There is nothing like being physically present with the people you’re meant to be around. The people who share your passion, drive, your calling. It can be infectious and a wonderful experience, especially for the artists whose journey can be quite lonely. 

That is why you hear most of the most influential artists of all time leave their hometowns to move to the hub of the action, the action where their chosen craft is happening. They weren’t going to become who they were destined to be if they stayed in the same room, the same four walls, and the same streets they grew up on. They might as well have gotten a job at the local service station for the rest of their lives and just done that.

But they choose to follow their calling. There comes a point in our lives where we have to leave home to grow and build ourselves into a different being. A being that cannot exist if we stay home doing the same thing we did once as children. 

This is why anyone ambitious from any country flock to their metropolis, leaves everything behind in the purse of their calling, to start from ground zero with people like them. 

Now you have the answer as to why artists and innovators flock to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Paris, Mumbai, Beijing, Tokyo, and Sydney. Often with not much money in their bank account. And that doesn’t matter to them, they will figure it out once they get there. 

There is an energy in these cities that you can’t get anywhere else. And each city has its specific theme to it. For example, Los Angeles tells you to be famous, New York tells you to take over the world. None are either wrong or right, they just are. 

When you first move to a city like these ones you’ll be lonely as hell, but eventually, the people you’re meant to be around will come to you. The universe has a funny way of putting things in your path that are just right for you at that moment. 

Then you will find your crowd, Jazz artists make their way to the late-night club, comedians find the best comedy clubs, actors find the best classes, dancers find the best studios to practise, and writers find the best groups to collaborate with. It eventually will work out when you work with the magic of the city and what it can bring you.

All the people you ever need to meet to live the life you want when you go to a big city to commit to your dreams are already there. Sometimes all it takes is a bump on the street with someone and you’ve found a new friend. 

Then the friends you’ve made will introduce you to more and more people until you can’t know enough people, it slowly compounds, you have to give it time. 

Overnight success does happen… it just takes a lot of nights to get there. The ones who fulfilled their calling and continue to do so keep following and working on their calling night after night. Even if that means going to a party to meet someone who could possibly help you, that’s still work. 

Doors will open but you have to be willing to knock and knock and knock and keep on knocking until it opens. And once one door opens, it’ll feel like a new level and there’ll be newer doors to knock on with different opportunities.

Do you have the patience to keep knocking?

Each night will tell.

FIND YOUR CROWD and let the magic happen.

Until next time,

Brody