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Your work is not you craft.

It may look like I’m a photographer. But what I do is not about photography. What I do is about helping people remember what it felt like to be here. The “here” part changes, but the “remember what it felt like” part never will. The tools change, but the reason I’m using them never will.

Your work is not your systems.

It may look like the system you use is your work. But your work has nothing to with any system. It’s just a tool. It helps you make stuff you’re meant to make, but it is not your work. The tools change, but the reasons we use them never will.

What you make, what you share, what you change, what you give: That’s your work.

Your work will always be personal. It will always come from you but it will always be for others. Because if we try to make art about us we will never make art. If we try to make art about a system, about our craft, or about the tools we use, we will never make art. Art happens when you straddle safe and dangerous. Where there’s no more hiding behind your tools or process. When the curtain is open and you’re about to perform. This is what everyone has shown up to see. If you feel like you’re in that place, you can’t stop there, you’re about to make art. You’re about to do your work.

Your-Work-Is-Not-Your-Craft

Don’t make about the tools. Make it about making.

Happy Friday!

Question: How would you define your work? Try to do it without including your craft, systems, or tools. Now how would you define it? That’s the real story you’re trying to tell.

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I hope you guys understand that when I write about these things, I’m writing to me too. When I say things like Make Stuff, and Find Your Wilderness, I say them because I need to remember that too. I am not exempt from having to wake up and make the daily decision to fight like hell. Neither are you.

When I say make stuff, when I say find your wilderness, I don’t mean someday when you get around to it. I mean right now. Start today. The only way you find those tug-at-your-heart kind of adventures. The only way you find ways to make something only you can make is to start making a lot of stuff. It might suck at first, that’s ok. Make it better.

I love this quote I heard John Maxwell say on a podcast recently:

“There’s no such thing as getting it right. There’s just getting Started.”

Don’t cheat us out of you. Don’t deprive the universe of what you have to offer because you’re waiting for the right time or the right opportunity. Forget all that because there is no getting it right. There’s only getting started.
John C. Maxwell quotes

Get started, today. Make stuff.

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You ever have an opportunity come in to your life and you just feel like you can’t not do it? Think back over you life to this point. The people who have influenced it, the places you’ve been, the projects you’ve worked on, the work you’ve done. What are the moments that stand out? What are the connectors? What made you feel alive?

I think of “purpose” like an arch. An arch over my entire life and when I look back, I can see “spikes” like a line graph that reach up to that line. Like there were certain times I would reach it and I can remember what that felt like. I see those points that have fallen on a line and I can start to draw a picture to discover this common theme in my life. The more connector points I can find, the clearer the picture becomes. It might be fuzzy, but the clues lead to a trail I can’t not take.

The idea of “Finding Purpose” can be overwhelming but I think what it really comes down to is this: what would you do anyway? Even if no one ever cared. If no one ever took notice, if you never made money, what would you do anyway? What are those things you can’t not do? (Side note: You probably will make money. I hope you make all of it. 🙂 )
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I really don’t believe that it has to be just one thing. It may be a number of things that fall under the same theme. Whatever it is, the sooner we start to draw the picture, the sooner we can see what it looks like. I feel like the problem with thinking about these things is that we get so caught up on doing the right things, so afraid to go in the wrong direction, we just don’t go anywhere. Don’t miss the thing when you’re searching for the right thing.

The things you can’t not do. Pay attention to those. Do those. Because your “can’t no dos” are probably just my “can’t dos” or “won’t dos.” We need the stuff you can’t not do. Make that stuff.

Happy Tuesday!

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I just want you to ask one question of yourself today: Who are you making this for?

Who-are-you-making-this-for

Maybe you’re a writer. Maybe you’re a photographer, designer, musician. To those who make stuff for a living, who do you make it for? Stop what you’re doing and answer this question right now. Answer it as honestly and as detailed as you can.

 

Happy Monday!

*If you have an answer already, I’d love to hear it.* 🙂

 

 

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I like to dream stuff up. It happens so frequently that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Just ask Jen Creed 😉 It’s not only that I dream stuff up, it’s that I go from having a dream, to living the dream in about 20 seconds. I don’t give it time to grow. It’s 0-60. The danger of this, is killing your dream before it even starts.

When you think up a crazy idea, one of those “This might not work…. But what if it did?” kind of ideas, you have to give it some time to grow. Here are some ideas on giving an awesome idea a fighting chance.

Talk To The Right People About It.

In the beginning, only talk to people who you know are going to encourage not challenge. (There’s a time for challenge, but not yet.) Having the right conversations with a few good friends about your idea can help to slow you down while giving you a fresh perspective at the same time. This is important because these are the people who can stop your 0-60 mindset. In contrast, talking to the wrong people can kill you baby idea faster than you can. So pay attention to the way people talk about certain things around you. They may be good friends and mean well but we want to grow slowly, not stop altogether. Guard that idea around those people.

Think Wildly Unrealistic, And Wildly Attainable

If you just have to, go to the extreme of how awesome it would be if THIS happened. Take it to the wildly unrealistic. Then bring it back to the wildly attainable. What it look like if only this happened? Don’t start there, go just beyond that and start there. Somewhere almost to wildly unrealistic  is where I want to end up, so why would I try to start there? Don’t set yourself up for failure or mediocrity. Slow growth is the only growth. But always be thinking: How Far Can I Go?

Start. (This is what starting looks like)

I mean start figuring out how to realistically make it happen.  Don’t spend too much time planning and talking about. Just freaking do it. Make a simple plan, talk some awesome people about it, think how far can I go? Then go there.

Giving legs to a dream is scary because you want to do it right, right? You want to make sure that everything is perfectly in place so it can have a fighting chance. But I think the greatest assassins of great ideas are: Perfection, Fear, and Over-Complication.
Assassins-of-a-great-idea

 

Don’t be afraid to start because you’re afraid to fail.

Don’t be afraid to start because it’s not perfect.

Don’t be afraid to start because it’s not as big and awesome and epic as it could be.

Don’t go from having a dream to living the dream in a matter of seconds. Give it time to grow. Give yourself time to grow. You’ll thank you for it later when you’re winning. 🙂

Happy Friday, folks!

Question:
Have you ever gone from having a dream to living the dream too fast in your mind? Did anything ever come of it?

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