When I started investing money into making content for Instagram in the spring of 2023, I set a few ground rules. I wouldn’t do trends. I wouldn’t do anything cheesy. I wouldn’t do any annoying hooks. 

When I started my career, I didn’t even know the rules. I made simple mistakes, stepped on toes, and missed easy opportunities. This was just the path I had to take to learn the “rules.”

Isn’t this the journey of every artist? We borrow from our favorites. We steal things that look and sound good. We imitate the techniques and styles of other people in order to learn.

We all have stupid, unfinished projects that we don’t talk about. 

Recently, a friend of mine said he doesn’t take any meetings in the mornings, so he can focus on his fitness and creative work. Must be nice…I thought to myself. I have morning meetings at least once a week. 

It’s alright to do something because you enjoy it. Not everything needs to have a capitalistic justification. 

There’s something called the “action line.” If something is too hard, and motivation is too low, we don’t take action. But, if motivation is high enough, and the action is easy enough, we take action. 

If you’re a seasoned artist looking to make progress on a project to start the year, this is for you. If you’re a hobbyist, looking to try something new in a supportive environment, this is for you.

There once was a shepherd boy who walked through a field. He had to get home for dinner. He knew if he was late for dinner, he would get in trouble. There were two ways home. One way was the long way, along a pleasant stream. The other way was the short way, through a thorny thicket.

I realize my best videos came naturally out of my writing. My best-selling product is a 15,000-word guide that started as a blog post. My most impactful emails came from writing sessions where I really opened up my heart on the page.

for some reason, many people have a bad habit of racing through their new year goal-setting. They jot a few things down in a half an hour on the first page of a new notebook, and call it a day. 

2024 was my most successful year for goal achievement. I did something drastically different from previous years. 

For a long time, I felt lost. I felt like I was floating from hobby to hobby, trying to find my footing in a slippery world. I felt like I was yelling from the rooftops, just for people to tell me to “get down from there!” 

We try to focus on everything: making good work, and making a lot of money, and treating our clients well, and finding work-life balance, and having a good brand. When we focus on all of it, we aren’t really swinging that hard at any of it.

Here’s a crazy realization: that night I remember so vividly happened almost five years ago. 

For a long time I wondered how these people I admired, who did so much, also had time for their health, for their hobbies, and seemingly so much more. Then I figured it out. 

Culture runs deep. The things I struggle to accomplish may be rooted in the culture of my upbringing.

The output goals were confusing. They included things like run a marathon, generate $50k in product sales, max out your Roth IRA, write another book. I accomplished a couple of these, but most of them I didn’t. 

Even though 99% of the people I talked to about my dreams were excited and supportive, all I could think about were the two people who weren’t supportive. 

Trust takes time to build with clients, especially as a freelancer. Early in your career, people hire you as a band-aid; someone to “patch up a hole in the business real quick.” Clients look for someone who seems like they can fix their problem, and who doesn’t cost too much, and they hire them.