Just One Joey: 30 days of genius

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Monday, October 24, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Lewis Howes

I have been listening to Lewis Howes for about a year now on The School Of Greatness Podcast. It was refreshing to hear the questions turned on him. He lays out the framework for achievement in this interview. There is something all of us can learn from him, no matter where you are in your career.

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.

I Want To Do Something Big, But Where Do I Start?

I love this question, because this was me. I always knew I wanted to do something big. When things didn’t go the way I expected in my early 20’s, I was completely thrown off. I had to build everything from scratch, so I know exactly where you are.

Your first step needs to be your vision.

Who are you? What are you passionate about? What do you want out of life? Who is the real you?

I believe that we are all put here for a reason, but you need to figure out what that reason is. Go out, be by yourself, get out in to nature or whatever it is that allows you to clear your head and find yourself.

Once you have that vision, you can start taking action.

Set goals for yourself 3 months out, 6 months out, 12 months out. What do you want to create in that time? Do something that seems scary. Give yourself a challenge. What you will end up doing is backwards mapping towards that goal. You will find mentors that have information you need, build skills that help you reach that goal, and organize your days and weeks to build yourself up towards those goals.

I approach work similarly to how I approach sports. You have a season, a goal, practices, strategies, schedules, and games. People don’t create enough deadlines for themselves. They get so caught up in doing what they do they don’t step back and evaluate their progress, stress their comfort zones, make sure they are building effectively, or building at all.

Next, you create a structure to ensure productivity. It sounds counter-intuitive, but structure creates freedom. Setting your day up for success by having routines, building a team of mentors and accountability partners, and then working your butt off every day. Combine that with your short term goals, and you will be succeeding in no time.

Productivity is all about momentum. It is vital to start your day strong so you can carry that momentum with you all day. Sleep, meditation, gratitude exercises, healthy eating, and game plans in place are essential to my day to help not only start, but keep that momentum up.

How Do I Make Sure I Stay Level-Headed While Building Up?

It all starts with gratitude.

It’s hard to be angry, depressed, or mean when you are grateful. When I get in to a dark funk, I list off all the things I am grateful for and I feel better. This is structured too. I know when I feel down, the structure tells me to focus on gratitude, and it works.

Remember it is all about people.

We were born to connect. Put in the work to build relationships, make connecting a part of your structure, and appreciate those people in your life now and all along your journey.

Live a life of service. I don’t mean volunteer all day every day, but look at what you do and what you are trying to do and ask yourself: how can I help the maximum number of people? How can I have the biggest impact?

You add value for people, then you learn how to monetize it. But it is value first. Develop your skills, make the connections, and create the structure in order to give the most value.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Show them by giving them the most value in every situation.

Quotes

“Money will come when you are ready for it.”

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Lewis Howes Links

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Thursday, October 20, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Ramit Sethi

Every interview I have ever heard with Ramit is completely packed with gems. Simple, strategic, actionable advice that you can start using the second you hear it, and start changing your life.

Please enjoy.

How Do I Go From Zero To One?

First, recognize that you cannot do everything at once. If you want to do this long term, and you want to do it well, you have to be able to step back, look at the big picture, and take one step at a time.

Second, find people that are actually doing what you want to be doing. Study them. This isn’t about reinventing the wheel, this is about becoming successful. They have already done it. It is up to you to see how and apply it to yourself. You don’t have to start at square one, but don’t start at square 10. The best strategy is to start small, get great at a few things, and then slowly add on to them.

Look at the best. Study the best. Notice how they did things differently. How can you do what they do? Take it one step at a time. There are probably two or three people you greatly admire. Most likely, they did it differently the “norm.” Pay attention to that. The big secret is, everyone is trying to get you to play it safe, the sure thing, make you vanilla, but as soon as you are like everyone else you are like everyone else. Now you blend in, now you disappear. Play it smart, start it small, and build slowly but surely.

So many of us want to jump ahead in our dreams. We don’t want to start small, or start at the beginning. If we sing we want to be at Madison Square Garden this weekend. If we are painting we want to be at the Louvre next week. Our startup needs to be Facebook by next year. We want the things, the private jets, the fancy clothes, the big house, but we don’t want to take the steps to get there. Patience is a necessity if you want any kind of longevity in the game.

Patience, discipline, and craftsmanship, that’s where you need to start building from. Your success will be a series of subtle, but tough decisions. One step at a time. One skill at a time. One job at a time.

You will need to plug your ears a lot. Not literally, but, well, maybe literally sometimes. Everyone in your life is going to have an opinion about whatever it is that you are trying to do. Be comfortable saying no, and staying focused on what you are good at, and what is going help you reach your goals.

0–1 is all about the basics, the fundamentals.

“Losers have goals, winners have systems.” — Scott Adams

It is about habits and processes.

Your day is whatever you create it to be. I can tell your priorities by looking at your calendar and your bank account. Where you spend your time and what you spend your money on determine who you are. Not who you want to be, not who you say you are, but who you really are.

So who are you?

We all know what we are supposed to do, but we don’t do it. You need to learn your style, learn how you work your best, and then work your schedule around that.

When are you most productive?

When are you least productive?

When is the best time for meetings?

When is the best time for working out?

How do you feel in the morning? Are you tired? Do you have energy all day? How do you sleep?

Questions like these are vital in the world of 0–1. Remember, it is the fundamentals, the basics.

Don’t look for gimmicks, look for what matters.

Health, sleep, productivity, relationships, etc. If you can’t win at those, you won’t be able to win at anything else. Prioritize.

This is the time that you are learning how to learn and learning how to work. More specifically, how you work.

This is the time for honesty. Ask the tough questions, give the tough answers, and adjust. Make the changes necessary.

A lot of us want to skip the obvious to get to the novel. Find value in the utility, not the novelty.

Master the basics then move on to the more difficult. You need to understand the game being played around you and you need to win at THAT game. Play it. Master it.

How Do I Go From One To Ten?

This where people get caught up. As soon as you get a little comfortable you feel you made it. In reality, you are just at the tip of “making” it. All you have done is learned how to do what you do at the basic level. Just knowing something isn’t enough.

This is the time when your business becomes sexier, more exciting. You can start implementing cooler things, bigger things. But this is also when it becomes more challenging. Don’t be the guy/gal that talks themselves out of going to the next level because you are comfortable. There is so much more out there than what you are seeing right now.

Just understand that the habits that got you here will not get you there.

This is the time you start breaking down your business, studying competition, developing your business model. This requires hard work, patience, a focus on the long perspective, possibly giving up control on some things to focus on others, focus on the big picture. This is when you become a real business, and a real entrepreneur.

What Is Some General Advice To Entrepreneurs?

Go through the mess to find the gems. Work, create, build, and rebuild. If you are focused on the big picture everything you do will help you get to the next step. Even if it is not successful directly, it will be indirectly.

Teach the market to revere your work. Don’t play the sales game, unless you are looking for mass consumption. Make a great product, believe in it, and set it at the full price. If it’s not good enough to draw people in at the real price, it’s not good enough period.

Master the skills to be able to talk about your craft and how you are different, better than your competition. Vibe with your clients, separate yourself. Know your competition, and be able to differentiate. Build trust, add value, & educate them. Know what you are good at so you don’t take a job that will not get 100%. What you need to understand is when you truly connect, price is trivial. If they ask price first, before they even know your service or how your service is different than others, they might not be the right customer. Be ready for it so you don’t fall in to the trap.

Never beg for work. Either you are amazing, or you aren’t. Either you are right for the job or you aren’t.

Quotes

“The habits that got you here will not get you there.”

“There are no gatekeepers except one (us). If you get the basics right, you are setting yourself up for great success and a rich life.”

“Smart creatives know their style and admit it, then work their schedule around that.”

“Set a small goal, win, and then add to it.”

“The world tries to make you vanilla, but as soon as you do, the world abandons you, because you’re just like everybody else.”

Ramit Sethi Links

I Will Teach You To Be Rich — Website

Growthlab.com/400k

The Briefcase Technique

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Sir Mix-A-Lot

This interview has been the most pleasant surprise so far. I only knew him as the “Baby Got Back” guy, but he is so much more.

Please enjoy.

How Can I Be Great At Something?

The first step is you have to WANT something.

This takes some serious self-reflection, because you want to make sure YOU want it. Too many people “like” what they think they are supposed to, and end up unhappy. I started out messing with gadgets and electronics, and it opened doors to everything else. You run in to danger when the foundation is not set on something solid, on something that is truly you, tied to who you are.

Once you figure out what that something is that you want, you can start honing in on your identity. When you are growing up, you don’t really have a sense of who you are. You try on different hats. Some fit, some don’t. Some are good, some get you in trouble. As you have these experiences you start cutting out the things you know are not you so you can focus on the things that are you.

Everyone has a calling. There is something out there that you are supposed to do. You fight it, because different is uncomfortable, especially when you are younger. You are looking for a cookie cutter, easy approach to life. Fight this. There is something out there, you just need to find it. The more you do, the more you explore, the more you create, you start finding things you are good at, things you really enjoy, and that’s where greatness lies.

After I Find That “Something,” What Do I Do?

1. Talk to all the successful people you know.

It doesn’t matter what field they are in, success is success is success. There are bits and pieces that you can take from everyone around you and apply it.

One thing that I found in my discussions is work was work, but it was also leisure. Work is what they loved to do. From the outside it looked like they worked too much. From the inside, they were having a blast. All of that comes from my answer to question one. When you find that something, it changes everything.

2. Work hard.

Our life is our habits, and our habits are our life. Get in to the habit of busting your butt. Chances are you won’t have much money at the beginning, and that’s ok. One thing that I found, but didn’t realize until I got there, was that necessity breeds creativity. When I didn’t have much, I had to work with what I had available to me. Working with different sounds and equipment, taking on tasks because I didn’t have money to hire someone (like MCing my songs, not what I was looking to do. But look what happened!). Once I “made it” and had all the gear I could ever want, I got lazy. I wasn’t as creative. And my work suffered. Appreciate the creativity you will have to develop when you are starting out, when you are striving to make something from nothing. Remember that feeling for later.

Don’t let the amount of work deter you from your dream. If it was easy to be successful, everyone would be successful. Hard work is preparation for a lucky day. Get yourself ready!

Expose your work to as many people as possible, and expose yourself to as much work as possible. It is hard to get a true scope of your ability level until it is compared to other peoples’ work. I am not saying compare your work to others, but compare it (if you know what I mean). I thought we were killing it until I did shows with NWA. It took my vision for what I could be and wanted to be to a whole new level. Without it I would still be thinking small. Exposure forces you to think outside yourself, to something you didn’t even know you could be. You HAVE to give yourself that opportunity.

3. Be you.

No matter what level you get to, stay connected to the real you, the old you. Success can be the nail in your coffin. There is a lot of work that comes after that, but you need to be grounded in who you are.

Knowing who you are will help you pass on things that don’t fit you and focus on the things that are you. Success comes with new opportunities. Low hanging fruit and big paychecks will be tempting.

You need to make sure you are focusing on the long game. What is your brand? How are you going to grow that brand? Expand your name? Be thinking of that from day one. Chasing the dollar will only lead to heartbreak (and bank account-break).

Success

Once you gain success, you need to figure out how you did it. When you are coming up you are trying anything. Once you reach a certain point, you need to look back and evaluate how you got there, so you can recreate it.

Connecting with the real you will also keep you hungry. Success can breed laziness. Once you are there, success will be much harder to come by. Laziness is a success killer. You have to keep in the chase. You have to keep wanting. Keep striving. You need the journey. That’s the truly satisfying part of it.

Never forget that no matter what your level of success, you didn’t do it alone. Some people will have bigger parts than others, but it is a collective. Never forget those people. Forgetting them is forgetting yourself.

Quotes

“If you are comfortable with your success you won’t have it very long. Remain hungry.”

Sir Mix-A-Lot Links

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Friday, October 14, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Gabby Bernstein

This interview may have been my favorite so far. I didn’t know who Gabby Bernstein was before this, but learning what her mindset is on who we are and what we can be is beautiful. That is the best way I can describe it. Absolutely beautiful.

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.

Why Do I Have Such A Hard Time All The Time?

Collectively, we are hitting our wits end.

The news and media, the things on our phones, TVs, and radios are driving a toxic culture. Fear, terror, negativity, and chaos are cyclical, and we are in the eye of the tornado. All of these things culminate and hold us down. It’s pressure, it’s a weight, and we feel it whether or not we know where it is coming from.

All of this trauma, this chaos, manifests itself in the physical body. Aches and pains, headaches, poor sleep, irritability, etc. It comes out, and it’s always bad.

How Do I Fix Myself?

Meditation. Love and spirituality. Bring yourself back to yourself.

This allows you to filter everything through love. You come back to love, and it’s a ripple effect. Your life changes because you have changed, your vibration has changed, and the ripple extends out from you to your world, to the people you encounter, and everything changes.

It is not an overnight thing, and it is not an easy thing.

It is something you need to do every day. Just a few minutes a day, every day will help you reorganize and reframe decades of crap, a lifetime of unlearning that must get done in order to move forward.

Consistency wins. Engaging with your spirit daily is inspiring. It is unblocking the goodness that is already inside you, unlearning the fear and chaos that piles on top of you in this toxic culture.

Meditation allows you to clear the space for you to receive. You are stepping away from the crazy, and you are able to breathe. It reorganizes your energy and nervous system, pulls you out of the fight or flight that we live in. It uncovers the present, and presence, allows you to acknowledge the pain, the suffering, the chaos, and deal with it. True power lies in acknowledgement. Pain, unhappiness, suffering, it all has to be acknowledged in order to be remedied.

What Is The Best Way To Start Meditating?

Start with a mantra.

Find your pulse, and repeat “satnam” with the beat of your pulse.

Then take time every morning, 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 2 minutes, it doesn’t matter, just do it every day.

You will lose concentration, but that’s ok, keep coming back. Return to your pulse and the mantra.

The best part of all of this is once you learn the skill, and practice it, it will always work for you. It’s not a cup of coffee, it’s not a pill, or a drink. You never have to chase anything. It is all you, and it works every time. You will always be there, ready to meditate, and ready to center yourself, every single time.

You can’t get that with anything else.

Quotes

“Whatever trauma you face as a child, it dictates the path you take in life: terror, failure, not good enough, etc.“

“Your wounds are the place where the light enters you.”

“You have to have a commitment of growth.”

“Prayer is the medium of miracles.”

“When the time is on you, start, and the pressure will be off.”

“Be in the action.”

Gabby Bernstein Links

Website

YouTube

HerFuture.com

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Jared Leto

A multi-hyphenate, artist, actor, musician, and entrepreneur, Jared Leto has been a leader in all endeavors he tackles. A true artist.

Please enjoy.

How Do I Decide What To Do? Photography or Music?

Everything works together. It is all the same thing, an all-encompassing creative path. You don’t need to choose, you have already chosen art. It is a better time than ever to be on this path. You no longer have to ask permission to be an artist, you just create. Technology has given us all the permission we need. The “gatekeepers” are obsolete.

So create.

Experiment.

Experimenting is the foundation of art.

Andy Warhol said, “keep making art, let others decide if it is good or not. And while they are deciding, create more art.”

We all have the right to succeed or fail gloriously. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself to one medium, they all work together. My approach to acting is the same as it was with photography, sculpting, and painting.

It is all about the immersion. You need to figure out all of the aspects in order to dive deeper. The reward, contribution, and authenticity all exponentially increase the deeper you go. You never know where you are going to find the bit of information that will take you over the top, which is why you look everywhere, even in other artistic mediums.

You can express yourself in a lot of different ways, even failure. I have had mistakes that turned out to be great art. If I had known the error in my ways while creating I never would have uncovered the greatness, or as I like to call it, the Holy Mistake. I will take it a step further and say that I only have a little success because I have made a lot of mistakes. Failure leads to success which then leads to more failure. It’s a beautiful, tortuous cycle.

You have to put yourself out there, stretch yourself, your art, your learning, and your creating. It all works together for the collective good: Art.

Can I Just Create, Or Do I Need To Learn The Business?

Whether you like it or not, you will learn the business. It’s inevitable.

You will learn as you go through the process. From starting, to sharing, selling, repeating, then making a living, making it sustainable, who can help you, connecting with them, etc. It is self-fulfilling. Unless you want to create for creations sake, the business aspect will come. You might as well embrace it so you can get the most benefit out of it and not have to rely on others as much.

Quotes

“We all have the right to succeed or fail gloriously.”

“I only have a little success because I make a lot of mistakes.”

“Failure leads to success which inevitably leads to more failure.”

Jared Leto Links

Website

30 Seconds To Mars

Twitter

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Saturday, September 17, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Kelly Starrett

There has never been a time when humans were more focused on their bodies. Muscles, tissues, the brain, recovery, etc. We are breaking it down and focusing on it like never before. Just like everything else, understanding the basics is the foundation to a healthy body. Small knowledge leads to large knowledge the same way small problems lead to big problems. Understand the micro of your body, to get it producing at the macro.

Please enjoy.

What Does My Body Have To Do With “Big C” Creativity?

One word: EVERYTHING

It’s all connected.

Your body tells your brain what to think.

Smile, you will feel happier.

Slouch in your seat all day at work. When do you slouch normally? When you are sad, or depressed, or feeling vulnerable. When you sit like that all day at work, you are telling your brain you are sad, which means your brain starts thinking sad. You breathe differently, and your body works differently.

Sad people store fat more, and are unhealthier. And that all can start with your posture! Think about that!

It’s all reciprocal. Your body and mind are a team. They talk to each other.

Standing tells your brain that you need to focus, pay attention, because things going on are important.

How do you work all day? Are you sitting or standing?

Do you have a tough time getting through the day? Might want to try standing.

Is Sitting Really That Bad?

I’ll put it this way, it’s more dangerous than bears.

That sounds funny, but it’s true, at least by the numbers.

People lose sight of the fact that we are physical machines. Our bodies are a work of art. We just finished the Olympics in Rio. All of those movements, from swimming to gymnastics, long distance running to weightlifting, all of those are using our full range of motion. Basically speaking, our bodies are supposed to do those things! Think about that as you knees creak getting up from the couch, and you can’t get your arms above your head to get the cookies off the top shelf. (by the way, pain is not normal. Don’t trick yourself in to thinking it is your age. It is because you are not treating your body right).

This all comes from a sedentary lifestyle. We need to move more. In fact, when we are not moving, we are not being who we are supposed to be.

Sitting is the new smoking.

We need to intentionally move more, and intentionally take care of this “machine” that we have.

From sleep to stress, posture to tissue work, we need to take care of ourselves. Our bodies are an amazing gift that gives back to us the better we take care of it.

How Do I Take Better Care Of My Body?

Move more. What else can you do? Take the stairs? Walk to the store? When can you work in more movement?

Here is a fun little fact, non-exercise movement actually burns more calories than exercise. Those little step counting gadgets don’t seem so lame now do they?

Find 10 things you can do to be more active each day than you are right now.

You will feel better and be healthier the more you move. Your lymphatic system, a major defense in your immune system, needs the muscles to move in order to pump blood through them. They are not a part of the cardiovascular system. Ever notice that your more active friends don’t get as sick as much? That’s why!

Make your environment work for you. Don’t make it easy. Throw away the chair at your desk. If there is not chair, you have to stand!

A lot of this is more about undoing a lot of bad habits than gaining good ones. You conditioned yourself to be sedentary, you need to undo that.

Eat healthy.

Sleep well. I don’t mean take Ambien, Benadryl, alcohol, or smoking weed to go to bed. I mean real, naturally good sleep. Cold room, blackout curtains, no phones in the room, only clocks with red lights, limiting caffeine after noon, using eye masks and earplugs. That kind of sleep.

Notice where you are stressed and fix it. Stress is like carrying around a 50lb backpack. You may be able to handle it, but it is still weighing you down.

The Benefits To Health

You can focus more, pay better attention, your productivity will go up, you will feel better which means you will feel better, you will perform better, and best of all, it’s free.

Just remember that little problems lead to big problems. Feet, ankles, knees, hips, and back are all connected. Issues in any of those areas can lead to issues in all of those areas.

Use foam rollers, volleyballs, or anything else you can find. Move it around your body. Roll around on it. Wherever it hurts, that’s where you need work. Pain to compression is not normal. Give yourself little massages every day, loosen your body up feel better.

Quotes

“If we don’t move, we aren’t being who were are supposed to be.”

“Practice should become the standard.”

“Intentionally move more.”

Kelly Starrett Links

Website

Books

YouTube page

Chase Jarvis Links

Joey Links

Sunday, August 7, 2016

30 Days Of Genius Blog: Stefan Sagmeister

If you clicked the link to this blog you are probably a creative, and you are familiar with Sagmeister. Either that, or you are curious about who this person is and what advice he can offer. If it’s the latter, you are in for a treat. I admit that I did not know who this was before the interview, but he absolutely blew my mind with insights in to being successful and developing your creative abilities throughout a career.

Please enjoy.

How Do I Stand Out?

In order to truly stand out you need to have your own style, and that takes time. Personal style is something that sounds intimidating at the beginning, something you are striving for from day one, but it is not something you can force. As much as we push for it, it is something that will slowly develop over time. The more you create, work, re-think, re-do, and experiment, the sooner your style will develop. I truly believe it is easier to develop your style today than it ever has before. With so many outlets to display your work, you are able to receive enormous amounts of feedback in a very short period of time. Being critiqued, seeing your work through others’ eyes, and having the ability to create consistently will help you zero in on your style. You will develop what makes you art different from everyone else’s, but you won’t get that without creating. The more the better.

Do not allow artistic “rules” to box you in. There are techniques and strategies that have been used for decades that are irrational and even dumb, yet no one wants to question them. If you want to avoid blending in avoid following the rules. Create for you, create for your audience, but don’t create for the rules. The heart of an artist is to be different, stand out in society, but so many times they fall in line when it comes to the thing they should be most creative about. They may not sit in a cubicle, work from 9–5, and wear a tie, but there are many artists that will confine their creations just as much as if they had an office job. It’s a shame.

I can see it in their faces. They want to be different, they know it is the right thing to do, and they just won’t allow themselves to do it. I received so much support for the things that I did differently, like taking year-long sabbaticals, because even if they didn’t allow themselves to be different, they wanted to see it done, and they appreciated it.

How Do I Maximize My Creativity?

There is no clear path for anything in life. Similar destinations, varying paths. Even for becoming a professional artists. Some do school, some don’t. Some bounce around jobs, some stay in one. You must find what works best for you, then make sure you do it.

I maximize my creativity by exposing myself to as much as possible. Different cities, jobs, techniques, perspectives, everything. For a while I was even trying to come up with something completely new and different with every project, but that is impossible. The artists I see that push that as their focus are the ones that are either taking decades-old techniques and passing them off as new, or are stealing from their contemporaries. You can’t come up with something brand new every single time, but do not take that statement as an excuse to stop growing.

There are two things that I do to help stretch my creativity regularly.

1. I think about the project from the point of view that has nothing to do with the project itself. Through the eyes of someone completely disconnected, or through an object that is completely disconnected. What does a shoe look like through a Coke bottle? How would a bee see a book cover? It really helps get out of creative funks and start looking for the “different.”

2. Taking time off, but with a plan. I make a list of things I want to explore, rank them in order of interest, then set up a schedule to learn, dissect, and create. It is vital for me to set up a schedule. I tried it without a schedule at first and I found myself being pulled in any and every direction the wind blew. Clients would call me up and I was working again! I had to stop it completely, and the schedule saved me. I use it until I am working on so many new projects I don’t need it any more. If I get stuck on one project, I have a handful of other ones I can jump to, so I never get frustrated. What usually happens is working on one project will trigger something for the project was stuck on. After the sabbatical, I can approach my old work and clients with fresh eyes, fresh ideas, and new strategies. It has been amazing for my career and my creativity.

Figure out the tricks that allow you to create the best, then use them. Develop a pattern and a habit that gives you the greatest creative production, then repeat it.

Misconceptions

Artists feel like we are so different, when really, we are not. Our outlet may be different, the type of job, but we are all very similar. Things that make us happy, sad, and scared, are things that make most people feel those same emotions. Embrace your feelings, recognize them as something that is not unique, and then create art around those feelings, knowing that they are for you AND someone else.

There are people out there that are feeling the same way you are, let them see.

Recognize that money will not make you as happy as creating quality work. The years I have been most financially successful, I have not felt as good as the years I felt we created the best work.

Quotes

“If we can, we design something that helps somebody or delights somebody”

“All of the stuff I looked good in was boring. All the stuff I looked shitty in was interesting.”

“Think about the project from the point of view that has nothing to do with the project itself.”

Stefen Sagmeister Links

Website — this is one of the coolest websites I have ever seen!

The Happy Show

The Happy Film

Chase Jarvis Links

Website

Creative Live

iTunes Podcast Page