“When you talk crap about a rival, you’re reinforcing a sense of identity. You’re reinforcing who we are and who they are.” 

We hear perfectionism described a hundred different ways. Rarely do we hear it described as dangerous.

The nature of being on call is that while there isn’t necessarily work to be done all day long, there are constant interruptions when I try to do other work for extended periods of time.

“If your sense of taste is lower than that of the customers how will you impress them?”

For a laugh (and some condolence) Google search “actors in commercials before they were famous.” My query just brought up a young Brad Pitt chomping Pringles on the beach.

“I suffer as always from the fear of putting down the first line. It is amazing the terrors, the magics, the prayers, the straightening shyness that assails one...”

Clients don’t care if your creative concept or campaign idea is the best idea in the world.

There’s one downside about the idea of consistency that isn’t talked about enough. 

Writing really isn’t about word-count or typing speed though, is it?

“You don't ‘own’ or control a community, and you don't necessarily build one. You participate or engage with one.”

Behind every “how do I” question is a deeper question. Anytime someone asks “how do I…” and then follows it with something practical, like “find more clients?” or “grow my audience?” or “generate more profit?” there is one deeper question behind all of that. 

Writing a good book isn’t just about writing the best possible sentence at every given moment.

There are a few scenarios in which doing free work makes sense. Here they are. 

It’s whiny to complain about having to sell our art. It comes from an entitled place, where we think we must be such geniuses that other people would be lucky to sell our work for us.

It takes a lot of confidence to forge into unknown creative territory, telling yourself you’ll figure it out along the way. But there’s another kind of confidence.

“If you're the duck, you have to sit cross-legged in a circle alongside dozens of other ducks, waiting patiently to be chosen. Sometimes you get picked. Most of the time you don’t.“

Social media platforms make analytics easy. You can see the views, comments likes, shares, saves, profile visits, and follows that each piece of content earned. But just because these numbers are focal doesn’t meant mean they’re the numbers we should be focusing on. 

“I can only make sense of my unaccountable good fortune by assuming that it means I am under special obligation to make good use of it.”

Today is the 100th day of the year, and this is my 100th blog in 100 days. Here are four things I’ve learned. 

Something interesting I’ve discovered while taking on daily challenges is this: about once every six weeks, I really don’t want to do the work. Today is one of those days.