Back in college, my boxing coach would remind us every day of the most important thing we needed to do as fighters.
It didn’t matter if it was heavy bag practice, sparring, or between rounds at an actual match, he would say over and over again:
Let your hands go.
The instructions were simple enough – throw more punches.
I didn’t really think much about it because I always threw as many punches as I could. I’d punch until I was exhausted.
That’s what letting my hands go was all about, right?
During my fourth year of boxing it finally clicked.
I was in a sparring match. 3rd and final round. 45 seconds on the clock. I got my opponent in a corner. I took a broad stance and started throwing. But something was different.
I was in control of my breathing and my strikes landed exactly where I wanted them to land.
I was in control of the rhythm and pace of the fight and threw combination after combination.
I was in control of the speed and strength of my blows - my opponent couldn’t do anything but cover up.
The bell rang. The sparring match ended.
For 45 seconds, I pressed the offensive without once worrying about my defensive posture. For 45 seconds, I controlled the fight and my opponent. For 45 seconds, I let my hands go.
It took me 4 years to let my hands go.
4 years, not because I didn’t understand, but because I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t ready because I was too nervous to loosen up and fight calmly; I wasn’t ready because I was too scared to truly press the offense; I wasn’t ready because I focused on avoiding counter punches instead of how I could inflict damage.
But most of all, I wasn’t ready because I hadn’t reached the level of mastery I needed to take heed of his advice.
It took me 4 years to finally appreciate the advice given to me years before, but, just as importantly, it took me 4 years to actually execute the advice properly.
I tried in the past to let my hands go – throw as many punches as I could to take control of the fight, but it just didn’t work the way it was supposed to.
That’s the funny thing about mastery – it takes years to figure out the subtlety of the simplest things.
That day I learned something important: when you really let your hands go, there’s nothing your opponent can do.
If he tries to counter, he’ll leave himself exposed to your flurry of strikes. If he tries to pivot, you can adjust your own position and keep pressing. If he slips out of the corner, you can back off and get ready to let your hands go again.
They say the best defense is a good offense – that’s what letting your hands go is all about.
And you need to do the same with your creative project.
Let your hands go.
Write more.
Write every day. Write without inhibition, without worrying what others will think, without concern for the crowd’s reaction. Just write. And when you write, let others read.
Don’t wait to get chosen by a big publishing house. Let your hands go – publish yourself.
Let your hands go.
Create a product to sell – and start selling it!
If the first 100 don’t buy, try the next 100. If no one buys, try a different angle, a different pitch, a different unique selling proposition. Keep testing and experimenting. Entrepreneurship by its nature is uncertain. It’s a path fraught with danger, pitfalls, and possible death (of your product).
People will wonder why you don’t just get a respectable job with a predictable income, like a warehouse supervisor at the robot factory. Let your hands go – take your own path.
Let your hands go.
Start SOMETHING.
There are too many broken things in the world that need fixing. Falling in line, clocking in and clocking out, doing what you’re told – life’s too short and you’re too clever to waste your days this way. Do what matters to you. Don’t worry about the group you just left on the sideline, their job is to cheer (and jeer) accordingly.
Your job is to do the work. Let your hands go - start today.
It might be presumptuous of me to say, but it’s becoming more and more clear to me the type of readers who read and subscribe to my blog; you guys are the instigators of the world. You’re the map drawers, the path choosers and the disrupters of the world.
I’ve already highlighted a few of you – this barely scratches the surface of the hundreds of people who I’ve had the opportunity to correspond with directly, and the thousands of others who are doing amazing things but haven’t reached out to me (yet, I hope).
My point is this: you’re not alone in this fight.
While everyone’s struggles are unique and every path is different, we all share the commonality of the creative war itself. We’re all in the trenches together - it’s just that the trenches spread for thousands of miles and there’s a lot of dead space.
Don’t lose heart.
Keep blazing trails, keep doing the hard, creative work, and keep disrupting the standards set by the average majority.
It’s not easy, but it’s important.
And remember, when things get tough...
Let your hands go and be the disrupter this world needs.
Photo credit: clarita from morguefile.com
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Creative work is hard as hell.
If you’re a writer, entrepreneur, or anyone else challenging and pushing boundaries (read: instigator), you know what I’m talking about.
In fact, creative work is probably the hardest work there is – something only those bold enough to create can appreciate.
But what makes creative work so hard?
Doing creative work means we can fail at any point.
All the hard work we do this week, this month or this year could end up being for nothing. No reward. No payout. No bonus.
In the beginning, most bootstrappers work 80 hour weeks and make sweat shop wages. To make matters worse, the majority of startups fail. And for the aspiring writer? The landscape is even bleaker...
Creative work requires us to be on point every hour of every day.
If we’re not doing our best work, if we’re not going as hard as we can, if we’re not constantly pushing the boundaries, then we’re at risk of being overshadowed by someone who’s willing to hustle harder. The fear is this: any moment we fail to capitalize on is a moment that could have been our tipping point – the thing that allows us to break out of obscurity.
Worse yet, the only thing more exhausting than putting our mind, body and soul into a project, day after day, is the anxiety we experience from the thought of wasting time or losing ground...
For most of us, creating something from scratch requires long periods of time devoted to working in solitude.
This requires a great deal of self-imposed isolation – something that inevitably becomes lonely over a period of time. This isolation is made even more painful when the few times we do interact with other people they don’t “get” what we’re doing.
The only thing lonelier than working in isolation is working beside people who don’t get what you’re doing.
Face it, if you do creative work, at some point the uncertainty, exhaustion and loneliness will make you want to quit.
I can’t tell you how many times a week (a day?) I want to throw in the towel and walk away.
This is the inner creative war we each have to fight if we want to do great work.
It’s at times like this, when things get darkest, you need to remember what's important.
The rest of the world probably won’t get why you do what you do.
But you didn't do it for them, did you?
Do the work. Do YOUR work. And do it for the happy few who want what you create.
Serve those people.
Ignore everyone else.
They're not worth a second of your time anyway.
Creative work is hard...
But here's the thing: life is hard.
Any course of action you choose in life will be hard - hard because you chose to enter the trenches, fight the creative fight, and do work that matters, or hard because you chose to avoid the trenches, insolate yourself from challenging, impactful work, and accept what life throws at you.
I'm sorry, but there's no happy medium, no painless compromise.
These are the only two options.
So what will you choose?
Call me a ruffian, but I'll choose the former.
I hope you do the same.
New to the blog? Join the Resistance and join me and an army of creative ruffians (artists, entrepreneurs and all around instigators) doing important work. Never fight along - join the Resistance.
This is the final post in a short series on great work.
To be honest, I originally wrote a short book’s worth of content on this topic.
But right before I hit publish, I decided to scrap everything and get to the heart of what I wanted to say: what great work means at the most fundamental level.
Great work is all about impact.
And sometimes, the best way to make an impact is with fewer words.
In the follow up post, I wanted to dive deeper into this concept of impact – why do some things impact us so powerfully and others don’t?
Love it or hate it, the messages, people, and things we remember are those that draw the line, that take a stand, that never compromise.
Easily said.
Not easily done.
In this final post in the series, I want to talk about a common misunderstanding of great work – the biggest mistake we make in life, actually – and leave you with a final thought on how to create your own great work – this instant if you want.
But first, the misunderstanding…
Is confusing doing great work with getting RECOGNIZED for the great work we do.
These are not the same.
When we set out to do great work, we put our heads down and create. Every now and then we share what we produce: 99% creation, 1% selling.
When we set out to get recognized, we stop creating and start plugging: 1% creation, 99% selling.
As long as we’re doing great work (truly great work), there’s no time to worry about recognition. It may come, it may not. That’s not for you to decide, nor for your great work to dictate.
But isn’t there some way to bridge the gap? Isn’t it possible to create great work that WILL get recognized? Surely, there must be a secret formula out there...
There isn’t one.
There is no 100% guaranteed 10-step model for creating great work that gets recognized. It doesn’t exist.
And anyone who says otherwise is probably selling you something.
The truth is there is no secret formula because it's not a secret and you already know the formula. You’ve known it your entire life, in fact.
It’s just hard to admit you know the formula because once you do it changes everything.
So why isn’t it possible to guarantee your work will be recognized?
Simple:
You don’t own the reaction to your work.
You can’t control the crowd’s opinion. You can’t dictate the feedback of the audience. You can’t determine the response of the client.
These aren’t for you to control – and trying to force it is either malicious or naïve. In either case, it detracts from your great work.
The reaction shouldn’t concern you because it doesn’t concern you.
You don’t own the reaction to you work, but you do own something much more important:
You own the actions that create your work.
You control the words you put down on paper; you dictate the effort you put into your art; you determine the love, generosity and humility with which you embrace each day and every person you meet.
Your actions are for you to control.
And your actions SHOULD concern you.
In all these empty plans / The ink stains on my hands.
And everyone saves / The best words for the grave.
Are these weary morning tones / I’ll probably save mine too.
[The Airborne Toxic Event]
In every minute of every day is the opportunity to put your mind, body and spirit into doing something worthwhile.
Every action is an opportunity to do something bold.
In every passing moment is the opportunity to change everything.
Want to do great work?
Serve the people closest to you, regardless of their rank, title or following. Put it all on the line for those who need you most, not those you think you need to impress. Speak to those who want to hear from you – ignore the rest.
This is generosity. It doesn’t scale. And it's what really counts, regardless of applause.
The recognition you think you want? It doesn’t matter nearly as much.
Stop saving your best words.
Spend them today on the people who count.
Would love to hear your thoughts...leave a comment below!
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Every day, hundreds of thousands of blogs are started, thousands of books are published, and hundreds of businesses are created.
The majority don't last.
So what separates those that last from those that fail?
The ones that succeed - do they do something different?
Is there a common pattern, strategy or framework that successful projects use? And if so, can we model it and use it in our own projects?
These are the questions I've been asking myself recently as I dive headlong into my new publishing startup. The essential question is this:
How can I avoid the pitfalls of unsuccessful startups and tap into the magic of the successful ones?
What I've compiled here are the fundamental dos and don'ts for bootstrapping a business from scratch.
All of these lessons I learned from the masters of the trade (Michael Masterson, Eric Ries, Seth Godin, Chris Anderson, and Nassim Taleb among others) and applied in my own projects.
What you see here is the distilled wisdom of dozens of heavyweights in the business world, as well as the knowledge I've learned from hundreds of books, courses and personal interactions, whittled down into a no-fluff, practical resource you can apply to your own project.
Most of this advice applies to bootstrappers and creative entrepreneurs - but it also applies to the artist, designer and leader.
The lessons included here are universal and impact all of us who build things from the ground up with our bare hands.
So if that applies to you, definitely bookmark this page for future reading.
Good luck, and enjoy:
What not to do with your business is important: the majority of failures are a result of putting time and energy into the wrong things, and if we know what these things are, we can purposefully avoid them.
The 2 biggest don’ts of creating success in business and life are just that – things you should definitely, at all costs, avoid:
Re-routing is spending all your time building a solution…to the wrong problem.
This is one of the most common mistakes beginner-level entrepreneurs make. But it’s not just a beginner-level mistake – plenty of pro’s make the same mistake when they branch out into a new sector, industry, or genre.
Anytime we try something for the first time, we're liable to miss the mark.
That's why it's essential we constantly reevaluate our position, direction and goals (more on that below).
The Lesson: know what problem you’re fixing and why.
John Carter was an epic failure in the box office.
Even when things weren't looking good on set or in test groups, the producers continued to pump cash into the project. By the time they shipped, they needed to make close to $400 million to make money on the project.
With every dollar they pumped into the project, the more unlikely their chance of success.
The Lesson: don’t pump money, time and resources into a project that isn’t working. A sinking ship is a sinking ship - better to cut losses and find a new way to be successful than drown in pride.
It's essential you avoid the two pitfalls above.
Simply put, if you spend your time re-routing or get sucked into the John Carter Mistake, there's literally no way your startup will make it.
But let's say you can and do avoid these two major pitfalls...then what?
What CAN you do to actively improve your chances of success.*
*Note: success is relative and subjective. In this case, I’m defining success as creating something people want to (and will) pay money for without your business going under (i.e. making profit so you can grow your business).
The following is a list of the 9 best ways you can increase your chances of success, both in business and in life:
Just because things are the way they are doesn't mean they should be that way.
No matter what industry of business, genre of art, or category of book, there is always a way to improve the existing paradigm.
There are better systems, better solutions, and better products waiting to be created. The question is: are you willing to create them?
"Never accept the status quo – there is always a better way." - tweet this
Ask yourself:
Is there a way this product or this service can be made better?
Why is this the way it is? Can it be improved?
Where is their a problem and how can I fix it? What are the pain points of others? How do I help them?
Is there something missing that I can fill?
This philosophy (and it is just that - a philosophy for living life) of challenging everything includes challenging your own assumptions and beliefs.
Be relentless.
Constantly test your assumptions and, if need be, change your beliefs - they might just be holding you back.
Why are you doing what you’re doing?
Why do you want to create this piece of art?
Why do you want to build this business?
Knowing why you do what you do is ESSENTIAL. At the end of the day, your why is what determines your success because it directly feeds your solution (your what) and your execution (your how).
Why, how, what - this is what Simon Sinek describes as the "Golden Circle" - check out his short, powerful video below on starting with why.
"People don't buy what you do - they buy why you do it." Simon Sinek
If you aren't sure of your why, but you’re building something anyway, you’re probably rerouting.
Know your why - and then start with why.
No project should start without a hypothesis.
In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries explains businesses through the lens of a scientific experiment – in other words: testable, measurable, and reproducible.
Ries’ startup philosophy revolves around creating a hypothesis for your product or service – if we do X, then Y will happen.
“the goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build – the thing customers want and will pay for – as quickly as possible.” The Lean Startup
For example: if I add an email subscription box to the end of every blog post, I will increase my subscription rate by 7%.
Or, if I decrease the price of my product by 5%, gross revenue will increase by 10%.
The point isn't to know if it will work – the point is to have an idea, create a hypothesis for the idea, and then test it.
If it fails, tweak it and try again (email subscription boxes at the top of the blog post, or in the sidebar, or add a popup box to your site, etc.).
Constantly test. Constantly measure. Constantly learn.
And always adapt and grow.
When we hypothesize, we create a question that can be tested and proven right or wrong.
If the solution doesn’t work for a particular product or service, tweak the hypothesis and try again. This is changing tactics – the small scale engagements we make with customers or inside our business (i.e. changes to how we write our sales copy; changes to visual presentation, etc).
Changes in tactics don’t change the fundamental problem you’re trying to solve – changes in tactics simply mean a shift in how we approach the problem.
However, at some point, we might find that nothing is working for our original hypothesis. At this point, it’s time to change strategy - or, in Lean Startup terms, pivot.
"Life is too short to build something nobody wants." - Ash Maurya
Below is a video by Ash Maurya, author of Lean Running, who explains how to create products efficiently and effectively, why most startups fail, and how you can avoid making the same mistake:
If you found the video useful, make sure to check out Maurya's amazing, free lean canvas tool here. It will help you map out an effective, simple business plan.
If you have a hard time filling it out, it probably means you're missing a key piece of the puzzle for your own business. This will help you avoid creating a product that no one wants.
Pivoting means changing your business or business model.
This could mean changing from a "freemium" model (free content to bring people in; sell them paid premium content later on) to a premium, upfront monthly subscription model; from a company that produces and sells information products, to a company that builds software solutions.
Pivoting is sometimes drastic.
It can be scary and it’s never easy (it challenges our pride because it means admitting our original ideas were wrong).
But if you know your why, pivoting becomes a lot more bearable.
The Black Swan is a term coined by Nassim Taleb in his groundbreaking book of the same name, which focuses on probability, randomness and human rationality.
A Black Swan refers to an event that is unpredictable, but has massive impact in our lives.
The internet, for example, was a positive Black Swan event; now we are a few keystrokes away from almost anybody in the world, increasing connection and freedom throughout the world (this change was unpredictable and completely changed the economic landscape of the 90's and beyond).
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were a negative Black Swan event - the ramifications of which we still experience every time we have to take our shoes off at the airport.
So while we can’t predict when or what form a Black Swan will take, we can focus on exposing our business and our life to positive Black Swan events (and, likewise, protect against negative Black Swans). A few ways to do this:
Here's a lesson on Black Swans from the movie Grinders with Matt Damon. It's 30 seconds long - it sums up why playing it safe isn't the way to live life. Sometimes, you have to take a chance:
Taleb recently published a new book called Anti-Fragility - which explains in more depth all the things that gain from disorder. A must read for all aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make a dramatic impact (and limit their downside exposure).
In the movie The Patriot, Mel Gibson’s character teaches his son how to shoot.
His advice – aim small, miss small.
Once you know your "why" you should focus on the most specific problem you can fix (every product or service fixes a problem).
The smaller, as in, more particular and precise the problem, the better your chances of hitting your mark (because you know exactly what you’re aiming for).
Shooting from the hip (i.e. seeing what will stick) is usually not the best solution to anything.
Be Specific.
Be precise.
Focused on one problem and one problem only to start – and be relentless about defining that problem and your solution.
You do not need a website, a team of coders, or a dozen virtual assistants to get your business off the ground.
You do not need angel investors, the Shark Tank or Donald Trump to pick you.
There is a way to test and validate every product before going full scale, and guess what? You can usually do this by yourself.
Your job is to figure out how to test your solution in the smallest way possible.
Below is a video by Neville Medhora, a guy who does a crazy amount of business testing (from drop shipping companies and one and one consultation services, to eCourses and digital products).
If this doesn't open your mind to what's possible, I don't know what will (warning: some swearing is involved):
Before you start your LLC, lock down the manufacturing and distribution facilities, and enlist a team of salespeople, maybe it would be more effective for you to create the first product and hustle it by yourself.
Can you sell it on Craigslist?
Can you sell it on Ebay or Etsy?
Can you set up a stand outside an event and sell it to real people?
The point is this: you must test and VALIDATE before you start scaling.
Sorry, but if it doesn't work on a small scale, it won’t work on a massive scale (Facebook started out on a single campus, McDonalds on one street corner, and Apple with one product).
Don’t work in it.
Working in your business is essential, but only in the beginning.
It’s necessary to work inside your business at the start; you need to know how it works so you can develop and refine your processes and systems. But once you have the systems in place, and a profitable product or service, start hiring others to do your job.
Your goal should be to create a profitable, organized and systematized business so you can scale.
You really shouldn't be hiring people until you're profitable (there are exceptions to the rule - I'm addressing solopreneurs/bootstrappers in particular here).
Working on your business and not in it is a concept heavily analyzed in The E-Myth Revisited, which explains the success of any startup requires the ability to create systems and processes in order to make your business turnkey.
Here's a video all about creating systems for your business from the author himself:
Creating a business is the only way to attain actual freedom through your creative work. As long as you're an employee or self-employed (i.e. a freelancer), you're at the beck and call of others.
Freelancing requires you to be on the clock (it might be fun, but you're still tied down).
If you want to create something that improves your quality of life, that increases your flexibility and freedom, be an entrepreneur - focus on creating a business, one that can grow and scale, even if you’re not there.
This means working on your business and not in it.
Yes, you might have to forget the project you’re working on, or change your tactics, or even pivot your strategy - but don’t quit on creating.
Never stop doing what you love because it doesn't work on the first try – it rarely if ever will.
"If I fail more than you do, I win." - Seth Godin
Self-determination and freedom are not easily won - it’s a struggle and you will take some hits.
That’s why so many quit or never try to begin with.
But not you.
Have faith, act courageously and keep fighting.
Is to constantly push your own abilities; to learn and grow and improve; to seek out challenges and test yourself.
You don't have to create your empire this weekend - and, in fact, you couldn't even if you wanted to.
But if you start today, in the smallest way possible (just one word on a piece of paper; just one call to a prospect; just one sketch of your design), you begin the process of creating something brilliant.
And in this singular act, no matter how small, you begin building your empire.
So I guess the underlying moral of the story is this:
Never stop creating. Start today.
If you like what you've read and need help starting, finishing and shipping your project, here are a few ways I can help:
1 - Join the Resistance by subscribing to our newsletter here (it's free)
2 - Check out a book I wrote called 2 Days With Seth Godin (PDF version) or on Amazon Kindle that can help you get your book, business, or blog unstuck.
3 - Check out the Cache where I have books, courses, and more - many that are "Pay What You Want" (your contributions help me continue to write, produce, and publish)
This is it – your project is almost complete.
You took the uncertain and difficult steps from start (creating the idea) to finish (bringing the idea to life), and now you’re ready to ship.
It’s tough work, creating something from scratch, but you didn’t give up. And now is the moment of truth – the point where you reap the reward for your hard work and labor.
Confident, you launch your project and…
Nothing happens.
Nobody one-clicks your book on Amazon; nobody enters the store; nobody calls the ‘buy now’ number…
Crickets.
You check to see if it’s a system error, or maybe the server isn’t updating properly, or maybe there’s a traffic jam down the street…
Nope – everything is normal, but nothing happened.
The reality for most aspiring artists, writers and entrepreneurs is that no one will notice what they do. And when they ship, no one will pay attention (a few of my prior entrepreneurial attempts fall squarely in this bracket).
Of course, the initial thought to remedy this is advertising and marketing – “if only I can get my message in front of enough people, then I can make a sale…”
This could work – statistically, the more people you expose a message to, the greater the chance of your message resonating with someone.
But more than likely, no amount of attention will change anything.
Why?
Because most things aren’t great.
In 1906, an Italian Economist by the name of Vilfredo Pareto noticed an interesting trend in the distribution of land: 80% of land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.
Going one step further, he analyzed the distribution of other data sets, including the number of pea pods in his garden that contained peas (20% contained 80% of the peas).
This observed distribution became known as the Pareto principle –most things do not distribute evenly, but unevenly, and they generally have a ration of 4:1 (specific distributions vary but are nonetheless uneven).
The Pareto principle applies to everything, from public sentiment (only a few bands have the majority of the attention) to effectiveness (most seminars and newsletters and eCourses simply aren’t effective).
This distribution most certainly applies to startups, art, and creative pursuits:
Most will be ignored.
“Well, that might be the case for other products, but mine is great. I put so much time and energy into it it must be great – the right people just haven’t see it.” (internal dialogue of the archetypal entrepreneur)
This response I’ve heard a million times (I’ve told myself the same thing many times before).
Sadly, it’s usually not true.
In a study conducted by Dan Ariely (Psychology professor and author of Predictably Irrational), researchers found that people overrate their own creations based on the amount of effort they put into them:
“Our research shows that labor enhances affection for its results. When people construct products themselves, from bookshelves to Build-a-Bears, they come to overvalue their (often poorly made) creations. We call this phenomenon the IKEA effect, in honor of the wildly successful Swedish manufacturer whose products typically arrive with some assembly required.
In one of our studies, we asked people to fold origami and then to bid on their own creations along with other people’s. They were consistently willing to pay more for their own origami. In fact, they were so enamored with their amateurish creations that they valued them as highly as origami made by experts.”
In other words, it’s impossible to objectively valuate something if you’re invested in the process.
You can believe your product is great – you can HOPE it is – but the true value of your product is the value given to it by the market (i.e. other people).
In 2012, a little movie called John Carter was released into theaters.
Actually, it wasn’t little at all: it was one of the most expensive movies ever produced. And when it finally shipped, it bombed. Hard.
But here’s the funny thing – everyone (as in, everyone involved in the project) thought John Carter would be a blow-up success. That’s why producers invested $250,000,000 (yes, that’s millions) into the project.
Even when signs pointed to no (actually, to hell no), producers kept pumping money into the project. The thought was: throw enough money at it to get it in front of everyone’s face and we’ll still come out of this alive…
The producers behind John Carter thought if they could scream loud enough, they’d get enough people to notice what a wonderful movie they created. Counter intuitively, every dollar pumped into this movie, instead of increasing its chances of success, actually increased the chance of it failing (greater the investment, the greater the needed return).
And as far as getting people to notice them?
Well, they got their attention – but it didn’t matter.
So if you’re shipping a project and people don’t respond, it’s probably not because you’re not screaming loud enough…no amount of screaming will change anyone’s mind.
And it’s probably not because you didn’t put a ton of time and effort and resources into your project…it doesn’t matter how much money you pump into John Carter…it’s still John Carter.
No, the reality is that you probably haven’t hit great yet.
And if you want people to notice and to stick around, you need to do great work.
This is probably disappointing for the person looking to make a quick buck or catch an uptrend – for the person in the trenches superficially (i.e. the writer who doesn't write).
But for those of us in it till the end, for those of us who enter the fray every day, this should come as a comforting thought.
Every project we undertake is a chance to improve our skills and hone our craft.
Every hardship we suffer through separates us just a bit more from the rest of the pack, as others will surely quit.
And, as others quit, we rise to the top – we become outliers.
By committing to the process (especially when it’s difficult), and having the grit to see it through, as sure as 80% of land in Italy is held by 20% of the people, you’ll find yourself, years from now, holding your “unfair” (see: completely fair) share of the success distribution.
So take heart – your project might bomb, people might ignore you, and things might not go as planned…but if you strap on your helmet, pick up your rifle, and go over the top just one more time each day, sure enough, you will find victory.
Remember, it’s not about a singular win –it’s about creating your life’s work.
And you create that one project at time, one small win at a time, over the course of your life.
Keep fighting.
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Do you really need more money in your bank account before you can create something worthwhile?
Do you really need to develop a routine before you can start making something great?
Do you really need more time in the day before you can dare boldly?
Or is it possible that you can create something worthwhile regardless of the number of zeros in your checking account; or that by making something great you create the routine you need; or that just maybe ‘no time’ is precisely the right time to dare boldly…
Writing a book, building a business, creating something without permission – these things are hard to do and they’re plagued with setbacks and failure.
Of course, the enemy knows this and uses it against us. Excuses are just another tactic used by the enemy to stop us from creating our life’s work.
But like anything the enemy throws at us, we can overcome it.
We can prepare ourselves by recognizing these universal truths of creation:
I promise you this – there are a million reasons you shouldn’t start today, why tomorrow works/feels/seems better – but none of these reasons matter. They don’t keep you from doing the work: you do.
With a simple choice, right now, you delay building your worthwhile project.
Or, with the same simple choice, right now, you begin building your empire.
The choice is yours every day.
There will never be a perfect time, place, or set of companions for you to begin your journey.
There will always be mountains to climb, swamps to traverse and dragons to slay.
This isn’t a reason not to start, it’s the reason you MUST start - otherwise there is no journey, no hero, and no story worth telling.
The crazy reality of life is this: it isn’t training. This isn’t a sparring competition getting you ready for the actual fight.
This is it.
This is the real thing. This is the main event. You were born into it. You have one life to live - no do overs, no second chances.
So you have a choice: fight like hell or throw the match.
Either way, you’re going to take a hit (many hits, actually).
While it might seem like throwing the match, which requires less of your energy and strength up front, is the easier choice, the fact is this: you’re going to take way more hits throwing the match than if you stand your ground, keep your gloves up, and hit back.
And I’m sorry to say but opting out to spectate or referee isn’t an option. You might not like it, but that’s the reality.
So how will you fight?
Is by starting.
Start right now. Not tomorrow, not next week - right now.
Now is the best time for you to start; now is the best place for you to begin your journey; now is the best way for you to climb the mountain and slay your dragon.
It’s not easy, but let’s be honest: would you have it any other way?
Good luck and keep fighting.
[infopane color="1" icon="0101.png"]Last week, I wrote a post about overcoming drag. Today, I want to dig deeper into drag itself, its cause and effect, and the only way to avoid drag entirely. Thanks to Alan at The 365 Effect (twitter: @the365effect) for the inspiration.[/infopane]
Drag, in relation to flight, is a mechanical force that acts against the force of the aircraft as it flies through the air.
Drag, for the creative entrepreneur (writer, artist, entrepreneur, etc), is the energy-depleting self-doubt that plagues long, creative journeys.
Drag can cripple your goals and bury your project.
Whether you’re writing a book, building a business, or starting a revolution, you will experience drag.
Drag hits hardest when we’re deep inside the creative war – when we’re experiencing the isolation and loneliness of creation.
Drag is easy to recognize: you will notice it when you start questioning why you’re doing what you’re doing and when you begin putting work off until “later.”
Later is one of the most destructive words in the English language; when we let it enter our vocabulary in regards to our project or goals, it’s a clear sign we’re experiencing drag.
Drag is essentially the compounding and cumulative effect of the Enemy’s Negative Self-Talk Propaganda.
As long as you’re trying something new, doing something unconventional, or creating something from scratch (i.e. instigating), you will experience drag.
This is because drag itself is an indiscriminate reaction to instigation.
Newton’s Third Law states: “to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
The equal and opposite reaction to instigating is drag.
When an aircraft flies, the force of the jet engine meets with aerodynamic friction. This friction, like all friction, is a reaction to things that challenge the natural repose (see: sedentary state) of our environment. So anytime an aircraft takes off, it experiences friction (in other words: drag).
Like the aircraft, when we take off (instigate), we experience our own type of drag.
There is a big difference between the natural state of a thing and its intended state.
The aircraft, by its nature as a physical object, bound and limited by the physics of the world, should stay grounded. If the aircraft stays grounded, it experiences no friction, no drag whatsoever.
Interestingly enough, while staying grounded is the aircrafts natural state, it was not designed for this.
The aircraft is designed to fly. It is the intention of the designer for the aircraft to fly, to stay ungrounded, and thus experience the friction and drag created from flight.
In a way, the intentional state of the aircraft is to challenge its natural state.
By its very existence, the aircraft is an act of defiance.
The human being, by his nature as a physical being, should stay grounded.
He shouldn’t fly, build skyscrapers, or write poetry; these are hardly survival mechanisms, and in many ways, decrease our survivability. If we stay grounded, we experience no friction and no drag; we increase our survivability; we act in accordance with our nature and stay safely within tribal boundaries.
But like the aircraft, human beings weren’t designed for this.
We were designed to create, to risk, and to build. We were designed to instigate.
When we instigate, we automatically move in opposition of the status quo, challenge the tribe, and become outliers. By instigating, we are creating a force that must, by its nature, experience drag.
The intentional state of the human being is to challenge his natural state.
We are, by our very existence, an act of defiance.
It follows then, that the only way to avoid drag is to stop instigating; it’s to cease moving against the current and instead move with the current.
If everyone is moving toward door A, the only way to avoid friction, to avoid drag, is to move with everyone else toward door A.
People who don’t set goals, who go with the flow, and who let life happen to them rarely, if ever, experience drag. The only time they might experience drag is during those fleeting moments when thoughts of what could be enter their mind; but this experience of drag is just as short lived as their dreams.
So, if you want to avoid drag entirely, simply stop creating.
We’ll continue to instigate, to create, to do bold things.
And yes, that means we’ll experience drag, but that's a good thing; it means we're moving against the current.
“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” [G.K. Chesterton]
Keep pressing, keep fighting, keep creating.
It’s tough, time-consuming work to finish a project.
While there is always an optimistic energy when we begin a project, finishing takes time, energy (physical and emotional), and comes with no guarantee of success.
When we’re doing something that requires our daily, personal energy to accomplish, a lengthy project can wear us down and make us question our efforts.
This is drag.
And unless you do something about it, this energy-depleting self-doubt (aka: drag) will bury you.
If you find yourself experiencing drag, there are two techniques you can use to reenergize your effort and avoid burnout:
Before you scrap your project or give up on your goal, take a knee.
Sometimes the constant effort we put into a project wears us down. When you’re going full speed every day, it’s hard to recognize the success we’ve had thus far. Without recognizing our accomplishments, it’s hard to continue fighting - the emotional drain can sometimes be more detrimental than the physical drain.
Taking even just the shortest moment to collect yourself, relax, and take a breath can do wonders for your project and almost certainly ensure you go back into the arena with more passion, strength and commitment than ever.
The worst time to question strategy is in a tactical fight.
In other words, it does us no good to question why we’re doing something when we’re in the thick of the fight.
Why? Because it’s difficult, if not impossible to judge your progress.
Have you taken or lost ground? Are you closer to reaching your objective? Is your strategy still based on known conditions or have circumstances changed?
These are questions that are impossible to answer when you’re on the ground taking daily action to develop your project.
So don’t ask yourself these things – now’s not the time.
Right now is the time for you to put one foot in front of the other; to put effort and energy into the task right in front of you; to keep pressing forward.
If that means writing one more sentence, write one more sentence.
If that means making one more sales call, make the call.
If that means starting over at day 1 to create (or break) a habit, start at day 1.
The truth is, there are none.
Neither of these two techniques will guarantee your success.
Your project might never come together the way you want it to, your final product might not live up to expectations, or people might dismiss what you create.
These things might not work out and this is a tough thing to accept.
But if they might not work out, it also means they could.
And if they could work, it’s your job as an instigator to do everything in your power to see if they can work.
So if you’re committed to the fight, if you’re certain this is your path, and if you’re determined to see it through to the end (win or lose), then don’t let drag beat you down: take a knee and keep pressing.
The Conventional Entrepreneuren·tre·pre·neur:
"The owner or manager of a business enterprise who, by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits"
The entrepreneur seeks to make a profit – at least, conventionally speaking.
The conventional entrepreneur believes he can do something better (cheaper, faster, closer etc.) than what exists in the market place.
He builds something to fill a need in exchange for profit, and, we might imagine, does so because profit is the goal.
art·ist:
"One, such as a painter, sculptor, or writer, who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value, especially in the fine arts"
The artist creates things of aesthetic value – again, at least conventionally speaking.
The artist does what he is compelled to do – which is to create art. The artist creates what doesn’t exist, and, we might imagine, does so because he loves his craft intrinsically.
I propose a third option.
Someone who loves the process as much as the potential impact; who wouldn’t create if it didn’t affect others powerfully and positively; who takes himself seriously enough to do the terrifying, creative things others would gladly avoid.
I propose the idea of an entrepreneur who doesn’t create solely for return on investment, and an artist who doesn’t create solely for internal self-satisfaction.
I propose a hybrid: the Creative Entrepreneur.
cre·a·tive en·tre·pre·neur:
One whose business is an extension of one’s personality and art; whose purpose is creating something bigger than oneself, something that can grow and expand, but never at the expense of creating art as a gift; who seeks true freedom, even if it means uncertainty or failure; who desires self-determination, even if it means challenging the tribe; who does the hard, creative work, day in and day out, because it matters.
The Creative Entrepreneur weaves his art into every project, like AJ Leon from Misfits Inc. (twitter: @ajleon)
The Creative Entrepreneur invents beautiful, practical tools that enhance our lives, like Nate Kutsko of Kutsko Kitchen (twitter: @kutskokitchen)
The Creative Entrepreneur tells a story through film and story (and teaches others how to do the same), like Benjamin Jenks from Adventure Sauce (twitter: @benjaminojenks), or writes to inspire writers, like Jeff Goins from Goinswriter.com (twitter: @JeffGoins ).
This concept is nothing new – the Creative Entrepreneur has always existed (from Archemides to Da Vinci to Ford).
But now, becoming a Creative Entrepreneur isn’t just more attainable than it’s ever been, it’s more imperative.
The ordinary fades away, the average is ignored, and the usual is just that (and lost in the noise).
But the Creative Entrepreneur stands out, sticks around, and leaves an impact.
The life of the Creative Entrepreneur isn’t easy, nor is it comfortable.
But it’s not supposed to be.
We need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable. [G. K. Chesterton]
This is the 3rd episode of “In the Trenches: The Resistance Broadcast Interview Series” and today I had the honor of interviewing Jeff Goins.
[Listen to the Interview by clicking this link]
Jeff is a successful blogger, published author, and a self declared writer.
Jeff Started his blog in 2010. In less than 2 years time he grew his readership to an impressive 100,000 people a month.
Jeff has been featured in RELAVANT magazine, Problogger, Copyblogger, Zenhabits.net, and many other publications.
You can find his most recent book Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into your Comfortable Life online and in bookstores around the world.
This interview is a MUST listen. Jeff gives so much great information and has such an amazing perspective on writing, publishing, business and life in general.
If you're a writer (or anything you do involves writing of any sort) you NEED to listen - I promise you won't be disappointed.
You can read more about Jeff Goins at GoinsWriter.com.
I highly suggest you subscribe to his newsletter - it's really great content.
If you liked this interview, share it with everyone you know and reach out to Jeff and thank him!
***
In the Trenches: Episode 1 With Al Pittampalli
In the Trenches: Episode 2 With Clay Hebert
p.s. leave a comment below and let us know what you're struggling with or where you're having success (writing, business, blog or life related - anything goes).
p.p.s. subscribe to The Resistance Broadcast and never miss a broadcast. Plus, receive exclusive content just for members (100% free). Never fight alone. Join The Resistance.
