No fires to fight.

Sometimes, we get so used to fighting fires that we don't know what to do when there are no fires to put out anymore. One tendency, then, can be to look out for more fires to put out, and another (disastrous, to say the least) can be to

Self-inflicted wounds.

During the trench warfare in WWI, it was a not-uncommon phenomenon for soldiers to take their rifles and literally shoot themselves in the foot. The troopers would claim that the shooting was accidental. They were hoping to get sent to the hospital and thus excused from duty. They did this

Keeping a check on rationalisation.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. ~ RICHARD P. FEYNMAN, Nobel Prize–winning physicist Rationalisation stops us from looking at the hard truth. It weaves a story that dilutes the reality and provides justification for whatever conundrum we are

Creating the conditions for...

...for whatever we desire. More conversations? Go to a cafe with a book and without your phone. People feel comfortable asking what you are reading and voilà... you have a conversation. More money? Figure out what people are already paying for and are not being served well. Build trust and

It's not about you.

It's about the people you seek to serve. It's about the story they tell themselves and how engaging with your work resonates with that story. The more the creator gets away from their own heads and more into the heads and hearts of the people they

Doubling down.

We hear a lot about diversification, about spreading it out, about not investing too much in one thing. But great work and great relationships happen when we double down on what we believe is right for us. We do this especially knowing that "it might not work" (as

On all the time.

When you expect the brain to focus for hours on a stretch, it simply gives up. It will not put in the energy needed to do something tangible and make progress. Instead, it will distract us with stimuli whether it's email, social media or anything else. To get

The resolve to ship.

Desire and intention are not enough. Until we have the resolve to ship, the resolve to change the status quo, resistance will keep stopping us from shipping. It will distract us with meaningless details and keep us entangled. But, once the resolve to ship is there, we are able to

The bad days.

There are days when we have no motivation, no excitement and even no energy to do the creative work, the work that we have signed up for. The brain doesn't work, the creative juices don't flow, things just don't feel right. These are the

Fun or profit?

Are you doing it for fun, or are you doing it to earn a profit? "Both" rarely works. When you choose what's it for, you can choose to make the tough decisions that will get you the outcome you are looking for.

Finding neutral.

When we get rejected, or when something unfortunate happens that we don't seem to have control over, or when things don't go the way we intended them to, then, the natural tendency we have is to react to the situation and to try and take action

Missing a day.

When we miss a day on a habit we are trying to build, the immediate reaction is to try to make up for it the next day. That's a trap and it leads us on a slippery slope which goes like this: if you write a blog daily,

Making it easier.

There's a difference between doing the hard thing and doing it the hard way. The easier we can make doing the hard thing, the more likely it will be that we do it. For instance, if you are writing a book, it helps significantly to join a co-working

Slight discomfort.

Resistance wins because we try to avoid slight discomfort. The discomfort of closing the emails tab and opening a blank page to write. Or the discomfort of leaving the sofa and starting a workout. Once we start writing or start working out, the discomfort is no longer there. Instead of

The magic of making a start.

A few wise words from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur

One thing at a time, one day at a time.

A reminder for whenever we feel overwhelmed. We don’t have to solve everything today. We can do what we can do today. And, almost always, that’s going to be enough.

Who are you? What do you do?

A runner runs. A writer writes. A teacher teaches. Choose your identity, choose your work, choose your future.

Unhelpful assumptions.

We all make assumptions all the time. Some of them are helpful, some of them not so much. If we can learn to discern between the two, can we also choose to let go of the unhelpful ones? It might be a skill worth learning.

Embracing constraints.

Constraints are good for creativity. They allow flow to happen. When there are no constraints, we tend to give into entropy and nothing tangible gets created. Even when they are not there by default, we can choose to add constraints by design.

Who gives you energy?

And who drains it? How can you engage more with the former? And less with the latter?

Will they tell the others?

How can you create the conditions for your work to spread? How can you make it irresistible for those who engage with your work to talk about it? And, how is fear stopping you from doing this with intent?

Putting on a show.

It's safe to be behind the scenes and keep working hard trying to make our work/project better. But, if we are unwilling to put on a show, we do not have a right to complain that the audience didn't show up. This is another leap

Finite is doable.

Make your project smaller. Make it finite. Make it doable. Big, ambitious projects get done by shipping small, specific, finite versions.

What you don't ask for...

You either don't get it. Or you leave it to chance. We can create the conditions to get what we need or want. And a crucial part of it is making the ask. “Many years ago, the Detroit newspapers carried a feature story about a monstrous insurance policy

This might not work.

There is magic in "this might not work". It brings a lightness to the process. It allows for creativity and audacity. It allows us to focus on the process and finetune it. "This might not work" creates possibility that can't be accessed with a