Meet Shambhu Neil Vineberg. He is a multi-careerist based in New York. I’ve known him for several years. I like to listen to his music when I write to help me get in a flow. Check his new EP Life Passage that just dropped. Shambhu’s meditations below are inspiring.
Shambhu’s careers:
- Service to Peace
- Public Relations
- Music Composition and Production
On his motivations for having multiple careers
We are born and blessed with talents and gifts that make us unique; our lives are filled with opportunities to nurture those gifts and give something positive back to the world… and the rest is personal choice and good luck (fate). My parents taught me how to study, practice, and work for a living.
My motivation for service and faith were shaped by an Indian meditation teacher and my guru named Sri Chinmoy, who promoted a life of service to the cause of peace and goodness. I studied with him directly for 29 years and needed to give back, so from the start I promoted his mission in newspapers and on TV shows; I produced an album of his esraj music and introduced him to luminaries like Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta and others, and launched events promoting his philosophy, including the global Peace Run in 155+ nations.
I needed to work, so I monetized my natural creative, writing and communications skills in a public relations career serving leading Internet startup entrepreneurs and Fortune 100 technology companies.
It was at the peak of my PR career in 2007 when I realized it would be a sin to dismiss the gift of musical talent that I was born with so, there and then I trimmed the time I was putting into my PR career and allocated it to music, eventually launching my first release Sacred Love in 2010 working with producer Will Ackerman.
Advice to aspiring multi-careerists
Excelling in one career is hard enough. What is key is being passionate and focused on the work… giving it one’s all in a soulful way – whether it’s organizing a run for world peace, launching a new blockchain technology for a client, or releasing a new EP like Life Passage.
Have a vision of who you want to be, a plan for how you’re going to get there, and hold a commitment to succeed.
I often say, “it starts with one.” Take the one step you need to take today without delay, and the next step will follow. Just keep going.
My satisfaction also includes feeling grateful for the creativity, opportunity and results which I believe (in my case) come from a higher Source; gratitude is such an important part of my concept so I always advise being grateful in a conscious way.
On overcoming obstacles
I was always lucky to have the ability and the opportunity but there were times when my lack of experience was an obstacle.
Self-confidence, indecisiveness, and a fear of missteps in the midst of chaos – when I had to decide amongst several options, also held me back a few times.
I eventually learned to surround myself with experts who knew better and I learned that it takes a team. I was able to learn from others and transcend my perceived limitations. My biggest successes also followed feelings that everything was falling apart.
I learned that failure is a stepping stone to success and a natural part of growth. Failure is a sign to be more receptive to a new path forward and… that better path lies ahead. Staying motivated in difficult moments, continuing to believe in the inevitability of one’s success and moving forward, one step at a time – are key.
On how multiple careers are beneficial
Whether organizing the Peace Run around the world, creating a multi-city program for a leading telecommunications company, or recording a new CD, the creative, organization and communications processes are similar.
So wherever possible I have tried to leverage abilities in one career to serve another. My PR career has definitely helped me to promote my music career.
My spiritual life and music career helped me to communicate a larger personal dimension to the media that I worked with and my PR clients. My meditation practice is fundamental to my music which is contemplative at its source.
On personal time
Living life in loving ways surely helps. Being fully present in mind and heart is a key to my well-being, otherwise I feel like I’m out of sync with my soul. I also want to feel good mentally and feel healthy in my physical body.
So I meditate daily, exercise in the gym several days a week, cycle and swim seasonally, eat a healthy, balanced diet, spend time hiking in and feeling Nature, and then I let go and release what I am feeling inside the music.
Nurturing my life in these ways is foundational to my well-being and helps me be more creative. I want to be fully present with my family by putting away the mobile devices and leaving the endless Telegram groups chats for later. I learned from business that my inbox is there waiting for me and I will get the work done on time.
On what he wishes he learned earlier
As it turns out, sun bathing for 3-4 hours a day and getting sunburns in my youth was a bad move for my current skin health; I wish I would have known to stay out of the sun.
I also learned that working with interesting and innovative Internet entrepreneurs and driving their businesses forward can be addictive and devour all of one’s time and energy leaving little creative “juice” for music, for example.
I often traded my own health and wellness for the fast-moving, money charged life of business. I wish I would have maintained a better health/life balance and I might have avoided a few health issues. I wish I would have learned how to balance myself more effectively once these various careers started amping up simultaneously.
What to read
I read books that inspire my heart and books that educate my mind.
Books by spiritual teachers Sri Chinmoy, Paramahansa Yogananda, Thich Nhat Han, and Swami Vivekananda, inspire my heart and teach me how to connect more deeply with myself and my place in the cosmic universe.
Books by Tony Robbins and Steven Covey and other motivational authors help motivate me towards excellence.
Reading about meaningful lives like Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the late Rep. John Lewis and others, teaches me how to live through the examples of their lives.
On the stigma of having many careers
When a startup technology company tries to launch several products into the market at once, most would advise them to pick one product and give it 100% of the effort.
My mother often admonished me for failing to focus on one thing for long enough to get a meaningful result as I was into photography, music arranging, playing gigs and recording, and teaching guitar to a few dozen students a week, all while in high school.
I have multiple aspects to my being and various careers for expressing them. Rather than experiencing stigma, I have felt that my friends and colleagues have a respect and admiration for the soulfulness of my life and the choices I made along the way.
On what to share with others
Right from the start I let folks know that I have a spiritual name – Shambhu – a musical passion, and I meditate.
I was recently in Dubai working on a blockchain cloud project and during our last meeting, I shared videos of the Peace Run (peacerun.org) which continues to inspire and involve millions of people, offered free downloads of my music, and led the CEO and his team in a group meditation.
On sublimating ego
I’m fortunate that the people I work with are smarter than I am in their fields, so I am playing catchup and finding a productive communications solution and pathway forward for them, one that has eluded them to date.
Ego or use of power is simply an unrefined and unnecessary way of doing business. Ego, threats, jealousy and insecurity are corrosive tools that run counter to the successes to which we mutually aspire. Oneness is always the better solution.
I believe in the magic that occurs when people work together in organic and creative ways and respect each other without threats and power plays.
A Day in the Life
- 4:30/5:00 am. Wake up, meditate and shower.
- 5:30 am – Eat breakfast, take vitamins and supplements.
- 6:30 am- Hit the Gym. Catch up on news. Free Flowing Time for myself to creatively wander.
- 9:00 am – PR business. Support clients on their timeline, and use free time for whatever I wish.
- 12:30 pm – Lunch
- 2:00 pm – PR business. Music, exercise, home care, personal care.
- 6:30 pm – Dinner. Family time.
- 8:30 pm – Free flowing time. Practice. Music Studio time for either writing or working on a project.
- 11:30 pm – Sleep time.
Where to find Shambhu
***
Kabir Sehgal is a Multi Grammy & Latin Grammy Award winner, as well as New York Times bestselling author.
Follow Kabir on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube.
0 Comments