Can you call a business a success if it closes its doors? Can you say you are successful if your small business isn’t growing? If you have to shut down or sell or leave a business, can you really call that successful? 

I think you can. 

“The truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.” 

If you’re lucky, your clients understand about 10% of what you do. Most of them probably only understand about 5% of what you do. 

We make a promise to ourselves to show up and work on our art, but when we don’t, nothing bad happens. People don’t yell at us, we don’t get fired, art doesn’t stop hanging out with us. It’s all fine. 

The longer you stay on the bus, the further it will take you. The weirder it will be when you finally ask to get off, and the longer you’ll have to travel back home. 

Reframing is free. It changes nothing—but it could change everything for you. 

Beyond the sheer amount of time it wastes, daydreaming gives a sense of satisfaction before anything is accomplished. It sets our expectations for success way too high, especially early on. 

“There is a beautiful statue dedicated to liberty in New York City’s harbor. There is no such monument to responsibility.“

For some reason, we tend to believe that our creative inspirations had perfect conditions while they were creating. We think they achieved exactly what they hoped for—that they brought their imagination to life just as it existed in their minds. This is not true. 

Your mind is waiting near the host’s booth, craning its neck over a phone, checking its watch every two minutes, tapping its foot while it glances daggers at you. 

I had never (successfully) written a book before, but I was confident I could get it done because I had seen the breadcrumbs. 

The things I’ve failed at in the past are better indicators of a future path than new things. If I’ve failed at them before, that means I’ve already gotten far enough to fail. 

I just went on a run. I didn’t not feel like a runner. I felt more like one of those wooden figures artists use to pose a body shape. My legs felt wooden. I had to work to get them to move.

Dan Harmon, who wrote a few hit TV shows, said this on a podcast once. “You’re trying to prove you are a good writer. That’s what’s blocking you.” 

Remember—your hair would get windblown. Your eyes would get dry. Your lips would get chapped. It would be pretty cold. The adrenaline rush would leave you exhausted.

Stress and sadness and annoyance aren’t necessarily things to be avoided at all costs.

Do you find yourself creatively blocked because of what other people think? Are you worried about what other people will say about your work? It’s time to start naming names. 

Nothing ruins good writing like trying to sound cool. 

The thing that inspired me to finally write my first book and put it out into the world was not reading one of the greats. It wasn’t a motivational talk I heard. It wasn’t divine inspiration, or commitment to self-expression. 

Have you felt it? That nagging feeling like you don’t belong? That there are thousands of people way better than you at whatever it is you’re trying to do? The pit in your stomach that someone will ask you a question you can’t answer, then call you out for being a poser?