Creative Pep Talk
023 - 7 Signposts that Point to Your Master Sword
(upbeat music) Hey y'all, just a quick heads up. The episode you're about to listen to is eight 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 wanna 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. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Yes, all right, it's the creative Peptock podcast. With me, Andy J. Miller. I'm a graphic illustrator, and if you wanna see my work, just Google my name. I think it's the first link that comes up there. Just go check it out if that's something you wanna check out. This podcast, you can find it on illustrationage.com/creativepeptock. If you wanna find it online, that's a great place to find inspiration for illustrators. Let's get down to business. Okay, here's the thing. I feel like what we're all looking for is the thing that we can do with our life, with our work, that there's just this big demand for. Like, there's nothing for me more discouraging than trying to put all this time and energy into something, and then nobody really seems to care about it. And you know, for me, that's a thing. And I think if you're a commercial artist, or you wanna be a commercial artist, that's a big deal. Like, if you want to make work and get paid for it, there's gotta be a demand, and part of it for me, because I believe that I really wanna be a commercial artist, that's what I wanna be. I don't wanna be a fine artist. That to me, loving it, loving what I do, but also there being a big demand for what I do, both of those things are essential for me to feel like I'm being successful. So today I'm talking about seven signposts that point to your master sword. In quotations, master sword. That come from the video game Zelda, which is one of my all time favorite things. And in Zelda, it's kinda like a King Arthur thing. He's the true hero, and so he's the only one that can lift the master sword out of the stone. And I feel like that's the thing that I've always been looking for, as ridiculous as that may sound. What is the thing that I can do that nobody else can do? That's my thing, and it's the thing that there's gonna be the need in the world for? Like, what is this sword that's waiting for me to come, pull it out of the stone, and save the day? You know, like, as stupid as that sounds, like, here's another way of looking at it. And I've heard it described like this by a bunch of different people, and I'm gonna use my own words, and I don't even know if you can trace back to kind of coined this idea, but it's this idea of the sweet spot or finding your thing. It's something I talk about on the podcast a lot. And an idea is that looking for the cross section between your talent and skills, that's number one, number two, your passion or stuff that you love to do, and number three, a high demand from an audience, or from the public, or from the market. And so like, any of these being out of whack is not really what we're looking for. So like, something that you have crazy talent for, but you don't love to do, and there's a demand for it, but there's a demand for it, that's not really right, 'cause you don't really enjoy doing it. So any of these not being right is kind of missing the point. There's things that I can do, there's types of drawings and pictures I could do, that there's a pretty big demand for, but I hate doing it. Then there's things that I love doing. Like, I like making rap music. I used to make rap music in college, and I loved it. I could get lost in messing with stupid vocal effects and layering the production and all kinds of crap like that. I love doing it. There is no demand for that. I can guarantee that right now. Nobody wants to hear me rap. I believe me, I've tried. But neither of none of these things can be out of balance, and it's that sweet spot. When you find the balance of all three of these things, that is where I find the most fulfillment, and it's the thing that I'm always trying to gain more clarity on, and I feel like I've found, maybe you got one, two, three master swords out there. I feel like I've found maybe two of mine, and I'm just gonna talk about seven signposts, seven things that you can look at and examine and analyze that are gonna point to the direction that you maybe need to go. And I think it's so important to continually become self-aware about what you're good at, and become aware of what other people are responding to, and then be aware of what do you really enjoy? Because the thing is, in the book Freakonomics, they talk about people that become professional athletes, and the conclusion is that the people that, yeah, they have to have kind of the raw talent or the right body for it, for professional sports, but what they found is the people that the work of the hardest are the ones that usually succeed, and the people that love it are the people that are willing to work hard enough to be great. So if you don't love it, you're never gonna fully engage in that thing. And you know what, I definitely, I'm on this page where I don't think, just follow your passion. I don't think that's right. There's tons of things that you're passionate about that you're either not talented at, or there's no demand for it. And so any of these things out of whack is not right. So without further ado, let's get to the list. Number one, ask yourself, where's the resistance? Okay. Stephen Pressfield has a book called The Art of War. I'm about halfway through it, and I really love it. You might even have heard of it. And the whole premise is this idea that the work that's the most meaningful work for you to do, the work that you were meant to do, that there's all this resistance in the world, and it can be practical, or you can see it as spiritual, you can see it as mundane and normal, or you can see it as something deeper than that. But regardless, it's the procrastination. It's the thing that comes up against you when you're trying to do the work that you were made to do. And so sometimes that looks like fear. And I think the author, Paulo Quello, says that, that thing that you really, really want, sometimes you're so afraid to do it, or to try to do it, because if you don't get it, you can't say, well, I never really wanted it in the first place. To fail in the thing that you really, really want is the most devastating failure that you can have, and your fear knows that, and that's the resistance saying, don't even try, because if you try and fail, nothing could be worse than that. 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 gonna 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. Now, the other ways that resistance shows up, sometimes it shows up as friends and family trying to distract you, trying to put you off. The things that, you know, they mean well, but sometimes they're the ones that are trying to keep you from doing the work. Every time you sit down to do that meaningful work, you get that phone call from a friend that you haven't talked to in six months. You know what I'm saying? Is this something that happened to you recently? You know, that resistance. What's the thing in you that you're afraid to do? What's that fear is pointing you towards something? What's that thing that you don't wanna try out or every time you go to try it out, you got a reason or excuse or something stopping you. For me, the example that I like to think about is the Truman Show. And if you haven't seen it, stars Jim Carrey. The idea is he's a reality TV star, but he doesn't know his life as just one big reality TV show. And all the people, family, friends in his life and the town he lives in are all set and they're actors and it's all fake. Now, every time he goes to try to figure out what's going on, some random occurrence comes out of the way and stops him. And it's that kind of stuff, you know, every time he tries to go down the road to see what's beyond his town, some random thing comes and stops him. And I think that oftentimes our master sword, the thing we're supposed to do, the thing that we can do better than anybody else, we go to do that thing. Something random will come out and try to stop you or yourself will try to stop you by telling yourself, you know, bull crap or whatever, you know. And I think it's the cool thing about it though, is that that resistance sometimes comes on so strong that it ends up giving away the thing that we should be doing. And so, okay, right, that's number one. Number two, when have you transcended time and space? Now, that sounds really heavy, but it's really just something practical. What's the work that you do that other people see as work, that other people don't have energy for? What's the thing that you can sit down and lose six hours of your time without thinking about it? You know, what's the thing that you do where you get completely lost and you'll just lose track of time, you can't even believe? So for me, one of the things is like conversation about things I'm passionate about, so sometimes that's a conversation with somebody, sometimes that's the podcast. You know, when I finish a podcast, I'm always blown away by how long it is, because I get lost and that time just disappears. And that, to me, is like a signpost. This is something I need to be focusing on. And so public speaking's kind of like that too. Another thing is, for me, is like telling stories and then making pictures. When I'm making a picture, and especially if it's not like due in five hours, but if I have time to actually play, I can get lost tinkering in the coloring, in the shapes, in the drawing, in the collage of the shapes. Like, I can do that and I can lose three days without thinking about it. And so what are the times, and if you're an illustrator, which you probably are, if you listen to this, you can go deeper. What are the times when you were making a picture and it was a slog and you couldn't stand it, you wanted to be over? What were the times when you were making a picture and you could have just kept working on it for the end of time? That is a signpost to the type of work that I think you should be doing. Number three, beginner's luck. All right, I don't play cards. I'm not into that, that's not my thing. My brother loves it, but I remember one time he finally got me to play poker and I was kicking everybody's butt. And the funny thing is I didn't even really know how to play. And they call that beginner's luck, right? So what are the things that you can look back throughout your life and say, you know, as soon as I started to walk that direction, doors just instantly opened? An example of this, Tad Carpenter, who's like an online buddy of mine, he talks about when he was a kid, he entered a contest for designing the tickets for the Kansas City Chiefs. And it was like a drawing, a little drawing that he made. And he won, and he won money, and they printed it on the tickets. And it was like this giant signpost like go this direction. Now, yeah, a lot of us that are in commercial art have those from when we were kids. But I think that they're still happening now. Like you can still see these things. For me, for instance, an example of mine is that when I first started writing about creativity and started kind of analyzing it and thinking critically, kind of like this podcast, I started, when I first started writing, I was writing on Tumblr, and one of my earliest posts got picked up by Tumblr, and it's got like as meaningless as notes maybe. It's got like 18,000 notes on it, and it keeps going. It's still going today. It's been years since I wrote that post. And you know, that was just a little signpost that said, "Look, you just started this thing "and the door just flung open." And I think you can look at that as like destiny. You can look at it as this giant, you know, otherworldly spiritual door opening. Or you can look at it like your talent gave you an unfair advantage at something. And there's a demand in the world for it. And so even just those two things combined mean that all things equal, you and 10 other people come to the playing field. And when you start, you naturally are just 15 steps ahead of them. Why? Just because you're naturally talented or naturally leaning in this direction. So I think one of the best things you can do is think about the things you've been pursuing over the past five years. And think which of them, when I started them out, I just instantly had a door open. Now, just as a side note, if that sounds like you or that sounds like something you've experienced recently and you want to kind of think more about this, there's a book called "The Dip" by Seth Godin. And one of the kind of unfortunate things that he talks about is sometimes you get that beginner's luck, but then you instantly hit a wall. And almost that always happens. But it's that beginner's luck that's supposed to like fuel the flame until you fully develop that thing and you become great at it. But the beginner's luck thing is just something to set you off in the right path. So all right, that's number three. Number four, the biggest response. What's the thing that people are constantly telling you you should do? If you're like me, you're stubborn and you think you know what you should be doing and you keep ignoring all of this stuff. I can't tell you, since I was a kid, people have been telling me you should make kids books. Like when I was a kid, people that knew me told me that. And then even as an adult, I was making all these products about five years ago, I was making all kinds of things and selling them and interacting with people. And when I was constantly people telling me, you should make a kid's book. And for whatever reason, it just wasn't on my radar and I just kept ignoring it. And eventually when I started heading down that path and I'm still on that path, and you know, it's definitely a vulnerable thing to be talking about for me. But as soon as I started down that path, doors started to open. And there's so many things, you know, that people are telling you you're good at, but you don't want to hear it. Sometimes it's because, you know, we want someone else's path. We want someone else's master sword. Ours isn't good enough. We don't like the look of ours. And I think that that's something that totally puts you off on the wrong side road. And I think what you need to do is ask yourself, you know, someone said, you're not a writer until someone calls you a writer, until someone else, you can't call yourself an artist. You can't name yourself an artist. Someone else has to call what you do art. And I think it's kind of like that. What are the things that people go out of their way to say, hey, you're good at that? For instance, I'll just give you, let's just do full disclosure here. I love making art. And I want to make art for kids media. And I want to work on projects where I take big lofty kind of like the, you know, the touchy, feely, big ideas, theoretical, philosophical, spiritual, existential ideas and bring them down into little smaller approachable packages with the kind of graphic friendly art that I do. I want to do that. I love doing that. And I want to be awesome at doing that. I want to compete with the big dogs doing that. But I'll tell you one thing. I consistently get people telling me that I need to do stuff like this podcast. And even though I love this podcast, I'm so grateful for everybody who listens to it. It's, you know, it's, sometimes I'm like, man, I don't know if I just want to talk about making stuff. I really just want to make stuff. And so sometimes I get a little bit like I put it on hold or whatever, but it's because, you know, I want someone else's master sword. But this is the one that's been given to me and I want to be true to it. Sometimes I think it's about looking at that signpost and then accepting it and owning it and going your way and quit trying to do someone else's way. What's the biggest response you've had from people? What's the thing that they keep telling you about? They keep telling you you are. Stop being stubborn, think about those things. And that's a message for myself as much as I did to anybody else. Number five, what are the things that have had the biggest impact on you? So I think sometimes the things that have had the biggest impact on us are the things that we want to go out there and give the impact to other people. Now for me, that can be good or bad. So for me, some of the part times jobs I had when I was younger made it very clear that things that are simple for other people are not for me. In fact, I'm terrible at them. And they made me feel sick to my stomach. For instance, like dealing with money, just working a cash register. Man, I lost so much money. How many times they count down my drawing. They're like, "Andy, you're missing $20. And I swear to you, I never stole anything." I just, I'm not good at math. I'm not, you know, and I scored all right in class when you can sit there and actually work it out on paper, but I'm not good in that pressure moment. And I don't think naturally like that. I don't enjoy it, I hate it. I hate having to think on your feet and be like pressured to perform and do that customer service thing without having any time to think. I hate that stuff and I hate it so much. Made such a negative impact on me that I was desperate to go find creative work or work that I would be suited for, that I could shine in. That made such an impact on me that I do stuff like this podcast. I was so affected by this work that I hated so much that I wanted to make sure that I did everything for other people that were in the same boat, the people that couldn't get by on your regular nine to five jobs. And so that's something that had a big impact on me that I wanted to turn around. And there was a signpost to tell me where to go. Now on the other side of things, we've got things I've talked about in a billion times, Fraggle Rock, Montes Miles, all that kind of jazz. And what I took from those are, those signposts were about creating things that were about these bigger ideas, about taking the, just like I said a minute ago, those big existential ideas and bringing them down into like a really excessive, accessible like pop format. And that's the kind of stuff that I keep trying to do that I want to be a part of. And so those are the signposts that I saw because when I heard Montes Miles when I was in high school, and actually was Montes Miles and their band posters that were created by the Dakota Ring design concern, when I got into that, I literally did a 180. And I was coasting until I heard Montes Miles and I heard that and it was all the other things that were happening in my life. But this was a big part of it. And it hit me in such a way that I actually realized what I wanted to do with my life, which was design and illustration. And it hit me so hard to have to go back and look at what was it about the music and those band posters that made such an impact on me? What direction did they point? And so, okay. Number six. What is the biggest impact that you have made on other people? Now, we talked about the things that impacted you. What are the things that keep following you around? So, for instance, when I was a kid and all the cousins would get together, I would make up stories and I would give all of them nicknames and I would come up with these characters and we would make videos. And I would tell these stories and I'd forget about them as soon as I left and I loved doing it and I loved acting like a goofball. But months later, I wouldn't see them for months. I'd come back and see them and they'd be telling me all these stories and I don't even remember any of the stories. And it was that thing where even now today, I'll see them and that was when I was like 10 years old. I'll see them now and they'll remind me of these stories or these nicknames I gave them or the storyteller, these characters I did or these videos that I used to make. And I don't even remember them, but they're things that have stuck with them throughout their whole life. They're still thinking about that stuff. So, that's one of my signposts. Another example was the holidays are upon us and finding the right gift for your kids, nieces and nephews and partner and family members can be super difficult, but it doesn't have to be. Go check out Uncommon Goods. Sophie and I were checking it out the other day looking for gifts for our kids. They have a make your own storybook kit, which we love. There's this cardboard toolkit with a cardboard saw that's safe and connectors so you can build cool stuff and forts and whatnot. They also got these building connectors where you can connect sticks and make a fort. Mainly, I just like forts, but there's tons of cool creative gifts that will inspire your kids to go make stuff, but we could also easily have just bought stuff for each other or even ourselves. This curated selection of goods means you don't have to scour the internet for something unique and exciting and you're supporting artists and small businesses at the same time, which you know I love. 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. - When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouthwatering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points so you can get big flavors and big savings, king supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. - There've been a few times in my life where I had a really meaningful conversation with a friend, where they were confused about the direction they should take. They were unhappy with the place that they were in. And through our conversation, I was able to drag out what they really wanted to do and we were able to find some clarity about the direction they wanted to take and help them come up with like some actionable steps to move forward. And there's been a handful of those in my life where the people then went on to take the action and find success in areas that were pretty significant. And I don't say that to brag. I just say that's been a signpost for me. It's one of the reasons I do this podcast is that I feel like that's one of my master sword things. One of my things is to help other people gain clarity on the direction, especially when it comes to creative commercial pursuits. And so that's been one for me. So what are the things that you've got friends or family that keep coming back to you and reminding you about something you've done that have made an lasting impact on them? That's one of the biggest signposts I think you can find. Okay, number seven, last one, your gut. I can't tell you how many times that I've been going so hard and being so busy and being so not taking a break, not taking a walk, not taking a moment to think where I'm getting all confused, all worked up. And if I would have just stopped and listened to that small voice that I would have known the answer all along. And I feel like so often we're inundated with everything that's happening in the modern world. We've got our phones in our faces, we've got people talking to us, we got demands, we got deadlines, we got this and that and all this stuff. And all of that confusion is so noisy. It drowns out that gut response, that thing that's deeper in you that's saying you're neglecting that one thing you should be thinking about. And I feel like so many times if I just slow down and I go on a walker just to give you too much information I take a nice long, hot bath and I sit and I think about and I just let that, I let it all settle and I kind of see what rises to the top. And I feel like so often we have a sense of that work we're supposed to be doing, we kind of already know and actually all these signposts maybe aren't even necessary because it's all noise to try to get away from the thing that we know we should be doing. And all the confusion and all the additional projects and all the new initiatives and all the apps and all that stuff is getting in the way of doing the work that deep down in your gut you know you're supposed to be doing and I think getting quiet, actually having a routine of getting quiet with your thoughts even daily. Doesn't have to be some crazy meditation ritual it can be taking a walk every day. It can be you know having some quiet time in the morning. It can be you know it can be anytime it can be any place but it's time when you let things settle and you see what rises to the top. And I feel like so often we know the answer and if we're just quiet long enough we'll hear what it is that we're supposed to be doing. All right, so did we get weird today? Maybe a little bit. Maybe it sounds like a little bit over the top and you know what, you can call it your master sword, your purpose, your destiny, your passion, your calling. You can just call it your job. You can be in the place where it's the most normal thing in the world. It doesn't have to be otherworldly if that's uncomfortable for you. You don't like it or it sounds ridiculous or impractical. I like to go there cause I'm silly. But you don't have to. Really we're just looking for what's the thing? You're unique person. You've got unique skills and talents and if you lean into your best ones that wherever you are in the world there's a need for that's where you're gonna find your biggest point of impact. You're gonna find your biggest contribution in that. And I think all of these things you can see them as really, you know, airy or whatever. You can see them as super practical and just get real and get. And you know, one of the things I think you could do, you can look, you can go through this process but then another simple thing that you can do, maybe I should have added a number eight. But this is a really easy one. You take your top five talents, make a list, the top five things you love to do, the top five passions and then the top five responses or demands or opportunities that you've had or you think that you would have. And then just start connecting the dots. And I think I don't think there's anything more filling than finding that place in between all these three things. And, you know, the further I go in this pursuit, I will tell you that, you know, if you're skeptical, at least for me and my experience might not be true for everybody but for at least for me, if I commit myself to the work of finding this master sword, the more committed I am and the more work I put in, the clearer things actually do get, the more demand that I find and the more I love what I'm doing, the more fulfilled I am, I really do believe all that stuff. And, you know, just to wrap things up, I just wanna say thank you for listening, all the people at illustration age that have contacted me, commented on there, tweeted about the show. I really appreciate it, it's so awesome. You know, you never know when you share something like this, whether it'll hit a friend right at the right time and it'll make an impact on what they're doing and their work. So I really appreciate that. And, you know what, if you have ideas for the show, sometimes people send me an idea and I directly do a show on it but sometimes I just wrap it up into a bigger idea but I always give them a shout out. So if you've got an idea, send me an email and if you wanna listen to the show online, remember, check out illustration age at illustration age.com/creativepeptalk and you can listen to all the episodes on there. And I, you know, just another shout out to all the people that bought my Do Not Be Afraid poster, which is in connection with the past episode. I really appreciate that and that's definitely helping me justify doing this financially. You know, another thought I had was doing some creative peptalk mugs. If that's something you wanna, if you'd like, you know, putting some of these ridiculous phrases on mugs that I'm coming up with or, I don't know, I don't know yet but something that, I like that idea. I feel like peptalk and coffee go perfectly hand in hand. So I'm thinking about that and the wife came up with that idea. And I think that's about it. And so, until next time, stay peped up. (upbeat music) - Hey, y'all. This is our quick thing. Earlier this year, I rebuilt my website using Squarespace's 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 wanna check that out and what I was able to do without any code, check out AndyJPizza.com. If you wanna test it out, go to squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out yourself. And when you're ready to launch, use promo code PEPTALK for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks Squarespace for supporting the show and for supporting creative people. Do you love hair raising allegedly true stories about the paranormal? Then some on the podcast Scared to Death. It's the popular horror series with more than 60 million downloads and is co-hosted by me, Dan Cummins. And me, Lindsey, co-host and also Dan's wife. Each week on Scared to Death, we share bone chilling tales from old books and creepy corners of the web and some submitted by our listeners all designed to make you sleep with the lights on. Think you can handle the horror? Tune in to Scared to Death every Tuesday at the stroke of midnight to find out.