The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Do Gatekeepers force You to Step Up Your Game?

In this week’s backstage episode, we discuss the role of gatekeepers play in our world today. While we have the ability to bypass them, perhaps they have value. Do they force us to step up our game? How does the impact artists?

Why your worldview matters when it comes to this debate
The value of our classical definition of success
The reason there is nothing that is true for everyone
Stepping up your game to the level of the absolute best
How personal biases effect the way gatekeepers choose
What the Oscars teach is about gatekeeper bias
Why we always point out the outliers
Having personal gatekeepers in your life to hold you to a standard
Knowing when it’s valuable to bypass the gatekeeper
Going through the terrible phases in order to get good

Resources, People, and Old Interviews Mentioned

Should Gatekeepers be bypassed or Embraced by Cal Newport

Ira Glass on Taste

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Duration:: 36m
Broadcast on:: 07 Mar 2014
Audio Format:: other

As you probably noticed, this month we're bringing you our "Life of Purpose" series and revisiting some of our most transformative episodes, tune in to explore expert insights and practical strategies on help, performance, and community well-being, all aimed at helping you achieve personal and professional fulfillment. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll not only get recaps of the key ideas in each interview, but at the end of the series, you'll receive our free "Life of Purpose" ebook. What you have to do is go to unmistakablecreative.com/lifepurpose. In spite of all our communication technology, no invention is as effective as the sound of the human voice. When we hear the human voice, we instinctively want to listen in the hopes of understanding it, even when the speaker is searching for the right words to say, that's because the human voice resonates differently from everything else in the world. This is the unmistakable creative podcast. Tune in on candid conversations with creative entrepreneurs and insanely interesting people. Hey, true crime fans! Tired of ads interrupting your gripping investigations? Good news! With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free, top podcasts included with your prime membership. After all, ads shouldn't be the scariest thing about true crime. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free, or go to amazon.com/adfreetruecrime. That's amazon.com/adfreetruecrime to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. Let's talk about something that's not always top of mind, but still really important. Life insurance. Why? Because it offers financial protection for your loved ones, and can help them pay for things like a mortgage, credit card debt, it can even help fund an education. And guess what? Life insurance is probably a lot more affordable than you think. In fact, most people think life insurance is three times more expensive than it is. So with state farm life insurance, you can protect your loved ones without breaking the bank. Not sure where to start? State Farm has over 19,000 local agents that can help you choose an option to fit your needs and budget. Get started today and contact a state farm agent, or go to statefarm.com. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man, then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit that's linkedin.com/results. And if you want to know more about the future, please subscribe to our channel. Be curious, visit claud.ai and see how claud can elevate your work. At Sprout's Farmer's Market, we're all about fresh, healthy, and delicious. That's why you'll find the season's best local and organic produce, handpicked, and waiting for you in the center of our store. Visit your neighborhood Sprout's Farmer's Market today, where fresh produce is always in season. And I'm ready to rock and roll today on this topic. Before I separate myself from typical behavior, the better I feel, what I usually do is read Walden by Henry David Thoreau. He really should read it because Thoreau knows that a new modern era is bursting forth. Really interesting stuff, though, about the book, about tech, and how it robs us to define communication with the cosmos. Yeah I would say the more things change, the more they stay the same. That book was written decades ago, and it's still absolutely positively relevant to today's world. Yeah, definitely. I need to read that. I've never actually read it. Oh, fantastic book. Yeah. Well, I think that it's something to be said for reading stuff that is more classic. I think it's very easy to basically surround yourself with modern work, but that's a whole other subject. We'll have to talk about that some other time. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's funny because people ask me all the time for business book suggestions, and of course, I never give them business books. Well, you told me to read the 48 Laws of Power. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I always give, and oftentimes I give, like, Thoreau or other authors like that that are fiction-based books or non-fiction that don't have anything to do with business, because you learn a lot about business in those scenarios. Just like I gave you two or three examples, none of them were "business books", but all very useful for business. Definitely. Well, we had another person who wrote in. This isn't actually related to last week's episode, but it was such a nice thing to say I had to read it on the air. Michael wrote in, and this just came in yesterday, he said, "I can't begin to fully express how much I'm enjoying your podcast. Just when I convinced myself that the fatal flaw with being human was my favorite episode, you serve up a healthy dose of Nick Reese. His inspiring example of success, humility, and proper perspective should be the norm in the business in business today instead of the exception. In other words, Srini, your shit is a hit without the "s", and the "s" definitely stands for "super". Keep up the great work, the content of your broadcasts and the manner in which you present them are so good that it makes me wonder how I ever got along without it. What you bring to the table is way more valuable than you realize, so please don't ever stop. Thanks again for all you do. Here's to being unmistakable, Michael. Wow, like I, I went with that guy seven for breakfast. Yeah, seriously, that was such a nice thing like, you know, I got, that was the last thing that I looked at online last night and I was thinking, "Wow, what a perfect way to end the day. Thank you so much for that." That's great. Yeah, I mean, we're getting so many kind words from our listeners. It's so awesome. I mean, you guys, really, without you guys, it wouldn't be what it is. So, let's get into something that is really, really interesting. I think a subject that is probably near and dear to both mine and Greg's heart, and one that, you know, for me, really kind of, in one way, hit a nerve, but really got me thinking. A few weeks ago, Cal Newport put up an article on his blog. It's at StudyHacks or Cal Newport.com, and it's definitely, we'll link the article for those you guys listening. But the premise of the article was about gatekeepers, and it was this idea of whether gatekeepers should be bypassed or embraced. And you know, it's interesting because the reason we want to talk about this today is that, you know, hell, I wrote a book in which I've said there are no more gatekeepers. But the question, I think, that really we want to pose is, do gatekeepers actually have a value in terms of, you know, improving the ecosystem, and do they force you to step up your game? Yeah, and I would say, of course they do, absolutely they do. Although this question should gatekeepers be bypassed or embraced is, for me, one very deep. I mean, this week, we could go all night on this one. And I think it starts with your worldview. So see, the thing about anybody, but, you know, in particular, since we're talking about Cal Newport, since he wrote this blog post, the thing about Cal Newport that has to be taken into account in his writing, is that he's always talking from the perspective of living by traditional American ways. So when he talks about the idea that don't follow your passion, that actually you should develop your skills and that leads to passion, he's talking about that with traditional jobs. He's not talking about that going off and doing your own thing. When he's talking about should gatekeepers be bypassed or embraced? He's talking about it from traditional publishing standpoint. So you know, you have to start there because if you don't start there, if you don't start with the worldview of how you see the world, and I think that I would guess that a lot of our listeners don't see the world the way Cal Newport sees the world. They don't believe in standing, you know, following the status quo and getting in line and waiting your turn for the success that you can possibly have, or even defining success the same way that Cal Newport defines success. Cal Newport is a graduate of MIT and a professor there and is very much focused on traditional American ways and studying them. So I mean, to me it starts there. Do you believe in traditional ways of America? Do you believe in the classical definition of success in America first? Because if you don't start there, we can go any number of directions with this conversation. So I think that number one, it's got to start there. And number two, then from there you can decide whether gatekeepers are valuable or not for what you're trying to accomplish. Well, that in and of itself is an interesting question, right? Is there value in buying into that one view? Is there value in this traditional model of success? Does that lead to something good per se? Yes, I would say, see, that's the thing is it yes and no, it all depends on who you are. If you're Cal Newport, 100%, that's how he makes a living. If you're me, maybe not. So I mean, this is the challenge that we have, especially in the internet age, is everyone draws a line in the sand and picks a position and says, that's the way it's supposed to be for everyone, instead of saying, that's the way I want it to be for me. And that's the difference. And that's exactly what Cal is doing here. He's not saying that's the way I want it to be for me. He's saying that's the way it should be for everyone. And that's a position that you cannot take because everyone is different and everyone has different values and different views and different opinions and everyone's going in different directions. But he's got a point for people that traditionally follow this path and for people that traditionally study somebody like Cal Newport, he makes a very good argument. Well, what's interesting to me is as somebody who has self-published a book, and also when we're a filter, I mean, what do we do with the unmistakable creative? We are constantly filtering for talent. We play the role of not a gatekeeper like you said in the sense earlier before we hit record of choosing who gets to put their art in the world, but filtering who we decide to showcase. And as somebody who has written a traditionally published book, I can tell you that the desire to get a book deal constantly was the drive behind me trying to get better and better and better at writing because I knew that, okay, I have got to be better in order for somebody to say, okay, this is book deal worthy. And so for me, the question is, okay, yeah, we have gatekeepers. Sure, we don't have to embrace them. But knowing that they're there, like, let's say, you know, part of it, you know, I will say this, like, nothing would make me happier than if the unmistakable creative became so wildly popular that somebody came to us and said, you know what, we're so interested in this, we want to make a TV show. But that means that our game has to be stepped up to a whole other level, right? Like, I'm not John Stewart, but, you know, I mean, if I want to be, I've got to step up my game. So, so let me ask you this, are you suggesting that you can't or won't or won't even consider stepping up your game and creating your own TV show? Oh, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that the point is that the game has to be stepped up if you even do what you're talking about to play the game on that level, I think, to me, okay, the fact that there is somebody like John Stewart out there, and the fact that there is somebody saying, hey, you're awesome enough to be on TV, that to me is a signal to say, you know what, if I want to accomplish that, then I definitely have to step up my game. Yeah. So, okay, there's a few things here that, and this is where I think this can go so deep in so many different directions. So on one hand, I agree with you in that I think there's so much garbage on the internet, for example, and so much wasted space and energy in just garbage because anyone can hit publish. And so there, it's just riddled with junk. And yet there's also, there's two things there. One is the other point that Kal doesn't bring up in his article, and one that I think is easily overlooked is there's bias in gatekeepers. So gatekeepers are not objective, they're subjective, right? So if a gatekeeper is subjective, a gatekeeper is taking into account all their own personal bias. So there's racial bias, there's age bias, there's experience bias, there's all kinds of bias in terms of that gatekeeper picking someone. So a gatekeeper doesn't always pick the talented or the most talented or the best writer or the best filmmaker. They also pick things based on their personal biases. And so that can't go overlooked, I mean, that's a huge factor here. So when you break down the barriers and you can bypass gatekeepers, that's how a lot of people that otherwise would never get a shot in this country or around the world get their shot because they can bypass gatekeepers. So there's value in that just simply to bypass the biased nature of some people. Secondly, a lot of gatekeepers are not experts in their craft or their field. They are not great at picking the right talent. There are some, I mean, there's some people in the music industry, for instance, who just always seem to know talent and pick the right talent, and they just get it, you have your Clive Davis's that you can spot the Whitney Houston's and can spot the Mariah Carey's and just know that that person's going to be huge and going to be a star and they pick that talented person. But most gatekeepers simply want to have a job and earn a paycheck. And so there's bias in that. So a gatekeeper is going to do what they have to do to protect their job and earn their paycheck, not necessarily take risks on certain people that are talented enough or take risks that are necessary to put out a good film. I mean, Hollywood is a classic example of that, they won't do, they won't take a single risk because they don't want to lose their jobs. So that also goes into this factor of whether should gatekeepers be bypassed or embraced. It's not just about gatekeepers being experts and picking talent. Spark something uncommon this holiday with just the right gift from uncommon goods. The busy holiday season is here and uncommon goods makes it less stressful with incredible hand pick gifts for everyone on your list, all in one spot, gifts that spark joy, wonder delight and that it's exactly what I wanted feeling. They scour the globe for original, handmade, absolutely remarkable things. Last year, I found the perfect gift for my nephew, periodic table building blocks. 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My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man, then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B. But with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com/results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn. The place to be. To be. Expand the way you work and think with Claude by anthropic. Whether brainstorming solo or working with a team, Claude is AI built for you. It's perfect for analyzing images and graphs, generating code, processing multiple languages, and solving complex problems. Plus, Claude is incredibly secure, trustworthy, and reliable, so you can focus on what matters. Curious? Visit claud.ai and see how Claude can elevate your work. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous to your contracts, they said, "What the f*ck are you talking about? You insane Hollywood f*ck." So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month, new customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes. Details. Yeah. No, I think you're right. The bias factor is one that I had never really considered before, but yeah, I mean, Hollywood is a fantastic example of that. There's a lot of shitty movies that come out of Hollywood. I mean, you know, we watched the Oscars this last Sunday. And you know, that was always a fascinating example to me of, okay, I mean, some of these are definitely amazing looking films, but sometimes I look at this and say that one in Oscar, really? Well, just imagine, okay, so take, here's a good example. So take the Oscars and imagine that the people who vote on the Oscars had to vote on whether the film could be made in the first place, right? So the Oscars are made up of, I think it's something like 74% Caucasian males with the age of 50, 74% Caucasian males over the age of 50. If I'm not mistaken, I could be mistaken on this, but it's something like that. So imagine if they got to decide which movies got made, you don't, you don't think that they have certain biases that would decide on what movies got made, that they're just somehow completely objective and they're going to always pick the greatest talent. Well, no, that's not going to be the case. And so there's value in bypassing gatekeepers just from that very reason alone. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, right? The other, the other side of that is that, so the thing that always comes up when people like, oh, you know, the gatekeepers are idiots, they passed on things like Harry Potter and all this other stuff. You know, that's the example. We use these examples of all the things that gatekeepers couldn't see. And yet that to me takes us back to our very first debate of talent, right? Well, it takes us, and it takes us back to outliers. Yeah, exactly. Let's point out the outliers, you know, why are we making it? Who wrote the blog posts where they list the gatekeepers who passed on really shitty work? Where's that blog post? Where's that blog post that says this publisher, look at, look at all this crappy work this publisher passed on. How awesome are they for doing that? No, we only write the one blog post that says, look, this publisher passed on JK Rowley. And then we all jump on that publisher and say, you're such an idiot, right? But we never see the blog post or the articles or the newspaper magazines or whatever it is, pointing out all the good stuff they're doing to protect us from. Yeah, yeah, and a doubt. Well, you know, like you said, there's a lot of garbage in the internet. It's funny. This is kind of an aside, a bit of a tangent, but like Tom Hanks, to me, is an example of a guy. Like I've been trying, like, it seems like there's a certain point in his career in which he just stopped ever making bad movies like it would, you know, after the burbs, I can't think of anything that I was like, you know, that was crap. Like everything that he does is a whole other level. And it's like, okay, you know, it's exactly what you're talking about. He's just picking things one hit after another, and you're right, we don't highlight things like that. You know, because we're the rebels, we're the misfits, we look for ways to destroy authority. And to me, I guess, you know, knowing that these gatekeepers are there, again, you know, sometimes I see the example of people who want to be on our show hole, right, and say, what do we have to do to get on the show? And I'm like, do something unmistakable and make me curious, and I have no idea how you do that. Yeah. Well, and here's another value. So I think there's a lot of value in having gatekeepers, even in your own personal life. These might not be like significant gatekeepers, but having people that are willing to say, no, that's not good enough. Don't publish that. Or that's not good enough. Don't put that out. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think I play that role a lot for you. Oh, definitely. Right. And a lot of ways I'm your gatekeeper from that standpoint, you know, you show me something and I say that's not quite there. That's not ready. That's not unmistakable. Don't put that out in the world. And so I think there's value to that. However, I will say that there's also people that don't publish things or don't do a film or don't do something because they're afraid that it's garbage. They're afraid that it's not going to be good enough. They're afraid that it's going to be judged by those gatekeepers and denied. And so they never take action. They never do anything because of that. So there's value in just bypassing the big gatekeepers and hitting publish on something or or putting your film out in the world just to get past that point. You know, there's the famous Ira Glass. Let's talk about something that's not always top of mind, but still really important. Life insurance. Why? Because it offers financial protection for your loved ones and can help them pay for things like a mortgage, credit card debt, it can even help fund an education. And guess what? Life insurance is probably a lot more affordable than you think. In fact, most people think life insurance is three times more expensive than it is. So with state farm life insurance, you can protect your loved ones without breaking the bank. Not sure where to start? State Farm has over 19,000 local agents that can help you choose an option to fit your needs and budget. Get started today and contact a state farm agent or go to statefarm.com. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation, they said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those owners to your contracts, they said, "What the f*** are you talking about? You insane Hollywood s***." So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. At mintmobile.com/switch $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month, new customers on first three month plan only, taxes and fees extra, speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of details. Hey, true crime fans. Tired of ads interrupting your gripping investigations? Good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your prime membership. After all, ads shouldn't be the scariest thing about true crime. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free, or go to amazon.com/adfreetruecrime. That's amazon.com/adfreetruecrime to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. Expand the way you work and think with Claude by Anthropic. Whether brainstorming solo or working with the team, Claude is AI built for you. It's perfect for analyzing images and graphs, generating code, processing multiple languages, and solving complex problems. Plus, Claude is incredibly secure, trustworthy, and reliable, so you can focus on what matters. Curious? Visit claud.ai and see how Claude can elevate your work. At Sprout's Farmers Market, we're all about fresh, healthy, and delicious. Step into our bulk department to scoop up as much as you like from hundreds of bins filled with wholesome grains and limited time goodies. Visit your neighborhood Sprout's Farmers Market today where flavor fills every scoop. A quote where he talks a lot about how no one tells an artist about that really bad period in the beginning, where an artist typically has good taste, as he puts it, an artist typically has good taste. But when they start doing something, it's kind of terrible, because they're just beginning, and they kind of know it's terrible, and it really bothers them, and a lot of times they give up because it's terrible, but they need to get through that terrible phase to get to the good stuff. And so, there's a lot of value in ignoring gatekeepers from that perspective, still doing your work, still putting it out there in some form, because that helps you get through the terrible phase and actually get to the good phase, otherwise you just shut yourself down and we never see any of your art. Yeah, no, I would agree with that. I mean, I think I love that you brought up the personal gatekeepers. Yeah, I mean, you absolutely forced me to an incredibly higher standard than I've ever been held to. I know for a fact, I'm sitting here, my friends, I remember. Just to give you guys an example, the stupid chalkboard thing, I'm painting chalkboards and I'm putting layers of chalkboard paint on them, because I'm like, "You know what? This isn't smooth, and Greg will come back and ask why the hell it isn't smooth." I'm like, "It's been your head now." Well, I know you well enough to know, if we could have done it better, and we know we could have done it better with the tiniest bit of effort, then why wouldn't we? And then another example, I'd been wanting to get ready, I wanted to start writing the next book, which was supposed to be "The Thousand Word Habit" and Carolyn Misari, my editor, wouldn't work on it. And then I told her, "I'm changing the book, I'm going to call it the scenic route, the journey of words and waves." And she said, "Now I'm ready to work on the book," because she was basically being my gatekeeper to keep me from putting shitty art out in the world. Yeah, it's very beneficial to have those types of people in your life and help you with your work. And so, like I was saying at the beginning, this can go so many different directions. So the idea, and this is what we do, right? So the question is, should gatekeepers be bypassed or embraced? That's so generic. That's so generic. But how else can we begin the conversation without having a generic conversation in terms of the web, so you kind of almost have to make it generic in order for anybody to click on it, in anybody to read it. And so that's what we've done, is we've made it so generic. But when you get down to the specifics, there's some gatekeepers that are useful and some that aren't. There's some that are completely biased and some that aren't. There's some that are great at picking talent and some that aren't. There's ways in which it's valuable for you to put terrible work out there, because it gets you out there, it gets you exposed, it gets you to do better work. And then there's other times when, if you're established, there's no way you should put terrible work out there, because it will only diminish. I mean, think of somebody like Will Smith, who put out a string of big hits in Hollywood, then he does two crappy movies in a row. And now, no one wants to do a movie with him. So you've got to be careful about that kind of thing. So there's value in certain gatekeepers and then there's value in not having gatekeepers. I don't think it's as simple as should they exist or should they not. But hey, let's get the listeners to jump in on this and find out. Yeah, definitely. We really want to hear what some of you guys have had to say. I mean, we know some of you have bypass gatekeepers, because some of you have gotten book deals and done other things. So write in and tell us your thoughts at unmistakablecreative.com/contact. I mean, you guys are the ones who drive this entire segment. This is one that I'm very, very curious to hear your feedback on. Yeah, I'm very curious as well, because this is a huge topic of conversation in the internet world in general. And what the internet and other technologies have done in terms of eliminating or bypassing those gatekeepers. And yet I'm, as you can hear, just in my, in this 20 minutes that we've been talking about it, I'm conflicted, I see value in it and I also don't. So I'm really curious to see what others think. All right, well, let's get into the iTunes reviews really quick. I mean, you guys have been amazing. You're just letting them pour in. So we got one from Melanie Beale, more than blogging, which we're happy to hear. I first started listening to this show when it was focused on bloggers and blogging. And I feel like it's evolving with my own interests and profession. The rebrand came about just as I was no longer thinking of myself as a blogger and began to identify myself as a graphic designer and storyteller, streaming as top-tier guests and as always a great interviewer. Thanks for that. That's awesome. Mike Malloy, a really inspiring podcast that is packed with great insight into the motivations and techniques of creative people. El McCormick, within the last few weeks, I've listened to interviews with Seth Godin, Daniela Port, Nisha Budley, Amber Rae. Each interview moved me and has made a noticeable impact on my work. This podcast is awesome. And for those of you guys who want to come to the site, we'll go ahead and link those interviews in the show notes for this. All of those are fantastic interviews. Bert Nojayo, I serendipitously found Srini's podcast one day back in January and gave it a listen. I've been going through a fair amount of personal and professional issues. And this podcast spoke to me instantly. I found the people to be interviewed insightful, interesting, authentic, and always have something of value to share. I really appreciate the interviews and the added backstage candid conversations between Srini and Greg. Oh, nice, nice. And then Kimberly D. Houston, this is Hands Down, one of my favorite go-to resources for creative inspiration. She calls it an absolute must-listen for independent creatives and other creative business builders. Fantastic. We've got some great reviews. Thank you guys so much. Yeah, they're really, I mean, it's so, so mind-blowing. And you know, we really, we appreciate these reviews so much. So Greg and I have actually decided to do something, you know, to incentivize you guys to drop us a review. Greg, you want to tell them a little bit about how we're going to do this? No, you tell them. All right. Well, so what we're going to do is we are going to give away a $25 Amazon gift card to somebody who submits a review. Well, basically, if you submit a review every Friday, we'll read the reviews from the previous week on backstage and we'll pick one person, you'll get a $25 Amazon gift card. And the cool thing is we can send this to you digitally so it'll be in your inbox instantly. So yeah, that hopefully will incentivize you guys. You just totally forgot the most important part that I told you before we went on there. Damn it. You said something- I knew you were going to do that too. That's why I would set you up for that. Sorry. You said something about a drawing. I thought I pretty much nailed it. Yes. Yeah. You didn't tell them about the drawing. You just said we would pick one. So yeah, whoever submits a review for that week, every Friday what we'll do is we'll put names in a hat and we'll do a drawing and whoever is selected as the winner will get a $25 gift card to Amazon. I just want to make that clear that it's completely objective and not subjective. So don't try to write the greatest review to win a gift card, please. Please be honest in the reviews and then we'll do a drawing. There we go. That's clearly much more articulate than I put it. Awesome. Well, you guys have been awesome. Thank you so much for your support and we will see you guys next week. Thanks for listening in on another candid conversation at the unmistakable creative. Embrace your inner misfit, express your creative voice, and remember, the goal isn't to live forever, but to create something that will. Let's talk about something that's not always top of mind, but still really important. Life insurance. Why? Because it offers financial protection for your loved ones and can help them pay for things like a mortgage, credit card debt, it can even help fund an education. And guess what? Life insurance is probably a lot more affordable than you think. In fact, most people think life insurance is three times more expensive than it is. So with State Farm life insurance, you can protect your loved ones without breaking the bank. Not sure where to start? State Farm has over 19,000 local agents that can help you choose an option to fit your needs and budget. Get started today and contact a State Farm agent or go to State Farm dot com. 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Have you ever felt a twinge of worry about AI taking over your job or diluting your creativity? What if you could turn that fear into creative fuel? We've just published an amazing new ebook called "The Four Keys to Success in an AI world" and this is more than just a guide, it's a deep exploration into the human skills that AI can't touch. The skills that are essential for standing out and thriving no matter how much technology evolved. We're talking about real differentiators here like creativity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and much more. Inside you'll find actionable insights and strategies to develop these skills, whether you're a creative person, a business person, or simply someone who loves personal development. This isn't a story about tech taking over, it's a story of human creativity thriving alongside AI. Picture this AI as your creative co-pilot not just as a tool but a collaborator that enhances your unique human skills. The Four Keys ebook will show you exactly how to do that and view AI in a new way that empowers you instead of overshadows you. Transform your creative potential today. Head over to unmistakablecreative.com/fourkeys. Use the number four K-E-Y-S that's unmistakablecreative.com/fourkeys and download your free copy. [BLANK_AUDIO]

Why your worldview matters when it comes to this debate
The value of our classical definition of success
The reason there is nothing that is true for everyone
Stepping up your game to the level of the absolute best
How personal biases effect the way gatekeepers choose
What the Oscars teach is about gatekeeper bias
Why we always point out the outliers
Having personal gatekeepers in your life to hold you to a standard
Knowing when it’s valuable to bypass the gatekeeper
Going through the terrible phases in order to get good

Resources, People, and Old Interviews Mentioned

Should Gatekeepers be bypassed or Embraced by Cal Newport

Ira Glass on Taste

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