It’s difficult. You really have to do it as best you can. Because your family is important too. You can’t be so totally absorbed that you are not involved in their activities as well. So, I tried to divorce the two as best I could.

There are many times for three months in a row I wrote every day, but there are also many times for three months in a row I didn't write a word. What I found is I make an appointment with myself and I don't look at each day, I look at the calendar ahead.

Well, I make the magic wherever I can. I don’t know if that’s conscious or accidental.

You have to make sacrifices on either side. You also to have an understanding family, to know that there are going to be some sacrifices.

there was a year and a half after I sold my company where I felt adrift. I had a vague desire to slough off all responsibility. I had all the money now, so I had total freedom. Sold the company, I had nothing I had to do. I had nowhere I had to be.

In one month, two of my old prejudices were reversed. Two things that I was prejudiced against.

When I was 19, my boss in the circus – I worked in the circus for 10 years. I was, like, a ringleader, MC of a circus – and my boss at the circus really cared about me and she said, "I read this book called 'Awaken the Giant Within' by Tony Robbins.

The worst advice was to start a record label when I wanted to be a musician. It was smart advice. It could have made me more money, but it did not inspire me.

And this is my only pair of pants. These three glasses, I don’t even think about it because I just think about having enough.

My mentor heard it and said, “Derek, you’re just not a singer. You really need to stop trying. Admit you’re a songwriter, and find a real singer.”