Edward Hopper, the failure

Edward Hopper was an American realist painter who gained notoriety around the early part of the twentieth century, however, Hopper was a bit of a miserable fellow.

By age 40, Hopper was essentially a failed painter. Nobody liked his stuff and it wasn’t selling. Hopper never stopped and eventually, his best-known works, Nighthawks, House by the Railroad, Automat, and more became hits, and Hopper by about age 42 was much more successful.

So if you think you’re a failure at age 22, or 32, or even 42, stop. There is so much more time and potential. Heck, who says you can’t start a business at 72 years old and run that for two (or three!) decades?

The two-week push

It’s that time of the year. We hear the drone of the “holiday season” and start wrapping up the year. But, you could make a strong two-week push heading into 2022. Next year could have 54 weeks instead of the 52 that everyone else will be working with. It’s the two-week push and it’s time to get going.

“Only a year”

Then he said to me, “I went to prison, but it wasn’t bad, it was only a year.”

ONLY A YEAR!? It sounded crazy from my perspective. But that’s where I stopped. This guy I was talking to had served with other guys who were serving decades and even life sentences behind bars.

It was just another reminder that so many of the human emotions we feel come from our perspective and how we look at the situation, not necessarily the raw data about the situation.

When you consider spending weeks or months with guys who are locked up for 50 years, yeah, I can see why he said “Only a year.”

Writing a wedding speech

How to write a wedding speech? I don’t know. But I’ll know a little more about how it’s done soon.

I’m putting the finishing touches on a speech I am to give at my brother’s wedding today. I’ve never written or delivered a wedding speech before, but there are a few pointers I have been given and I will be trying to follow:

  1. Keep the speech short and thoughtful. Five or six minutes is good.

  2. Don’t try to be funny. Let money moment happen naturally.

  3. Don’t overthink it. A good wedding speech is nice at the moment, but nobody cares that much and you’ll likely be forgotten by tomorrow.

  4. To combat being forgotten, try to include a nugget or two that will be memorable.

  5. It’s not about your “presentation,” it’s about the bride and groom.

I’ll check back in at some point with how it went–if I remember to check back in.

Will you stand up for what is right?

I heard an interesting lecture a little while ago and there were some interesting points the speaker made about controversy and taking a standing for what is right.

You don’t have to be a troll to find yourself in the center of controversy. You only need to be two things: effective, and unwilling to back down.

You, who have studied and worked your way to where you are in life, know subconsciously (or consciously) that you can’t go against the raging river current of modern favor and the status quo. You must think as you’re told and recite from the script that everyone is comfortable with—but why were you born? What’s the point of being alive? Computers are vastly better at number crunching. They’ll soon be better at all kinds of more complex tasks. What they cannot do is stand on principle. What a computer cannot do is refuse to lend credibility to different systems that you disagree with or find false altogether. What the computer cannot know is the glorious exertion of the human will when it refuses to do obeisance in the face of lies and instead publicly speaks the truth.

The question is, are you able or willing to stand up for what you believe is right–even in the face of fierce public backlash?

Slow it down

Whatever you’re doing, do it a little slower. Sacrifice an extra hour for that task and take a stroll through the work instead of panicking and running around. It makes work more fun, life less stressful, and creative discoveries more abundant.

Better writing

I’ve been crafting these blog posts for a little over three years at this point. I remember forcing myself to sit down and write the first one. This was the start of something new. I hate obligation, most of all I hate obligation that is foisted onto my shoulders.

That day, I felt like I was undertaking something that I was putting on myself and I wasn’t sure if I would keep writing or fizzle out after a few days. Yet here we are.

It hasn’t been bad, it’s been really good. I’ve committed to something for three years and it’s become part of what I do every day. That makes me happy in a tingles-in-the-chest kind of way. I have proved to myself that I can stick with something for a long period of time.

There is, however still something lacking. My writing is awkward, clumsy, and bland as cardboard very often.

I want to use more colorful language, more expressive words, more unknown vocabulary that might make reading more fun. The content of my writing needs to be grounded in something I can make better and share that with you. I talk too much about myself and stuff I like at the expense of being a better writer. I want to keep writing and I will keep working on becoming a better writer.

Our work doesn’t speak for itself

In one of the books on my shelf, I remember reading the author talking about artists who like to say “my work speaks for itself.” But he keenly points out that our work does not speak for itself.

Sure, maybe you look at something and it looks nice or well-lit, or well-painted, but people connect with your work when they know the story behind the piece. How did you make it? Why did you make it? What were some of the behind the scene challenges? Why did the client want this artwork or photograph?

Our work doesn’t speak for itself so we’d better get out there and start speaking for our art.

Last to walk into the room

Sitting in the hunting stand, the herd of deer moves in. All the does start showing up and then, bringing up the rear and showing up last, you have the majestic buck.

The buck runs the show. The buck shows intelligence and leadership in the way he operates. The females get to eat first, but they also ensure there isn’t danger lurking for him when he shows up.

There is some kind of wisdom in slowing down and not rushing into everything.

Find what you’re good at doing

The secret to adding additional levels of joy to your life is to find what you’re good at doing, use that skill to create something valuable, and give it away. Find what you’re best at doing and give it away.

Don’t compromise

Don’t compromise. Find a way to come to a better deal. Usually, the compromise isn’t what you want and it’s not entirely what the other side wants either. So it ends up being a bad deal.

No deal is better than a bad deal. There are almost always creative ways to make your proposal beneficial for both parties involved. That’s the deal we want to strike. That’s the deal that keeps clients coming back for more and keeps you in business.

Did you finish the job?

Did you finish the job and complete what you planned to do? If so, good. That’s a success. Success isn’t how fast you did it or how difficult it was or how close you came to failing. Success is getting the job done.

It’s up to you and me to work on getting better every day, but in the meanwhile, let’s get stuff done!

A friend to all

Aristotle had it right when he said that a friend to all is a friend to none. It’s something I’ve struggled with all of my life. I over-commit to the number of people I have time for and then I end up keeping up with nobody and a few years later you start wondering where all of your friends went and how you all grew apart.

One loyal friend or two is far more valuable than trying to befriend the world. The only way to have a loyal friend is to be a loyal friend.

Nothing blog post

Just a blog post about nothing. Re-establishing a routine means that this writing got pushed to my least-prioritized task of the day. And I am all out of time now. I’m just writing what is on my mind with no thought of its value. Sorry for wasting your time. This post was all about me.

Small wins get you on track

It’s easy to beat yourself up and let one small setback kill the whole day, or, in my case, being sick for three weeks to kill the final five weeks of the year.

There’s this stupid little voice that says “just relax until the new year starts, THEN you can really get after it.”

That’s my brain saying that. Isn’t my brain supposed to be on my side?

Instead of allowing a setback to become a lifestyle, start small, take steps to get back to normal every day, and even if it’s only a small step you managed to take today, be content with that. It’s the right direction.

The alternative is you beat yourself up over it, you get angry, and you give up even faster tomorrow when you aren’t moving at full speed.

40% of something is better than 100% of nothing. Celebrate the wins even if they’re small!

Sensitive about himself

I’ve had time to reflect on my peers and many of the generation who are just a bit younger than me these past couple of weeks.

They almost all have this characteristic; they’re extra-sensitive about themselves and yet more cruel and heartless toward others than I have ever remembered seeing anytime in my short life.

I spent much of the past couple of weeks trying to remind myself to be a bit less sensitive toward myself (toughen up, kid!) and also less cruel toward everyone else.

It’s simple in theory: render to others the empathy you have for yourself. That’s it. It’s much easier to help people and show kindness when we actively seek to preserve the humanity of our fellow man.

I’m back

I’ve felt better for about a week at this point. But getting back into the swing of things like writing every day and working out have been coming back slowly. I’m back to feeling great again and the past three weeks have been a reminder that I should not take my health for granted.

What did my COVID feel like? Two weeks of headaches and feeling tired.

There was a strange mental aspect of the sickness. For the final several days of being sick, I felt like I was dancing in this space between death and life. It was very strange. Nothing in the world was worth anything to me and I didn’t care about the future or anything other than finding a comfortable spot to lay down and try to rest.

I was always conscious of the fact that I was feeling this way and was able to have a third-person, top-down view of what I was going through, but I felt comfortable living in that space. It was a cold and uninviting world and my outlook was as if I was becoming totally detached from it. Just very bizarre and definitely the worst part of this sickness–for me, that is. I wonder if that's what it feels like when you're getting really old and losing the warmth in their life (literally and/or figuratively.)

It was interesting, but I’m glad to be over it and feeling normal and like I’m in my own comfy home again.

Now it’s a matter of reestablishing my sleep schedule and getting back to work and working harder every day.

One thing every day

Each day, do one thing that advances you toward your goal and makes you a stronger person.

Don’t worry about changing the world in a day. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but each day a few bricks got placed.

Little steps forward every day is the way to success.