For better and for worse, we extrapolate success from one area to another. 

If you don’t keep your finances organized, freelancing will challenge that. If you aren’t comfortable networking, pitching, or negotiating, freelancing will force you into uncomfortable situations.

When I send an email blast, one of five things will happen. Four out of five of them are good.

Friction can be a good thing in sales, assuming you have a good product, because it forces the customer to think about you and to make a decision.

We compare our work to our inspirations’. Naturally, we’re not as good. This leads us to believe that we might just be the worst version of whatever it is we’re doing. We definitely know we’re not the best.

“You will save yourself from yourself by learning to just state the number and shut up.”

The first challenge of writing is this: can you trim the weeds around the flowers?

A hard-and-fast daily creative deliverable for a short-term challenge works wonders.

We misunderstand how the creative process works. We hear stories of great artists creating in a flash during a lightning storm of inspiration, and think we just need to wait for the right moment to come to us. 

“The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.”

“If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I'd never run again. I have only a few reasons to keep on running, and a truckload of them to quit. All I can do is keep those few reasons nicely polished.” 

The easiest path to success is to just do the same tiny thing every single day. If you’re willing to do that, you don’t have to make the same amount of sacrifices that the others require. 

The amazing thing about writing is this: anyone can do it. It’s all the other stuff that gets in the way. 

Within the past two or three years, it has become popular to say sentences with this structure: “I just couldn’t be more _______!” (Fill in the blank with whatever emotion you want.) One of the reasons it bothers me is because it’s not true.

In my years producing commercials, I’ve been involved in countless creative builds. This required me to digest the brand, understand the product, learn the audience, and create something that speaks to all of that. Now, I do something way easier. 

Jarred always played with an intensity. Watching him take his at-bats, you could see a stern and determined brow. When he struck out, he walked back to the dugout with a look of pure disgust, flabbergasted that he didn’t get a hit. 

When you find yourself in a moment of stress, there are two prevailing pieces of advice. Some people will say, “just be present.” Other people will say, “this isn’t going to matter in five years, so stop worrying about it.” Neither one feels particularly helpful when you’re in a moment of stress.

Take a look at your desk right now. Is it messy? Personally, I’ve got two empty water bottles, one empty mug, one hard drive, one pair of sunglasses, and some dust on my desk. How does a messy workspace make you feel? How does it impact your work? 

At the end of 2023, I got burned out on producing. A few stressful projects in a row left me feeling overwhelmed by the idea of dealing with clients and crew, and I didn’t work on a major production for four months. 

At the end of every year in my twenties, I looked back with more regret. I regretted the things I didn’t accomplish. I regretted the projects that didn’t come to life, and the lack of progress in my career.