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5 Ways to Write More, Faster
Whether you’re working to create the next quotable line for your feature film, or simply crafting a Seth Godin-style short post, you need to have ammunition for the days you can’t seem to get momentum.
How To Unlock the Power of Persuasion in Your Writing
I’m writing this because I want to help you. Even though I’ve been writing professionally for over 10 years, I haven’t done much writing about writing.
How to Make Art Which is Truly Unique
She sits across from the music legend, black shirt hanging loosely around her shoulders, hair draped over her chest. It's been 3:22 seconds since either of them have spoken. …
The One Element Which Matters Most in Creative Work
Kate walks on the beach in front of me, her father to her right. I don’t know what, exactly, I am looking for. Something, anything, which shows they share a gene pool— a 6th toe maybe? A flair on the right pinky which had been passed down through …
Forget Going Viral and Do This Instead
After walking to the stage, pumping his fist, and yelling ecstatically, Chancelor Bennett gives a nervous chuckle when he gets behind the microphone. The crowd is on edge, waiting to see what this first-time Grammy winner will say. Every musical …
9 Mantras That Changed My Life Forever
Almost a year ago, all of this started by accident. I found myself muttering the same phrase every morning as I walked my dog. 2 words: “Thank you.” I would say those two words over and over again. A kind of chant. I probably looked a little …
A Dirty Secret About Creative People
This is something it took me a long time to admit, even to myself. Are you ready? Here it is: All creative people are self-absorbed. We care about what goes on in our heads more than what goes on in “real life.” We would rather look at what …
4 Ways I Improved My Life as the World’s Most Average Person
Ready for some honesty you don’t see much on the Internet? Here we go: I am 26 years old, have started exactly zero companies to date, and currently have a net worth of approximately not very much. I have 3 very close friends and a pretty close …
The Reason You Feel Motivated at Night But Lose It By Morning
It was May in 1930. A man with a fabulous mustache sat upright in his favorite chair, seconds away from dozing off. Just as his head dipped into dream world, the ball bearings plummeted from his hand and onto a metal plate, where the clatter shook …
This is The Most Overrated Pleasure
No, it’s not the cell phone specifically. The most overrated pleasure is the notification (in all forms). You see how it happened, don’t you? First: The notification told us about human interaction: Ring! — “Oh, someone is calling. …
These 6 Words Helped Me Overcome My Fear of Failure
Blink-blink-blink. My cursor pulsed on the blank page. I wrote sentence and then deleted every word. I stood up 6 times for coffee in 2 hours. Surprisingly, my page would still be blank when I returned. I wanted to start a blog. I wanted to start …
Here’s One Thing You Can Do If You Have a Boring Job
My first week of corporate work, I was assigned 18 company policies to read. My second week of work, I was given 40 hours to complete a draft of ONE document. My third week of work, I was in a meeting about a project I might join one day. My forth …
10 Things that Surprised Me About Growing Up
1) Nobody feels like an adult Most of us are just faking it. 2) Many people do not care about their jobs The idea of doing good work for good work’s sake is not universal. 3) Life goes faster every year Luckily, someone explained this one to …
3 Phases Every Creative Professional Must Go Through
Finding order in chaos is easier than you think. We artists like to think we are wild stallions, free to romp through the world and make our own way. It’s a nice sentiment, but it turns out there’s a structure in every creative career, a path …
What To Do When You Completely Blow It
Yesterday was bad, bad, bad... but on the plus side, you can actually SEE the Tennessee humidity in this video. …
8 Things to Consider Not Caring About Anymore
“Write it again,” she said. “And this time, I actually need to know what word you’re trying to put in this sentence.” I wish I’d known how the world was going to turn out in elementary school because if I had, my response might have been something …
How to Find Your Unfair Advantage
“I used to be like you, but now I’ve found the answer, and here it is.” This is the undercurrent of every personal development article you’ve ever read. Perhaps nothing sells better than the “I once was lost but now I’m found” narrative. Hope is …
How to Stay a Creative Genius
I think we can all agree kids pretty are stupid. They can’t draw worth a darn, they walk like drunks, and they definitely can’t talk right. No, I do not want “basgetti” for dinner. They fail at everything they try. They fall down. They hit their …
The Ultimate Survival Guide to Not Fitting In
Someone once told me to write about what I know, so here’s this: I’m good at not fitting in. I do it all the time. But humans need to belong, so I do these things to make people think I’m a normal human being. 1. Improve your small talk No …