Hooks: Lessons on Performance, Business, and Life from a Working Musician

Simple answers to complex questions.

Performing under pressure. Improving skills. Managing business. Maintaining relationships. Building confidence. Overcoming doubt and fear. Everyone faces these challenges, and Matt Wilson is no exception. However, after spending almost thirty years as a professional musician, he’s realized that even the most complex issues often have simple solutions, and the many lessons he learned along the journey from barroom stages to Broadway can be applied to other areas in life as well.

In this guide, Wilson shares eighty life lessons—or Hooks, named after the musical term—covering skills, performance, identity, confidence, expectations, courage, fear, creativity, and business. These simple Hooks are followed by thorough explanations, as well as real-life examples, all presented to help you find perspective, improve performance, retain confidence, and find balance in life, “onstage,” and in business.

With Hooks, you will see that you’re not alone in your struggles and concerns, that someone has faced the same questions, and then found answers with simple solutions that might work for you too.