They will mock you

We laugh at the person who takes the risk and fails instead of respecting the willingness to take that risk in the face of possible failure. They write stories about his failure and how stupid he was for daring the challenge the accepted norms of "the rest of us." When the risk that is taken fails, he had better have thick skin because they will mock.

Many risk-takers don’t fail. The few that do get a lot of air time. We hear all about them. It's our reminder to stay in line, blend in, and remain mediocre.

When the risk-taker succeeds, they look for reasons to discredit or accuse him of cheating. It is a thankless process. Take risks for yourself, not for the accolades.

For the rest of us, these jeering crowds remind us to stay in line and keep our heads down. And most of us do for fear of being labeled or criticized. We shun risk like it's the Black Plague. We would rather reject innovation and exciting new technology, or something new for fear that we will be criticized if it doesn't work. “The old way was slow, but it works and it’s safe.”

But who are these critics? Have they any value in your life? Do they care about your well-being or are they looking for a cheap laugh? The people who respect the risk, the leap, the moment you stepped out onto the edge are the ones who matter. Ignore the masses who've been conditioned to avoid risk and start the new thing today.

If it fails, let them laugh. For yourself, you can rest assured they would not have had the fortitude to set out on such a risky journey as you. They would settle for less and be content in their safe bubble. You want bigger, better, faster, stronger. With that comes risk. Embrace the whole package.

A highly recommended practice

Yesterday I got together with a few fellow YouTube "creators" and had a no-holds-barred sit-down discussion to talk about business development, content creation for youtube, making money in that business and more. It was a fun few hours bouncing ideas around and exploring how other people do work similar to my own.

It has been about a year since I've really sat down with other creators and talked about these things. It reminded me of how valuable it is to hear the voice and perspective of others and see where that applies in your own life or business. Talking to other people is highly recommended.

The F word

One of my favorite books of all time is "The Icarus Deception" by Seth Godin. It's a fun mix of self-help-sounding quotable bits mixed with things that it'd be nice if we had been taught at an earlier age.

Sometimes I feel like my fear of either failure or criticism will lead me to a position where I stand in the middle of the road, walk with the status quo, or be mediocre. I think I can be comfortable being brown cardboard. Useful, but nothing special. That's pretty terrifying to think about. I kind of hate it.

The fact that I hate it makes me happy, though. I know that I need to do more to stick out and be different. I need to do more to challenge the normal proceedings. I need to make that artwork that garners criticism. Boring business is ignored, boring people are ignored, boring artwork vanishes. Challenge what makes people comfortable and the status quo and you'll make the biggest difference.

Make artwork. Make business. Make speeches. And make them all so that they are worth criticism. Love it or hate it, make work that people can't ignore. Don't be afraid, it will consume you and lead you to a safe, boring life of punching the clock and longing for the weekend. Be fearless, be interesting, be notable.

Less is more

I talk a lot and I overexplain almost always. On this freezing cold Wednesday morning (in Philadelphia) watching snow blowing across the ground in waves like little soldiers of fog and ice drifting here and there (very beautiful to see). I'm sitting here thinking about the concept "less is more" and I'm trying to pound it into my head and make it the way I do the things I do.

Too much of a good thing isn't really a good thing. Less is more.

Ignoring what you have for what you want

Too often we get stuck looking for the next big thing, our next break, the promotion we want, etc... and we miss what's happening right in front of us.

For me, I can sometimes get caught up in the chase for more fans, more website users, or more new customers and I start to neglect the amazing fans, users, and customers I have already.

That's what I wanted to share today. Take care of the awesome things that you already have instead of looking for the next break or the next big thing. You'll end up losing the great stuff you have and never getting the things you're chasing.

Foster & love your community, clients, and fans. They love you now, but nothing bites worse than a scorned lover. So don't scorn them, respect them.

Making pressure evaporate

The other day I noticed that the stress and pressure of writing these daily blog posts have completely evaporated. I like to preach the fact that if you just do something for a few minutes a day, it doesn't take very long before you get better and better at that thing.

In this case, taking 10-20 minutes a day to write a blog post has made getting started with all of my writing projects much, much easier.

I'm wondering if I should be shooting a portrait a day, design a logo a day, make a video tutorial a day, etc... etc... to get really fast and really proficient at doing these things.

Start today and set a goal that is very attainable. Something easy that you can do for 10 minutes a day and you'll look back in a few months and realize you've gotten much better at it.

Now I have to keep it up. Hopefully, this blog post isn't a jinx, but I feel pretty good about the future of these posts. More to come!

Sometimes thoughtfulness is cheap

Just back from a week-long trip to San Francisco and one evening while downtown, I saw a city street janitor who was sweeping the streets was keeping two cans of garbage, one for the trash and one for the food scraps he found.

I watched him move from homeless person to homeless person and dish out the food he'd found and set aside. Politics aside, it was a little reminder to me that sometimes doing something thoughtful or kind for others is very often free and just a matter of us thinking ahead a little bit and trying to help out a little more.

It was cool to see a guy doing as much as he could in his particular position. It inspired me to try to be more thoughtful in everything I do.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

...but if it is broken keep trying until you fix it.

Too often we repeat the same comfortable process and we convince ourselves that the outcome will be different. Almost always we're wrong.

How long has it been since you tried something new? A new process, a new system, a new philosophy, etc...

If it's broken, tear it apart and fix it.

“Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results”

— Albert Einstein

Don't be uptight, leave room for creativity

I think I'm a control-freak. Anything that I can plan and meticulously arrange, I almost always will. I'll stress out trying to get presentations complete and just perfect (perfection is unattainable, though). I'll spend hours searching for just the right image, asset, brush, idea, phrase, "ism", etc... to present an idea and in all of this preparation, I lose a lot.

If I over-prepare I lose the freedom of creativity. The off-the-cuff spontaneity that will generate the best moments. Those moments of creative insight or creative brilliance will never be allowed to happen. Instead I seem to prefer operating in a comfort zone, knowing that the presentation will be just good enough to run smoothly.

Of course "just good enough" means it'll be vanilla and boring, but it'll go off without a hitch. I must force myself to fly free, risk crashing if I fly too close to the sun, but the reward may be an experience for the ages, something that changes me and the audience, something that stands the test of time or sets a new trend. Safe doesn't do that.

Be bold, take the risk, reap the reward or fail gloriously while trying. –This must be my new mantra for my own good and for the people who consume the content I create.

I will never give up, I will never give up, I will never give up

It's okay to fail. I'm in process of working out the first vlog that I've ever made and I have been able to fearlessly approach the process by learning to love the process and letting the process itself be the goal. If the final result is a failure, that's fine because the goal was to complete the process.

When the process–the learning experience–is the goal, just making it to the finish line is a success. If the project fails at any measurable level beyond that, it's okay. You've already gotten the benefit and next time you will be a little better and the time after that will be even better than that! Keep going! Don't let a little failure hold you back.

Does anybody like "semi-OK" video?

I'm on my way to San Francisco right now. I will be creating my first vlog on this trip. I want it to be good, but more than that, I just want to get it done and know that I did it. Talking to a camera in front of strangers, yes. Shooting 4x the amount of b-roll I think I'll need, yes. Not knowing exactly what the story is, but just shooting everything and finding the story later, yes. I'm also going to do that whole thing will my camera on full manual mode.

Speaking of manual mode, it's pretty much the most difficult way to use a camera–I have to balance the exposure for every shot, double check white balance, make sure my audio levels are good, and make any creative exposure adjustments I want before taking each shot–I will have all of that in my mind while also trying to line up aesthetically beautiful shots that lines up to tell a compelling and beautiful story.

I'm fully expecting the entire thing to be a colossal failure, but I'll try my best to succeed. The success of this vlog will be in the process and completion of a semi-OK video. If it's better than that, I'll be in love. Hopefully, this will spur on more of these vlogs. I want to shot them partly for entertainment purposes, partly educational, and partly for my kids and grandkids to see me when I was younger. Now that I've started, I kinda wish I had started earlier, like 5-10 years earlier. How cool would that have been?

Never wait to start something good. Damn the torpedos (the naysayers, too) and just do your thing.

Be the engine, not the caboose

To be a leader takes a little bit of courage, some guts, a little determination–especially when the task which you're setting out to complete is something that many would challenge because it's not in line with the status quo.

But this does beg the question: would you rather be the leader who is misunderstood or the follower who never lives to their truest potential? Would you rather be the engine or the caboose? Always leading from the front (also one of the traits of the most successful leaders), or would you rather be stuck at the rear dragged about by the fancy of others?

Often times the risk is worth it. The moment when you question everything you feel, or when the feeling is the direst, that is the moment when you're on to something good. Something worth your time. Something that may just leave a legacy.

So, ask yourself each day: Will I be the engine or the caboose? Sounds kind of silly, but silly is easier to remember.

Traveling to San Francisco

I’m kind of in a rush today. Packing, preparing, catching a flight, an uber, and getting settled in my hotel room. Lots of first world problems now that I’ve spelled it all out. How incredible is it that I will be able to board a metal tube and be launched across the country at 600+mph and arrive safely at a destination of my choosing?

Really makes me rethink complaining that there isn’t quite as much leg room as I’d like. Things are probably better than they seem, it just takes a little perspective to see it sometimes.

Safe travels, baby.

The pain of discipline or agony of regret

We've all been there. That moment you realize you put off a task for too long and now the only solution is to work 36 hours straight to get the job done or the paper submitted before the deadline. As a procrastinator myself I've found myself in this situation a few times before. Why do we do this to ourselves?

Every time the deadline gets closer we feel the pressure tighten in our chest, or maybe our stomach rumbles, or panic begins to descend upon us. All the product of not getting started earlier and sticking with the task to get it finished.

For myself, it's difficult to inject urgency into me for a task that may still be ten days from the deadline. I do this all the time and then find myself looking back wondering why I didn't just start a few days earlier than I did. (How easy and relaxed most projects would be if I did!)

The root cause of most procrastination is the failure to be able to sacrifice the present pleasure for future gain. We want the entertainment, relaxation, play time, etc... right now and we take it instead of doing the thing that is difficult now but feels great to have done later on.

There is a great saying that you will experience the pain of discipline now or the agony of regret later. I think that sums up being in the throes of procrastination nicely.

Get started today. Find a way to make yourself care (or get a new job.) Inject urgency. Think of your family (or whatever motivates you.) Break the large task into small tasks that are easy to get finished and just start making progress. You will never regret having a bit more finished when the project deadline gets closer and closer.

Go. Now. Do a little work. Then do a little more. Not too much, just a little. Be proud of who you are today when you wake up tomorrow.

How to wake up earlier (and happier)

One of the last things I do each day is to lay out the goals for the next day and schedule my day hour-by-hour from 8am-7pm.

By laying out the next day, I know exactly when I need to wake up and why. This helps to give my morning purpose and keeps me from sleeping in. I want to get up to attack my tasks and I know that by 9 am I need to have X task finished, etc...

When you work for yourself and don't have a boss to whom you answer, creating a work schedule for yourself each night is a good way to ensure you don't lay in bed until noon before deciding to get up and start work.

Layout your day. Wake with purpose. Be more productive. Be happier.

P.S. also, the most important part of waking early is getting to bed at a good hour the night before. Focus harder and work to be more disciplined about getting to bed a little earlier. It helps a bit.

Haters and outside voices

Most of us let peer pressure affect us quite a bit and lots of us let non-peer pressure affect us, too. The pressure of people we don't even know and likely will never know–and who don’t particularly even care about you.

Ignoring the outside voices who shout at you is the best practice. Do what you believe is right and keep looking for what is right, what is best, what is good. Stand on the merit of what you know to be true. Don't let the outside voices push you off your path.

This goes for the people saying good OR bad things. Don't buy the hype, it'll make you complacent. Don't listen to the doubters, it'll make you want to quit.

If Edison, Tesla, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc... had waited for the world's approval, they'd have never even started. Ignore the haters and never buy into the hype. Do your work.

Boiling it down to the essence

Finding my "style" was something that I always chased as a young photographer. Somedays I think I'm still chasing it.

For an artist to find their own style doesn't symbolize the death of their creativity or an inability to work with clients and adapt to what they need. Instead, it's a mark that makes an artist instantly recognizable. Most of us know when we see an Ansel Adams or a Dali or a Picasso. They just have something about them that instantly informs you of who the artist it.

As an artist, doing the same thing over and over again frees you up to explore that avenue and get better and better at that. To this day, as a photographer, sometimes I can feel like I've shot a certain style image enough and it's time to try something new.

Does that mean I still haven't discovered who I am and what my style is? I think it's more an issue of developing the discipline and confidence to continue doing the same style over and over again and perfecting it as best I am able. Think of it as boiling down all the stuff to the perfect core-the essence of the style of artwork I make.

So I think I'll keep doing what I do, maybe even limit myself in what I will do even more in an effort to be amazing at what I do and develop a style that is unmistakable and instantly recognizable.

I'm cutting myself off

I try to get to the point, but I love the extra stuff that makes a statement more "flowery" so I try to subdue that bit when I speak and write. But I'm pretty bad at that.

It's easy to take a small thing and spend ten minutes talking about it when a sentence would suffice. Text messages are nice because it's one line instead of a five-minute conversation. A 3 minute YouTube video is easier to watch than a 35-minute video on the same subject.

Being long and drawn out doesn't make me sound more intelligent, I think it just turns people off. I don't think we should communicate using only a few beeps and boops, but getting to the point early and often is better and more considerate of other's time. This is a goal of mine moving forward.

Trim the speech, edit the sentence, end the conversation. Nobody will care if you leave out the superfluous words and explaining things the long way. Extra words just fill space and convey a lack of confidence.

Enough on this subject. I'm cutting myself off now.

A nice way to operate

You shouldn't build the tallest building by tearing down all the buildings that happen to be taller than your building. You simply keep building higher and higher.

Offering genuine compliments and showing genuine interest in others' accomplishments is the better way to go about building your tall building.

When you offer these compliments and care about the success of others, you show how deep your own confidence is and the integrity with which you carry yourself. This has the double-edged effect of showing how confident you are in yourself and also builds a network of people around you who are willing to help you if you need it because you've always shown that genuine care for them.

It's also a really nice way to operate in general and people will probably like you more. Most importantly, you build your own business, brand, project, etc... while also building those around you.

Build the tallest building by building it, not by tearing others down.

Find your rocket fuel

We've all heard the saying "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." It's fun to say, it's easy to say, but to apply it in our life like a commandment it much more difficult.

Hard work and commitment will beat any other traits almost always. There is never an obstacle too big when we're committed to our work and willing to work hard.

Those obstacles become the stepping stones to something greater and as we defeat them, they become like rocket fuel propelling us forward.

Find your passion. Find what you want to commit to. Work hard and then work harder.