One hour, daily. That’s a good starting point to becoming a professional creative. Whatever your art is, be it writing or gaming or music or teaching, can you spend one hour doing the work daily, preferably at a set time and place. If you can do that for 30 days, you create
Emotional labour. This is the most difficult and the highest paid labour of all. Emotional labour is about fighting your self-doubt, raising your hand and taking initiative. It’s about seeing a problem and then leading a solution without asking for permission. The more emotional labour we do, the better our careers
Finishing mindset. When we are in the finishing mindset, we stop procrastinating and focus on shipping. Nothing’s more important to us than getting the thing done. We become decisive and make choices. Activating the finishing mindset is like a switch. It takes intent to move from the perfectionist thinking mindset to
The fear of rejection. The fear of rejection forces us to delay action, to not ship. The more we listen to this fear, the more we derail from our goals. The way to handle fear of rejection, is to focus on small action steps that take you forward. Once you have covered 80% of
Do the work. No matter what the circumstances are, no matter what hell is breaking loose, there is never an excuse good enough to skip the work. The professional does not negotiate with fear. They sit down and they ship the work. The amateur does not understand this. They let the day to
Do it kindly. Whatever you do, do it kindly. Whether it is praise or feedback. Whether it is advice or a suggestion. Everyone is going through their struggle, everyone is trying to do their best, including you. So, whatever you do, do it kindly. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you
Not shipping is selfish. When we hide, when we play safe, when we don’t do our work, when we don’t share our work, we act selfish. We let our fear overcome us and stop us from acting. We steal from our audiences the experience, the magic, the certainty that comes from engaging
What did you ship today? It’s a question worth asking yourself daily. It’s a question that keeps you on the hook. It’s a question that leads to forward motion. When we ship stuff, we make things better. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share
Routines and Rituals. Routines and rituals help us in accessing our deep mind, our intelligent mind, the mind which is curious. In their absence, mostly, the shallow mind takes over, the mind that seeks instant gratification, the mind that runs away from work. As we set our routines and rituals, there would be
Making assertions A creative is required to make assertions. The nature of assertions is that they might not work. Seeking certainty limits the creative and is analogous to driving with the brakes on. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share with your friends.
Becoming aware of choice. At times, we become so used to the status quo that we start believing we do not have a choice. We do things that don’t bring us happiness, we indulge in activities that make our lives worse. It is difficult but very useful to become aware of the choice
Listening to Resistance. Resistance rarely says no. Mostly it says later. It rarely says that we are afraid. Mostly it says we are busy. The moment we start listening to Resistance, we start developing symptoms. Choose to act now, not later. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a
No stimuli. If you want to do deep work, you need to create a time-space with no stimuli. The shallow mind is too likely to succumb to anything that can distract it from the work. A lot of creative energy is drained in responding to stimuli and getting back to work. So,
Change comes through action. Change cannot come through thought, through intention, through discussion. Action, forward motion is critical for change to happen. And each of the steps towards significant change is accompanied by fear in the form of doubt, perfectionism and procrastination. The key to bringing about change is to take action before the
What's it for? It helps to identify what our project is for. What exactly will it do to serve our audience. When the “What’s it for?” is vague, the project is not as effective as it can be. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do
Gratitude is a superpower. Being thankful for the service that we receive. The teachers who teach us, who help us in levelling up. The nature that allows us to thrive. The people who push us forward. There is nothing more powerful in making life better than gratitude. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing.
When negativity takes control. When negativity takes control, we enter a dark phase. Our internal world becomes full of insecurity, doubt and fear. Creativity and initiative seem to be far away. The way out of negativity is to slow down. Take one positive action. Find your centre again. It takes effort to get out
Proving you are alive. We are alive when we explore, when we move, when we do something crazy. We are alive, when we stop hiding, when we show up, when we raise our hand. We are alive when we meet new people, build relationships, break new barriers. We need to prove to ourselves that
Resistance Log There would undoubtedly be times when we give into Resistance, when we indulge in activities that we do not want to indulge in. It’s a good idea to keep a log of these activities so that we can be in control of temptation. As Peter Drucker said, what gets
Write it down. Whatever you have in your mind, it’s very important to write it down, to convert it into specific action steps and to move forward in taking them. The mind by itself is not equipped to convert ideas into action steps. Writing helps us freeze our thoughts and to process
Resistance is insidious. Resistance, the voice of procrastination and self-doubt is insidious. It will do everything in its power to distract us from our work. We can not beat Resistance by indulging with it. We can only beat it by ignoring what it says. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you
What we can't see. As a marketer, we need to become aware of things we can’t see. What the person we seek to serve feels, what they believe, what they are not showing. It’s hard work but that’s the deal. That’s the way we can help them get what they
The good voice and the bad voice. It’s our choice which one to listen to. It’s a choice that’s presented every day. The one we choose becomes more powerful. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share with your friends.
The next project. What’s your next project? How ambitious is it? When do you plan to ship it? The next project can take us out of stagnation faster than anything else. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, do share with your friends.
Change is scary. Change is never comfortable, that’s it’s basic nature. The status quo becomes comfortable, no matter how uncomfortable it is. But change is necessary to move forward, to make progress. Doing it with intent can help us become more comfortable with it. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing.
