Meet Zan Dretti

We were lucky to catch up with Zan Dretti recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zan, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
Overcoming burnout can be difficult. Generally, you don’t even realize that you’re burned out until you’re burned out. Whenever I’m feeling burned out or overworked, I step away to refresh and reset. This gives me an opportunity to reflect, strategize, and come back even better than before. I’ve put out multiple projects in one year while simultaneously recording a podcast, engineering sessions for other artists, beatmaking, etc. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing for creativity.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m Zan Dretti – I’m an artist and podcaster (The BIG Diamond Show). Music has always been special to me and I knew that I had a special connection with it at a young age. My parents introduced me to a wide range of music from Hip-Hop to Country and Gospel. This created an amazing foundation for what music should sound like to me.

I’ve released 20 mixtapes and EPs and I’m currently recording my debut album GP3 (Gold Plus 3). This album will complete the Gold Plus trilogy. Gold Plus is indicative of the finding something greater than gold – it is also a slight play off of Big L’s record “Platinum Plus”.

I’m most excited about recording GP3 and growing my podcast, The BIG Diamond Show. This is the best that I’ve felt creatively and I plan to keep driving it forward.

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?
1. Don’t take it personally – a general rule of thumb but this is especially tough for artists. Some of my best advice is to try not to take it so personally…within reason, of course.

2. Be coachable – nobody knows everything but everybody knows something.

3. Give yourself grace – you are not perfect, no one is expecting perfection. Do your best and call it a day.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall in Love With The Process of Being Great

The biggest take away from this was that most of the time, we’re in our own way. Additionally, we have to be willing to do all of the little and not-so-glamorous things in order to be great at our craft(s). It’s a process that we have to embrace. Being great is a process that requires certain tools, and even if we are given these tools, we must learn how to use them.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Darien Hogans

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