Most of the time, email is everyone else’s agenda for our
time.

It’s the digital fidget we sit around waiting to react to,
the easiest way to preserve the illusion of productivity and the constant
distraction that prevents us from executing what matters most.

Then again, I’ve received emails that changed my perspective
forever, like the man who commented how my entire career came from something in
a trashcan. I’ve gotten emails that sparked product ideas and turned into real
money, like the feedback from readers who asked me to publish digital books.
And I’ll never forget the emails that lifted me out of the paralysis of
inconsequentiality, like the woman who finally got the nerve to quit her job
after hearing an embarrassing story from one of my presentations.

Like most things in life, it all comes down to choice.

The point is, email doesn’t have to be a beast to tame, not if
we don’t want it to. Instead of whining about how overwhelming our inbox is, the
alternative is to guiltlessly delete the irrelevant, quickly respond to the
important, thankfully read the inspiring, and quietly get on with our lives.

Bing.

The other night I had dinner with a
group of travel agents.

I was curious how the economic,
technological and generational shifts were affecting their industry, so I asked
what the future of their profession looked like.

And without skipping a beat, this one
woman launched into a story that blew my mind. About a week ago, she was
talking to the cashier at a local bakery. When the guy asked what she did for a
living, Cindy said she was a travel agent.

The cashier replied, “I thought you all
were dead!”

Proof once again, there’s nothing more frightening than the
prospect of irrelevancy.

The only problem is, no one needs us. We’re a dying breed. Everything
people used to need from us – information, answers, ideas and advice – is
available to them right now, for free, in perfect form, forever.

It didn’t used to be that way. There was a time when we were
vessels of knowledge. Pillars of wisdom. Narrators of the story of life. And paragons
of experience that those who were hungry could climb mountains to pursue, even
if only to touch the hem of our garment.

But now people just google stuff. Nobody needs to wonder,
think, reflect, ask, create, mediate, listen or read.  Just download, verify and repeat. Download,
verify and repeat. And if we don’t do something to reverse this trend, our
species is not going to make it. If the pendulum doesn’t start to swing the
other way, we are not going to last.

Human beings are social creatures. We need to need each
other. Our craving for belonging, connectedness and togetherness is no less
essential that food, water or shelter.

But if we insist on ignoring, avoiding and circumventing
each other – if we continue to solely depend on the pixels of digital
surrogates instead of the perspective of actual people – we will continue to become
less human by the hour.

Eventually, we’ll serve no purpose other than fleshy
holsters for electronic devices.

We don’t need more access to information.

We need more access to each other.

It costs nothing to have a voice.

Actually, that’s not
entirely true.

It costs your privacy, your safety, your vulnerability, your
pride, your addiction to permission, your need for control, your ego, your
time, your sweat, your blood, your reputation, your emotional labor, possibly
your job, sometimes your relationships and, in a few devastating cases, your
life.

But that’s it.

Over the years, I’ve done plenty of
things for the wrong reasons.

For the money, for the resume, for the
attention, for the approval, for the applause, for the footage, for the
material, for the achievements and of course, for the need to prove myself.

But looking back, the experiences I’m
most proud of, the projects I least regret and the investments that yielded the
greatest dividends, were the things I did because I didn’t want to regret not
doing them.

“I don’t want to die wondering,” as my
friend Paul likes to say.

What a beautiful mantra.

Dreams weren’t meant to be sat on.

They’re not eggs and we’re not chickens.

When it comes to the birth of what’s in our hearts, time
doesn’t always enable incubation. Sometimes it hinders execution. Sometimes
patience isn’t a virtue. And sometimes what we think is strategic planning is
just procrastination in disguise.

If that’s the case, we owe it to ourselves, to our hearts,
to take decisive action. To do whatever the dream needs to evolve out of dream
form and into reality form. To find people who can help us become who we need
to be to handle that reality.

And while not every dream comes to fruition immediately,
while it may take months or even years for certain dreams to prove their
execution worth, we always need to be ready to crack it open.

Even if we’re not ready.

Confusion is expensive.

If people don’t know what to expect when they come to your
door, the organization will burn piles of money trying to reeducate, reassure
and reaffirm people who they are.

Smart companies start early. They build expectational
clarity to buttress the transaction. That way, they create greater anticipation
in the customer’s mind, capturing their imagination for what’s come.

Icontact is a perfect digital example. The moment you
subscribe to any publication on their platform, you’re prompted with questions:
What are you going to get? How can you ensure our email gets to you? Is my
information secure? Then, each of the answers is custom written by the
publishers themselves. And all of this happens before you receive your first
issue.

Weiner Circle is the perfect analog example. Customers
rarely show up to wait in line without first hearing crazy stories from
friends, viewing fun pictures online or learning instructions on how,
specifically to order. A word to the wise, a chocolate shake isn’t what you
think.

Whatever business you’re in, ambiguity is the enemy of
profitability.

But learn to telegraph reliability, eliminate guesswork and
deliver a series of predictable promises, and you’ll save a bundle.

You’ve chosen an uncertain path.

You’ve adopted an inconvenient lifestyle.

You’ve embarked upon an unconventional journey.

You’ve felt the voice inside you growing more urgent.

You’ve committed yourself enough so you can’t turn back.

You’ve decided to play for keeps.

This is the critical crossroads – the emotional turning point – in the life of every young artist.

And I’ve been there myself.

Here’s a list of suggestions to help you along the way:

1. Entertainment trumps art. Just turn on the television. The most popular shows no longer cast actors – they pluck citizens. And they eventually get famous for being, well, famous. But it wasn’t always this way. Forty years ago, we did our art because we had some form of overflowing passion. Some kind of fire. We did it because we couldn’t not do it. Because there was this thing inside of us that, this thing that said, “Now!” and if we didn’t give voice to it, we would go crazy. That’s art. It’s what defines us. It’s what makes life worth living. It’s how we bring our humanity to the moment. What sucks is, it’s an endangered species. And we can’t stand mute while it gets eaten alive. Otherwise magazine racks will replace museums. Fear not art, fear entertainment disguised as art. Are you an artist or an entertainer?


2. Talent doesn’t matter like it used to. With the right technology, a keen sense of timing, a strong platform and a wellspring of creativity; and with strategic positioning, clever marketing, consistent networking, occasional ass kissing, tons of grit, lots of little breaks and a world-class attitude, any of us should be able to soar to great heights in our field. Then again, we can never underestimate the power of being really, really good. Straight chops, pure ability, will always serve us well. The hard part is, awesome takes practice, and practice takes patience. And in a world of instant celebrities and overnight sensations, it’s tempting to want to shortcut the process. But if we’re smart, we hustle while we wait. We build our non-talent assets as we gradually get better. And after a while, after our ability evolves into mastery, we final let everything else go and allow talent to take center stage. How patient can you be?

3. Another worthwhile artistic investment. Some musicians were never that good at playing music. They just represented something important. Whether they created a spectacle, built an emotional connection, told a remarkable story, started a movement, inspired a revolution, changed popular culture, defied the norm, crossed categories, gave voice to a new generation or raised global consciousness, the fact that they didn’t have a lot of talent didn’t matter. They had bigger fish to fry. Which doesn’t mean talent is unimportant, just not as necessary as we once thought. If I were starting as an artist today, I’d invest more of my time creating, connecting, inspiring, dreaming, shipping, sharing, risking, performing, promoting and engaging, and less of my time taking lessons. What do you represent?

4. Creativity is about trying things. First, we listen to our heart. We sit at the feet of that thing that sticks inside of us and says now. And we put it out publicly so we can’t run away from it, and so the world will conspire to help us achieve it. Next, we give ourselves permission. We drop the illusions about what we can and can’t do. And we knock down the inhibitors that stop us from pursuing something dopey, different or whimsical. Then, we chase that idea down. We get experimental without spending money. We fiddle around with things. And we execute small steps that create the freedom to pause, test, reevaluate and adjust. Finally, we listen for what sticks. We watch for what makes us think, Oh my god – that counts? We ask ourselves: I wonder if I can take this further? And we become spawned by the childlike desire to see how far it goes. What did you try yesterday?

5. It’s not enough to write something worth reading. First, we have to do something worth writing. Life is subordinate to art, not the other way around. Our first responsibility as artists is to be human beings, to be real people, whose unique reservoirs of life experience color the canvas with rich textures. When he’s not performing spoken word concerts, Henry Rollins travels to countries most people have never heard of. When he’s not harmonizing our hearts into mush, Art Garfunkel goes on hundred mile walks. And when he’s not drawing cartoons, Scott Adams runs his own vegetarian food company and café. In short, they inhale. And despite our antisocial tendencies, despite the seductive low road passage of constantly disappearing into our work, eventually, we all have to get the out of the studio. We have to reengage with the world – to inhale – and procure meaning outside of our art. Otherwise we never get out of our own heads, never get out of our own limited worldview and never keep perspective flowing. At which point our work is no longer a masterpiece, just a paint by number. Are you living an art worthy life?

REMEMBER: When you’re ready to play for keeps, your work will never be the same.

Make the decision today.

Show the world that your art isn’t just another expensive hobby.

That’s the beauty of face to face.

We don’t need money, we don’t need a degree, we don’t need four bars, we don’t need a password, we don’t need a router, we don’t need an outlet, we don’t need a screen, we don’t need a keyboard, we don’t need a converter, we don’t need an app, we don’t need a headset, we don’t need anything, really.

Real communication doesn’t require props.

If we want to talk to people with our mouths, all we need is the will to communicate and the desire to connect.

– – – –

This post comes from my latest daily devotional, Try Caring.

Download your copy for only $0.99, right here!

There’s never been a better time to go our own way.

Thanks to a throng of trailblazers, the indy ethic of not thinking commercial terms, not acting with mainstream instincts, is stronger than ever.

 

Instead of cropping our conscience to fit this year’s fashion, we can go against the tenor of the times. We can offer a little opposition. Finally, there’s no gatekeeper, no permission police raising a barricade of readiness, standing firm to announce that we’re good enough, ready enough or whatever enough to chase down our dreams.

The only thing standing in our way is our own inability to decide.

Our willingness to believe that we’re a shot worth taking.

– – – –

This post comes from my latest daily devotional, It’s Not The Years, It’s The Mileage.

Download your copy for only $0.99, right here!

I once did an interview for a tabloid style business journal.

When they sent a copy in the mail, I was excited to see that my headshot filled the entire front page. Having no expectation of getting that much ink, I called the art director to personally thank him.

“Wow, nobody’s ever made my head the whole cover before.”

And he said, “Nobody’s ever sent a high resolution photo before.”

That’s the payback of possibility. The more we give people to work with, the more they can do for us. The easier we make people’s jobs, the better work they will do for us.

Whether we’re interacting with web developers, photographers, graphic designers, videographers, virtual assistants or mentors, the smartest thing we can do is give people everything. To open ourselves completely, fill their palette to the brim and give them as much raw material as possible.

It’s never a bad idea to be a good customer.

– – – –

 

This post comes from my latest daily devotional, Don’t Be Stopped By Not Knowing How.

Download your copy for only $0.99, right here!