I came across a couple interviews that I found to be very insightful for anyone wanting to create and improve an extraordinary business or life. What’s noteworthy, is that the interviews were with someone from an area not typically associated with teaching leadership or growth. The interviews were with rock guitar virtuoso Steve Vai.

Now, you may think a guitar slinger’s experiences probably don’t have a lot of applicability to your product development, marketing efforts or crisis-of-the-day at work – however, you’d be wrong. In fact, listening to Steve Vai’s words of wisdom, I couldn’t help but think of how Peter Drucker, the preeminent business educator, responded to the question of “How can I become a better manager?” He simply replied, “Learn to play the violin.”

You may or may not know Steve Vai’s music, but he is not only a unique and talented guitar player, but his profound and timeless words of advice are also worth a listen.

What struck me throughout the interviews, is how absolutely candid Steve is concerning what he believes are the fundamental reasons for his success. Without a hint of sarcasm or over-inflated ego, Steve describes his early fears, and his thoughtful advice about what it takes to succeed.

Here is a summary of his advice.

1. Do What You Love

Steve Vai starts out by saying how he’s always been in love with the guitar, and how even in a world of distractions, it got him to focus on improving. In fact, Steve acquired a sense of achievement, simply from each small improvement he was able to make with the instrument. During the interview, he gives an offhand yet Zen-like comment explaining why he values improvement – “The better you get, the better you get”. Simple and true.

2. Be Original
As is the case for any artist creating original work, Steve said it always felt weird to play somebody else’s music. “They (the original musicians) do it so much better.” And as for why he preferred creating his own music, he said “How cool is to do to things you haven’t heard before.” This desire to do more than mimic others, led him to develop his unique talent and create his own music.

3. Conquer Your Fear And Create What You Want
Hard to imagine for a guitar player who’s toured the world and played with some of the biggest musical artists, but Steve talks about his childhood fear of performing, and how the very thought of playing the guitar in front of people would keep him awake at night. So rather than continuing to be plagued by fear, Steve would put on his headphones, and while listening to all his favorite music, he would create this image of himself playing the guitar in front of a lot of people, and playing with complete confidence from head to toe and in total command of the instrument. He pictured himself as this enigmatic figure, and imagined himself playing completely elegantly and effortlessly, and in a manner that was almost unseen or unheard of before. “I was never pretentious enough to actually think that I could play like that. But that was the picture I created, and you perpetuate your own reality”. No surprise that a lot of what Steve does now is a direct reflection of what he imagined as a kid.

4. Practice Your Craft
As with most virtuosos, Steve Vai is known for mind-boggling amount of time spent meticulously practicing his craft. In the interview, he’s asked about an article he’d written for a guitar magazine wherein he talks about his ten-hour daily practice sessions. Casually, Steve explains “it was a lot more than ten hours actually”, and that the ten-hour practice session was just what he’d put in the magazine at the time. He goes on to say that for him, playing the guitar was never about work. His advice to guitar students, “Pick a time and turn off the distractions.”

5. Focus On Your Strengths
Steve says he never worked on his weaknesses; but rather he only worked on his strengths – and then, he exaggerated them. Everyone has particular natural talents, and the best thing to do is focus on developing those. When you get discouraged, go back to the big picture. Improvement is an ongoing process.

6. Don’t Worry About What You May be Missing
When asked whether or not he missed-out on doing other things, Steve explains, “When you’re absorbed in something, you don’t miss anything”. In fact, he goes on to say, “whenever I wasn’t playing the guitar, I was in pain. Everything else was boring. Everything else was work.” That sounds like a true artist.

7. Find Your Own Way
While Steve built his skill and capabilities by relentlessly practicing and methodically transcribing very complex musical notation (he transcribed Frank Zappa’s music), he knows that what worked for him may absolutely not work for somebody else. Steve’s way was being methodical, but he explains, “The way for you is what you feel. If you’re going to take any advice from me, it’s to find what excites you the most and go after that. Find what excites you and disregard what others are doing or saying”. It takes a real visionary to advise you to have faith in yourself and ignore others – even him.

8. It’s All In Your Thoughts
Steve Vai comes right out and says that the only thing that holds you back is your thoughts, and explains that “the level of achievement that we have at anything is a reflection of how well we were able to focus on it.”

At the end of one of the interviews, Justin Sandercoe asks Steve how long did he have to play the guitar, until he felt that he was able to express himself through the instrument? Steve’s answer is classic and right on. With just a moments thought, he replies “Always and never”. Steve goes on to explain that the moment you pick up an instrument, you’re expressing yourself to a degree; but that he still always feels like it’s an ongoing process.

Trying to come at the question from a slightly different perspective, Justin who is obviously a great admirer of Steve Vai, follows up by asking “But you must be able to play anything you can hear, right?” to which Steve replies matter of factly, “Well, no.” Steve adds that he’s always taking himself to the brink of his potential, and in fact a regular exercise he still does is to imagine things that he can’t do, and then he visualize himself doing it. “And like magic it starts to happen. And once you accomplish that, there’s no end.”

Steve spoke and answered questions during a private session for guitar players in Hollywood, California; and separately was interviewed by another guitar player and teacher, Justin Sandercoe, to talk shop.

By the way, the name of the Steve Vai song used as a soundtrack in one of the interviews above is titled “Whispering A Prayer”. You can see him perform a live version here.

So, what are your thoughts on shaping the future? What else do you think is necessary for success? Please add your thoughts below!

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Tom loves building meaningful businesses and technology (with people who care). Reach him on Twitter @thomastriumph or tomtriumph.com.