it flows in.
There are two other sub-elements that accelerate the procedure
of each successful decision. It might sound strange, but their
presence is not prerequisite for a full decision circle – but it’s

good to have both in our lives – so let’s spend a moment to
highlight their role.
Intrinsic motivation.
What lies between intention and decision is motivation. I do

admit that motivation is something that springs from places I
do not fully understand, since I have a strong inclination to
be motivated and get work done (maybe my army background
helped me). However, while monitoring my behaviour, I noticed
how intrinsic motivation manifests practically in my life – and
it might help understand yours too.
A quick takeaway here: motivation doesn’t come as a stan-
dalone feature; it’s here to support the main features of vision
– intentions, decisions, and outcomes. When these three blocks
are thriving, motivation thrives as well. By building up our
motivational skills, we accelerate the inevitable success of the
three fundamental blocks that were put firmly into place.
Intrinsic motivation is a mixture of passion, creativity, confi-
dence, and talent.
Passion comes when you love what you do. You get the senti-
ments of love for what you do when you actually have observ-
able outcomes in your life and progress in your vision. That’s
why freelancers have higher chances to feel happier than people
who work for a 9-5 company they don’t love.
Creativity has been defined as ‘intrinsic motivation’ (Abbot and
Ryan, 2001) and I do agree wholeheartedly. Creativity motivates
the process of creation (decision + action). It is definitely some-

thing that can be taught, but it also develops through personal
exploration and creation.
Confidence is a non-accumulative human attribute that boosts
up when we have successful and positive outcomes, but slowly
diminishes once we stop them. Consistency favours confidence
and has an important impact on it.
Talent is our inclination towards conducting certain actions with
high level of success. Talent alone is not enough, though. I live by
the quote ‘You might be the most talented person on Earth, but
if you don’t get work done, the hard-working fool will become
greater.’ Which means, talent is an advantage you’re privileged
to rejoice. A tendency should never produce the illusion of
accomplishment.
The motivation industry is booming in the 21st century. That’s
because people need external stimuli to achieve what should
have been happening internally instead. Just like getting a dose of
coffee as an energy and drive boost, the same way people watch
inspirational videos to get motivated.
As you’ve probably realized, motivation alone won’t take you
anywhere, unless the other bricks have a strong presence. In-
trinsic motivation is an accelerator and it’s an inherent process,
not a stimulant. But you won’t get anything done unless you get
motivated. Again, we see why the circle starts with a vision, not
motivational videos.
Action.
It is the buzzword of the century and the holy grail of every

motivational speaker. Hard work is famed to be the number one
way to get yourself an accomplished life. Maybe that was true a

couple of decades ago. Reality is, as you’ve probably realized up
to that point, that today actions alone will just make you ‘busy’.
Actions are meaningful only when directed by a clear vision,
coupled with a set of attributes, such as consistency, skills &
knowledge, connection of information, and proactivity.
Essentially, when you act, you successfully connect your thoughts
with your body, your decision to achieve the outcome in mind
with the muscular movement of your physical presence. Since
physical effort gets in between the decision and the outcome,
the goal here is to develop the ability to act in a frictionless way,
minimizing the distortion.
Let’s talk about how to achieve this.
Consistency. As we mentioned before, consistency beats short
bursts of hard work. The faster you demystify the process of
acting, the easier it will be for you to keep up with it (just
like physical workout). Set yourself a timer? Write down your
schedule before you sleep at night? Compete with others so you
can push and stay accountable to each other? There are so many
ways to achieve consistency. My favorite way: developing habits
that drive progress to my vision and give pleasure on the same
time. You can find some practical hacks at the last bit of the book.
Skills & knowledge. Many times the intention, the decisiveness,
and the visualization of the outcome are not enough to fulfill a
vision. Proper physical work derives from 1) physical ability to
act and 2) mental ability to know what to do. In other words,
skills and knowledge. As we progress, mental work gains more
demand (and it will only exaggerate in the future), making the
creative and physical skillsets less commonplace (thus scarce and
more valuable). Hobbies, studying (quality knowledge for any

subject has essentially become free), practicing and so on are
available to pursue for most of the digital natives – and they’re
not far from becoming readily accessible to the whole world.
Knock yourself out and learn today.
Connection of information. The knowledge accessibility deci-
phers into a more cultivated and enlightened population, con-
ducing the rise of another important virtue: filtering and con-
necting information. Once the problem of awareness is solved,
delivering relevant information to the right people becomes
a major need. This is why platforms connecting information,
needs, opportunities and people are growing in popularity and
will be the norm in the near future. What is the best way to
get better at connecting? Start writing, creating, observing, and
experimenting. Most importantly, be curious, ask why. Curiosity
is one of the most essential concepts in modern decision-making.
That’s what I did with this book; I got pre-existing knowledge of
my head and organized it diagrammatically to the point that it
became clearer, simpler, and more comprehensive for everyone
to understand. I connected information, nothing more. You can
do the same and you’ll be surprised to find out that you don’t
need much more knowledge to get things done.
Proactivity. The definition of proactivity is ‘causing something
to happen rather than responding to it after it happened.’ In
other words: acting, not reacting. This simplification (but not
oversimplification) of the term makes us realize that the word
is perfect to compare decision-making for your own vision
(where you’re being proactive) rather than somebody else’s
vision (where you’re being mostly responsive). Proactivity shows
initiative, and that’s the core of decision-making. A lurking
danger in our modern world is the addiction to responding rather

than initiating. From my personal experience, initiatives help
you experience the world better.
One important point that has to be made here is that the action-
taking bit can be delegated, if defined properly. For corporations,
that’s called ‘hiring an employee’ or ‘interning’. For an artist
or any freelancer that would probably be called ‘outsourcing’.
When you build a team around your art, look for people with
such attributes.
Harvard business professor Teresa Amabile’s theory about suc-
cessful creative organizations grew in popularity back in 1998.
Her landmark research found that creative skills, domain exper-
tise, and intrinsic motivation were necessities to drive creative
culture. Things have fast-forwarded ever since. The era of clut-
ter and multitasking commands simplification and connection
rather than excellence and disposable creation.
Back then, it was necessary to be creative in order to ‘find a job’.
Today you need creative values in order to ‘enjoy the process’
and design better experiences. Creative culture has replaced
assembly-line workers. Initiative is more important than sense
of duty.
I explain why below.
State of flow.
Decision-making of the 21st century is about reaching the opti-
mal state of flow.
The mainstream culture has shifted, making it more ‘normal’ to
have diversity in decisions. Experimentation and curiosity are
awarded and sought after; something that brings us closer to our

prehistoric human nature, in a broad sense.
We are looking for the Optimal Flow, as described by Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi, professor and researcher on positive psychol-
ogy.
Flow is ‘the holistic sensation that people feel when they act
with total involvement.’ As I mentioned in the beginning of this
chapter, ‘decision-making is something intrinsically enjoyable
and a tool through which we enjoy and discover life.’ It correlates
with the flow that Csikszentmihalyi studied.
The flow and joy in decision-making comes when we have the
right intentions, we ‘see’ the outcome and ‘own’ the habit of
making decisions, while being intrinsically motivated to act.
That leads us to the ultimate flow, where we enjoy and do things
for its own sake.
As you can see, the more we train our skills and motivation,
the harder decisions we can make, upping our level in order to
achieve the ultimate state of flow.
Furthermore, mastering intentions and outcomes results in being
aware of their connection (decision) and perceiving everything
in between as ‘just right’.
Decisions are easy to make when we have mastered the context
around them.
Then, if it is that easy to master, why do we keep sucking at it?
Reasons why you cannot
decide in real life
The following factors are a collection of common reasons why
we cannot decide properly in our everyday life. As you might
notice, they are all factors of distortion between each step of the
decision-making process. The more we eliminate this distortion,
the better flow we’ll have while deciding.
A couple of words about each one of them.
1. Information clutter
We live in an information-filled world, where everyone wants

our attention. TV, ads, online, social media, family, friends
and loved ones, news, products and services, everyday chores,
creative moments, personal issues, meetings; all contribute to a
plethora of information to filter daily and decide upon. We surely
don’t need them all. It’s been found that it’s not natural to process
all that information, since our brain gets over-stimulated and
moves away from our core nature and needs. The more you cut
down on unnecessary information triggers, the more conscious
decisions you’ll make.
34
2. Unclear vision
As it’s been clearly stated, a vision is a major factor for successful

decision-making, as it justifies out actions, builds up our intrinsic
motivation, and boosts our confidence. Without a meaningful
purpose in life, most people never overcome the basic decision-
making problems and choose to go for indecisiveness and follow
the default. Find your passion, something that gives meaning in
your actions, and let it flow lavishly in your life.
3. Lost in ego
Modern society faces one important issue: we’re being marketed

to that ego is a ‘fact’ and we need to think about ourselves first,
while consumerism reinforces the notion and commands us to
stand out about ‘who we are’ by buying stuff. That is absolutely
not true, and it leads to selfish decisions that don’t contribute to
any global greatness (and makes the wrong people rich). Our
intentions are the initial step of every decision and we need
to have balance between the divine and human side. Deciding
egoistically, so ‘you’ can stand out from the ‘others’, guarantees
decisions of poor nature.
4. Surrounded by wrong people
Throughout our whole life, we learn how the world works

through our interaction with other people, many times ‘looking’
at life through the eyes of these people – parents, friends,
school, work. We receive advice, suggestions, solutions. Some
people break the mold and create their own worldview (and
influence that of others), while the majority follows widely
accepted worldviews. No matter which group of people you
belong to, though, whom you surround yourself with is crucially
important. Be around people you admire and make you better.
“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong
room.”
5. Unclear priorities
In a cluttered world, priorities are a navigational tool. Some

situations are simply more vital or more urgent than others, so
we need to identify them and classify them before deciding to
act. When we decide to act upon unimportant or easy situations,
abandoning more important ones, we procrastinate (and that’s
a common problem nowadays). Having a clear vision helps us
identify immediate priorities and work on them first, before
relaxing or coping with less important ones.
6. Wrong habits
It’s been found that 40% of our daily actions are based on
habits. Simply put, when we do something habitually, we lower
the brain activity and increase the flow of work. This happens
because there’s less friction between intention and decision,
between decision and outcome (motivation and action come
seamlessly). Pursuing the wrong habits can be a time-waster,
while it can also dilute your vision. By prioritizing and automat-
ing repeatable daily tasks, you create habits that save time and
brainpower, and strengthen your decision-making process.
7. Not confident/overconfident
Confidence helps you see gains in any kind of outcome (good

or bad), since even the wrong decisions offer positive lessons to
learn. Along the way, constant decision-making helps build up
confidence, encouraging more and better decisions. Overconfi-
dence might backfire and cause a series of unrealistic decisions,
but this will not happen provided you always choose with your
vision and divine intention in mind.
8. Not living in the present
“If you have one foot in the past and one in the future, you
will piss on today”, says a Chinese proverb. By not being fully
immersed in today’s decisions, you’ll end up being busy with
possible scenarios about upcoming or past decisions and going
for the default option in the present. The lessons from your
past make you a better person and decision-maker, the future
represents your vision, but the present is the moment you make
everything happen. Live and enjoy it 101%.
9. Not starting
My favorite quote by Woody Allen is “80% of success is showing

up”. My experience proves that the more decisions you make,
the easier it becomes to make even more decisions. Think about
it (and I’m sure you’ve been there before): the first time is always
hard. The second time is way easier – and you have better results.
That’s partially because of the story you tell yourself: “Yeah man,
you’ve done this before. It’s not that difficult, go for it.” Give it a
go today.
10. In search for external stimuli
“More coffee! Red Bulllll! Oh Sarah, how can I overcome this,

please help! Let’s watch some inspiring videos to get more faith!”
You might have used this kind of aid (or might still do), but they
are all cheap substitutes of intrinsic motivation and proactivity.
Any kind external stimuli can become an easy drug that gets
you addicted and gives you gratification that replaces actual
decision-making. Healthy decisions come because of your own
sense of responsibility for greatness, mind clarity, and physical
energy without any artificial and external forces.
Smart decisions: what artists
need to know
As an artist of the digital era, you are prompted to make a series
of decisions in order to achieve your goals and live a happy
life. As a common denominator, we’ll agree that the artists I’m
referring to:
1. Have a passion for what they do and love making art

2. Aim to make a living out of it (or already do)
3. Are ready not to stick to the default decision and conform
4. Have a vision in mind and want to stand out
With these in mind, let’s go through a set of common decisions

each artist will soon-or-later have to make.
1. Time
Nobody has more than 24 hours per day. Let’s start from there.
Also, there’s no creative person I know that wants to be ‘busy’
for no reason (that is unproductive time management, procrasti-
nation etc). Every creative person would love to spend more time
creating and expressing themselves than doing ‘stuff’. Living my
life as a full-time artist, it soon became obvious that time-related
decisions are vital for a career in arts. Here are some decisions
that could save you time.
39
• Filter your tasks in 3 categories: what you can do and want

to do, what you can’t do but could learn how to, what you
can’t do and wouldn’t like to. Delegate the last category
to professionals you trust, spend time learning the skills
required for the middle column, keep enjoying the tasks of
the first column (if they’re of creative nature) or automate
them and make them your habits (if they are non-creative).
• Clarify your vision and set goals. Do you aim to achieve a
state of independence, money, fame, legacy or something
else? Choose what the most important thing for you is and
make it the default standard for each decision. Every time
you’re prompted to decide, think whether it gets you closer
to the vision and follows your main goal. If yes, consider
deciding positively and see how it corresponds with the
rest of your priorities.
• Creating is lovely, but some tasks need to get done any-
ways, in order to keep you and your creative business in
operation. It’s better to spend one day doing the ‘boring
chores’ than doing 1-2 of them each day. Get them out of
the way and stay focused on your creations the rest of the
days.
Think: time is valuable. Saving time by avoiding unnecessary

decisions and action is essential and brings balance.
2. Creation
Creating is your life. So is mine. There is a weird satisfaction that

springs out of every new creation, whether you find it perfect or
plain stupid. All creations have one thing in common: they are
results of ‘doing’. Whatever your source of inspiration might be,

you decide to invest time in pursuing an intangible visualization
that’s in your brain, with the intention of entertaining people,
making them relate and find themselves, storytelling love and
its remarkable effect on people. Creativity and decision-making
have a lot of things in common. Here’s what we can learn:
• The more you create, the better you become at creating.

Decision-making becomes better in the same way.
• Artists should have the analogy of creativity in mind:
you would never create something in order to hate it
– then why decide with the potential negative results
in mind? You could create a commissioned piece of art
that you don’t completely love, in order to create a new
money revenue and keep fueling your artistic vision –
that’s why it won’t hurt to make a wrong decision, if
you have the end vision in mind. Intrinsic motivation and
action is always there for you, because art creation is a
lovely thing you’re passionate about – passion about the
outcome of your decisions is essential to get you motivated
for action. Most of the time your creations are made for
the sake of creation, without taking into regard other
people’s expectations, because you enjoy the process and it
brings interesting results that help you explore the world
– that’s why you should think of decision-making as an
intrinsically enjoyable process that brings joy to you, the
people around you and, ultimately, the universe, making
the world a more interesting place.
Think: creating brings joy, it is a medium for connection and

helps discover interesting things about life. Proper decisions have
exactly the same utility.
3. Business
This book follows the premise that every artist is a business

(Musicpreneur). Art and commerce are inextricably connected,
help each other, and should not be separate. Like every business,
a music business is based upon the right decisions. Despite
their creativity when it comes to decision-making in life, most
musicians are really conventional when it comes to deciding
about their business. Here are some basic points that will create
a foundational layer to build your business upon:
• Most artists are not natural salesmen. The statement is true

about myself, too. How did I overcome the fear of ‘selling
my art’? I make sure that every creation I make available
for sale is made with the intention of bringing pure value
and joy to the recipient (whoever they might be). This
builds a strong foundation of quality and authenticity
upon my work and also minimizes my regrets when letting
people know I sell something. I don’t shove it down
people’s throat in a salesy way. “This creation will bring
value in your life and here it is, it’s available for purchase.”
People can smell the confidence that accompanies genuine
intentions.
• If you believe it’s totally not about money, then you
probably won’t make a living. If you anticipate sustaining
a living with art, then one of the observable outcomes is
indeed ‘make money’. I’m sure you’ve visualized it many
times before. If the last two arguments are true, then you
should be relentless when you think about it: it IS also

about money. Make it part of your intention (but not the
sole intention).
• I’m pretty sure most musicians follow the pricing systems
that others decided for them. Not you. A price is a useful
mechanism that sets an exchange standard for the market
value of your creations. It also sets an expectation for
the potential buyers and also defines the perceived value
of what you create. The subjective value of your art is
different for each person (hardcore fans would happily
pay more for what you do, while strangers would rather
get it for free and give it a couple of listens before they
engage economically with you). Then why set the same
price for everyone and preclude this from happening? One
of the best decisions you’ll make is to open up your pricing
model and offer pricing tiers for each level of fandom,
along with different offers. Conduct a survey, see what
people would happily pay for and how much, get creative
ideas from others and experiment as a true artist that you
are. When you offer one art product with one fixed price,
sets the question: “buy or leave?”. Most people will go for
the default: not decide at all. Pricing tiers sets a different
question: “which one would you like to buy?” See the
difference?
• Conduct business as if you don’t need the money and
you have only pure value to offer. Feeling confident that
people will see the value and will pay for it is going to
be reflected in the way you communicate the business
message around. Such a mindset shows clearly that you
care more about people and are not desperate for a sale.
Before you shoot off your next message, think ‘would I do
it this way, if I had already achieved the sales I wanted?’

It will transform your business.
Think: conducting business is conducting an exchange. You ex-

change value. Be proud to make proper business decisions.
4. Priorities
I feel it, do you feel it too? The amount of information we receive

daily increases exponentially. I would rather not mention num-
bers, since they change all the time exponentially. What doesn’t
change, nevertheless, is the need for filtering and prioritizing.
Let’s get a few ideas on how we can manage such decisions:
• Priority setting is all about filtering what you got. After

clarifying my vision and intentions, my first activity layer
(and immediate course of action) would be: decisions
and actions that directly contribute to both my vision
and intentions. This ensures you feel happiness every
day, progress towards the materialization of your dream
and contribute to the balance of the universe. Secondly:
decisions related to tasks that bring me closer to the long-
term goals. There are activities that have to be done daily,
in order to stay in operation and achieve goals. Actually,
if done correctly, this should not even be called ‘decision-
making’, since it should be done in a frictionless and
automatic fashion without any resistance (that is to say,
habits). Finally, decisions related to ‘spicing up life’: every
decision should be a fun undertaking that doesn’t cause
stress. Most of our daily decisions don’t impact the final
outcome as much as we might think they do, since life

drains mistakes like a sponge and uses them to spice up. I
prefer to make a random decision just to change the route
of things and diverse from the default. Life is a game and
an exploration; we explore it further through decisions.
• The notion of ‘urgency’ is often subjective and depends
on various conditions around us. Usually we feel urgency
because of bad planning on our side. Just to test this
argument out, next time you’re about to do something
because it’s ‘urgent’, think of the following questions:
‘Is it urgent because someone else said so or because I
personally rated it as urgent?’ Be skeptical when people
label ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities, most of the times
they’re not (but it’s a cool marketing trick to get you do
something). ‘If I don’t do it, will it affect my immediate
priorities? Can I avoid doing it at all?’ If urgency could
be avoided, avoid it. ‘Had I planned my actions properly,
would it still have been urgent? If I had plenty of time,
would I still do things the same way?’ If yes, go for it. If
not, let the opportunity go this time; it’s more than sure
that you’ll perform poorly and the opportunity, despite
the common belief, will re-appear soon. Take a step back
and see what you can learn instead, but next time nail it.
You should think of the aforementioned advice as rules
of thumb, but not as determinants of your final decision.
Look for a lesson every time you do something because of
urgency. Most of the time things are not really that urgent.
Think: if you had to save your loved ones from a fire, it would
have been your priority no matter what. Having a clearly stated
intention and strong vision of the outcome makes priority-setting
that easy.
5. Humans
Think of doing everything without other people involved. There

is not much we can do. We should be conscious about how we
approach decisions involving humans. Thinking of human staff,
collaborators, contractors or volunteers as ‘assets’ is the wrong
start. Think of the following:
• Humans and nature are part of the divine bit of our

decision-making process. It should be already clear that
each human is to be loved, respected and unharmed during
each decision we make, even if that compromises the
final outcome. Without this notion as a starting point
(intention), the observable outcome will be of diseased
nature (for you, the others and the universe).
• Take into regard that other people are not flawless and
most of the times they don’t make the best decisions
possible. This should not keep you away from making your
decisions on your own good merit. Showing by example
was always the best way to teach.
• When you work with people on a professional level, make
sure you judge them according to the work they produce,
not their character. If you can do that switch, you can
have a balanced professional (human-made) and human
life (divine). It is more difficult to switch when working
with friends and loved ones. If you can’t switch, choose
not to work with them at all; it will work against you (both
personally and professionally).
• The optimal way of working in a group (band, project

etc.) is when all decisions are made organically, as if it’s
one organism. This is why most corporations die slowly
when they grow bigger; their decisions are not made in an
organic way and one department’s decisions work against
another department’s health. Then the situation becomes
cancerous and, eventually, the organization dies. Make
sure you keep that organic structure in everything you do.
Work and learn like a healthy child that becomes a mature
adult.
Think: work needs to get done, in order for the vision to be

fulfilled. Humans and nature need respect and love. Decisions
should not bring conflict between those two. In short, personal
and professional life should be separate.
6. Conduct
Stress, anxiety, bad manners, rush, and cloudy brain are all an
aftermath of wrong decision management. I know you think it’s
impossible to avoid them completely. Next time you feel one of
these sentiments, do consider the following; they might help:
• Most problems come because of our own faults – we let

the ego side take over. As mentioned before, train your
human-made side and don’t let it dominate your divine
side. The first step is to acknowledge that it’s your fault
entirely. Failing to do so is creating a portfolio of excuses
and delegating the blame to others.
• The intention is the most important brick of every deci-

sion. Intentions of positive nature help you be calm and
reassured that everything is happening for a good reason.
On the contrary, decisions based on insecurity, fear, and
egoistic intentions are most likely to fail in the long-term:
they bring accumulative unpleasant feelings along the
way.
• Taking things personally is our tendency to react in order
to protect our ego from others ‘threatening’ us. People
behave in reflection of their own thoughts (led by in-
securities or inner beauty). When insecure, they tend to
‘attack’ others in order to get rid of that feeling by passing
it on. Don’t take it personally; they would do that with
everyone. Stay calm and talk with them as a human to
human. Ego gets fed with chain reactions and soothes
when someone breaks the chain. Next time you argue with
a bad venue owner, think about it and don’t take things
personally: they have their own insecurities to solve.
Think: when behaving poorly (and you acknowledge it), ask

yourself – Do I want this to happen again? (No) – What can
I make better next time? (Have more divine than human-made
intentions)
7. Vision
Each new vision we have is an imminent creation, an exciting

birth soon to be celebrated. Visions are always built upon or
based on existing creations (there’s no parthenogenesis), but
their outcome is never identical, because of the complex decision
system they’re comprised of. Here are some clues on how to

make sure you stick to your vision:
• Listen to people’s advice and keep the information in the

back of your head. Advice and help should be welcome,
they mostly come with the intention to help, but they
are also diverse and nuanced, thus they can only have a
positive impact when they manifest on the right timing
and way. A good piece of advice on the wrong timing can
change the route of the vision completely. Take your time
and evaluate.
• Going from point A (intention) to point B (vision) is not a
straight line. It’s beautiful to diversify your route towards
the vision, lean right or left (or even backwards), as it
spices up your life and makes for an interesting story.
Bearing in mind that decisions are a tool to experience
life, diversity of decisions means diversity in life. Have an
interesting life, but never lose touch with the vision. It’s
like driving towards a mountain – you never drive straight
and sometimes you even makes stops, but every minute
brings you closer to the mountain, which you can see all
along the way.
• Visualize the vision and make it real in your mind. Just like
saving your loved ones form the fire, you cannot imagine
them other but alive next to you. This is how vivid your
vision should be. If you cannot visualize the outcome or
feel difficulties doing it, it’s probably because you haven’t
experienced it before. Find a way to come close to the
outcome, before you make it a realistic goal. Hanging out
with people you admire, reading stories of people that had
similar goals, trying things you’d like to own etc. are ways
of doing it.
Think: whether others see your vision as ‘rather boring and usual’
or ‘a major music innovation’, only visions that get fulfilled
matter. This makes every single effort of yours precious.
Better decisions: Takeaways
and where to focus on
Decide more
The more you decide, the more you train the decision muscle.
Intrinsic motivation
Passion, creativity, confidence, talent: make sure you love what

you do.
Ask ‘why’
Be curious and always wonder why you do what you do.
Prioritize
Understand what needs to be done next and do it.
51
Vision
Give direction to your actions and decisions by covering them

under the umbrella of your vision.
Kill ego
Things don’t happen about you, don’t take them personally.

Think divine, not ego.
Intention
If you have the divine side in mind, you’ll make more successful
decisions in long-term. Intention does impact the outcome.
People that surround you
“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong
room”
Up your skills and knowledge
Get better at skills and knowledge and you’ll get ready for harder
decisions and the optimal flow.
Good story
Always go with the decision that will make for a good story. Life
is to be enjoyed.
Enjoy
Decision-making is something enjoyable to discover the world

around us. Find your flow. Randomize.
Build upon
You cannot reverse decisions nor does it help to create scenarios.

You can only build upon already made decisions.
Habits
Automate regular decisions and build habits around them.
Default
If you stay indecisive, you’ll end up doing the default (which is

chosen by others).
Famous last words
Is that really only for aspiring musicians who want to be good
at business (Musicpreneurs)? No, not really.
It’s for every human being that wants to have a satisfactory life
– and help others do the same.
Making right decisions is the beginning of everything.
I’m open for your questions and feedback, let’s have a conver-
sation at Tommy@TommyDarker.com. I’m @TommyDarker on
Twitter.
55
What’s next
This is part of a series of books about the culture of the Mu-
sicpreneur. The full book portfolio is at www.TommyDarker.com.
What can you do after reading the book?
Pass the electronic version on to a friend that will benefit from
it (well, even the physical copy, if you fancy). I encourage the
culture of openness and sharing.
After all:
‘You never actually own a piece of knowledge. You

merely look after it for the next generation. It’s our
duty to pass it on.’
Since you’re interested in better decision-making, you belong

to our tribe! Use the hashtag #musicpreneur to share your
experiences with the community of readers. Other people will
look what you have to say and will interact with you. Interaction
around shared interests is beautiful, isn’t it?
Positive energy and love,
// Tommy
56
The Thank You page
I would like to thank Niki, my exceptional proofreader, for
pointing out mistakes I was too blind to see, and Stefanos⁷, my
editor, for his constructive feedback on the flow of the theories
described in the book.
But, most importantly, I’d like to thank YOU for reading this book
and being passionate about life and art.
Pass it on, passion is contagious.
⁷http://www.causebasedapproach.com
57
Further reading
Learning never ends.
Go to Darker Toolbox⁸ for further resources of knowledge.
Check out the free videos at Darker Music Talks⁹. Discussions
with experts from all over the world are awaiting.
All of my writings can be found on my Darker Knowledge¹⁰ page.
Finally, every artist should check out the following:
Marshall McLuhan (1964), Understanding Media; The Extensions
Of Man
Andrew Dubber (2013), Music In The Digital Age¹¹
Alex Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur (2010), Business Model Gen-
eration¹²
Mark Mulligan, The Music Industry Blog¹³
Nicholas Cook (2000), A Very Short Introduction To Music¹⁴
⁸http://www.tommydarker.com/toolbox
⁹http://www.darkermusictalks.org
¹⁰http://www.tommydarker.com/knowledge
¹¹http://musicinthedigitalage.com/book
¹²http://businessmodelgeneration.com/book
¹³https://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com
¹⁴http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780192853820.do
58

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The Indecisive Musicpreneur

A compact book about decision-making and

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons

About Tommy Darker 1

Indecisiveness: living somebody else’s life 4

The breakdown and role of a decision 8

Mastering the decision flow 21

Reasons why you cannot decide in real life 34

Smart decisions: what artists need to know 39

Better decisions: Takeaways and where to focus on 51

Famous last words 55

The Thank You page 57

love conversing and hearing people’s stories.

“A musician who is just a musician can never be-

‘It was a bad idea in the first place’

‘Maybe it’s too early to write a book, you should

‘That’s a sign yo! What were you thinking?’

…and much more.

“Tommy, it doesn’t matter what stories you tell

However, all that really matters is actions. What you

(*words from an actual Facebook status)

The ‘mystery’ of indecisiveness.

1 not settling an issue

2 (of a person) not having or showing the ability to

1. Decision is the MOMENT where we externalize our inten-

Combining all these elements, my definition is:

The decision is the momentary action that converts

complete each other in a way or are they in conflict? What can

My definition can be outlined graphically in the following dia-

The decision-making process breakdown

Let’s contemplate a bit and break it down even further.

Solid scientific research has proved the impact of intention in

something does have an effect on the outcome, i.e. intentions

Decisions are the way through which we make sense of the

The world we humans can observe (‘reality’) is built upon and

I don’t say “decisions bring change”, because ‘change’ doesn’t

The chart helps us discover interesting connections. ‘Action’ and

visualized the outcome in your mind, the decision comes as a

Time to demystify the importance of the actions we make.

Motivation is a strong characteristic for each person, but it is

the process to overcome any barrier in the way. Motivation is

Each decision involves elements of life (that includes humans

What happens consciously.

These momentary micro-decisions happen within a restricted

What happens outside the building.

What happens subconsciously.

Except for the context, however, there is another kind of deci-

mind in the world (for a good reason!). Your mood, confidence,

Master your ego.

Make sure you’ve solved personal and existential issues that

that you’re capable of doing things – for the joy of others’

Solve the topical issues.

The second phase involves external situations and alive beings:

‘See’ the context changing.

Whether we realize it or not, every personal or topical decision

As a general observation, decision-making is something intrin-

Mistakes, failures, and conflicts are important elements of life.

Understanding vision & intention.

Human-made intentions include:

Personally, I find it helpful to ask myself ‘why do I do this?’

• I tried different things to see what would stick. The more

• Once I found I’m passionate about music and commu-

achieved, i.e. made observable in the physical world, all work as