“If you don’t need their rewards, you do not have to play by their rules.”

Nathan Johnson in Broke*, a documentary by Will Gray about artists and the music industry.

I have spent the last year wrongly attributing this quote to Seth Godin, who also appears in Broke*.

Johnson is speaking about money and luxury within the music industry, but I find the quote wide ranging and helpful. I often feel external pressure to be something, feel something, or act in a certain manner. No matter who “they” are in a particular moment, should I feel their pressure at this moment? I find freedom when I am able to remind myself not to unnecessarily submit myself to the rules of “they.”