Just One Joey: July 2016

Friday, July 29, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Arianna Huffington

When you take over a medium that has been around as long as newspapers in only 10 short years, you have to recognize the leadership and vision of that venture as absolutely brilliant. Even if you don’t know her name, you know The Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington delivers insights in to what allows her to stay on top of her game. As she says it, “Sleeping your way to the top.” I guarantee it’s not what you think.

I have taken her interview on 30 Days of Genius with Chase Jarvis, extracted the information, and used it to answer common questions by readers just like you, who are looking to take their lives to the next level, or at least a different level than the one there are on.

Please enjoy.

How Do I Maximize My Potential?

Simple.

Sleep.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

“Burning the midnight oil.” “Burning the candle at both ends.” “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

Do those sound familiar? They should.

They are very common, and very bad for you if you are striving to be your best.

Did you know that being sleep deprived can put you in a state similar to drunkenness?

It absolutely can (and without all the fun).

When you do not get enough sleep you: put yourself in a state of partial attention, are more irritable, unhappier, more reactive, more likely to get sick (because your immune system is weakened), more emotional, fatter (seriously, the hormone that tells your brain you are satiated turns off!), and in the long term, can potentially increase your risk for heart disease and even cancer.

Not sounding so crazy any more is it?

If you are only getting 4–5 hours of sleep a night, transitioning to 7 and 8 will change everything. You become: more effective, more present in meetings, productive, creative, and healthier. You will have more stamina, and because all of your hormones are balanced, you will be happier, more joyful.

So many high functioning people believe it is all about exercise and nutrition. Sleep may be the most important of all.

Historically, there have been many misconceptions about sleep and the brain. Up until recently, people assumed that sleep was down time for your brain, as if it were a car parked in the garage. It turns out that the brain is extremely busy during sleep. It processes everything it was working on during the day, it processes things you will be working on tomorrow, and most importantly, your lymphatic system is activated during sleep, which is when and how accumulated toxins are cleaned out.

How Do I Get A Good Night’s Sleep?

Your first step is prep your sleep the way you would prep your children’s sleep. No one throws their kid in to bed after watching TV. There is a routine: bath (hopefully), brush teeth (hopefully as well), story time, and then sleep.

We need to do the same thing for us.

The key is to start slowly, don’t just jump in to it. We are trying to create lifelong healthy habits. Taking on more than we can handle at once increases the likelihood that we will “fall off the wagon” down the road.

Your goal should be to prep your sleep 30 minutes a night, and actually sleep 7–8.

You don’t need to do that all at once. Build up to it. Start with 5 minutes of prep, maybe 10. Build up

from 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night to 5 or 6. Build slowly but assuredly.

Some tips to help you sleep: turn off your devices, get them out of the room, have designated sleep clothes, read real books (no devices, remember?), make sure they are calming subjects, don’t rile your brain up right before bed. Keep your room temperature under 70 degrees, cut out as much light as possible, and wear a sleep mask or ear plugs if necessary.

You need to find the nighttime routine and sleeping habits that work best for you.

Sleep is essential to success, not only as a business man or woman, not only as a creative, but as a human being.

Please take it seriously.

Quotes

“You can’t entertain the guests and clean the house at the same time. “

“Being sleep deprived is the equivalent of being drunk.”

“You are not your work.” — this allows for more freedom to be creative, stretch yourself, go bigger.

Arianna Huffington Links

Huffington Post

Website

Book

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Thursday, July 28, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Tim Ferriss

When the world can look at an individual and collectively say, “How in the hell does he do all that?” You know you are dealing with someone special. Tim Ferriss, the author, blogger, podcast host, TV host, world champion ballroom dancer, angel investor, advisor, and Chinese kickboxing champion shares his thoughts on creating a life that has allowed him to accomplish so much.

I have taken his interview on 30 Days of Genius with Chase Jarvis, extracted the information, and used it to answer common questions by readers just like you, who are looking to take their lives to the next level, or at least a different level than the one they are on.

Please enjoy.

How Do I Reach My Goals?

The first thing you need to ask yourself is, “Am I putting in the time?” It is so easy to make the “I don’t have time” excuse. If you don’t have time, there is no pressure to get off your butt and start producing, is there? Without putting in the time you will never be able to reach any goal worth striving for.

To be clear, it is not finding time, it is making time. It’s not going to be handed to you.

Secondly, you need to ask yourself is, “Am I making this harder than it needs to be?”

People tend to focus on being busy as opposed to being productive. As long as you are moving you are moving in the right direction. Sound familiar? If you are not reflecting on your goals, and your actions to reach those goals, you may be moving, but it is most likely in a circle.

Do not put in more work than is necessary to accomplish the goal. I ask myself, what would it look like if it were easy? That helps me filter through my thoughts and actions to a more streamlined approach.

If you are having a hard time getting started at all, you are probably looking at the project as a whole, which is daunting and intimidating.

Start small.

Give yourself smaller goals to reach each day. As long as those actions help you reach the larger goal, you are in good shape.

Writing a book? Have a quota of 2 pages a day. If you feel like writing more, go for it, but you have already had a successful writing day. The trick is to rig the game so you can win. The more you win, the more you do, the more you do, the more you get done. This will build more confidence, while at the same time build momentum for the overall project. Before you know it, you will have a book!

Obviously the book is just an example. Whatever your project is, if you are having trouble starting, work backwards, find the things you need to be doing at the beginning, then set low, highly achievable goals to reach every day that build towards the finished product. You will be blowing past your quotas in no time because you will be building up the momentum, your creativity, and the fire to get it done.

It all boils down to habits, and forming those habits. You need to have things in place in your life to help you form good habits. Routines are HUGE for me. Why get up every morning and reinvent the wheel? Have a system in place that puts you in the best mental and physical space to work. You will save time in the long run, have a clearer head, and get more done. Have a routine in the mornings and evenings. Make sure you are getting good sleep, it is the foundation of a productive day.

It sounds counter-intuitive, but the more crazy and neurotic you are, the more you need routines and structure. So get them in place ASAP.

“Productivity” Tricks For The Neurotic, Manic-Depressive, and Crazy (Like Me) — article

Practice systems thinking. Not every project needs to be a win, but it needs to add to the bigger picture. Make sure that the various aspects of the projects that you are working on are giving you skills, or a network, that you can use for the next project, and the bigger picture.

How Do I Become Successful?

Success is a state of mind.

What is your definition of success?

This is different for everyone, so I will give you some general advice.

Remember:

Good work is the best SEO in the world. If your product or service sucks, then your marketing and advertising will only be letting EVERYONE know that you suck. Do good work. You need to be different, and you need to be better. Blending in will do you and your goals no good.

One very important way to be successful is to feel successful. Celebrate the small wins along the way. If you don’t enjoy them on the way up, you won’t be able to enjoy them at the top. I have a container called, The Jar Of Awesome. Cheesy name, but it comes in very handy on days when I am down. Every day I write down something I am grateful for that day, and I put it in the jar. If I have a day where I am not feeling so hot, or very confident, I can go back and reminisce about all the wonderful things that have happened to me. We tend to forget the good things along the way. This is an easy and effective way to remind ourselves when we need it most.

It is also important to practice mindfulness. If you are constantly thinking about the next thing, you are never enjoying the thing right in front of you. I use TM (transcendental meditation), but there are apps like Headspace and Calm that work wonderfully as well. This helps me stay present during the day, and react to things appropriately as opposed to emotionally. Being in the moment has huge benefits, especially if you are in high stress situations. Emotional decisions can be disastrous.

How Do I Continue To Get Better?

Push yourself.

Try new things.

Give yourself the chance to see things with beginner’s eyes. The more you stretch your mind and learn new things, the more you can bring back to what you already know. It will give you more perspective to add, which is growth an-and-of itself.

Put constraints on the things you produce. Get out of your comfort zone and you will continually grow. Once you learn to do a lot with little, you can do a lot with a lot. Constantly looking for new perspectives, new ways to attack problems will give you a bigger arsenal to work with later. Give yourself that freedom. Force growth.

Be creative. Don’t take things too seriously, it is a creative killer. Be absurd. Do things just for the hell of it (within reason of course).

Quotes

“With a type-A personality it is easy to feel like if you are not burning the candle at both ends you are not doing a good job”

”Focus on your unique abilities, and work won’t feel hard or forced.”

“You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with”

Tim Ferriss Links

Website

The Tim Ferriss Experiment

Practical Thoughts on Suicide — Article

Neil Gaman — Make Good Art — Speech

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Marketing Metallica's New Metal Masterpiece

disclaimer. I want Metallica to read this and hire me to work with their social media group. Just being honest.

Yes, Metallica has an album coming out towards the end of the year.

No, I haven’t heard it, but I am going to go out on a limb and say it is going to be awesome.

Why? Because it is f’ing Metallica, and even on their “worst” albums, they are better than 99% of what everyone else is doing.

They are willing to experiment, to stretch the genre, to explore outside their comfort zone and try new things. I love AC/DC. I love Pennywise. But if you bought one album, you have them all. I like an artist that makes me think, and Metallica makes me think. (I am still thinking about the snare sound on St. Anger and Lulu.)

What They Are Doing Right

Honestly, they are Metallica. They could do ZERO promo for this next album, except say, “Hey, we have a new album,” and it will still be #1 on charts all over the world (and they might not even have to do that). They have 3.3 million Twitter followers, 2.3 million Instagram followers, 37 million Facebook followers, 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, who knows how many Snapchat followers, and can sell out stadiums all over the world.

They are a juggernaut, and have been for 30 years.

Reissues/Album Birthdays: Awesome. I especially love the re-tweets and shares of their favorite fan photos. That’s what fans love. A little recognition from a group that should be too big to pay attention to the “little guy.” I don’t even know if they understand what that means to fans. If any of the guys in the band even read this I would s*** my pants. If they contacted me because they liked it, my head would explode. I saw James at the Nutcracker a few years ago and couldn’t get 2 sentences out to explain how important his band has been to me since I was 11. So what did I do instead? Just looked at him like a weirdo psychopath. Yay me! My wife still makes fun of me about that. The word p***y comes up a lot. So sad.

Live Streaming: The Night Before concert at AT&T Park in SF, and the Record Store Day in Berkeley. Both of which my friend was in the front row (kiss my a** Brett), but both I could enjoy from the comforts of my own home. Not in person, but better than nothing. Live is live. We were experiencing the same thing at the same time. There is a lot to be said for that.

MetallicaTV: Their YouTube channel, in case you guys were not aware. They put out a ton of content on this medium. Pieces of old concerts, clips from the MetClub video catalogue, behind the scenes at the Brioni shoot. Access is so important to fans, and they do it well with YouTube.

Marketing The New Album

If we are pointing out things they do right, we need to also point out where they need improvement. Everything they are doing above, they need to keep doing. My suggestions are for places to expand and be better.

Fan Retweets/Shares/Etc: For every announcement between now and the album release, they should share the fan experience. The same way they are retweeting and sharing the fan photos with Kill Em All and Ride The Lightning, they should do with album news, concert announcements, etc.

They basically have tens of thousands of people at their disposal that would love to share their experiences with the band. Put requests out there for alternative concert poster designs, what they think the new album will be named, after they release the name of the album, what they think the cover will look like, designs for the individual song titles, etc. It’s is all about interaction, sharing, etc.

Giving the fans a chance to share their “Metallica” vision with the group.

They share the good ones, they re-tweet the ones they like, those individual fans s*** their pants, and the community as a whole gets closer to each other because they are sharing each others’ work, pushing each other to come up with better ideas, and more creative displays in the hopes of being “chosen.”

#Metallica and #whateverthealbumnameis should be trending on all the “socials” between the announcement of the release date and the actual release date. Fan interaction is how you do that.

The foundation of the idea is to take all of the aspects of the Metallica “experience,” anything where a fan can share their perspective, their vision, their love, and give them a voice.

Daily Tour Vlog: Just like Casey Neistat. 8–15 minute daily video of life on the road. They would obviously need a full time videographer/editor to crank these out, but I am sure people would kill to have that position (I would!). They can tease the “show” with a few days around the Minnesota show, again around the Global Citizen concert, then launch the full show a few days before their world tour starts. It is only a tour show, so when the tour stops, so do the videos. The fan interaction, combined with my other ideas would be off the charts. Such an amazing fan experience.

Snapchat: Metallica’s Snapchat sucks. Hands down, terrible. They need to really focus on this social because the transferable consumption on Snapchat is better than any other social platform. People actually consume on Snapchat. They don’t just glance and “like” or “heart,” they actually watch and listen. They act and react. SC is VERY powerful right now.

They can use Snapchat, at least, to drive viewers to things they are posting on other media. Use Snapchat to drive views to Metallica.com, or to join the Metclub (which is awesome and FREE). Tweet when they have a big announcement on Snapchat, get people locked in, then use Snapchat as the main gateway to release new info about the album, concerts, etc. With screen shots, they can post on Snapchat, request people to share it on their socials and BOOM, the Metallica wild fire begins. (Tip: the snap before the one you want them to screen shot you should tell them to get ready to screen shot. It will help the fans A LOT).

“Snap” 5 seconds of each song on the new album, tease it before it comes out, have days for a Metallica member “takeover.” James, Lars, Kirk, Rob, one day, or better yet, one week. Have them share things they think are cool, playing jokes on each other, or just talk about stuff that is on their mind. It doesn’t matter, it’s Metallica, and it’s access. It will be great no matter what they do.

Allow the people that work at the MetClub to “takeover.” Show people around HQ, tell people what they do, what it’s like to work for the metal icons. There is so much space for different types of information to get out there. Two or three crappy snaps from Record Store Day? Really? With all the s*** that was going on that day, and that’s all we got? For shame.

Remember the Black Album tour? Before and after they showed the History of Metallica video instead of an opener they had live video of the guys backstage. Why not do that for every show, but through Snapchat? Only 30,000 people get to be there in person. Why not let 10 million be there vicariously? One person (hopefully me) walks around “snapping” things that fans would enjoy. They will know what is off limits and what is allowed, and they will add an experience that no one has gotten before. Live, in real time, clips of Metallica backstage at a show. How awesome would that be? Snapchat would go berserk!

Podcasts: The Tim Ferriss Show, The Gary Vee Show, The Joe Rogan Experience, WTF w Marc Maron, The Art Of Charm, The James Altucher Show, etc. These guys do phenomenal interviews and have a s***load of listeners. Magazines? Poop. Maybe find some popular bloggers (me!!) TV?

Besides the late night shows, who cares? Podcasts are where it is at.

Live Streaming: They have done this so well over the last 12 months. What I am going to suggest is to take aspects of what they have been doing and squish them together with what they did with the release of the St. Anger album. For those of you that are unfamiliar, the release of the St. Anger album came with a DVD of the guys playing every song from the album, recorded at HQ. I might have watched that more than I listened to the album the first few weeks. We would be partying with friends, and it would be on a loop in the background. It was f***ing awesome!!

Why not do that live?

The day before the album comes out? The day the album comes out? Doesn’t matter, just do it.

It could be live from anywhere: HQ, The Fillmore, The Warfield, my house, wherever!

The options for live streaming are getting bigger and bigger by the minute: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter/Periscope. Not that they need the money, but there could be a nice little bidding/technology war for who could provide the best live stream. I would think Twitter would be all over this. New NFL and NBA contracts? This album is due sometime in the Fall? It would be perfect for them. Hell, maybe by then Snapchat will get in on live streaming and Metallica can double-down on SC. Who knows?

Technology advances pretty quick. Anything could happen. The important thing is the live “concert” of the new album. It would be amazing!

Musical.ly: Get on it, officially. Between now and the release of the new album, release an old album for fans to lip-sync to for a couple weeks at a time. It is VERY easy to share across the socials, on YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, etc. Make a competition out of it. This is a great place to find younger listeners, and a ton of them. This app is exploding, especially during the summer months.

Maybe they don’t know anything other than the Black Album? Maybe they only know a couple songs. Expose them to the rest of the catalogue. This is where kids are finding new music to listen to.

Give them the gift of Metallica!

This band is so popular, as soon as an album is released for people to use with their videos, it will blow up. Popularity with the older crowd will draw attention and bring in the younger crowd. Metallica + Musical.ly = a match made in music heaven!

Netflix: Get every single Metallica video up on Netflix a month before the album comes out. Cliff Em All, A Year And A Half.., Cunning Stunts, Binge and Purge, Through The Never, all of them. I know they are up on YouTube for the most part (illegally), but it’s about interacting with all fans, and potential fans. People watch the s*** out of Netflix. Let people binge watch Binge and Purge!

Let people fall in love all over again.

Find new fans.

It’s perfect.

They have a growing catalogue of videos and Netflix is the perfect place to relaunch them. Make it happen.

The New Album

It is going to be great. I know it. Death Magnetic was great.

I can’t wait to see what they do next.

How heavy will the heavy songs be?

What topics are they going to cover?

Any ballads?

Any acoustic?

It is all so exciting, the anticipation of new material.

I would go line up at Tower Records at 12:00am for it, but there is no more Tower Records.

I love that Metallica isn’t fighting technology. The record companies are still trying to figure it out, and margins keep decreasing year after year. Obviously Napster was a gut punch to the industry, but you either adjust or you die. Metallica adjusts, and I love them for it.

“You rise, you fall.

You’re down, then you rise again.

What don’t kill you makes you more strong.”

Push the envelope again Metallica.

We need it.

With the music and with the promotion.

Do what you do.

Friday, July 15, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Marie Forleo

The combination of energy, intelligence and ambition are a powerful team. If you take that and add compassion and teaching, you get Marie Forleo.

Please enjoy.

Why me?

Why not you?

Why shouldn’t your dreams come true?

Anything amazing that has ever been done has been done by someone who was thinking the exact same thing you are thinking now: why me? What do I have to offer? What makes me different?

The fact that you are you is exactly what makes you different.

When you are true to yourself. When you are not comparing yourself to any and every one on social media. When you are taking your personality, your experiences and your perspective and combining it with your dreams, that is exactly what will make you stand out. There is no other you. But you need to show it. Don’t hide behind what other people are doing, how they look, what they are showing on Instagram. You just worry about you.

The world needs the special gifts that only you have.

How Do I Get Over My Fears?

This sounds like terrible advice, but you just do it.

Simple, but not easy.

Don’t be scared of being judged. This is your dream, no one else needs to understand it.

There are so many tools and resources that are readily and inexpensively available. Failure is not a big deal. As long as you keep getting back up, and you keep challenging yourself, soon you will start seeing little successes. Over time those accumulate, they build up and pretty soon you are miles from where you started, all because you believed in yourself.

Hooray you!

Make sure you have clarity on your focus.

Use the Painted Picture Exercise:

Lean in to your life 3 years.

Write out everything you want to see, hear, have, feel.

Start with these questions:

What do you want to create? What does your business look like? What are you doing on a daily basis? How are you making money? What are the products and services that you sell? What does your team look like? How much time are you taking off? What are you doing with your time off?

Do this exercise with 3 different “lives.” Lean in to all of them. The more detail the better. Now look them over. How do they feel? How do they look? It’s like trying on pants, but it’s your life!

Because you are using so much detail, you will be able to feel the different futures. You are giving yourself the chance to feel them before you commit. Is it awesome? Or does it suck? Now you know which “life” to pursue and which one to put back on the rack.

Having trouble starting? Start each aspect of your “life” with “wouldn’t it be cool if….” Then finish the sentence and visualize. You will be creating your future world in no time.

Once you have your goal you can start moving. It is easier to focus and distinguish what helps reach the goal and what doesn’t when you have a clear end game in mind. You can streamline your life to help you reach those goals.

All you do after that is grind daily.

You got this.

I know you do.

Tip

Always create before you consume. Do work before you jump on social media and see a bunch of manicured photos, staged lifestyles, and motivational quotes. Produce, produce, produce! You don’t want to focus on anything before work except for your work. Who cares what anyone else is doing?

You have stuff to do!

Quotes

“What does that little voice say? Never ignore it”

“Everything is figureoutable.”

"Do you hard”

“If you don’t set the direction, you are just living by default.”

Marie Forleo Links

Website

MarieTV

B-School

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Seth Godin

There is something about listening to Seth Godin that makes you feel like you can do anything. All of his interviews are filled with such vast amounts of wisdom, it is hard to contain it to a single interview.

Once again, the focus of the 30 Days Of Genius Blog is to extract the information that can help you get to where you want to go. I use the interviews with the amazing Chase Jarvis to answer questions that can help you as an individual, a person searching for answers.

I hope you enjoy.

How Do I Deal With Fear?

Believe it or not, we all walk around with a genius inside of us. I think you know that. At least you know it about yourself. You know there is something big inside of you, something special, but it won’t come out.

Why not?

Because you won’t let it out.

And why would I do that?

Because you are scared.

Admit it.

In your mind, it would be better to keep that genius a secret, keep what makes you special and unique to yourself, than risk failing. Because you will fail. I guarantee it. Why? Because that is life. That is what happens when you put yourself out there, when you try something new, something special. You fail.

And that’s where you give up.

You don’t think about all the times you are going to get back on your feet, try again, and keep pushing until you build something special, create something memorable.

You are letting fear stop you when you should be using it as a compass to guide you.

If you are being honest, you know you hover near the middle, right in the eye of the tornado where it is safe, where it is secure. Why would you do something people may react negatively to? That is scary. So you put out the safe content, take the safe pictures, and work the safe job. Tapping in to your genius isn’t even an option for you. That would mean allowing yourself to be uncomfortable, or worse, failing, facing ridicule, and answering questions.

No thank you.

Some of you try to fool yourselves in to thinking you are not hiding. You search for writing hacks, creativity hacks, who uses which pencil, what writer uses the same moleskin, has the same keyboard. Who cares about any of that? That’s their outlet. That’s their process. Why do you want it to be yours? Because that keeps you from having to figure out your own. Figuring myself out? My own recipe for success? No thank you. You don’t even ask yourself the questions: Does their moleskin even work for you? Do you even like that pencil? Or does it make you feel like you are doing something to have a particular item, or a strategy, or a process that you read about? Does that bring you closer to putting yourself out there? Probably not. But you are tricking yourself in to thinking you are doing something.

You’re not.

Be honest with yourself.

Once you figure out that you have a genius inside of you. Once you figure out that you need to find your own process, your own strategies, your own favorite pencil or keyboard, you will need to understand the power of now.

Now?

Yes.

It has never been easier to follow your heart than right now.

You want to be a writer? You are. Now write something and self-publish it, or blog it. Congratulations, you’re a writer. Do you know how hard it was to be a writer when Hemingway was starting out? You don’t even have an excuse for not being a writer today if that’s what you truly want to be.

You want to be a musician? Great. You are a musician. Record your songs and put them online, sell your MP3s, maybe press a record, go for the nostalgia crowd. You can do anything you want. Why? Because now is the moment in history where you can be anything you want, as long as you work past the fear.

If you can see yourself the way you really are. If you can see the world how it really is, not how you want it to be, it is exponentially easier to tap in to your genius.

The truth is you don’t need to be picked anymore. You just need to pick yourself.

How Can I Be More Effective?

The best way to answer this question is with another question: What is it for?

Once you answer that, you can piece through any and everything you are doing.

Does the work you are doing match the goal you are trying to reach?

Here is a tough one, would you hire yourself? Seriously. Would you? Or would you hire someone else because they are better than you? Would the people around you say all the good things about you that you are saying about yourself?

Tough questions, but vital to your effectiveness.

Align yourself. Align your thoughts. Align your work.

Focus on what helps you reach the goal, stop doing the stuff that does not.

Simple.

Not easy.

You need to be honest with yourself. No more hiding.

What is the change you are trying to make? Are you reaching the people you are trying to impact? What are they saying about you? What do you want them to say about you? How do you want them to react? What is your narrative? Would they notice you if you were gone? Why or why not?

You have to answer these difficult questions because you have a goal, remember? The best way to be where you want to be in 5 or 10 years is to do something today. Answering these questions is a great place to start, then you get back to work, pushing hard. Nothing worth doing is ever easy.

How Does The World Work?

In relationship to creating or building something, ideas that spread win. Whatever you are “architecting,” you can build sharing in to it. Focus on making a change. A real change, not a new version of something else. Focus on people leaving your project different than they came to it. Can you make that kind of a change happen? If you can, you really have something. If you can’t, there is still time to figure it out.

After all, now is the best time to work on what gets you to tomorrow.

Quotes

“The secret is there is no secret.”

“Create a life where you bound out of bed in the morning, excited to work.”

Seth Godin Links

Seth himself

The Alt MBA

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

How Do I Become More Creative?

Is there anything more important in business than creativity?

Grit?

Perseverance?

I actually think creativity is limited without grit and perseverance, and I think grit and perseverance are counterproductive without creativity. You know people that are always busy but never getting anything done? That’s a lack of creativity (and self-awareness if we are being honest, and, well, self-aware).

So here is my list of important traits to have in business (I am even ranking them):

1. Self-awareness

2. Creativity

3. Grit/Perseverance

With these three things, I guarantee you will be successful. I also guarantee if you think you have all of these things and you are not successful, you should focus on self-awareness because something is obviously off there.

Let’s focus on #2 today. I will hit the other ones in upcoming blogs.

I am a writer (obviously), but I am also a songwriter (sort of). I am going to reference those two mediums but the strategies can be applied to any and everything. It’s all about ideas, right? Finding ways to have better ideas, more frequently? This can be applied to absolutely ANYTHING: money, writing, video, podcasts, sports, bogs, management, and whatever else I didn’t mention.

Here we go.

This is the key:

Attack From All Angles

This is vital!!!

Don’t wait for inspiration, just do it, and do it often.

I used to wait for inspiration.

No songs, no stories, no nothing unless I was inspired.

Problem?

No inspiration = zero productivity.

Not the best formula, but I was an artist, I needed to be inspired (said like a hippie), until I didn’t.

Isn’t that the way it always is? Impossible until it isn’t? Remember that.

Before I wrote my book: Prison Diary(a) — A San Quentin Comedy, Kinda (on Amazon, iTunes, Audible) I was writing songs. I made a life decision to focus on things that I loved. Things I would be willing to grind at all day every day, learn about, develop my craft, and music and writing were two of those things.

But I was only writing when I was inspired.

You know what that means?

I was not writing very much.

So I decided to write every single day, whether I had an idea or not.

I still noted everything that came up sporadically (my inspired moments), when I was in the shower, when I was cleaning the house, when I was out running. I took down notes for everything, but I forced myself to sit down for 4–5 hours a day and just write something, anything.

It started out easy. I had a handful of ideas, and just focused on those. But then I ran out of ideas. The inspiration was gone. What did I have left? Riffs that went nowhere. Single lines of lyrics. And not much else.

This is where you become creative.

This is how you become creative.

When you are out of ideas, and you need to actually create.

You are stretching your brain.

You are pushing beyond your limits.

It’s painful.

It’s scary.

But it’s how you grow.

And it’s how you get better.

This is the best position to be in.

I was forced to find new ways to write. I forced myself to force myself. Make sense? Strain your brain! That should be the slogan for this article: Strain Your Brian.

I as forced to write songs with music and no lyrics. I was forced to write a songs with lyrics and no music. I had melodies and nothing else. I even had to start songs with nothing. I played a chord, found a note I wanted to start the melody with, and went from there. Completely from scratch.

Know what happened? I started getting more ideas. I had more riffs, more melodies, more lyrics, and when I sat down, because I had practiced “squeezing blood from a rock,” I wasn’t blocking the creative process with anxiety. It took time, but it was awesome.

That is when I really started seeing gains in my abilities. I would start the day with nothing but a G chord, and finish the day with a whole song, great melody, and written about a topic that wasn’t even on my radar.

You know what that feels like?

Like an out-of-body experience. Like magic. It’s fantastic.

It is the same thing with writing. I write about things I know a lot about. I write about things I know nothing about and need to research. I write personal pieces. I write sports. I look at what I need to practice and I start writing about that. I need to work on writing stories based on interviews, so I took on writing a blog for Chase Jarvis’ 30 Days Of Genius series. I was sh***ing my pants yesterday. Why? Because I have never written anything from an interview, and I was doing it for Chase F’ing Jarvis! I was nervous. But I will keep writing, I will get better, and then I will have another way to “attack.”

The more avenues of attack, the easier it is to conquer.

Boo-ya!!

This can be applied to anything. You look for the different angles. You don’t allow for a cookie cutter approach. Any football fans out there? The Patriots are constantly looking at different angles to attack. That’s why they have been successful for so long. You have an idea of what they are going to do, but you aren’t positive. They can attack you from so many different angles.

Entrepreneurs out there? Look at Mark Cuban. He advises cookie companies!! The tech billionaire? Advising cookie companies? WTF? He is able to do that because he looks at all angles of business. He constantly develops his craft by taking on new challenges, and scanning for new opportunities. Because of that, when one of his companies (even if it’s a cookie company) needs a shift in strategy, he can analyze and strategies efficiently and effectively.

That’s what you need to do. Understand all the routes. Know the ins and outs. It will make you more versatile, which will make you more successful. You will have opportunities to make something work that a less creative person will miss, because you have more strategies.

Just Do It

This is not a Nike slogan. I mean it is, but I am not using it like one. Unless they want to sponsor me, then I will use the s*** out of it. Just saying. I love the state of Oregon.

The best way to become more creative is to just do it. It’s practice. The first time you create something or figure something out out of thin air, it will feel like magic. You will have stretched your brain to it’s capacity, and in that moment of “something from nothing” you will truly become creative, an artist in your craft. It is at that moment where everything changes for you, then you just keep going. You have developed a new neural pathway. One that you can come back to later. One you didn’t have before. A new angle. A new strategy. Greater creativity.

Attack from all angles, then all of those avenues become a part of your repertoire, and you become a creative machine. Like James Altucher says, an idea machine. Flex those muscles. Pump that iron. Hans and Franz time for your brain.

Health

I will make this brief, but I have to put it in here. The healthier you are, the better your body works, the better your brain works. The less inflamed, the less crap is running through your system, the more energy you will have, the clearer your thinking, the better your output will be. Are there people who are extremely creative and totally unhealthy? Yes. But imagine what they would be if they actually took care of themselves?

What are they leaving on the table?

What are you leaving on the table?

What could you be?

Think about that.

If you truly care about your craft, your business, your productivity, you will take care of your mind and body, because that is what gets it done. Help you, help you. Does that make sense? Because it seems a little shaky…… and I wrote it. But it’s the most concise way to put it.

Let’s See What You Can Do

Put yourself in uncomfortable situations. Stretch your brain. Create new pathways of problem solving. It will be hard. It will be frustrating at times. And then it will be awesome.

Good luck.