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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 …
The Right Way to Do Everything
I don’t know what your heaven looks like, but in my heaven there are eggs. Lots of eggs. Not whole eggs sitting around, but eggs in the pan. Basically, my heaven is a giant omelet bar. I love the crack of the shell and the spill of the yolk. I …
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 …
Is it Worth it to Share your Creative Work?
In 2013 a man named Dong Nguyen probably leaned back in his chair and sighed with happiness. During his free time, Dong and his team had been using a character from a cancelled video game to make his own project - a simple mobile adventure in …
Why American Education Can’t Move Forward
Last week, I nearly passed out on the upper deck of my parking garage. It was fun, really. Well not fun. More like enlightening. I always thought people who passed out were being dramatic. I thought they were faking it. Turns out it’s a real …
The Teacher, The Engineer, and The Mad Scientist
She was always going to be a teacher. Her understated glasses framed her plain face which was surrounded by straight, brown hair. Her wardrobe epitomized modesty. Her voice, which generally rolled out of her mouth soft and sweet, snapped to stern …
The Problem With Quitting Your Job
(This is an excerpt from my upcoming book: The Creative's Curse.) Most people, at some point, will try and convince you to take what you’ve learned and soar. They’ll say you should shove away from that awful job and TAKE OFF LITTLE BIRD! Today's …
Can Anyone Be Creative?
Yes. Okay, that was easy. Can I take the rest of the post off? No? Fine. Look, here's the deal, Creativity is nothing more or less than coming up with a new solution to an existing problem. Sometimes that problem is getting your drink out of a cup …
2 Tips for Your Creative “Coming Out”
Whenever you start to step into a creative career, you're going to get a lot of funny looks...
How to Be A Shapeshifter
Can we all agree the Internet is getting too complicated? I'm sure it's not really intentional. It's just that when someone is trying to complete with approximately 100 bajillion other articles on the Internet, writing a headline about 67 BRAND …
The Endless Cycle of Creative Procrastination
Phase 1: You come up with a new idea. You love ideas! They are sexy and pure. Out of the corner of your eye, it winks at you. You melt. Abandoning all else, you take the jump and fall hard. Phase 2: You pour your heart and soul into the idea. This …
How to Tell Your Dad You Are An Artist
He'll react badly. I'm just telling you this up front because you need to be ready for it. It's not his fault, really. He wants what's good for you. Put yourself in his shoes for a moment - he helped bring you to this planet, kept you alive for …
A Creative Can’t Live with this…
The pounding heart. The jangling nerves. The beads of sweat. You're afraid. You know you are afraid because you've been staring at your screen for ten minutes, wondering whether or not you should post what you've written. You know you …
The Muppets and Creative Validation
Today's guest post is from Declan Wilson - an aspiring creative with a full-time job on the side. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA with his one wife, two cats, and one baby. You can find his writings over at millennialtype.com or his podcast at …
If You Want to Create Better Stuff, You Probably Need More of This
It was board game night at the Brison household, and I was about to flip a table over 3 cardboard coins. We were playing 7 Wonders, a game which I would only recommend if numbers, fantasy, and statistics appeal to you. (Luckily my family falls …
An Awful Conversation Most Creatives Have With Themselves
It's all meaningless, Todd. What? No it isn't. It can't be. Look at all these things I've built. All the stuff I've written. Look at my site and my work and these moneys I've saved. Meaningless. And I've got a book in the works! I've been …
The 6 Step Guide to Selling Your Soul for Money
Inside every Creative is a raging Gorilla-Beast dying to be free. This beast does his own thing, ignores all advice and criticism, and makes whatever he wants for whomever he wants whenever he wants. There's an obvious problem here: …
10 Ways to Keep Coming Up With Ideas
There is this myth in the Creative community (probably because people like me use words like "Muse" and "Calling") that ideas simply strike out of the sky, and the Creative must merely act on them, waiting to act until this mystical lady comes to …
How to be Magical
Machines are kind of taking over the world. Like, I don't know if you've noticed, but most of the things that were done by people just a few years ago are now being done by robots. You don't need to ask for directions anymore. You can process …