I reflect often on the things I learned in college.
Being a (decent) business major meant I had to write a great number of papers...
...as well as rehearse and recite an even greater number of recorded presentations...
In order to succeed with both I needed to efficiently absorb information from great deal of sources including, but not limited to, scholarly articles, podcasts, books, videos and blogs. I needed the stamina to actually take the time to sift through the sea of useless or unnecessary information, all the while fighting off complete exhaustion from last night's gig which was immediately followed by work at 6 AM the next morning. I needed the strength to cloister myself in my bedroom whilst my friends were out going to shows, or face the terrible anxiety of drafting an entire Integrated Marketing Campaign under duress, a.k.a. possibly under the influence, probably late at night, because there was no way I was going to miss Bon Iver at the St. Augustine Amphitheater.
I regret nothing, because in my success I've found myself well-versed in the culture of my industry.
I wanted to start with that because I realize most people don't focus on how important it can be to have a stream of regular, relevant, and reputable information. Whatever you're into, I guarantee there's a podcast or scholarly blog for that. If neither of those then you could probably subscribe to some sort of email list, magazine, or webinar, and the list goes on and on and on. I peruse Reddit daily and subscribe to r/musicbusiness and if it was not for that, I more than likely would have missed a great deal of actual news.