Some days, I know exactly what to write, what to build, and what to develop.
Every so often, I'm hit with a rush of ideas as I'm driving home, reading a book, or going for a long run. The ideas are clear and I know exactly what I need to say, build, or write.
When I get home to my office, it's on.
These days are good.
Other days, the ideas don't come so easily.
On these days, I'm blank.
I know I have to write, but when I sit down, nothing comes to me. I stare at a blank screen and every attempt to fill it with an idea comes up short. It's infuriating.
These are the tough days.
And they happen the majority of the time.
Having no clear idea what I intend to write on a daily basis isn't the worst part.
The worst part is knowing beforehand that I have nothing to write.
That's when the fear hits:
"I shouldn't be doing this - I'm not good enough."
"What am I doing?"
"People will see I'm a phony...my stuff's not worth reading...this is a waste of time..."
These thoughts come to me on those blank days (every time without fail).
When the fear hits on those blank days, it's important - I would hazard to say mandatory - to slow down.
Identifying and understanding this fear as just that - fear - helps to quiet the negative self-talk propaganda.
This leads to an important realization: this fear inducing pressure is fabricated; it's a direct result of the importance we attribute to the results of our work.
And the results are important - but they're not more important than the process itself.
The process: that is why we do what we do (the artist, the creative entrepreneur, the unconventional leader).
We do it because the process is art, it's a gift, and, by giving and creating daily, we inexorably create our life's work.
It's easy to let the pressure of writing keep us from writing.
It's understandable to let the fear of shame keep us from creating.
It's almost forgivable to let the fear of failure keep us from starting, finishing and shipping...
But then we become exactly we set out to change: the status quo.
No, creating, building a business and leading aren't for everyone.
But if they are for you, then go to work every day (the disruption of the status quo depends on it).
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.
It’s simple enough to understand that you must instigate to be successful.
It’s much more difficult to put this understanding to use.
And if our logical conclusions aren’t actionable, what’s the point?
Here are a few quick tips I’ve compiled from some extremely clever, creative and successful people on how they created great works (everything from successful blogs, to best-selling books and cashflowing startups).
Note: I took the liberty to elaborate on their original ideas. If you discovered a different but noteworthy lesson that I didn’t cover, let me know in the comments below!
I hope this helps (I know it’s helping me as I start on my next major book project and an even more epic business project - more updates on that later).
Enjoy
Credit: Al Pittampalli (successful entrepreneur and author of Read This Before Our Next Meeting)
In a compelling and insightful interview I did with Al Pittampalli (compelling and insightful because of Al, not my interviewing skills), Al explained the first draft of his book came off a little stiff and lacked personality.
Al knew he needed to find his own voice, so he looked for inspiration and found it, of all places, in the movie Jerry McGuire. There is a scene in the movie where Jerry, the protagonist, has an epiphany and stays up all night to write a manifesto on his business.
Al did a quick search online and found the actual manifesto (a bit of trivia: the writer of the script, Cameron Crowe, actually wrote out a full length manifesto to help Tom Cruise get into character on the movie set). After reading the manuscript, he knew it was the perfect style for his book.
“Why don’t I try, instead of using my own voice, to use Jerry McGuire’s voice.” [Al Pittampalli]
For the next several weeks, Al woke up early in the morning (3am) and pretended to be Jerry McGuire as he rewrote his book.
Instead of losing his voice, he was able to refine and develop his own.
Thanks to just a bit of inspiration-seeking, we now have an incredibly powerful book that is uniquely Al.
Credit: Hugh MacLeod (artist and author of Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity)
The most creative, ambitious, and daring ideas are, by their nature, personal. So friends, family, and peers can’t help you.
Nobody can understand your art or your project better than you. You know your art deeply and personally; others only see the surface.
The more mad or bold the art, the less likely someone can give you good advice on what to do, how to do it, or if you should even attempt it in the first place.
“The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you.” [How to Be Creative]
Instead of asking for advice, go make your project or art the way you want it made.
Credit: Tom Morkes (yea, I'm crediting myself - that’s how I roll).
I’ve listened to hundreds of podcasts, read hundreds of books, absorbed a lot of information from a lot of different people, and put it all to work in various ways throughout my life, including during active duty military service. You might expect there’s a unifying technique on how things ought to be done if you want to be successful.
The truth is – there isn’t.
Some writers wake up early– others work better midnight to dawn; some leaders yell a lot, others are quiet and contemplative; some entrepreneurs develop multiple businesses simultaneously, others only one and focus their entire energy behind it.
Every single writer, designer, artist, entrepreneur, leader and warrior has his own rituals, schedule, and techniques; no two share the same.
So the point is this: If you’re stuck, don’t worry about figuring out whether Twitter is better than Facebook is better than Pinterest is better than whatever for conversion.
Focus on what matters: the work only you can do, in the way only you can do it.
There’s no one right answer; only a bunch of imperfect solutions.
You won’t know which is best for you until you start (finish, and ship).
Go instigate.
p.s. what are your best creative hacks to get unstuck and kick start your project? Let us know in the comments below!
Here is the 2nd episode of “In the Trenches: The Resistance Broadcast Interview Series” and today I had the honor of interviewing Clay Hebert.
[Listen to the Interview by clicking this link]
Clay is an entrepreneur, blogger, multitasking ninja, and all around instigator.
Clay began his career at Accenture. After ten years at Accenture, Clay left corporate America and got his MBA from Seth Godin.
Currently, Clay is building Spindows.com, a new startup that will change the way organizations collaborate (think of it like speed dating + skype + your organization).
Clay has created a number of startups, including: Tribes Win, a marketing strategy and innovation agency, where he helped brands lead their tribes. More recently, Clay began a new project called Work Hacks, where he helps people live a more productive, efficient, and streamlined lifestyle.
You can read Clay’s blog and find out more about him at Daily Sense.
Clay is a sought after speaker, writer, and entrepreneur, and this interview is essential listening for anyone looking to start their own project (book, business, or blog).
In this interview, we cover:
You can read more about Tribes Win here, Work Hacks here, and read Clay’s blog here.
Be sure to check out Spindows here, and read up on some of the interviews Clay has done regarding the new platform he is developing (very interesting stuff).
If you liked this interview, share it with everyone you know and reach out to Clay and thank him!
***
Some other highlights from our conversation:
Purple Cow: The essential guide on marketing and creating remarkable products.
War: A nonfiction work that follows a group of soldiers in Afghanistan - not for the feint of heart.
Crush It!: If you want to dominate in the online arena, you need to leverage the connection economy.
The Lean Startup: An incredible book on the power of validating an idea before you begin, failing fast and scaling fast (with minimal resources - great for the solopreneur).
Launchrock: Starting a project? Validate it first.
Skillshare: Have something worth teaching? Make money sharing your knowledge!
***
If you haven't had a chance, catch In the Trenches: Episode 1 here.
Every entrepreneur, artist, inventor, warrior and explorer must be a little mad.
It takes someone just a slight bit off - someone a bit weird, unusual or odd - to lead without permission.
There’s no good reason to go against the grain, to try something that might not work, or to stand up and take ownership over your actions and results.
Instigating is completely inadvisable.
And because it’s inadvisable, nobody is doing it – at least nobody in their right mind.
And that’s exactly why we need it.
If the instigator wasn't mad he wouldn't set audacious goals, he wouldn't limit his options, and he wouldn't start for no other reason than “because.”
And he wouldn't be an instigator.
Without the instigator, we wouldn't have miraculous charities, inconceivable books, or incredible breweries.
Without the instigator, we wouldn't have change, growth or improvement.
And without madness, we wouldn't have the instigator.
So go on, be a little weird, be slightly off, be a bit mad.
We need it.
If he waits for the ideal moment, he will never set off. The Warrior requires a touch of madness to take the next step. [Paulo Coelho]
Starting down the path to success is simple.
To be successful at anything, you must commit.
But committing to anything means you make a transition.
When you commit, you transition from someone who dabbles to someone who goes all in; from someone who quits when things break to someone who takes it all the way; from someone who lets the claustrophobia of determination keep them from pursuing something worthwhile, to someone willing to face the loneliness of creation without hesitation.
When you commit, you make the transition from Hobbyist to Professional.
This transition changes everything.
Transitioning from Hobbyist to Professional changes your priorities.
When you finally take yourself and your work seriously enough to sell your product, you will find that things in your life start to prioritize themselves organically.
The things you thought were important - like watching the news or knowing pop culture trivia - fade to the background and become superfluous.
The things you had initially avoided as unnecessary discomforts – waking up early, writing every day, or never ending the day without a sale – become your lifeblood.
Transitioning from Hobbyist to Professional not only alters your priorities, it forces you to identify your focus.
In order to instigate (start, finish, and ship) successfully, you will need to focus entirely on one end-state, and this end-state will require all your time, energy and creativity to bring to fruition; it requires everything you've got.
To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence. [Turning Pro]
Becoming a Professional is no joke.
Nothing great is created by half-hearted commitment, lack of follow through, or someone unwilling to take it all the way.
The Professional understands this and acts accordingly.
Success requires commitment and only the Professional, not the Hobbyist, is ready to take on the pain, heartache and seriousness of commitment.
Committing itself is simple: all you have to do is choose one end-state and make sure you get there (no matter what).
The difficult part of commitment isn’t the focusing on one end-state, nor the grit it takes to bring that end-state into existence (although that requires something special too); the difficult part is what focusing on one end-state means for everything else in your life.
Commitment means purposefully ignoring other end-states, other projects, and other courses of action.
Commitment to anything (a healthier lifestyle, a new project, your life’s work) means you discriminate; that you choose one goal over another.
Commitment means you close doors; that the only door you leave open is the one that leads to your chosen goal.
Wishing never solved the problem. If you wanna get it big time, go ahead and get it, get it big time. [Yeasayer]
When we commit, we inevitably lose out on other paths, other ambitions, and other goals.
Sometimes it even means losing out on the people closest to us.
To do that willingly is tough. It’s scary. It's madness.
There’s nothing easy about commitment, which is exactly why most people don’t commit and instead “keep their options open” into eternity…
But here’s the catch: We think keeping our options open gives us safety, or power, or certainty.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The only way to guarantee failure is to never close any doors at all.
All you have to do to make sure you never build your empire, or develop that healthy lifestyle, or create your life’s work, is to keep all your options open, to never close yourself off to anything, and to stay available ad infinitum; to seek and scan for success, but never focus to bring it into existence.
Closing doors is scary; you might choose the wrong one, miss a great opportunity, or regret the choice you make.
Close a door and something bad might happen.
You might fail.
Keeping all your doors open is comforting; you never have to live with the pain of second-guessing your choice, the regret of choosing wrong, or the responsibility of creating your life's work.
Keep all your doors open and nothing will happen.
You're guaranteed to fail.
There is no scarcity of opportunity…only scarcity of resolve to make it happen. [Wayne W. Dyer]
The choice is yours.
Creating anything takes guts; I explained that in depth in my book The Art of Instigating.
It takes guts because you're going to take a hit (no question about it), and taking a hit isn't pleasant.
Nobody WANTS to take a hit.
But the person unwilling to take a hit might as well stay out of the arena.
The boxer not willing to get knocked down shouldn't enter the ring, just like the creator/producer/writer/inventor not willing to fail should avoid creating art.
When you step into the ring - when you enter the arena - you will take a hit.
If you’re not ready to deal with it – to take a hit and to hit back – you’ve lost before you even started.
Most people don’t commit.
Most people don’t go all in.
Most people don’t burn the boat.
As soon as you make up your mind to do all three, you’ve just eliminated 90% of the competition.
Why? Because most people don’t commit, when things get difficult (and they always do), they throw in the towel.
After all, what’s the point of going through the pain of taking another hit when you had no intention of making it to the last round in the first place?
Most people dabble – most people are hobbyists – and when the real pain of creating, building and inventing sets in, they throw in the towel and walk away.
Eventually you’ll get hit.
No matter how good a boxer, no matter how great a writer, designer, builder, entrepreneur or inventor, you will experience rejection, setback and failure.
You can’t avoid taking a hit, but you can train yourself to take a hit (and hit back).
The hobbyist spends his energy trying to avoid taking a hit. When the hit comes (and it always does), he's done.
The hobbyist never commits.
The professional – the person serious about what he's doing – is willing to take a hit and knows how to hit back.
The professional commits.
And because the professional commits, he has very little competition from the hobbyists.
The professional will inevitably find success - he’s in it to the end.
The hobbyist is done before he starts.
Which are you?
This is a word not used often enough to describe the type of product we SHOULD be trying to produce.
When we create a remarkable product, it means we’ve built something that not only impacts the person receiving the product (consumer, purchaser, reader, etc.), but we’ve impacted them in such a way that they tell others about the product.
This is the quintessential element to virality.
Viral content becomes viral because it’s something worth sharing, spreading, and talking about with others.
If the product or project isn’t remarkable, it can’t become viral (the product can be remarkable and not viral, but a viral product cannot be unremarkable).
Remarkable does not mean good; it doesn’t mean perfect; it doesn’t mean cheapest, fastest or strongest; it doesn’t even mean best.
Remarkable means, for whatever reason, the person receiving the product wants (is compelled) to share and spread the word.
That’s exactly how I felt with Seth Godin’s Kickstarter project for The Icarus Deception. And I’m actually not even talking about his new book, The Icarus Deception (which is in and of itself remarkable), but about his limited edition compilation book: “This Might Work / This Might Not Work” (an abridged, physically smaller version will be released around Christmas and it’s titled: Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?)
The pictures don't do the actual product justice:
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It’s massive, it’s beautiful, it’s unique, it’s spellbinding, it’s impressive, it’s unexpected, it’s one of a kind, it’s generous, it's epic, it’s art…
It is remarkable.
This book - “This Might Work / This Might Not Work” – just raised the bar in terms of producing something worthwhile, epic, and generous; it raised the bar for remarkable.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the next thing you must produce should be an enormous compilation of your work via a successful Kickstarter campaign.
What it means is that if you care hard enough to be remarkable, the product you create will show it.
Keep working, keep creating, and keep building.
And, above all, never stop caring – we need more remarkable products.
p.s. Thanks Seth for caring and making something remarkable
In the first part of this series, I described the conventional forces of the Enemy – the Army of Bad Habits (the largest of Enemy forces)
In the second part of this series, I explained the unconventional force of the Enemy: Negative Self-Talk Propaganda (the most insidious of Enemy forces).
In this third part of the series, we will examine who leads these Enemy forces, why he is invincible, and what we can do to outwit and beat him.
The leader of the Enemy forces isn't your boss or your competitor; it’s not the world conspiring against you; it’s not your bad luck or your genetics.
The leader of the Enemy is nothing external at all.
The leader of the Enemy is the battle-hardened, combat-veteran Commanding General: your brain stem.
The brain stem is that small part of your brain, way in the back, which connects to the spinal column.
“The brain stem is the Commanding General of the Army of Bad Habits, and it will stop at nothing to keep you from creating your life’s work.” [The Art of Instigating]
The brain stem is the conduit from your brain to the rest of your body, and it controls life-sustaining, essential functions, including your heart beat and central nervous system.
That’s right: the same thing that is essential for your existence controls the Enemy, seeks to destroy your worthwhile project and will put a halt to your life’s work if you're not aware of it.
Without the brain stem, we can’t live (hence, the brain stem is invincible).
But without outsmarting the brain stem, we can’t create our life’s work.
Outsmarting the brain stem is simple if we understand two basic facts:
1) The brain stem’s existence is to preserve itself
2) The brain stem is living thousands of years in the past
When we understand these two basic facts – that the brain stem’s motivating factor is self-preservation and that it’s living in the past – we can develop a fighting style that outwits and beats the Enemy.
Since the brain stem’s purpose is self-preservation, it hates anything that might expose us.
That’s why it’s so hard to produce creative work; when we do something extraordinary, when we become the outlier, we stand out from the pack.
And standing out from the pack does not improve our survival rate.
Because the brain stem is living thousands of years in the past, it doesn't understand that standing out from the pack today is actually nonlethal.
Today, we can separate ourselves by being great at what we do with no threat of being destroyed by wild, man-eating animals, but our brain stem doesn't understand that.
No amount of rational thought will convince it otherwise.
The brain stem is unforgiving and irrational.
For the brain stem, shipping your product to market and exposing yourself to criticism is like taking on a monster-sized, man-killing wolf with nothing but your bare hands.
It’s hard; it’s scary; you might not make it.
So how do you outsmart and beat the Commanding General of the Enemy?
You do it anyway.
To beat the Enemy, to outsmart the brain stem, all you have to do is get to work.
When you take action, go to work, and start creating, the bull**** of the Enemy goes away.
But it will come back.
It always does.
And that’s why taking action every day is so important.
No matter how many times you go up against a monster, it never gets less scary.
But every time you willingly go up against the monster, you become stronger.
When it comes to instigating your life's work, creating something worthwhile, and building your empire, your goal is to become the strongest.
So go be the strongest.
Get to work.
Note: if you haven’t read The Art of Instigating, read that first. Grab a copy for free by clicking here. It’s short and sweet, I promise.
When it comes to doing creative, courageous work, there are forces at work that act against us.
Any time we strive to create something from scratch and without permission, we go to war with the Enemy.
The Enemy is composed of two major fighting units: conventional forces (the Army of Bad Habits we’ve accumulated over the years), and unconventional forces (the voice in our head that feeds us negative self-talk propaganda).
These units are led by a hardened combat veteran that wants nothing more than to see your creative work fail: the brain stem.
To fight the Enemy, we must understand the Enemy.
We will start with the Army of Bad Habits (arguably the simplest to identify, although not necessarily the easiest to defeat).
The Army of Bad Habits is nothing more than the accumulation of years of individual negative actions repeated consistently over time.
These actions, over the course of that time, have gained brain map territory and strengthened their trench lines (neural networks).
Now, anytime we do something counter to those bad habits, it’s like trying to take down Goliath as David (but we’re stone-less and blindfolded).
Try as we might to change a bad habit, or replace a bad habit with a good habit, we still have the Enemy’s neural network deeply rooted in our brain map territory.
This is essential to understand: you will never entirely rid yourself of your bad habit, nor entirely rid yourself of the desire (no matter how faint) to repeat the bad habit.
No matter how often you repeat a good habit, it will never become fixed and automatic (but it will become easier).
The same principle that allows us to create new habits (the plasticity of the brain) is the same principle that allows old habits to strengthen and remain, to some degree, in our brain map territory.
A habit does not mean automatic and thoughtless: a habit is simply muscle memory.
We can choose to strengthen a good habit each day, or we can regress and act on the old, bad habit again (thus strengthening the old neural networks of that bad habit, no matter how many years it’s been dormant).
That’s why the person in Alcoholics Anonymous admits to being an alcoholic, but fights daily to remain sober (and, therefore, fights daily never to resume the old lifestyle, never to repeat the old, bad habit).
The plasticity of the brain is both a blessing and a curse this way.
It’s a blessing because it means we can always, ALWAYS change, no matter how far we’ve fallen, regressed, or deteriorated.
It doesn’t matter if you failed to become the person you wanted to become, or failed to write the book you dreamed of writing, or failed to start the business you envisioned years ago; every single one of these failures is nothing more than a roadblock, obstacle, or setback – none of these failures are hardwired in the brain, nor do they define us.
If we choose, we can create new habits, destroy the deep rooted bad habits, and get to work on instigating our life’s work.
You can, in fact, teach an old dog new tricks.
But only if the old dog WANTS to learn new tricks.
And here’s the curse of plasticity: nothing about creating new habits is easy.
There’s no quick fix. There’s no magic genie waiting to grant your wish at the snap of a finger.
If you continue to perpetuate your old ways, to reinforce your bad habits, the Enemy gets stronger.
The Army of Bad Habits will continue to fight to strengthen their trench lines and gain more brain map territory.
This is a war that lasts an entire lifetime, and it’s a war each and every one of us fights.
Any person looking to create something from scratch, without permission, is entering the warzone.
There are no gifted people without struggles or problems; there are no talented people that create freely and easily. That gifted, talented, and supposedly carefree inventor, designer, writer, entrepreneur, or athlete you see is fictional.
They care – and they fight, just like you and I.
There are no breaks – just our own actions, our own thoughts, and our own work.
Remember, we can break old habits and we can create new habits, no matter how old we are. That’s the beauty of brain plasticity.
But it also means, the longer we wait, the harder that fight becomes.
So pick up arms and start fighting (sit down at your desk and get to work; go to the gym and workout; throw out your processed, junk food and fill your fridge with healthy food; stop avoiding and start making calls...you get the idea).
Why?
Because your life’s work depends on it.
Continue reading part 2: THE ENEMY DEFINED (PART 2: NEGATIVE SELF-TALK PROPAGANDA)