Wonderful piece, Brad. I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic recently, and pushing back against the “self help” mantras that make me discontent.

It reminds me of when I was in high school. I took a music production class, taught by professor Ron. Ron was a tremendous musician, a pianist, composer, director, and singer who knew jazz, pop, and classical music history, each as deeply as the last.

For one of our first assignments, we wrote a simple 8 bar piece of music with a few instruments. Ron encouraged us to focus on mixing the audio to make sure it sounded good when played together, and that we could do this by making things quieter and louder to find the balance.

Naturally, as a 17-year old hothead, I focused on making everything louder, and I ended up drowning out… all of it in an attempt to impress everyone.

Ron took me aside after class and said, “Joel, it’s important to remember that turning the volume of some instruments down has a stronger impact than turning them up.”

Ron would have liked your message in this article, Brad. He would be pleased, and so am I.