r/BusinessHub

Just finished reading Bob Dylan's memoir. Supposedly he wrote the whole thing himself with no editor.

I expected stories about being famous, but most of it is about the years before anyone knew who he was, and the point decades later where he almost walked away for good. I pulled out 8 things he did that got stuck to me. The last one is the almost quitting story, and it's the one Id read if you only read one:

1. HE COPIED PEOPLE BEFORE HE WAS ORIGINAL

Before New York, he spent around 8 or 9 months listening to folk records. He was broke, so he sat in record store booths for hours, and he made friends with people who had big record collections just so he could listen at their houses. Other folk singers later said he could play their songs exactly like them. Same tone, same tempo.

He also studied Hank Williams' records so closely he said they held the basic rules of songwriting. Years later a New York Times critic wrote that Dylan broke every songwriting rule except having something to say. Dylan's point was that the rules he followed were Hank's. The critic just didn't know it. You don't get to be original by skipping the copying part.

2. HE PRACTICED IN PUBLIC FOR $3 A NIGHT

In Minneapolis he made $3 to $5 a night playing coffee houses and a pizza parlor. He lived in a storage room with a mattress on the floor and fell asleep holding his guitar. In New York it wasn't much better. If you played every small club from dusk till dawn on a weekend you might make $20. He played for one person, nobody, whoever. He said he practiced in public. That's basically shipping early and getting feedback, just with a guitar.

3. HE GOT HIS BIG BREAK BY ASKING A BLUNT QUESTION

He wanted to play at a club called the Gaslight. One winter day Dave Van Ronk, one of the guys he came to New York to see, walked into the place where Dylan was hanging out. Dylan walked up and asked him straight out how someone gets to work at the Gaslight, and who you have to know. Van Ronk was rude about it and asked if he was a janitor. Dylan said no, but he could play something. Van Ronk liked it and told him to come play a few songs in his set that night. Not long after he was hired there. No warm intro, no network. Just a question and being ready when the door opened a crack.

4. HE READ WAY OUTSIDE HIS FIELD

When he wasn't playing he was reading. Clausewitz on war, Machiavelli, Thucydides, biographies of Robert E. Lee and Teddy Roosevelt. He went to the New York Public Library and read newspapers on microfilm from about 1855 to 1865. Not for the politics. He wanted to hear how people talked back then. His line on all this was that he packed his head with it and figured he could "send a truck back for it later." Most of what you read won't be useful this week. Some of it will be useful in 10 years.

5. ONE SMALL WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT LASTED HIM YEARS

When he was a teenager he was playing on a little platform in the lobby of a building in his hometown. Gorgeous George, a famous wrestler, came storming through with an entourage and a fur lined gold cape. He didn't stop walking, but he looked right at Dylan, winked, and seemed to mouth that he was making it come alive. Dylan said that was all the encouragement he needed for years. If you manage people, you probably have no idea how long a small comment sticks.

6. HE DIDN'T TRY TO BE LIKE ANYONE

When the Columbia publicist asked who he saw himself like in music, he said nobody. He wasn't saying he was the best. He said there were better musicians around, but nobody doing what he did. He also said people either walked out on him or leaned in closer. No middle. Honestly that's a decent test for a product too. If nobody hates it, nobody probably loves it either.

7. YOU DON'T GET TO CONTROL THE LABEL

Once he got famous the press called him the voice of a generation. He hated it. He said he was more of a cowboy than a pied piper, and all he wanted was to raise his kids. He also said privacy is something you can sell but can't buy back.

When Princeton gave him an honorary degree, the speaker introduced him as the conscience of young America. Dylan said he was so mad he wanted to bite himself. Kind of the funniest line in the book.

8. WHEN YOU'RE STUCK, LEAVE THE ROOM

This is the part I mentioned up top.

He'd just finished an 18 month tour with Tom Petty and felt completely burned out. He said his own songs felt like strangers to him and he couldn't wait to retire. During a rehearsal with the Grateful Dead they asked him to play some of his old songs. He said he forgot something at the hotel and left. He wasn't planning to come back. A few blocks later he heard a jazz band in a tiny bar with almost nobody inside. He went in. The singer was an older guy, relaxed, not loud, but he had this natural power. Dylan suddenly remembered a technique he used to do automatically years ago and had totally forgotten. He went back to the rehearsal to try it. It was rough at first, then it clicked, and he played the shows without having to think twice. Years later, when an album session felt stuck, he woke his wife up before sunrise and they rode a Harley across the Mississippi with no plan. Next morning he felt like he'd figured something out. He didn't fix it by thinking harder. He fixed it by getting out of his own head.

The one I keep thinking about is number eight. He was about to throw away a 25+ year career over a burnout that a walk and a random bar fixed. I wonder how many people quit right before that kind of moment.

To be fair, the book jumps around in time a lot, so some of this is pieced together from different chapters.

Has anyone here been close to quitting something and had a random moment like that pull them back? Or did you actually quit and not regret it?

I went through Roger Federer's biography (The Master by Christopher Clarey) plus his Dartmouth commencement speech. After reading this, it became pretty obvious Roger was not a natural beast because as a kid he was a mess…

What made him great was stuff he learned and most of it works for anyone running a business. Here’s 7 lessons I felt I’d share for those who care:

1) IT'S ONLY A POINT

Federer played 1,526 singles matches and won almost 80% of them. But he only won 54% of the points. So even the best player of his era lost almost every second point. His way of handling it was to tell himself "it's only a point." Double fault, only a point. Great shot that ends up on a highlight reel, also only a point. When it's happening it matters more than anything. When it's over, it's over. If you run a business you lose deals, hires and launches constantly. You don't have to win most points. You just have to not carry the last one into the next one.

2) HE WAS A TERRIBLE LOSER FIRST

He threw rackets, swore, screamed at himself. His dad was so embarrassed he'd yell at him from the side of the court, then drive an hour and a half home without saying a word. Early in his career an opponent said publicly that Roger would be the favorite for the first two hours, and he'd be the favorite after that. Meaning Roger would fall apart mentally. Roger says he's grateful for that comment because it made him train a lot harder. What I liked is that the anger never went away. He talks about learning to control the flames instead of putting them out. Same fire, just slow burning fuel instead of a bonfire.

3) HE HIRED A MENTAL COACH BEFORE HE WAS 17

At the time, seeing a sports psychologist looked like weakness. Roger did it anyway, with a guy named Christian Marcolli. Both of them have refused to say exactly what they worked on. That was Roger's wish. I think that tells you how much he valued it.

4) REST WAS PART OF THE TRAINING, NOT A BREAK FROM IT

His fitness coach Pierre Paganini never played tennis competitively, and people called him unusual. But from day one he planned for a career lasting decades. Hard consistent work, yes. But also rest and getting away, because fresh legs only matter if your head is fresh too. His view was that having potential is one thing, but showing it for 70 matches a year is something else. Most founders treat rest like a reward for when the work is done. Roger's team treated it like part of the work.

5) WHEN BURNOUT SHOWS UP, CUT EVERYTHING TO 3 THINGS

The author asked him if he ever burned out. He thought for about 30 seconds before answering. His rule: if he feels it coming, he cuts down to practice, matches and family. Less press, fewer autographs, fewer public appearances. He once asked the tour to help him out for 3 months because the daily media grind was wearing him down. He also showed the author a clenched fist and said if you're like that all the time, that's how you burn out.

6) HE SWITCHED DENTISTS BECAUSE THE GUY DOUBTED HIM

He quit school at 16 to play tennis. His dentist asked what else he was doing. Roger said nothing, just tennis. The dentist looked shocked. Roger never went back. His reasoning was basically, I'm chasing a dream and this guy is trying to pull me back. Kind of petty. Also kind of right. You're going to doubt yourself enough already.

7) STAYING THE SAME IS GOING BACKWARDS

He believed that holding the same level in pro tennis meant losing ground. So he'd break up winning setups. He split with his coach after things got too routine, then went a stretch with no official coach at all, which was really unusual for a top player who could afford anyone. His line was that the decision came from him alone and he was the one who had to be satisfied. He also said trusting yourself is a talent. I'd never thought about it as a skill you can get better at.

8) THE LONG GAME PAID OFF OFF THE COURT

In 2020 Forbes had him as the highest paid athlete in the world at over $100.000.000. Only about $6.000.000 of that was prize money.He signed a 10 year deal with Uniqlo reported at over $30.000.000 a year. That deal didn't cover shoes, so he invested in On, the Swiss running shoe company. When On went public his stake was worth about $300.000.000. That came 23 years after he turned pro. None of it happens if he burns out at 28 like a lot of his peers...of the 128 men who played singles at the 1999 French Open, his first Grand Slam, he was the last one still on tour.

Out of the lessons, the one that hits the spot for it’s number 5.

I've always handled burnout by pushing harder and he does the opposite. He shrinks his life down to the few things that actually matter until he's back. Obviously he had huge talent. But the book makes the point that at 16 nobody could tell if he'd be an all time great or just very good. The difference was all in his head.

Curious what people here actually do when they feel burnout coming…

Do you cut back like he did or just grind through it!?

kay so every time I see stuff about these guys it's always attached to a claim of making someone crazy money. It's like always in your face, it get's too much and even I have found it annoying ever since actually using them cos I feel it's taking away from the real shit. I worked with them and they helped me a lot I won't lie and knowing that everything was halal kept me calm. Ask me anything you want to know about my process or my opinions on Abu and his team

How many generations is it?