Meet Steven Short

We were lucky to catch up with Steven Short recently and have shared our conversation below.

Steven, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I’d like to say I get my resilience from the idea that all things hoped for can be manifested and or achieved as long as you’re willing to see it through. A lot of times life can just simply be overwhelming. In a sense, it can feel like a game of tug of war except you’re being tugged in more directions than one, and, unfortunately, a lot of times we lose. But the saving grace is that the rope is always there for you to pick it back up with new found knowledge and experience from the last bout. Treat obstacles in your path the same way. If you fail the first time, on the second, you attack with a more specifically tailored goal in mind. You focus on that and do your best to reach it. Even if you fail again, you’ve made more progress with each and every time that you gave yourself another shot, and that’s when familiarity and routine begin to work wonders for you which then translates into confidence. Showing up is half the battle.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am an up & coming musician born & raised in Chicago Illinois on the southeast side. I have been surrounded by music & vibrations for as long as I can remember. I picked up my first keyboard at 6 or 7 years old & my handy dandy mp3 player at 8. It was the keyboard that introduced me the production side of things and the mp3 player that basically laid the foundation for my love of all things music. I began creating my own beats by 7th grade and have been writing lyrics ever since that age as well. The thing I find most exciting about music is that feeling of raw inspiration when you’re motivated to literally take nothing and make it into something. I like my melodies and chord progressions to tell a story before an artist is even able to speak, so I definitely take music production serious to the fullest extent. As far as my branding and what I want to represent, I think I truly would just like to be as transparent with my story as possible or at least my feelings in that particular moment. I don’t like to force things, my process is something like mining a natural resource. I can be productive as long as the juices are flowing. Once they stop, I try my best not to strain my mental so that the job doesn’t become exhausting because that’s when you judge yourself and turn the experience into something contradicting of its purpose. I’m here to create from within, not takeaway.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three main qualities that I feel like are most important in my journey still to this day are resilience, an eagerness to learn as well as listen, and a desire to create. Once you lose any of those values, you begin to plateau. There’s always something better, there’s always someone better, and, contrary to belief, there are still things under the sun yet to be revealed. As an artist, it’s our job to believe in the idea of innovation. But what lengths are you willing to go to make something new and better. The best ways to improve on these qualities are to study and apply what you learn as often as possible.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I have two people actually. My mother & father. I honestly feel like I couldn’t have asked a better two morally grounded people to have been my parents. Anything I believe in, as far as work ethic, confidence, humility; it’s all come from them. I never cared to be the loudest, smartest or coolest in the room. I barely even care to be seen. One thing I do know is that everyone has energy and everyone has a light, and it’s entirely up to you how positive or negative you would like your energy to be and how bright you want your light to shine. In a room where no one recognizes you, your energy and your light will speak volumes about you.

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Image Credits

Louis Alexandre Douyon &
Myles Wright

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