Happy Sunday!

Welcome back to another edition of the newsletter. This week the YouTube channel provided four tips from Keep Going by Austin Kleon, the third installment of the series directed to artists and content creators to create inspiration, share work, and keep going 😊. Today I’ll cover the tips from the video as well as more information from the book that didn’t make the video.

There are links throughout the email to the books and creators that shared this information with me, and at this point, nothing is sponsored or affiliate links, so just sharing because I thought the content was worth sharing.

📖Keep Going

Keep Going is another enjoyable quick read by Austin Kleon, this book is a great stand-alone, but really reinforces many of the concepts from Show Your Work and Steal Like an Artist.

➿Every Day is Groundhog day…

In other words, create a routine and follow it. YouTube productivity gurus and dozens of prolific writers in the development and business space reinforce habit creation and the importance of creating routines to remove unnecessary decisions from the day. The goal of this is to “control” your focus on the items that you have the intention of completing. I have a routine of waking up between 4 and 5 every morning to work on my passion projects (such as the newsletter, YouTube channel, and a few software projects that are early in development). The interesting part is during that 90 minutes I can complete more without distraction than the rest of the day. These 90-120 minutes are for me, the rest of the day feels like it is for everyone else.

Going back to the first newsletter where I discussed The Family First Entrepreneur, there are several burners in our lives (family, friends, work, health), and I have neglected health for a few years. I am committing to this group to improve. I’m adding working out into my routine, and instead of it being a burden, it is just what I do at 6 am or 4 pm (I’m still working out the details). Remove the thought process from the habits and goals you want to achieve.

Do the thinking now… Create a routine and follow it.

🏃🏽‍♂️Forget the noun… Do the verb…

To speak in hand-wavey generalities, people get caught up with titles instead of actions. The concept of focusing on actions versus titles is not new. One of my favorite quotes is from Colonel (Ret.) John Boyd “To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will have to make a decision. To be or to do? Which way will you go?” This dichotomy is fascinating to me. I focus on doing the action, the rest will follow if the action is valuable. Nouns label people, places, and things, and almost all nouns can become verbs. Focus on the verb, and the noun will follow. From last week’s newsletter, I struggle with accepting success (a label associated with the theoretically successful completion of a verb). Do the action, the noun or acclaim may follow.

To become better at anything, you need to put in the reps and sets to develop the muscle. So I write (blogs, articles, newsletters, and scripts), practice talking to a camera, develop algorithms, perform research, and attempt to lead people and manage things. Therefore I’m a leader, manager, writer, developer, researcher, and engineer. The noun follows the action.

Do the action.

🌸The ordinary + Extra attention = extraordinary

The idiom of stopping to smell the roses is directly pulled to the forefront of my mind with this tip. Other ways to convey this are to be intentional or focus on what you are doing. Going through the motions of life rob your time, and spend the time to be intentional with your most precious non-renewal resource time. Spending time intentionally allows continual improvement. With my YouTube videos, I have a loooong way to go before they are extraordinary, but with each video, I focus on improving something, I am intentionally learning the craft and my goal is to create something worth people’s time. Same with this newsletter, I expand the content of the video to give more context for the thought process, additional tips, and some musings along the way. I am intentionally working on improving my writing and communication skills. If you are going to spend time doing something, be intentional with doing it, and enjoy the journey.

Pay attention to the ordinary.

🪟Demons Hate Fresh Air

If your thoughts are clouded or you cannot think of what’s next? Take a walk, clear your mind, and use physical motion to create a flow in your thoughts. Other than first thing in the morning when I have dedicated creative time, to get back into a block of creative flow it typically follows a physical activity. Kleon cites several authors and artists, who found inspiration from nature or religiously started a creative session with walking. During my work day, my goal is to take two 10-minute breaks to shake out the cobwebs, break up back-to-back-to-back meetings and get my thoughts and creative juices flowing again. I don’t always make my goals because of marathon meetings or time-critical actions but the goal is there. While in flight school I memorized my emergency checklists while jogging. Running through scenarios at work with my team typically involves a soccer ball, racket ball, or something else to do physically over just talking at a table.

There are a ton of benefits of walking outside, getting fresh air and sunlight. With exposure to ultraviolet light, your body produces vitamin D. Vitamin D improves sleep, bone density, and muscle retention, to name a few. Go for a walk, preferably outside.

Take a walk.

🏗️Build a Bliss Station

As we move into tips that were not covered in the video, I just want to say thank you if you have made it this far into the newsletter. Building a bliss station is your retreat from the world to produce your work, to produce something worth sharing, and to bring value to the world. My Bliss Station is my home office desk, this is where I spend the first hour or two of my day creating without distractions from the world. Separate from the world, you have permission to turn on airplane mode off an airplane. With all the negativity in the world, a few minutes in the refuge of your thoughts and distraction-free is good for the soul, and your ability to create. Also, remember that “No” is always an option.

Create a sanctuary for your thoughts.

🎁Make gifts

An easy way to hate something you enjoy is to make it your job. Adding the stress of relying on your creative outlet for your well-being is unnerving (this is still very much a passion project for me). If your creative outlet is becoming too much of a stressor, use your creative outlet to make something for a loved one. Kleon enumerates several instances where a gift for one person led to generating something the whole world enjoyed – Winnie-the-Poh, The Hobbit, just to name two. I make this newsletter and video as a gift to the world, but I write it directed to a select few.

Make a gift for someone special when work is too work-like.

🌱Plant your garden

Nature has seasonality; plants go into dormant cycles – challenging winters may lead to the most beautiful Spring. This applies to people and creativity; people grow, learn, change, go into periods of dormancy, and bloom. The garden will only grow if you plant and nurture it. Creativity, innovation, and invention are perennials. They return if you nurture them and give them time to rest before they come next season. “Worry less about getting things done. Worry more about things worth doing.” Not every day is a red-letter day, and sometimes a setback leads to a comeback. I focused on school and work for the last few years and left writing behind. I would argue that I am writing more now than before my school break. I’ll keep working on developing my skills so I can produce something that others gain value from.

Keep doing your verbs, whatever they are.

⏰What’s Next?

Next week, I’ll review The E Myth Revisited, discussing the myth of Entrepreneurship. I suspect this will be more technically focused. If there is something you want me to review, if you have any questions or comments, please shoot me an email.