I wrote 56 blogs & stories this past year, some good, some so-so. However, each one had a prompt, a poke or a prod. Here are ten gems I pulled from the archives to help inspire both of us to keep our eye on the prize, and our hearts running way ahead of our head:
1. When one of us artists/treps produces work that reaches so high, and shines so bright, it provokes all of us to up our game.
2. While these may be tough times for the “prudent,” who busy themselves with the process of getting it right, these are golden times for the “audacious,” who busy themselves with the process of testing new ideas, taking creative risks, and inventing new ways to get their best work out there, any way they can.
3. Fortunately, artists and entrepreneurs are blessed with an amazing ability to create their way out of crummy circumstances, turn failures into a life-experience, and transform a stalled career into an amazing comeback!
4. Chasing your dreams around in another location doesn’t guarantee you’ll catch them, it just expands the circumference of the chase. You’re still you. And no matter how far you go to run down your dream, you’ll still be you.
5. Frustration is a sign that you’re working really hard, mentally and physically, on something worthy of your talent and deserving of your creative expertise. Amateurs eventually get defeated and toss in the towel. Pro artists & treps just get frustrated and keep working.
6. “Clear thinking” is logical, predictable, unsurprising and rational. It can also stifle your creativity and dam up your constant free-flowing stream of crazy, genius ideas. Therefore, the very last thing we want when we’re in the zone of creating, designing or inventing, is to be clear thinking.
7. I know it can be defeating, I have felt the agony of defeat too. However, defeat shows that we’re on the playing field where victory lives. We’re not just on the sidelines hoping to get into the game.
8. Bringing in outside thinking, like a mentor, a thought partner, or an insightful coach, always moves the ball. They provide a unique POV which sparks creativity, ignites innovation, jumpstarts enthusiasm and offers a new perspective on challenging career choices and business decisions. When you’re stuck at the crossroads, ask for direction.
9. Remain aware, awake, mindful and conscious! Have your thoughts, words, actions and heart all moving in the same direction!
10. The most important part of being an “outlier” is an absence of formula. Outliers follow no rules, predicts, manuals or guidelines. Outliers hold on to the trapeze for dear life as they fly without a net! Like that time in 2017, when Alex Honnold climbed the 7500 ft. granite monolith “El Capitan” in Yosemite, with just his fingertips and toes; no ropes, leads or Sherpas. Why would you settle for anything less? Don’t you know there is an outlier already embedded in your bones?
Important because to dream the impossible dream means we need to fight the unbeatable foe. Which means we need to be willing to march into hell for heavenly cause, no matter how hopeless no matter how far!