Creative Pep Talk
032 - Kick Butts Today
Hey y'all, just a quick heads up. The episode you're about to listen to is 8 to 10 years old. Now these episodes were intended to be evergreen and I still believe there's a lot of good information in these early episodes, but I do want to let you know that some of my ideas have evolved over time. Times have changed since we made these episodes and ultimately I'd like to think I've grown a lot as an artist and a human and that these don't necessarily represent my best work or the best of the podcast. If you're new around here, I suggest starting with the most recent episode or at least go back to around 300 and move forward from there. Enjoy the episode. the holidays are here, you gotta find a unique gift for Uncle Derek and your sister, Cassieree and her kids, Jetson and Jettin, Jirfree and Jagab and another two Jay kids. There's so much thinking, so much searching. Plus there's the ethical thing, you gotta shop small, it just, it's a lot, but it doesn't have to be. Uncommon Goods makes all of this simple and straightforward, for real. The site is chock full of unique and interesting gifts that also support small businesses. My fam loves advent calendars. I think Sophie would like the Stitch-a-Day advent calendar and 12 days of hot sauce is definitely shouting my name, sorry that wasn't me, that was the 12 days of hot sauce calendar shouting. We had tons of fun browsing the site for ourselves and kids and family to get 15% off your next gift. Go to uncommongoods.com/peptalk, that's uncommongoods.com/peptalk for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer, uncommon goods, we're all out of the ordinary. Well, it's the creativepeptalk podcast with me, Andy J. Miller. If you don't know, I'm an illustrator and I make stuff, I make pictures for a living. All right, well you know what, it's the creativepeptalk and I have been pepping myself up so that I can get you pepped up. I've been trying to get into my zone of excitement about creativity and what this podcast is about and I'm just feeling super pumped today and I feel like I have so many things to share with you. I have tons of things that I want to say that I hope help you get psyched out of your mind about the work that you do. But first, you know, I want to say that you can listen to the podcast online at illustrationage.com/creativepeptalk. Illustrationage is this awesome illustration website and they're fighting for illustration. So today I wanted to talk to you about things you can do today, things that you have the power to invest and do things today that can dramatically affect your path and how far you're going and how well things are going. But first I just wanted to talk about, you know, why do I do this podcast? Why do I spend the time every week to pull myself into this podcast, you know, I do it because honestly, I really do believe, you know, I came up with this phrase, the master sword. The other way I've been looking at it is the pencil and the stone. You know, this idea like the sword and the stone were only the rightful king of England could pull the sword from the stone and I'm really, honestly, as cheesy as it sounds, I really do believe that there is this pencil in the stone for you. I believe that like there is this thing that you have, that yearning in you, I believe you have that yearning to do great work or to be a part of the creative industry or whatever that is, that thing, the reason that you're listening to this podcast, if you're listening this podcast, I'm assuming that in you, there's a yearning to find the work that you were made to do and I really do believe that the pencil in the stone exists. I believe that if that yearning is there in you, that you have the potential to fulfill whatever that yearning is, I believe you have the potential to go out there and find that work that you should be doing and you know what, it might look different than what you think it does. You know, if you love illustration, maybe you're not going to be an illustrator, but maybe you're going to be involved in a different way. You know, I think it's important, you know, I feel like if you find the self-awareness to understand what your strengths are, to understand what you really love about art, what part of it really gets you excited. If you have the self-awareness to do that and you can let go of jealousy, of wanting someone else's path, someone else's pencil in the stone, if you can get rid of that, if you can accept your humble position, if you can own that thing and I keep going back to this idea of Dennis Rodman, like Dennis Rodman knew he could not be the Michael Jordan of basketball and he didn't try to be. You know, those three champions that Rodman, Pippin and Jordan won for the Bulls, you know, they were all playing their roles and I believe if you have the humility to own the humility and the self-awareness to own what you're really good at, own what that yearning is in you and own whatever the pencil and the stone is for you. I believe that you can have that thing, you can find that part, that piece in this creative industry that's going to fulfill you like nothing else and you're going to be out there giving your gift your specific purpose to the industry and nobody else can do it and if you're not finding it and you're not doing it, there's going to be a hole in the creative industry that you can actually fill. I'm a believer in the idea of dressing for the job you want, not the job you have and I have applied this to my creative practice too, which means if you want professional results, you need to present online like a pro and that means going beyond social media and having a professional website that reflects your style and looks legit. I rebuilt my site this year with Squarespace's Fluid Engine and was so happy with how easily I could build my vision without coding that when they approached me to support the show, I jumped at the chance because I love and use this product. So go check it out Squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out for yourself and when you're ready to launch your site, use promo code PEPTALK, all one word, all caps for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks goes out to Squarespace for supporting the show and supporting creators all over the world. Hey, in case you don't know, we have a monthly live virtual meetup every last Monday of the month with supporters of the show from Patreon and Substack. We have so much fun on these calls and they are the warmest, most encouraging creatives that I have ever met and we also talk real creative practice stuff. We have authors, illustrators, lettering artists, picture bookmakers, fine artists, musicians, and folks that work in video and film as well. And we have people that are just starting out, people super established in their creative careers and everything in between. For the rest of this year, we're going to chat through our new Journey of the True Fan series, exploring questions and ways to apply these ideas to your own creative practice so that you can leave 2024 stronger than you came in with more visibility, connection with your audience and sales. Sign up to whichever suits you best at either patreon.com/creativepeptalk or antijpizza.substack.com. And I hope to see you at this month's meetup. So that's why I do this because I feel like if you have this innate yearning and this innate thing that you can do that no one else can do in the creative industry, that it should be obvious what that thing is, but I don't think that's actually the case. I think for whatever reason, we have to dig deep. We have to fight the confusion. We have to fight the insecurities and the mixed messages. I do believe that if you're going to go on this journey that there are going to be all kinds of forces trying to stop you, there's going to be other competitors trying to stop you. There's going to be your own insecurities and the lower parts of your consciousness trying to fight you from finding the thing that you're supposed to do. There might even be other forces out there that we don't know about that are trying to keep you from being you, trying to keep you from bringing out that stuff that's inside you. You believe that if you don't take that yearning and you don't bring it out and take it to the world, that it will basically destroy you. I really do believe this and that's why every week I come back and do this podcast. You know what? Let me just say, I believe that this podcast is one of those things for me, one of those my yearnings, one of those things I'm supposed to be doing and I will tell you, it is not easy to do. Every week I have reasons why I don't want to pick up the microphone and record this podcast because I have, you know, it's a vulnerable thing to do. It is hard. It has been really hard for me to say, let me record my thoughts for an hour and put them out into the world, into my industry where I make a living. That's nerve-racking to me, but I believe that I'm supposed to be doing it and I'm going to keep doing it. And so I just wanted to say thank you for the reviews on iTunes that you've been so excited about the podcast and shared that with the world. Thank you for the people that have been tweeting about it and Instagramming about it and emailing me, encouragements because it is what it does, I know, maybe I don't need that validation outside of myself, but it keeps me doing this. When I get messages every day saying, please keep going, it helps me to keep going and I just want to thank you for sharing it, for helping other people find it, for encouraging me, and for donating, some of you have went to the podcast website on my site and donated money and donated, you've bought the poster and you've been encouraging and you've done the surveys and you guys, honestly, I know it sounds really cliche, but I don't think I could do it without all of that encouragement and so I just really appreciate it. Thanks for supporting the podcast. All right, let's move on, but first, one thing, I'm looking for a few sponsors, I'm actually talking to a few people about this and I want to make sure that I sponsor something in the podcast that I really believe in, I want to start small because we're still growing the listener base, but I wouldn't mind having someone sponsor the podcast for things that I think will actually be relevant to the people that listen to this and so if you have a product or you have something that you would like to get on the podcast, send me an email about it and we can start talking about that. All right, today, that's what we're talking about, we're talking about today. I wanted to talk about ways that you can have a dramatic breakthrough or that you can do things in one day, in today, that you can take ownership and you can do things that are catalysts for remarkable change in your careers and I really do believe in all these things and I hope that they help. Okay, I feel like we talk a lot about tomorrow, we talk about what our five years goals are, we talk about what our hopes and dreams are for the future and we talk about the vision for the future and we talk about investing in the future and I feel like I'm the type of person that I want to hear what can I do today, what can I do today that will be my highest contribution that will have the biggest payoff for tomorrow and so that's what I wanted to talk about today. I wanted to say how can you take ownership and get motivated today and make your biggest impact, you know, with a small amount of time that comes in a day. Okay, number one, number one is called learn the lesson. Okay, I believe that your career or the universe or whatever, there's forces in you and around you that are trying to teach you something, okay, and I feel like more often than not, more like a dog in learning these lessons than a med student who's going to be a surgeon, okay, stick with me. So here's what I kind of think is that, you know, I feel like, right, I have these goals, I have these things that I've been trying to work on and achieve and I just realized this week that actually I've done this regarding these goals, these part of the illustration industry that I want to get into that there's been these reoccurring circumstance that keeps on happening to me, they keep happening to me, the same situation and I'm not noticing it. I'm like a dog whose owner is trying to teach him a trick, trying to teach him just sit down. If you sit down and shake my hand, I will give you the treat. I will give you the thing you're looking for and I'm chasing my tail and I'm looking at him with that stupid face like, why can't I have the treat, but I'm standing up and I'm not doing any of the things he wants me to do, that like, that's how I realized that's what I'm doing is that I'm asking for the treat, but I'm not learning the lesson, I'm not learning the thing that I need to be doing to get it. I actually had these opportunities, you know, I feel like when you really want something, opportunity is going to come your way, but the problem is that I think it's like beauty in the beast, okay, so you might want to do, like, I want to do picture books or you might want to do editorial work or you might want to teach or whatever it is, you might want to do big logo campaign or whatever, you know, and I believe that that opportunity comes disguised, okay, it tests you out if you're ready for this thing. I really do believe that, you know, it's like the beauty in the beast, you know, the beast gets turned into a beast because this, I don't know, magical being comes to his door, disguised as an old beggar looking for, I don't know, shelter and he turns her away and casts her out only to find that she's actually this beautiful, magical being and she turns him into a beast because he couldn't look past the appearances, you know, I heard of a speaker that said, he, he wanted to be a speaker and he started out teaching this really small community college class and he realized that he had to treat every class like it was the biggest speaking engagement of his life and it was that stewardship that led to the next stages. I think when it comes to the opportunities that come your way, instead of acting like that dumb dog with that blank stare in your face like, oh, I didn't even realize, you know, that I'm supposed to be working on these things. These opportunities are coming my way and because they don't look exactly like I expect them to, I'm just, I don't do anything. I don't pay attention. I don't learn the lesson. I think that like a, like if you're a surgeon, right, if you're studying to be a surgeon, every lesson you learn is literally life or death and you are, you better be attentive to the teacher and I think that all the people around you and the, and the circumstances and the opportunities that come to you, they are teachers and you better be paying attention. I literally have just spent two years redoing the same lesson and over and over on the goals that I want to do without realizing it, without realizing that I'm not stewarding this opportunity and therefore I will never move on to the next stage. For instance, you know, I really, just to be honest, what I want to do is I want to write and illustrate my own kids' books and I was reading through some books with kids' book authors and illustrators and they were talking about how they got good at it and I was reading about Maurice Sendak and he said that he learned to write by illustrating other people's books first and for some reason I think that I'm destined to be better than Maurice Sendak, maybe the best picture book maker of all time, I think I'm going to go straight to authoring and illustrating my own books and it's like because of the, if you don't, if you have your mind set on this one circumstance, I've told you this before, you know, I've had this client in mind or this band that I wanted to work for and when this other band that I really liked came along, I lost the opportunity, I missed making the most out of it because it didn't look exactly like I wanted it to, maybe you want to work for the New York Times and then maybe a magazine that you don't even know or a newspaper comes to you that you don't even recognize and you blow them off, you don't give them your goods, you don't give them the best that you've got but you're missing the opportunity to learn the skills you need to move on to that bigger and better thing and so what I think you need to do today, what you can do today is look at the patterns, what is the lesson that you're, that is trying to be taught to you and quit acting like that stupid dog with the blank stare who never gets the treat and stop and think, what, what is the universe trying to teach me, before I move on to the next stage, what do I need to be responsible with now, what opportunities are in my, on my plate now that I need to steward well so that when I, so that I can go to that next stage so today what I think you should do is stop and ask yourself what is the reoccurring pattern that keeps happening that I am not paying attention to, that I'm not allowing to transform me into the type of person that I need to be to move on to the big thing, to move on to that opportunity that I want and so that's, that's number one, number two, all right, embrace your ritual, embrace your ritual, I'm going to use this number two as my confession, my confessional just to get weird on you a little bit, I want to talk about what I've learned, what have, what have I learned that have made me more successful, more productive in the day, what have I learned to do every day and the days that I do these things, I am, I make contributions that actually affect change in my career and this is what they are, I've learned that if I get swamped in emails, all right, just you know, take it, take this with whatever it is, when I get swamped in emails, the best way to do is for me to run a big bubble bath and just charge through them all and so yeah, if you've emailed me before, I might have sent you an email while I was in the bath and you're just going to have to deal with that. Another thing that I've learned is if I'm under a tight deadline, I've got to put on music that I know by heart and sing at the top of my lungs while I'm working and that gets me into the zone and I make the fastest work when I do that. One of those is Boys to Men, I know Boys to Men from Being a Kid, I knew I listened to those albums like Crazy and I can sing some 90s R&B while I'm doing your illustration job that you sent me while I'm working for Nickelodeon, I'm listening to Michael Nathan and Sean and Juanier crewing those sweet 90s tunes and that's the stuff that gets me to work my fastest, I don't know, I get in the zone when I do it and I embrace it and I trust it, you know, I have my in-laws over this week and they actually, I have my door closed, I was doing my work, I was under a tight deadline on Tuesday and I was belting some tunes unashamed and yeah they knew, they heard the sweet sound of my terrible voice belting these songs but you know what, I had to do it because it gets me into the zone, it makes me do my best work. You know I've found that if I'm doing long boring work I listen to podcasts and that helps me get through it. I've found that when I'm doing my conceptual work, my sketchbook work, I need to listen to instrumental music and actually if I'm going to come up with something from scratch I actually have to listen to music that moves me, like if I have to come up with some kind of, like when I do a band poster you know and there's, I have a really open ended brief, one of the things that helps me is listening to the music that really moves me and gets me into that emotional state where I have something to express and I've learned those are the rituals I need, I know that in the morning if I get slow and I get away from my phone and I either take a walk or I sit alone with a coffee and I do my spiritual time, my time where I'm clearing my thoughts and meditating and prayers and doing that, if I do that my day is massively affected, my day is so much better and I get into that zone. I've found that if I listen to upbeat more positive things in the morning that I usually get into a zone where I'm confident about the stuff I'm making, I'm excited about the stuff I'm making, but I've learned to take note of all the things that put me in the places that I need to be to do the type of work that's on my plate and so depending on what's on your plate today I think it's relevant to think about what do I do that gets me into this zone. You know I think if you look back through the ages the best of the best creators always had these rituals and I don't think it's because they wanted to be quirky, I think it was because they were serious about the work and they figured out the formulas that helped them mentally and emotionally prepare for doing it. You know I read on the brain pickings blog about this book called Daily Ritual, How Artists Work and they talked about Mark Twain and they said he'd wake up early, he'd eat a hearty breakfast, he'd go to his study and work until five o'clock, he'd skip lunch, no lunch, he'd come back out and he would read to his family all the things that he wrote and kind of perform them and that he'd also smoke cigars like crazy. Now I don't suggest that you start smoking, it's a terrible habit, but I do have my little vices for instance. I have a lot of Altoids while I work or if I'm really lucky like my in-laws just brought me my favorite Fisherman's friends and they're actually throat lozenges and I go through them like crazy and I don't think you're supposed to do that but it's better than smoking cigars so I'm going to take it. You know I like to have mince or something, I like to have coffees, I like to have something to drink the whole time I work meaning like water or something not like booze but I like to have, I like these little things and they get me in the zone and I think it's really important to embrace those things, remember those things and allow yourself to go into those zones and just own them. When I did my talk last year at ICON it was a five minute talk, it was some giant thing but when I did that talk I wanted to say look I listened to Boys to Men, it was the ones I wanted to talk about because I just wanted to embrace it, I didn't want to be ashamed that I listened to maybe something that isn't very cool but I feel like it's important for you to understand what it is that gets you in the zone to make the work that you need to make for today. 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I feel like so many days, the days where it's today and I don't actually make the most of it are the days when I'm actually busiest, it's the days when I'm on the treadmill, I'm on the hamster spinning and I'm busy, busy, busy, busy doing nothing and I'm so frantic that instead of swimming I'm flailing in the water and I feel like we get so production obsessed, it's studies show that people massively overestimate how much they can get done in any given amount of time and I think that when you have that productivity mindset you actually get way less done and I think one of the best things you can do some point in your day is to stop and take stock of how you're feeling, what you're thinking and let all of those task kind of just settle and notice maybe what's the most important thing that I need to do today or what's something that's keeping me distracted, how do I wrap that thing up? You know I feel like we sometimes treat ourselves like we're machines, like we don't need to stop and rest and take and just take a moment to see what is going on, you know it's so hard for me sometimes to motivate myself to go take a walk without my phone, without music, without calling anyone just to go take a walk but I know every time I take a walk I come back not just feeling refreshed but having some clarity about what's going on inside of myself and when I get to that zone I am so much more productive, it's like if you worked for you know say you worked 10 hours in a day, if you take one hour off to take stock those 9 hours are actually going to be more productive than the full 10 and I really believe that, you know I think even the machines you know even the machines need to take a minute and be retooled, you know look at your car every thousand you know half for many thousand miles you have to do an oil change and I think sometimes we forget that we're human, we're animals, we can't run like machines first of all, we need more than oil change every few four thousand miles or whatever, we need oil changes regularly every day, we need to stop and take stock of what's going on. Sometimes I feel like it's you know we try to get in this mindset of just pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing and I think it's kind of like what happens you see with those people that don't take time to stop and ask themselves what's really going on and get clear about what's going on in them today and then outside of them today, if they don't stop and do that they're like the horse you know I've heard that if you ride a horse and you just keep pushing and pushing and pushing him, he will just literally ride until he keels over and dies and I feel like don't wait until you've you're totally burn out and you don't want to see another pencil or paintbrush again, stop and understand what's going on in you today, what's what's that nagging thing in your mind, what's the questions you have for the day, what's the stop and instead of doing all the tasks in order ask yourself what's the contribution I need to make today to get myself in the right place to be the most productive, sometimes you've got to rest to actually be more productive okay, that is stop, stock and roll number four cross it all off, we've talked about this before about cleaning your plate you know I think a to-do list even if it's a mental to-do list I imagine it to be like a song okay and everything on this do list is another instrument it's another part and it's like if you've ever made music it's kind of I mean it's similar to making an illustration if you've ever made music and you're layering up in your program whatever it is you're putting layer upon layer upon layer as you're moving along the longer you go in the song the more layers there are there comes a time when you can't hear all the parts you can't focus on you know the guitar part that actually is the basis of the song the thing that you need to hear the most you can't it becomes noise when there's too many things going on right time at the same time it becomes noise and I think your brain is kind of like that and so every task that's sitting in your subconscious whether they're at the forefront or not it's like another buzzing it's like another instrument playing its song and those little tiny tasks actually they contribute if you put enough of them together they become this fuzz and this noise and this distraction and I think that you know it's like sometimes you're making an image and you add layer after layer after layer and you're you're putting on you're putting on these textures and colors and filters and the and you keep going and going and going until you're staring at it so much and there's so much going on that you the the picture gets lost the meaning gets lost the most important part is gone and I feel like when you let task after task after task build up on your to-do list mental or on paper when you let it build up eventually those little things that have no deadlines that that could be on your task list forever they just become this annoying distracting buzz and I feel like one thing that you can do today to make a dramatic change for tomorrow is to take that list write it all down write everything down what are the all of the open-ended stuff and if there's stuff that you don't want to do that you don't have to do then go apologize that person say look I know that we talked about doing this it just doesn't make sense for me to do it anymore and I and I've got to cross this off I'm sorry I feel like you've got go take that list and look through everything and those things especially the things that don't have deadlines and say I'm going to cross as many of these off as I can because that buzz that that buzzing in the background of your subconscious that little ache and that that things that says you've got tons and tons of stuff to do and you don't even know what they are that thing is actually keeping you from the most important parts it's keeping you from your highest contribution for the day it's that stuff that's drowning out the music that the meaningful work the great work that you're supposed to be doing and it's making it a sea of noise of static and so one of the things I think you can do today is cross off that nagging list of to do's all right number five give what you want so I feel like that when you have this urge you know sometimes I find myself down about something and I'm not sure what it is or I kind of get into a funk or something or I you know maybe someone made some off-handed comment about my work or what I do or whatever and it was kind of like a backhanded compliment and it kind of upset me or whatever and I'm just looking for someone to like pull me up you know and it's just not coming you know I'm not getting any feedback I'm not nothing positive is going on and sometimes I feel like that instead of seeing that need or that want that you that you internally are looking for instead of going out there and trying to drum up some you know fishing for compliments or whatever instead of doing that I found that it's better to treat the industry and to treat other people like like with that that need or that want instead of seeing it as like I need something seeing it as a reminder to give something instead of seeing that I wish somebody would you know I don't know share my work or get excited about what I'm doing if I start feeling like that what I try to do with it is I try to go out there and do for someone else what I want done for me and I feel like when I do that the universe kind of works like a vacuum right where you if you put something in it and it just stay it's now in there in the world and I feel like if you throw it out there it's almost more likely to come back to you I feel like if you instead of getting down about oh I really wish that blah blah blah what happened for me go out there and make it happen for somebody else you know there's a motivational speaker out there called Zig Ziglar and he says that he says that you can have everything in your life that you want if you help other people get what they want and I do really believe this and I think you know the times when some established illustrator reached down and gave me a leg up meant so much to me and yet I find myself not doing that for other people very often and when I and often when I'm getting that nagging feeling like oh nothing's going right for me or nothing's exciting about today or whatever I find when I go out there and I make something exciting for somebody else or something I think is going to be exciting for them if I go you know write a review on iTunes for somebody else or I go tweet about someone's work who I think's excellent or I send an email to someone who I think's doing a great job I find that that feeling that need that nagging want actually disappears and it's almost like giving it away I already got back what I needed so I feel like one of the things that you can do today is give what you want all right number six reconnect with why this is massive you know have you ever gotten to an argument with somebody right someone close to you and start arguing with them and at some point you really really cannot remember why you are arguing in the first place you just know that you're aggravating you're mad and you don't want to settle things happens to everybody and I feel like that's kind of like what happens with work you know you went to art college or you went to you know did some classes you started learning how to make art you have this feeling like I need to make art I want to make art I love art you got excited about something else that you saw in the world and it made you so excited that you wanted to do what you saw but I feel like once you start pursuing it especially after a few years you start forgetting why you're doing this thing at all this week one of the things I was trying to figure out kind of the direction that I want my career to go and I actually wrote a little bit about this on my blog I called it euphoric catalog and one of the things I did was I looked back to the times when I encountered something in the art world in the industry that I'm a part of that made me euphoric that gave me that like a crazy excitement about work and about making stuff and when I went back through that one of the things was last year I went to LCAF it's a independent comics festival in London and when I walked into where all the art stalls are there was no brow who is a independent publisher their table was there and it was full of these amazing books kids books and comic books and their amazing art and and they're amazingly printed and they smell delicious and I was like I was so excited I was I was high on excitement of how amazing this stuff looked and I could have bought every book on the table and that feeling reminded me why I want to do this and it gave me that fuel for the fire and I made I had so much better of a day that day when I remembered what this love was it's almost like a romantic relationship you know that excitement at the beginning if you're not careful about stewarding that and reminding yourself you know you're gonna regret it you know I think at the end of your career just like at the end of life I think when something dramatic happens or when something when you lose something you you remember how much you loved it and I feel like it's kind of like that with your work it's similar to romance if you remember those early days why did you fall in love with this thing in the first place I feel like keeping that thing in the back of your mind keeping that thing as a reminder is actually going to make you do better work today it's going to make you get excited about it all over again and I think that excitement is key to making your best work I think that um beyond why you started to do the work or what gets you excited about the work you know Simon Sinek talks about start with why don't just think about what you do don't just think about how you do it so in illustration we talk about what our work is like what the content of the illustration or the design is but we and we talk about how we do it like the style that we approach it but I think we don't often talk about why are we doing this in the first place what is the point of doing this work you know I think it can be it doesn't have to be because we're saving the world it doesn't have to be that doesn't have to be that dramatic you know um Elle Luna she she's a speaker and writer and designer and one of the things that she talks about is this idea that just the pursuit of being yourself in choosing to give whatever that gift or whatever that talent or skill or whatever that pencil on the stone thing is that thing that only you can do if you just focus on being the best you being true to who you are that that's what makes the world the best place it can be and that even if it's that simple of an idea like it's you know what I'm doing might not be the most important thing in the world but it's the thing that I'm here to do and if I contribute it if I allow myself to figure out the ways to contribute it to the best of my ability you know my my purpose might be what if I'm just I'm supposed to be the best at drawing shapes drawing circles with eyes and a mouth and legs like how can that change the world I don't know to be honest but I really do believe that I'm supposed to be true to who I am and by doing that that the world will be better and the world will be as it's supposed to be one more piece in the right place and you know when I trust it I feel like it's an act of faith like I if I trust that that yearning in me that there's a there's a counterpart in the world to that yearning in me and if I just stay true to it even if I can't understand it if I just believe in that why that I end up and I get to look back and see I can see the connections of the dots and I can see the purpose behind why I was supposed to take this path and just trust it so I think it's important that might not be you might not agree with that you might not have that same why but I think it's important to understand why am I doing this beyond a pay a paycheck beyond to be cool or get some validation why do I want to do this I think it's so important if you get into that zone in the morning the impact that you're going to have in the day is going to be way more dramatic alright that's number six number seven last one it's a simple one call someone who is invested in the best you someone who cares that you do that you do that thing that you're meant to do call someone and talk to them about a question you're struggling with in your career something that you can't get through something that you don't know what to do with you know I did this recently a few times where I call a friend I called my dad he's kind of like a mentor to me even though he's a business guy and I talked to him about here's some of the things that I can I've looked at him from every angle and I cannot figure them out you know it might be for you I can't figure out what my strengths are I can't figure out what to focus on I can't figure out what my goals are I can't figure out who I really am I can't figure out if I'm going the right way you know I think that it's those questions and if you get to someone who knows you well and sometimes it helps if they're not part of the industry someone that knows you well that understands what your value is to a certain degree and can give you because they care about you they can invest in you and I believe that if you reach out to someone who has that place in your life that has the perception to help clear some things up you know most of this list it's not stuff that you can go out and just I don't know you know I don't believe in like that there's these tasks that you can do that are going to change everything I believe that it really starts in your clarity your motivation and your confidence in the work that you're doing in the path that you're taking it's like if you get really clear about which path to take believe me there's a billion resources out there on how to write a kids book there's a billion resources on how to make a good illustration or or how to do a good composition or whatever or how to use Photoshop there's a billion resources out there that this isn't one of them okay this one is about how do you get the clarity and the confidence to find the right path and just and then take that path and I feel like today if you stop and you take stock and you listen to the podcast and you get in tune with what's going inside of you and you get in tune what's going outside of you how people are responding to what you do you get a self-aware in this moment and you get into the right place for today you have the power to make the biggest contribution that you can today and it can be a catalyst this day can be a catalyst for amazing things in the future in your career and I really believe that okay so let's just do a quick summary of the stuff we talked about number one was learn the lesson it's probably that thing that you're fighting for there's probably a key to that door right in your face but you didn't recognize it like the beast and beauty in the beast you didn't recognize that that answer is right in your face you just keep neglecting it because it doesn't look like you expected it to look that's like a common theme I feel like in everybody's life number three or number two sorry is embrace rituals what are the things in your life that make you put you in the right zone to make your best contributions what are the days I'm always I'm always on the lookout for when I had a fantastic day where I've made stuff and I did things that really made a difference in my career in my life I try to take note I did this and they don't always work sometimes the ritual doesn't work but I feel like there's actually wisdom in recognizing the patterns of life and it's that that helps you make your best contribution every day and it can make this day count opposed to the days that don't number three stop stock and roll I'm really embarrassed of that stupid title but it just came to me and I'm going with it I think that one of the best things that you can do is take a pause find a pause in your day to get quiet with your thoughts and feelings to address that humming and that buzz inside of you the part of you that's alive the part of you that's that can be present in today and give it all you got you need to get in tune with that thing and then also that annoying distracting buzzing that thing that's causing you to question whether you're going the right way to question whether you're doing you chose the right path whether you should have been a doctor or or a lawyer instead of a designer take time to address those things away from technology turn off the Twitter feed turn off you know if you have to turn off this podcast right now and go on a walk do it okay number four cross it all off everything on your to do list just see it as another instrument to the song of the day of your day and you're not going to be able to hear that that sweet guitar riff that needs to be on the top of everything that work that you're supposed to be doing that matters is going to be drowned in the sound of all of those to do is that you're left open ended all those things that are buzzing in the back of your mind that are saying that you know address me address me address me I think it's important to at some point take charge of that to do list whether it's just in your head or on paper and cross off all the stuff everything that you can cross off get rid of all of those nagging and knowing things because they're keeping you from doing the best work number four give what you want are actually number five give what you want give what you want if there's something in your life today that you want that you have the power to do for somebody else do that I can almost guarantee that that a king gnawing thing that says I want somebody to do this for me if you do it for somebody else if you have the power to reach back and give somebody else enhance something down to somebody else that needs something I can almost in I can almost guarantee that a that gnawing feeling to go away and be that it'll probably come back to you and so if you wish that someone would go out of their way to put you forward for a job and illustration or whatever try to do that for somebody else try to put someone else forward that's always always been something that's come back to me and been an awesome thing in my life number six reconnect with why you're doing this it doesn't have to mean design saves the world or illustration saves the world or art changes everything it doesn't have to be that grandiose but you do need I think a sense of why am I doing this what is it that why don't why did I choose to do art and what can what can my contribution do for other people and what can it do for myself how can it how can expressing myself change my own life seven call someone just pick up the phone and start verbalizing these things that are on your mind these things that are getting in the way I feel like so much about this list is just about how do you get into the zone to contribute your best work all right that's pretty much it for today I really appreciate you guys listening to this I appreciate you guys sharing it and getting excited about it you know those messages that I get my inbox that say that this thing is making a difference it means so much to me I do it because I want to motivate you I want you to help help you get clarity on the career that you want to do you know I one of the things I did in class recently we're working on my students websites and I just what I tried to do was look through their website acknowledge some kind of strength look through their portfolio you know their back catalog of all their work and try to recognize what's the thing that's running through this what's the theme that's running through this of the good stuff and what's the stuff that's distracting that and I feel like this is what the podcast is about is that I think so many times I look at artists that whose careers not working or it's not working out for them and I feel like it's not that their skills are holding them back you know Sam Weber the illustrator and the guy who does that your dreams by nightmare podcast says all the time that most of the time it's our weaknesses that have the biggest impact on our career in a good way and I feel like so often I look at the people who are struggling to make a career in the arts and it's that they're not owning who they are they're not owning what their strengths are they're not owning what their weaknesses are they're not and it's because they don't have the clarity they don't have the clarity to see what they should be spending time on what direction they should be taking what things they need to let go of that's so massive there are things in this career that you want that are not right for you and there and they come from an impure place they come from jealousy or just wanting something that isn't for you you know you've got to do the Dennis Rodman thing and say look I can't do the point guard Michael Jordan a basketball thing I gotta just get the rebounds I'm gonna get the rebounds and I'm gonna be satisfied when we hit the championship because I played my part maybe you don't have the drawing chops to be an illustrator but maybe you can be an art director you get to fight for the cause of illustration you get to be in a massive part of the industry that's okay I think it's really important to reach out to people and get that gain that self-awareness and that confidence and that motivation to get excited about the work that you're supposed to do to find the pencil that's waiting in the stone for you that's what this is about I hope it helps you know I hope you enjoy my goofy ramblings and my you know bleeding on tape for you I've just been to myself I'm being ridiculous you know it's not easy for me but I'm glad I'm doing it I'm glad I keep doing it and I'm glad that you guys are you know that we're creating a community around this creative pep talk thing thank you for coming back and remember you can find this on my website Andy hyphen J hyphen miller dot com slash podcast or at illustration age dot com slash creative pep talk or on iTunes and on iTunes you guys have been flooding that thing with some awesome awesome feedback with the reviews and what I'm told is is that it's those reviews that help it get noticed on iTunes and get noticed in the world and so I couldn't appreciate that more you guys have given some really thoughtful encouraging feedback on there and if you'd love the podcast I'd appreciate it if you did that that's and I do appreciate when you do that thank you so much until next week stay peped up [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey y'all one more quick thing earlier this year I rebuilt my website using square spaces new fluid engine and I was so pumped about how it turned out that I have been really thrilled to find as many ways to partner with them and tell you about what they can do and bring you discounts as possible with social media going haywire I think having a site that feels as unique as your creative work is essential to building trust with your target audience or your clients I have had several clients point out how cohesive and fresh my site looks lately and if you want to check that out and what I was able to do without any code check out AndyJPizza.com if you want to test it out go to squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out yourself and when you're ready to launch use promo code pep talk for 10% off your first purchase thanks squarespace for supporting the show and for supporting creative people. I did consider Barney a friend and he's still a friend to this day the idea of Barney is something that I want to live up to you know I love you you love me I call it the purple mantra Barney taught me how to be a man Generation Barney a podcast about the media we loved as kids and how it shapes us listen wherever you get your podcast (upbeat music)