Macklemore and Evan Carmichael discuss staying true to yourself despite external criticism. Macklemore says public perception shouldn't dictate your creative direction. Carmichael shares how a video industry professional dismissed his six-minute "Believe" video, which then went viral, teaching him to trust his instincts over expert doubt.
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is be who you are. Over to you, McLemore.
Don't let people's outside perspectives change what you do, change who you are, dictate your happiness, dictate your level of self-worth. Affect your self-esteem. And as an artist, that's easier said than done. The public's perception does weigh on you. The box that they put you in does affect you. And I think that it's a constant fight to remember why you make music, who you do it for, why it's important, and to follow your process and to not let anybody's outside opinion dictate who you are. You know it.
When you're first starting any kind of project, there's going to be a lot of unknowns. There's going to be a lot of holes, right? If you have a great idea for a business that you come up with 2 in the morning, you know, you don't have all the answers yet, right? There's a lot of things that you haven't figured out yet, and a lot of times what happens is you go and you tell somebody about it and they'll poke holes in it, right? They'll tell you, "Oh, it's not going to work because of this and this and this," or, you know, "You don't have the education to do that," or, "You don't have the money or resources to be able to do that," or, you You know, what makes you think that you're good enough to start this company? And a lot of times you'll doubt yourself because there are holes and they're just kind of poking at you. And it's really hard to stay confident in that, you know, what you want to do is important and will work out when the people around you are just kind of poking those holes. And I call those people the little man. It's appropriate that I'm wearing this shirt today. Kill the little man. Say no to the little man. Not allowed in your life. You know, the friends that you have are the people who will find the holes in your plan and support you and say, hey, you know, here's something that's wrong, but here's a way that I think you can fix it. These are people who may love you, right? It could be friends, family, people who love you. They want to see you be successful, but because what you're doing is so far outside their realm of comfort, that their version of showing you love is discouraging you from doing this plan because in their mind what you're doing is too risky. You know, you should be doing something safer. You shouldn't be going down that road. And so what they're saying is out of love, but it's not helpful. It's not constructive. It's not what you need to get to where you want to go. The most important thing is if you feel like something has to get done, you feel in your heart that this needs to be created, that you go out and do it. The idea for Little Man came from a guy who was in my life who I showed a video to. It was the Believe by First Believe By video that I created, and it was 6 minutes long. And this was a guy in the business of video, so he understood the video business. Not some outsider who didn't understand videos. He was in the business of videos, and I showed him the video and he hated it. And he said, "No video should be 6 minutes long," and all these reasons why this video would never work out. And it's easy to listen to the expert, right? It's easy to listen to the guy who's supposed to know what he's talking about. And when he says it's not gonna work, I think an older version of Evan or a younger Evan might have listened to him. But I watched the video and I'm like, this is amazing. It made me feel something. And so, you know what? I don't care if it doesn't work. I still need to do it. If anything, just not to live my life in regret wondering what could have happened if I got it out. Now fortunately the video did well. It got over a million views. It was one of the first big videos that I had on my channel. And that was a valuable lesson for me in that even sometimes people who are the experts, they don't know what they're talking about either. And ultimately I listen to my heart. I wanna be who I am. I wanna create the things that I feel excited about, even if nobody else feels excited about it. And that doesn't mean that it always works out. Because I've launched projects that have failed and that haven't gone well. It doesn't mean that it always works out, but it does mean, one, if you want to create something great, it's going to come from something that you love. You may not know which one it is, but it's going to come from something that you love and have a passion for. The answer isn't to be somebody else's version of you, because then you're going to create a mediocre product or service. So that pot of gold, that amazing future life for yourself, is only going to come from creating something that you are passionate about. And two, it again makes sure that you don't live with regret, that you don't think back, like, ah, I had that idea and I just didn't do anything about it and I wish I did. And I don't want to live that kind of life where I'm kicking myself wondering what could have happened if I did this action, right? So instead of worrying about that, just go and do it and try it and be you and trust your process. And sometimes it'll work and sometimes it won't. And that's okay. You'll learn each time. You won't live with regret, and one of those projects will lead to your ultimate happiness and building something that has lasting value that then you can go and tell your grandkids, "I made this. Look what I did," and build a legacy for yourself. So the question of the day today is, I want to know who around you is not supportive of your idea right now. Who's holding you back? Who's telling you you can't do it? And hopefully by sharing, you'll get some support from Believe Nation to tell you that you can do it and give you some confidence to keep going. So who's the little man in your life right now? Leave it in the comments below and I'll join the discussion. I'm also trying to get to 1 million subscribers on this channel, so anything you can do that you can think of to help share it, tweet it, add it to playlists, tell people about it, I'd really, really, really super appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso.
