Work

Catching Up With Your Creative Ambition

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I found this great video when Conor McClure shared it earlier this week.

Daniel created a video accompaniment to a section of an interview with Ira Glass about the frustration of being in the place as a creative person where you have good taste, but aren't really satisfied with the quality of the stuff you're producing.

What a strange place to be. Understanding the difference between the good and the mediocre but not being able to push through. Here's Ira's advice-

You gotta know, the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work...It's only by actually going through a volume of work that you're going to catch up and close that gap and the work you're making is going to reach those ambitions.

I've found this to be the case in so many creative endeavors over the years. Whether it's photography, songwriting, playing an instrument or graphic design, the same rule applies. You'll know what exceptional looks (or sounds) like long before you can pull it off. As much as it sounds cheesy, there really is something to the phrase, "Fake it 'till you make it".

By trying over and over again to make the thing that you can already feel inside of you, eventually it stops being fake.

 

Adding Something New to the World →

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The world built by the Internet is one of convenience. Buy anything without leaving your house. All knowledge is nearby and that’s a lot of knowledge, but don’t worry, everyone is pre-chewing it for you and sharing it in every way possible. They’re sharing that and other interesting moments all day and you’re beginning to believe that these shared moments are close to disposable because you are flooded with them.

You’re fucking swimming in everyone else’s moments, likes, and tweets and during these moments of consumption you are coming to believe that their brief interestingness to others makes it somehow relevant to you and worth your time.

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This is not a reminder to over-analyze each moment and make them count. This is a reminder not to let a digital world full of others’ moments deceive you into devaluing your own. Their moments are infinite – yours are finite, too, and precious – and this New Year I’m wondering how much we want to create versus consume.

I need to hear this. I've been thinking about the balance of consuming information vs creation and Rands nailed it.

 

Reckoning

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Occasionally, I get to a reckoning point and realize that I've been off my game for awhile. It sure would be nice if I could have seen this months ago.

When I could have actually done something to change the outcome.

It's sort of like looking at a piece of art, or a song that you created years ago. It's hard to not be critical of what the younger, less enlightened version of you thought was good enough.

Whether it's something you can change or not, it's out there.

I'm not sure how to capture this. To use it to motivate and/or change the intentionality that I practice daily. What I do know is that I hope this little bit of awareness can somehow work its way into things.

Updated- because, how do you say "income" when what you meant was "outcome"?

Up To Your Neck In It

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Patrick Rhone posted this great essay titled- The Farmer. I just saw it today though he posted it March 22nd, which is my birthday. It is beautiful and challenging. Here are my favorite parts-

This. This passion. This love for what we are born to do. Whatever that is for each of us. Like her, our days should be filled with it. Every moment. We should wake up each day inching to get up to our necks in it. To be covered with it. To be a part of it. To be intimate with it.

Want to know what you should be doing with your life? Find the shit you want to be covered in. Start there.