Brian Burns

Derek Sivers is an entrepreneur/musician who treats work as play. In 2008 he spoke to incoming students at Berklee College of Music. 6 Things I Wish I Knew the Day I Started Berklee is a written account of his talk that day.

In an ever-changing industry where things are rarely the same for a couple of months, I believe that students of the web never truly graduate. Each and every person who walks into their workplace facing an unknown quantity in the morning and emerges in the evening having mastered something new, is a student.

Sivers, therefore, has some advice for us all:

1. Focus. Disconnect. Avoid Distraction.
2. Don’t accept any else’s speed limit.
3. No one teaches you anything.
4. Learn from your heros. Not only from those of your peers/mentors.
5. Don’t get stuck in the past.
6. When you’re done(!) studying. Be valuable.

Sivers warns that casual friends, will tempt you to be casual.

Tasks in life are scheduled so that they can be completed by casual people. If you aspire to be above average, you can set your own time scale for completing work. Your friends and mentors will provide you with information, but they can’t teach you anything; it’s up to you to be open to the prospect of learning.

Sivers is all too aware of the temptations in the world today, but implored his audience to use their cognitive surplus in constructive and meaningful ways.

Be one of the few who are studying, when everyone else is surfing the net, flirting on MySpace, or watching TV.

Soak up knowledge, knuckle down and be your own person. Do all this and you’ll soon be winning … Charlie Sheen style.

(Via: Joshua Blankenship)