I have been a musician for over forty years. I grew up in a musical family and music was a big part of every family gathering.

Over the years I have noticed that you give a kid a guitar and he or she wants to be a rock-star. Give a kid a ukulele and he or she learns to play music. This raises a few questions: Does the instrument used really make the difference? Is it the image of rock n’ rollers playing to stadiums full of screaming fans? A lot of people don’t even know what the ukulele is, believe it or not. Perhaps there are no images in people’s minds when it comes to ukulele, so they just learn to play and have fun with it.

We are influenced by popular culture in subliminal ways. The difference between the “rock-star” and the musician comes from the mental images planted into our heads by the popular media. That same sort of influence can change the way we think about business and education.

Like the rock-star lesson above, you can be influenced in subtle ways, like believing that dreamers never amount to anything when the opposite is true, dreamers are the great inventors and explorers. Pre-conceived notions are often instilled in us from a very young age and it is hard to remove their influence.

Bruce Lee, the martial arts legend, taught that you must first empty the cup (your mind) before you can fill it again. You must let go of those influences of the past if you are to move forward. Turning your dreams into realities usually follows that same pattern.