10 Questions For Finding Your Voice
How to make your work resonate in the world.
10 Questions For Finding Your Voice
Articles about Creating
Staying Out Of The “Danger Zone”
Staying Out Of The “Danger Zone”
We each have danger zones we have to watch out for in the course of our work. They can be particular habits or patterns we fall into when we go into “coast mode” or areas or situations where we are likely to get irritated and short-circuit collaborative relationships. On this episode, we share about the importance of avoiding the temptation to hide in the shadows, and a few strategies for bringing yourself fully and freely to the work you do.
Get Rid Of Ghost Rules
Get Rid Of Ghost Rules
Do you ever find yourself doing things for inexplicable reasons, or making decisions in your work that you can't really explain? It's possible that you're living with "ghost rules". These are invisible narratives that limit your thinking and creating, and can - over time - cause you to underperform. On this episode, we share a few sources of ghost rules (from the book Herding Tigers), and how to begin to overcome them.
What Creative People Need
What Creative People Need
When you create for a living, you might find yourself frustrated with your management or client and not even know why. When you can't articulate what you need, it's really difficult to thrive. On today's episode, I share the few things that creative people need in order to do their best work, and how you can ask for them so that you can be prolific, brilliant, and healthy.
Take More Shots
Take More Shots
Winning is often a game of percentages. The more shots you take, the more likely you are to eventually hit your goal and create something valuable. On this episode, I discuss how to practice and hone your skills through unnecessary creation, follow your instincts for opportunity, and to build a diversified portfolio of risk by taking more shots.
Failure Is Inevitable. What Matters Is How You Deal With It.
Failure Is Inevitable. What Matters Is How You Deal With It.
After expending so much time, energy, and focus on something you care about, it can be devastating when it just doesn't click. What you do next is very important.
Want To Improve Your Odds Of Success? Take More Shots.
Want To Improve Your Odds Of Success? Take More Shots.
Winning is often a game of percentages. Practice and hone your skills through unnecessary creation, follow your instincts for opportunity, and don’t be afraid to take shots and miss.
Feeling Nervous About Your Work? Good!
Feeling Nervous About Your Work? Good!
Stretching always requires that you risk failure, which means you will probably feel a little over your head from time to time. Don’t mistake a little nervousness for weakness. Use it as fuel.
Podcast: Blind Spots
Podcast: Blind Spots
We all have blind spots in our creative work, and they can rob us of really valuable insights and contribution. It's important to test assumptions and ensure that we're not fossilizing around them.
Podcast: How Do You Define Excellence?
Podcast: How Do You Define Excellence?
Typically, it’s misalignment around expectations, and conflicting definitions of the word excellence. Excellence is a slippery concept, because it can mean so many different things depending on your perspective.
Slow and Steady Does NOT Win The Race
Slow and Steady Does NOT Win The Race
Don’t be lulled into the idea that being busy and making progress is necessarily going to net you a win. You have to be intentional and deliberate about your activity, and you have to be willing to sprint when the occasion calls for it.
Learn To Say “It’s Not For You”
Learn To Say “It’s Not For You”
The work you do is a gift to the world, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone.
What Gift Will You Give?
What Gift Will You Give?
As you consider the gift that you have to offer - the expression that is uniquely yours, and yours alone to give away - consider this: the impact of a gift given away in freedom is vast, while a gift spent on the giver quickly fades.
There Are No Secrets. There Are No Shortcuts.
There Are No Secrets. There Are No Shortcuts.
For creative pros - those charged with turning our thoughts into value every day - the promise of a quick path to successful work is alluring. If there were proven ways to avoid the uncertainty and pain of the process, they would be worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately, they don't exist. Not really, anyway.
How To Get Attention For Your Work
How To Get Attention For Your Work
To get attention for your work, regardless of what it is, requires effort and persistence. It also requires that you gain an understanding of how to approach those who might help you get the word out.
Four Reasons You Should Sketch Your Notes
Four Reasons You Should Sketch Your Notes
Still using lists, facts, and to-do's for your notes? Try sketch notes as a way to open your mind and generate new ideas. In this interview, author and illustrator Mike Rohde shows us how.
One Simple Practice That Will Revolutionize Your Career
One Simple Practice That Will Revolutionize Your Career
Be purposeful about stoking the fires of your imagination, and seeking patterns in the world around you. This is the best way to ensure that your mind is actively chasing insight and to position yourself to be brilliant when it counts most.
AC Podcast: Selective Ignorance of Feedback
AC Podcast: Selective Ignorance of Feedback
You cannot (CANNOT!) listen to everyone. To be brilliant, you have to know who you are serving, and focus on moving the needle with them.
AC Podcast: Seasons
AC Podcast: Seasons
Are you obeying the natural seasons and rhythms, or are you operating like a machine and living in perpetual harvest mode?
AC Podcast: Opportunity
AC Podcast: Opportunity
Something is only really an opportunity if you're poised to take advantage of it. Today we discuss what a coyote and Billy Joel have to do with your future.