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Discover Your Creative Purpose

Welcome everyone to fulfill your creative purpose I am so stoked to be here I created this course with a lot of hard work and hard and we poured a lot of energy and we have record enrollments here a creative life at this course and I am thrilled that you're here and that you're making this commitment today to fulfill your creative purpose. So what does that mean, right it's a big topic your purpose? What does that mean? Well, you know, when you think about I think it was the cover of fast company magazine, the title was find your mission right? We all we all hear it right? You know we have to know are why we have to find our mission but no one's telling us how we find our way and what this thirty day course is about is about how we find our way, who doesn't want to live a purposeful life who doesn't want to do work that has meaning who doesn't want to create art that has an impact on someone's heart in someone soul who doesn't want that but it's hard to understand how you go about marr...

ying that vision that heavenly vision with earth which is profit because none of this happens without money the studio that I am standing in started out as thie equipment I think was like a fifteen dollars webcam way heard from craig the cofounder of creative life he said the initial investment was a fifteen dollars webcam and now because of profit and because of investment, we're here in a multimillion dollar studio broadcasting to a worldwide audience so we can have heaven without earth we need both we need to have a vision understand our purpose and marry that with profit, which means marry that with value that serves a target market. So my mission is to bring those things together to take thes take these two big subjects which seemed to be separated and many people's minds and bring them together over the course of this next thirty days. So, um, what I also want to talk about is, you know, this is a big course it requires a commitment and it's hard to do on your own. So what I'm going to recommend is that you asked a couple friends to r s v p so that they can hold you accountable, that they can support us have someone to check in with you really want to do each one of these lessons? I promise you, if you do all of these thirty lessons you are goingto have clarity, you are going to find out what your obstacles are you're also going to be able to identify resource is and it's going to make a difference it's made a difference for every single artist who I have coached and work with individually in this very same curriculum it has changed their life, they have gained focused, they become happier, they become more productive and they have also become a lot more confident and guess what? He made more money too, so make a commitment to yourself and go through the course um I want it I want it also just talk to you about why I'm here why I'm standing here I am a lot like a lot of you I went to art school, I went to a very expensive prestigious our school I worked really hard studied for five years and about two or three years after art school I was no longer making any art I was no longer um ended working a design I had to go get a practical job and commute back and forth to a place I didn't want to be and I got very depressed and I got very anxious and I suffered from that for a good decade it was really hard, it was really, really hard and what I dreamed of when I was a little girl which was to be an artist seemed to be out of my reach because it wasn't a very practical aspiration and even though I dedicated all this time and all these resource is and all this education, I was sort of talked out of it that somehow my creativity did not represent any capital and it was impossible. And so what happened was fast forward. I eventually realized that life is short and I didn't wantto commute back and forth through a cubicle and that one day um he was gonna gonna end, so why not go for it? Why not try to make a living? Um, doing something that was meaningful? Why not try to make a living? Um being creative, which is essentially who I am and essentially who all of you are, who are watching your all creative or you would be tuned into creative live. So I wrote a plan, and, um, I'm going to say right now is half baked didn't really know what I was doing, and I said, I am going to sell over one hundred thousand dollars worth of my art within the first year of business or for as a full time artist, and I moved to san francisco, where he knew no one, none of that made any sense and he did it, and then I started to receive some press, which was really lovely, and artists are to come to me and ask for it. They started asking for help. Well, how how did you do that? And I realized how this I had figured something out, I figured something out and there was no need to have this strange strange conflict between making art making money and when I use art I'm not just talking about painters here, all right? We have many people here in the studio audience who are not painters who got writers who got photographers we have crafters we even have a psychic medium we have a full representation here, so let me just talk to you a little bit about the structure of this course you're all going to get a workbook you're right and this is actually gonna help you keep track of where you are thirty days is a long time, right? And so we have this graphic to represent where were positioned, and in our first week we're going toe delved into this question why finding your why and why I find your wife? What does that really mean? And how is that relevant? Teo a business enterprise so during this portion of the thirty day we're going to actually be of the thirty, lessons were actually going to be delving into finding your why and we're going to meet some people who have found their why they have found their purpose, they have to find a mission and they're making handsome profits as a result and they're making a positive impact um then we're going to get into week to who are you? Who are you? Why is that relevant? Because who you are is going to define your unique approach value proposition who you are and we have to dig deep we're goingto get very reflective and um some parts of it are gonna be pretty intense then we're gonna go into o late bree, where is your pain? What am I talking about? Why am I talking about that? We'll tell you what I'm talking about that because if you want to know who you are and what you stand for, you look at the most painful times in your life and you will in short order your values will become crystal clear and you have to know who you are and what you stand for as an artist as a creative because you are by default of thought leader so we're going to be talking about that work week three week four we're in a delve into defining our mission this is very, very difficult for a lot of creative to get their heads wrapped around my mission, so we're going to de mystify that and then this is this is the one that's a little bit controversial week five what problem are you going absolve so a lot of creatives thank problem what do you mean problem? I just create beauty well, you could do that, you could do that I'm not nothing against that nothing against creating beauty, but if you want to compete in a very competitive oversaturated market you're actually going to have to solve a problem and we're gonna have a little art history lesson we're gonna look at major artists in history and the reason they're major artists in history and they landed in the art history books that's because they solve the problem and they served a target market so that's what this week is going to be about and then last but not least week six is about starting where you are um craig swanson who is the co founder of creative live gave me some beautiful pieces of advice and he talked about his pain he talked about the fact that when he was found it himself and most distress he was doing one of two things he other wasn't fully present in the moment right and you know that right when you're tripping on the future you're stuck in the past you're not you're powerless right and the other time when he found on that his power was compromised was when we compared himself to other people so I'm gonna urge everybody don't compare yourself to anyone else you are just fine the way you are right and it's just a it's just a it's just an exercise that doesn't yield any good start exactly where you are you're all exactly where you are supposed to be right now today okay all right so um now I want to talk about making a commitment this is a commitment is thirty eight course and um I just want you to pause for a moment and think about where you'd like to be one year from now you want to be in the same place where do you want to be ten years from now? Do you want to be in the same place? You want to be doing the same things you want to be making the same amount of money she wouldn't be making the same amount impact then you don't eat this course, but if you want to change it then you're going to need to make a commitment and I'm telling you invite someone to make the commitment with you it's easier it's much easier ten years from now do you want to look back on this day right now and be happy and glad that you made the commitment or you're going to just let this pass? This is the time to decide it's time to decide now, right? So I got five students, students in the audience and I'm going to ask them to make a commitment real quickly, john so give me one reason why you're here you you run a profitable business, you've got a busy set schedule what's the one reason you're here, I believe it's possible for my life to be more ideal, okay? And so are you ready to make the commitment you have to make that happen to make your life more ideal and be specific about what that means definitely great. Okay and here's your course guy thanks okay welcome yo ni give me one reason why you're here why did you commit to this course I believe I can do a better job at being the photographer an artist that I am could do a better job yeah okay and you're gonna get clear on what a better job means yes okay that's pretty fuzzy I don't wear them alright then welcome aboard thank you you're committed I'm committed all right because your commitment represents the commitments of everybody watching all over the world okay all right jen what's the one reason you're here I've really want to make money doing what I love and live differently I lied she wants to make money doing what she loves and live differently are you committed to making that happen in the next thirty days and serving as an example for everyone watching yes then welcome aboard thank you. Okay kathy give me one reason why you're here I want to say it's because I want to find my purpose which I do but you can say whatever it is ultimately because I'd like to make better money doing what I do and I love what I do I'm very happy and what I do with the exception it just doesn't make bring me a lot of income you want to make money doing what you already love. And are you committed to doing what's necessary in the next thirty days and doing all the exercises? Yes. Showing up fully present. Okay. Welcome aboard. Thank you, felix. Last but not least, what's. The one reason you're here, I want to learn how to manage my time better. Okay. I do make a good living, but I want it. I know it can do. I can do better. I would like to reach more people. You'd like to reach more people, manage your time better. So you can reach more people. Are you? One hundred percent committed, teo, the next a few weeks here? Sure room. And are you willing to serve his example for everyone watching? Absolutely. Then welcome aboard. Thank you. So this is a reminder they've got three steps. Now you get your workbook and print this out. Tear this out. This this and track your progress. Okay, give yourself a visit. Visible cue card of where you're at, mark your calendar. He gotta make room in your calendar for this and asked your friends to join you. Ask your friends to join you in this whole journey, we already have a lot of people who are really engaged in the chat rooms and actually already have a couple questions. Great um graph icon says I find myself in a similar situation as poppy I've been a graphic artists for eighteen years and a musician for thirty my graphics pay the bills though my stronger passion is with music well this course helped define which direction I should allow you are going to define the direction so what you're going to do is we're going to actually he's gonna have an opportunity teo really identify what has poor purposes his values and focus absolutely perfect and I have one more question on which actually comes from poppy okay, I have to artistic and devers writing and photography that I wish to pursue my biggest challenge has been to bring some focus to my life. Will you cover anything that will help me with us? This is all about focus. I mean, if I had to sum up the value of this course is going to be about focus absolutely perfect. Yes. Thank you. All right, carry on. Ok. All right then. So I have some guests who were going to be joining us, and I am thrilled to have them here because they're smarter than me and a lot of ways and they're going to add to this conversation so I am thrilled teo introduce on my first guest who I don't maybe maybe none of you have ever met or uh maybe this the first time his name is craig swanson and he is the co founder of creative life he's the reason we're all here one of the reasons that he fi had a purpose and craig is a co founder creative live in two thousand ten he previously founded creative tex seattle's premier team of macintosh experts and consultants for seattle photographers, design firms, ad agencies and in house creative department's craig brings a depth of experience built on almost two decades of supporting creative teams of all shapes and sizes. I'm also going to be asking a friend and a former client of mine um his name is daniel barrett, but I'm not calling him that his name is grammy dana's far as I'm concerned and you can all call on grammy dan daniel barrett is an award winning music producer and hey how's publishing just released his first book, the remembering process a collaborative collaboration with the law of attraction expert and best selling author jove I tal lee daniel and rubicon facilitate getting musicians from where they are to who they are as a producer he combines an unrivalled support ports on rival supportive environment with razor sharp technical skills. This is led to recent work with grammy nominee ruthie foster television scores for the warner brothers hit siri's revolution and add work for smart car and many more his artist development program the rubicon year is currently sold out through rubicon artist development is though the rubicon artist development is taking names and applications for the next year obviously I'm not going to be a television announcer anytime soon hang in there dr e dr ee ah forty five serve okay I wanna tell you just before I go into the bio why doctor is here because I read dr east quote you know the quote maybe another quote quote is every artist is an entrepreneur and every entrepreneur is an artist and I hunted him down on the internet and found him and uh he's business week summarizes doctor ethiad doctor ease the hero's odyssey in arts entrepreneurship and technology class and festivals where entrepreneurship connects to the classics the new york times reported local con's course rests on the principle that those who create art should have the skills to own it profit from it and protect it it's about how to make your passion your profession, your avocation, your vocation and to make this long term sustainable doctor ese lectures were hit at south by southwest and conversations when he is currently completing several heroes odyssey books technology from his nsf funded award winning award winning phd dissertation on an artist fischel retina for the blind is now helping restore sight and his heroes odyssey fine art photography which receives over one million views per day can be found gracing galleries, homes and businesses would you please welcome my guests hi gentlemen. Thank you so much these thes these guys have come from far and wide to join us so thank you very much for your time um I remember having that conversation way had this conversation so craig has been kind enough teo to mentor me with a number of calls and, um that was a really impactful um comment that you made and um I want to talk to you a little bit about um you know, one of the reasons that I love working with creative live is because of your mission um can you talk to us a little bit about your mission and how you arrived at that? And, um just just where was the starting point for that? Well, I think so I mean crave loves mission in general is in is to allow every aspiring creative every aspiring artists to be connected with the world's best experts and be able to learn and he'll step forward and for me my underlying mission pretty much everything I do is taking the next step forward for myself for everybody not necessarily being perfect not actually not even close to being perfect but taking the next step from wherever I happen to be right now and taking the next step for because that's what life is lived life is lived by moving forward one step at a time and eventually you take enough steps and you create something really remarkable right? And you have and I'm glad to hear you to say something about that perfect thing because it seems to be a phenomenon amongst creatives that we sometimes get stifled by perfectionism. And, um, one of things that we've talked about is failing and a one of the on other smart things that cracks that about failing was that when you felt when you felt that you failed that it was actually an investment and I love the way you frame that I loved, it could talk a little bit about that, so I was actually I've been thinking a lot about failure because failure is for me, failure is the first step to success failure is in anything you do anything you do the first step towards becoming something you want to become is to start failing in that direction at least that's the way I've always I've always believed, um feel forward or fail up fail for philip and it's, not it's, not a matter of accepting failure like like, somehow we've got to okay, so I've just gotta, like, live through this point of failure, and then I can't have what I want it's not about that the the acting and moving forward if you are living your life taking the next step if you're living your life creating something you haven't created yet, you are inevitably stepping forward and failing at every step of the way and the people that create the most vibrancy around them are people who are comfortable failing in front of others. That was that was something I was a podcast, as we're listening to recently said, you know what is confidence? Confidence is your willingness and comfort in failing in front of others, and uh, if you are willing to fail and fall in front of others, then you can discover your balance, right? You can discover what you're able to do when he was inventing the lightbulb, he didn't fail one thousand times, but each time was a step closer to the awesome a success of the right filament so right, and and that's how and so it's important about how you frame it, because it can really undermine your confidence in your ability to move forward if you view it as failure or as a negative. But one of the things, um, that magnetize us tto help us move forward is we move, we're moving to a specific destination, right? Or we have some clarity and where we're going and I find with the artist that I work with that that's a big challenge. Did you have a vision of what I think we till we were chatting here in the studio just yesterday afternoon, we were warming up in practicing and you said the first camera was like, how much? So so you started. You didn't start here? No, no way. We're sitting in a multi million dollar studio, and I was looking around, I don't think there is a single item in this room that is less expensive ballistic, more expensive. That is more expensive than the first camera use like so the first camera we used was a little webcam that was about fifteen or forty five dollars, something like that that was expensive back then, but I don't know, I wasn't I wasn't quite that you weren't quite that important thing before, but I certainly wasn't investing a lot of it was a far first broadcast, had a very, very cheap thing is it was a thing that we had, it actually costs less than that, because there's something we had in extraordinary way, you something that was available, right? And, you know, looking around what we've got today, you know, we've got this huge infrastructure in place, but it all grew out of taking the next step when we had nothing. What do you have the remarks you made e think this is important, too, as an insight is that, um, if you had met yourself ten years ago, the man you are now that you'd feel intimidated if I so, yeah, yeah, on that first broadcast. So? So if I look back, look back to where I started, you know, when, when, when what is now is just kind of a gleam or even a possibility? And I had written down what we have created as an ultimate goal, it would have felt intimidating as hell um, and it would felt disingenuous, unrealistic. Um, and and yet I didn't to some extent, I mean, this this is very much in line with what we originally amid imagined, uh, you were maybe were you afraid to, like, say it out loud or admitted to too many people are where? So where did you hold that? This ultimate vision? This where did you hold that? Because there is this like like, oh, I don't wanna brag, I don't want people to think I'm overly confident where you must have held it in your imagination on some level, because it's here today I do every year I do goal setting so it so every year I do go through a process of kind of future envisioning, okay, and actually in one of the things that I find that that that for for setting goals and fer fer fer envision the future it's really tricky. Because there is this part of our mind that is triggered is almost like we act as if we've received something when we tell people that's what we want and that is both positive and a negative because if it stops us from taking the next step like if we get the reward for dreaming that we want something and we stop acting, then we don't actually get it soon my good friend joe by tally who's a master at helping people uh I've asked him that exact question do I announce my goal they're doing oh yeah let's have this discussion john listen to this because we've had this debate all right? I got some very strong opinions about this well, you know, of course there's just different tools in the toolbox. So really it's dependent but one of the things that's really help in one case I would tell certain people my goals and they and some of mine were big enough that they would push other people's buttons and then they would kind of look at it a little bit so okay, so that all right, so listen there's that gets even more complex because as you you know different people have different reactions around you as you as you step into your your destiny were just your desires even that's a that's a lot for some people, right and his answer and this this ties together we're having this question about the law of attraction some people like lazy uther it's all how you use it and and he's just got a very practical answer which is he on? Lee tells people his goals that he knows will either respond beautifully to it what can help him other than that he just keeps it in his pocket it's just he's so he is it's it's just selective discernment uh um you shouldn't just keep it in the dark box but if you tell everybody and expect sometimes we tell in earlier stages I would tell people actually hold me back you know, because I was I was well they don't believe in me so I was an excuse not to believe in myself so after a while you get discerning about who who to share these things with uh and you have your little sort of board of directors, right? Advisory board we're gonna be talking about that during during this course about how to find mentors and how to form an advisory board that's actually, exactly. So I didn't know your story around that, but my opinions exactly that basically I share my goals with probably a list that I could put on a post it note so like my big goals are just with people that I really trust and then for everyone else I share my work s o I share publicly what I did and maybe show me sweating doing it but I should share the the very but I don't share where I'm going because if they can't help me or if they're not in that close group of people that are going to help hold me accountable all they're gonna do is they're going to praise me for that goal and then if they praise me for that goal is like I've always wanted and I've stopped working so sheldon the work showed in the sweat and then keep your your your core group of people that you trust that you share your dreams with yeah that's a great great gatsby when uh jay gatsby has gotten to daisy and he's just telling her all of his dreams now instead of enacting them and the chapter kind of ends on that note it's kind of the beginning of like the long fall because he's detained like the green light of end of the dock and all right it's all downhill my friend from high school he used to always play pranks and everybody all play pranks on each other and uh he would never tell anybody what he was going to do because he said it made him do it because if I talk about I won't do it so I think it was funny like ninth grade kind of that insight if I talk about it I won't do it so I've always kind of kept them back in my head you learn a lot of ninth grade from the pranksters so yeah well there's also something about announcing that you want to be an artist that you want to be a musician that you want to be a writer reactions are not generally favorable you're going to start right I mean um and that holds you back and and so I mean it's certainly on an unconscious level held me back um because you get like how's that gonna work out can you talk a little bit about that you guys were still had that famous saying that virtues defined by action not by words alone so I think that combined with the prankster advice from ninth grade I always like ten towards the you know get the work done let the work speak for itself kind of like what craig's that uh I love you I love your coming about you know if I talk about it I'm not going to do it I totally there and the thing is I think that we know which people like they're certain people my life but I don't tell him to do something like like my I've got a coach for for physical activity and if I tell him I'm going to do something I really like him carefully what I tell him because he's gonna hold me to it and he is going to make me hurt to accomplish that thing but then there are other people that will just start patting me on the back you think you're really great for doing all that and so like I know which people fight talk to them about what I want to do there's a very small band people they're gonna hold me to it they're gonna move me for it and the other group people are just going allow me just to get away and talking and so many people on social media to spend their time talking about what they're going to do instead of doing it. Another thing is when you say something it's easy for people to criticize you but when you show it to almost a lot harder because it's like there it is go ahead like say something about it but you know you aren't changing a favorite quote about critics I forgot who said it but they say critics are people who go out to a battlefield after the battle and shoot the dead you know you're out there getting your hands dirty and muddy and bloody doing your thing and then there will still be that personal you know who but it's it's that that means about that much then yeah so it's pretty cool so when it comes teo you know how do you how do you discern who to share your dream with and who teo and who to I mean break that down. I'll bring the this's a very much a business course combined with wu it's it's super simple though my favorite wu has combined with utter simplicity you just know in your body who makes you feel good? Yeah, that's number one is that's. One of the things I talk about with the artists that I coach is just yeah, your, uh I think it was jack canfield, but it's an old, you know, your, um your good feelings are in your barometer your joy, your joy, you know, if you just know how people make you feel the problem is sometimes when we're not clear with what we're doing, we're not also connected to how our body feels about what we're doing. So we start our judgment and our discernment is off so it can get more complex than that. But start with the obvious, which is how do you feel walking up to this person? What? What are the last eleven teen interactions with this person? How have you felt walking away? So trust I trust, you know, we have these spider senses for a reason, you know, and so that's it's so simple. But how do you feel, right? Well, you know, and you you okay, so you at this wonderful collaboration with joe and you know, talk to us a little bit about that. I mean, he sounds like he's been a friend and a mentor to you, and the reason I'm bringing this up is because a lot of artists, a lot of creative people work a lot in isolation and they feel isolated, they feel lonely, don't network in the same way that traditional businesses dio where you you look for a mentor, you find a network, you form an advisory board ah lot of those very foreign to create a folks do you find that to be true, absolutely to create is a fairly individualized act, right? And so people that spend their time creating tend to be more introverted unless they're creating something that public display is part of it even then there's usually a separation between the creation and of the demonstration, right? When the bit in the business mode, that isolation or that tendency to isolate is not gonna work for you, right? I'm not even sure it always works on the artistic side to doing it in a vacuum. We tell ourselves sometimes that we just have to suffer through it alone, but there's times when just bringing over a friend who you trust, who gives you the good spider sense. Stuck, but I know I can get through this and knowing when to kind of call in your lifelines and when not to this time that heroes you're anything right, there's times where you have to fight it alone and there's times where you do have to reach out to the talk about the hero's journey. And can you give us a little bit of context in this context with the hero's odyssey? I think if you set out alone following your ideals so often, it is that you end up meeting people following the same ideals further on down the road and, uh, for instance, like and calls me out of the blue because she is like searching some someone who said that, quote, and then all of a sudden I'm ghan someone I'm comfortable sharing like the vision from my class with, and I think I found an ironic sense because when I started teaching the hero's odyssey and art entrepreneurship technology, I sent an email to jack bogle, who founded the trillion dollar vanguard fund that heard her speak once, and I said, hey, we're teaching your book battle for the soul of capitalism next to homer's odyssey. Like, you know, this kind of like a long shot in, like, five minutes later, like, oh, my god, that was my favorite book of princeton, I'll totally speak to your class, okay, let's, talk about this. This is such a this is really important, I always say asking is free, you know? And then you just respect the other person's right to say no, they might be busy, they might whatever, but ask them, I ask craig if he would talk to me and mentor me on the boat, and he said there's also something else that happened there. Yeah, a lot of people ask in the same way that we're talking about, like, talking about things we're not doing, they asked about something that I might do in the future if only you would take the first step. What you were describing in saying, hey, I am doing this, and it will know that you didn't used in ask. We've asked if you were already in action there's always face for him to come participate. Yeah, if you would call them said, I'm thinking about doing this, but you've got a very different response. Yeah, smart, and then we have the executive producer of all the batman and superman movies, the founder of legendary pictures like inception and all those movies because he's a huge fan of the classics so he likes spoke after bogle so this is a little bit of a case of you know, falling in love with like homer's odyssey and just kind of following that passion then you end up meeting people who are kind of walking down that same road and they're like wondering cause like jack's kind of like stand out on wall street because the vanguard index fund was very different he had like fight to get it found it basically because it eliminated all the money managers so you know wall street doesn't like that they make all their money is kind of the middle men that wasn't popular but now it's like one of the biggest funds but it wasn't popular on wall street priced eliza but is out kind of the whole idea of sometimes people feel they're alone and sometimes in movie studios there's always that pressure to kind of like you know of no one's ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the american people or something like that but the found the writer of braveheart randall wallace he kept telling his producer look we can do better we could do better fair and the producer goes look if we do stuff that smart like people in the middle of tennessee aren't gonna understand it and randall said, well I grew up in tennessee and yes they would so thiss producer says well you're like no longer working here on our tv shows. So he had time off. So he traveled, went to travel. He ended up in scotland, noticed a statue william wallace with the same last name. He had randall wallace count said, who is this guy? S o here the story goes, oh, wow, how come no one's done that yet? So, you know, became the movie braveheart? Uh, so the whole idea of, like, following your passions and kind of being alone and trying to do like, you know, something that's like a little bit better, a little bit different. Sometimes you get fired. And jack bogle makes the joke that he started the vanguard fund in the same way he lost his former job, which is fired with enthusiasm because he is fired and then fired up to start a new one. So the whole idea of, like, falling your passions, like a lot of time's gonna close doors being ahoy idea of like, losing your life. So stow find the one that you right for, right? And some people will drop out of your life. Some people will not react well or it will push their buttons on dh then other wonderful people will step in. I love the idea of finding people all that air on a similar path there had the same direction as opposed to when they feeling that need to reconnect always calling home where you used to be for this people that are not necessarily moving but to be finding co patriots that are moving in a direction that is a long line that you were moving yes it's the mentor that you kind of meet us found a little bit within found within books that spoke with you I spoke to you and you know the great thing like homer's odyssey has been around twenty, eight hundred years it's going to be around a few more there's got to be something to it so if you kind of follow those precepts that speak to you you're going to run in the other people out there other people who also felt alone and isolated and what they were doing but only you know to like meet with this eventual kind of enduring sort of success because it's always kind of a success it's based on ideals and idealism you talked us about some, you know, like your we've talked a bit about steve jobs and his hero's journey and how can you can you talk a little bit about that? And um you know, it relates to the classics well it's funny the very first word that kicks it all off his rage the rage of achilles and what that really means it's the honor of achilles because what has happened on the opening of the iliad is that if killing is general has seized his prize to kind of put achilles in his place you know, like a boss might take your stock options just to like show you who's who or take credit for your work because achilles is the best warrior who's on the front lines learning at all and you know his king connell says han you're king and I'm going to take this so he quits the greek army so there's like a strange kind of thing they're the biggest war epic ever begins with the best soldier quitting and disappearing for the first half because you know because I'm not going to fight for you and he almost like kills the guy for like taking uh taking it from him does that whole rage and then in the first line it says and so achilles quits and the will of zeus was done as the greeks began to lose because without their best warrior the greeks begin to falter because there's no one to stop hector now the same thing happened to steve jobs because steve jobs was running apple if you guys in a little bit of the history like it was pretty successful very successful in like theeighties and john sculley friend of steve jobs he brought the former pepsi ceo steve jobs brought him on board, and then steve jobs ended up getting ousted by scully and everybody. So in a sense, she had more of like the bureaucratic administrator taking from the poet warrior creator. What was his his prize? Apple and what happened? Apple like the greek army. It began to fail. So eventually steve jobs does come back, they need him back. And steve jobs one thing he realizes he never lost his love, so he learned something and getting fired that they could never take from him his passion and love, which is where all the value came from. And so when yeah, that is where all the value came from. Yeah, because the next computer they worked on became kind of the next macintosh operating says he found a pixar in his time off, no small feat. And then he comes back and takes apple to new heights, the biggest company ever. Eso it's that the whole idea of, you know, he always kept his dreams and passions, and he gained the wealth when he got fired the same weight you can never take away from me, my most valuable asset, same thing with achilles he quits because of honor, you guys are probably wondering, we how does this end, like the greeks win? Does anybody want, but what happens is achilles uh in his absence? Achilles best friend patroclus puts on his arm and goes to battle hector the trojan thinks it's achille seeing the armor any slaves? Um so achilles hears that his friends dead yeah, and before that they're begging to have him back. They're sending all these envoy saying, look, we'll give you all these medals will give you eight million more times prizes I'm very, very sorry that I embarrassed you in front of everybody but, you know, because the greeks were getting decimated and achilles goes know once you take a man's honor because that's all I fight for like, I need to take that from me like no amount of money can buy it back so it shows like that, you know, the artist who cannot be bought the poet warrior who stands by his principles and, uh so he actually does come back to avenge the death of his friend and knowing that he'll die because that was prophesized this kind of the idea that he leaves for honor and then he comes back for the sake of honor uh, kind of like homer it's y cinder for twenty hundred years because he's trying to teach you like, uh what steve jokes learns like hold on to your honor, your sense of honor, your sense of nobility or sense of dreams and your artistic sense each of courses were apple, you know gained all its value as well as picture right? Exactly. I was watching an interview this morning actually with I have a little this shark tank I watched don't watch too much tv but I kind of enjoy that sometimes for a great reasons and sometimes because it's uh it's a train wreck and drama that's great drama I think her name is barbara corcoran who had the realty group s on interview with her this morning saying exactly that she said that the interviewer said uh her top earners as salespeople do seven eight million dollars a year average is average sales person and her company is forty two fifty thousand and what's the difference between those two people and it's not the leads it's not the glengarry leads it's that she didn't say that but uh it's not the leads and it's not even always working harder. Some of the lower earners actually worked too hard in certain ways and that's the thing we were talking about um uh she said the top people handle the nose better. They have a higher tolerance for hearing failure handle failure they handle hearing the word no and they get back up quicker from a no and they'll take more knows more failing their honor and she said the other thing is is that most of those people are fighting for uh, because either someone said they couldn't do it or they had previous failures, they have a chip on their shoulder, she said race they were fighting for something other than a paycheck fighting for something other than it's an internal thing that she said basically, people who have something to prove that's who she likes to call on her sales people, my favorite failure is a dis is at the end of odyssey well, he makes it all the way back home and then his shipmates his crew opens the bag of winds that blows him all the way back to the beginning, so, you know, and this is like the odyssey, this is like a long ways across, but what does he do? He gets up and tries it again, so history teachers were bags of window way totally took that to heart, getting it's twenty years later metaphors of blowing you back to where you don't need to be. So I am the life of an artist are created, I use artists in the broad sense here, and it is that we're operating an art agnostic environment we're talking about artists talking about creatives there has there does it does demand this deep resolve within and so let's say it's compromised I mean, have there were times in your life when, um it was compromised grammy down usually might go telling me is compromised okay sometimes it's just hard work and I'm like, oh, this is compromising on an easy one is a difficult client or where I'm like all the sudden talk about that oh, you know, because that's um what one of my favorite jokes is how do you get a musician to complain you give him a gig and, uh you know, so sometimes uh so here I am I've got my dream job I opened up rubicon studio I'm starting to get work hey and you know, and then I'm starting to get a lot of work that I'm creating this artist development program and you know what? People come in and they don't have it all figured out I mean, so you don't just get work and they have it all figured out you don't just they don't just meant the money and meant the athletes so people came in with real needs and real blind spots and s so this is something to really look for because I have to still look forward to myself, I'll start complaining thinking I am compromising because I'm also love because all of a sudden I don't know I'm not into their tunes anymore man I get all hippie like, yes, not feeling the toons anymore, I'm not I'm not you know, that kind of crap and then, but really it's just it's just hard work. That's where I actually have to go back to my resolve is that I'm you know, I'm really defined by how I handled when it gets hard, because it's always gonna get hard, daniel and wow who's, one of my favorite producers, one of my heroes, said there's, always a place in every album where that album, where the people involved their actions, will decide whether it it's always going to be pretty good because we have the technology and the time to be doing, I will fix that. But whether it's good or great is an inner decision we all make to get through that. So it's really, when the resistance hits s so this is, uh, that's where I start telling myself I'm selling ad, I don't not so into this anymore that's really just hard work, and then you have to put on your work gloves and get through it so that za pitfall to look out for. So you taught we we've covered a couple topics here that are really important. They resolve right in the commitment and the underlying mission and the ability to fail in the building's embrace failure embrace getting a no on its last smackdown, which is inevitable. And we actually have a couple people I'm wanting to know more about dr e and his mythology and kind of the hero's journey so stay tuned that's actually gonna come up in a later lesson and we're definitely gonna hear more about that right? And we're what's which like what site should they go to if they want to dig in and working people find your hero's odyssey dot com perfect I don't know to spell odyssey way john kennedy o'connor there in the chat room teo right. All right, so, craig, you see a lot of creative people who are very successful coming in out of the studios. You haven't interesting bird's eye view of successful creatives or people who are striving um and you probably see some patterns of marie probably sees patterns emerge even in your previous work before he started creative life and I'm curious to know, um what were what were three things that through the creatives under the bus in terms of their success, you know, it's uh I would say one of the biggest for any creative is that balancing of of creating what you want for yourself and being aware of the other being aware of the audience being aware of the subject we were talking about compromising the thing I was thinking about is one thing that I see holding back a lot of creatives is an overly strong attachment to the end result I have seen so many creatives in the act of creating something they have such a clear picture of what they want to create that they completely missed the gold they just touched and and where painters will it will not be exactly what they were trying their shooting point we disappointed and and it's because they created something amazing that wasn't exactly the amazing thing we set down to match their idea initial idea and so they weren't open and embracing and really enjoying the ride because I never know what I do a painting like I just create disorder I have an approximate idea, but the joy is, you know, my turn out might not, you know, john mayer said that his guitar playing was his complete his utter inability to imitate stevie ray vaughan and jimi hendrix just like that's how I did this was trying to do that I couldn't do it, but you got this that we're way yeah, ok, so so that's one thing that can set them back over and over attachment to their past basically is a way of looking that so at some point I said an intentional what I'm going to create and then I didn't compromise with my own intention because what I end up creating with something a little bit different than what I had set out for and that's a disappointment and I feel disappointment even though anyone else might look at that and think it's amazing and that happens that happens on every level like it happens with creative lie of course I'll look at it and people be thinking that's amazing and I will be so where that one element was not in place where I expected to be even though in hindsight you don't need it well, the whole thing is a crapshoot like this is a crapshoot right now like is it lives so it's not okay to study my script? You know, I gotta look we've got an outline but we don't know how this is gonna turn out nothing also saying about the three things for creative so one is an over attachment to what they want and related to that is perfectionism. So yes, I think they're like almost two sides of the same quote we're talking about that's a little bit of ahead of time any that I won't want to create because I'm fearful won't be perfect and in a lot of cases what makes art I don't he's were excellent, but but really like touching soul touching is the imperfections is a really is a thing that that many people would try to wring out of it if it were within their power to ring out that's a lot of my job is a producer is tio you know, give people's erased like, just knocked the eraser out of their hair like just sit out and sounds great it's you you don't like it because it doesn't sound like whatever, but it's, you know, to really just teo, I spent a lot of time advocating to people on their own, you know, this is what you would choose if you could see it from from twenty feet away trust me and that's ah and that's that works sometimes it doesn't actually, no, I think I think I got a third thing. Yeah, I gave you an assignment and it's related to that, I think it's a titan too, that people are trying to have the illusion of success in trade for genuine success. People are trying to trade appearing as if they've succeeded at something as opposed to genuinely experiencing the act and to me maybe that even, you know, I don't sound the way I think I want people to hear me as opposed to enjoying the way I really do sound you could hands with yourself and actually getting to meet yourself, you know, in that process, yeah, so I'm constantly trying to present to you in the world this fictitious image that I hold of myself that is not in fact, me and it's, not even representative of what people love in may let's go facebook kind of going a little further into what you're saying craig, I actually have laurie who's wondering if they just have to choose one passion what what about those people who have multiple? She says I'm feeling lost is a person and an artist I'm a multi passionate person so I want to be able to incorporate all the things that I love in my life and making a living from them so is it important to choose just one um what? We have to stay on this topic because this comes up a lot a lot of artists are unfortunately though what can happen is their attention is divided and they feel unbalanced what do you have? What you have to say on this topic some hope is I is always make your passion your profession follow your passions and there's truth to that there's also truth teo follow your sense of honor and your passions that are more aligned with sums like sense of honor or some sense in that general rome that general direction might be the ones that are more enduring because passion will carry you through a lot of stuff but honor will carry even beyond that it seems sometimes I'll build on that's a beautiful just wanna pause for a moment and that's a beautiful point and I think that also way dig deeper into this course and we learn more about our individual purpose I think that that's gonna help bring things into focus and to your point know what is the what is the a creative discipline that serves that longer, deeper purpose and that's maybe where he should balance your time and prior it's not like it's all not all or nothing, but it is a lot about focus and and a great litmus test is back to your body back to you feeling joy here, here's how I would answer that person if they came to rubicon, I'd say, um do you feel drawn and quartered if you're pursuing all these different, uh, pursuits? If you're pursuing these pursuits and it feels great and you feel like you're gaining energy, for instance, I'm a record producer on the coach and they they they go there like sides of the same thing because, uh, making someone an album, but they have no idea what to do with it, I want to do it there. I mean, so it's really uh and I and I get energy personally joy from both and how they go together it's a sign of low self esteem and doubt if somebody has these multiple disparity passions that they're pursuing and they feel defused and then just confused and distracted and they feel like they're shortchanging when I help an artist figure out how to position themselves it makes the album better, so I'm getting synergy if there's no synergy than you're actually just it's ah it's ah means of your low self esteem is coming in because you don't feel confident about anyone one of them enough to put your flag in the ground and see who salutes it and that's lemmy from motorhead said that let me for motor head said someone said, well, you know, I've got a new band what do we do? He said, just put your flag in the ground and see who salutes and love that and thank you for giving credit where credit is due of that. All right, so we get through your three, you know? You're so all right, so what do you guys think? What is the three things that artists do toe throw themselves? Wait, we'll go back we'll say we talked about we kept them again uh over attachment to the result so everybody, you know, ask yourself that question. Do you have that tendency to be over tach to the result and b dist appointed in the resolve most every time, especially in a way that hold you back from doing the action? Yeah, exactly exactly perfectionism which related to that and this sense of trying to perfect a facade and appearance toto overly focus on how I'm perceived as opposed to just allowing me to be me and that's where the gold is I've been a big favorite book of mine is do you buy russell simmons? It speaks to this point this is how you're going to actually find the gold is into being your unique self, your usual snow flake so all right, thank you for recapping my first two or like one of those things where you get your finger caught in it because it's who does that a chinese yeah, I don't know what those were called, and I'm afraid to say it wrong, and now I find out that you're not allowed to call it that anymore, but there's one, you know, but with e I don't want to I don't think anybody has the thing that catches your fans because, um, number one is I see people get their first bit of success that no one really cares too much about what they're doing, but they're people around them in like, it's cool, you had nothing and I got, well, something cool on uh and so that blows up in their ego and their laziness because we all have a little listen to some, you know, like we all have that potential arrest, you know, but they're, uh um but they start to get a little satisfied with himself or they take that they're so tired and so scared that they just like well I made it and you really didn't it all but you're just getting started you're showing your first signs that this might be working and then people let up so quincy jones said the way to be successful is toe work is hard uh when people know who you are as when no one knew who you were and that's why you have to really maintain that hunger la's if no one cares and no one owes you anything so that's number one and no one does owe you anything that ah number two is the opposite side of that same coin is one of the biggest problems that I see with my artists is they go to that flip side where they just think he's took no good I'll never do it so they don't try to explain to them do you remember where you were six months ago? Could you just look at what you've done because then the opposite side they starve that little child that just wants you to be like I know you're working hard keep it up you know not like you're the best ever you can just go sleep now but but just like you I really see noticing your own efforts again shaking hands with yourself getting the satisfaction so that you get you give yourself enough energy to continue so you're either the big pitfalls air self a grand iseman I don't know how to say that about the odyssey and then um and then also just starving yourself of that self congratulation at you need you know so that's the nice to yourself knowledge acknowledge your successes within yourself the third pitfall could be if they made one of those chinese that I've never seen one with three but if you could get somebody else stuck in it with you yeah uh the third thing is putting your, uh your locus of control that the thing that makes you feel like you are doing well outside yourself so you're waiting for your what does that mean? Tell me what that means that means you're waiting for other people to tell you you're working hard and doing well so you basically put your your sense of worth in some audience that you don't have yet in some money that you haven't made yet in your god forbid your parents who unless you're in that lucky small you know you probably didn't get enough good jobs from so that's why you're doing you want to be seen but you're not going to get fed that way you really have tio the work is the reward the work is the let's talk about this whole permission thing because this is a big theme of mine when it comes to my revolution of this you know, reading ourselves of the starting a starving artists starting artist start, start, start, let's, go let's, change it, starting artist, but I think within that orientation, we're looking for permission. We're looking for a blue ribbon, or to be in a group show or to be represented, and that is not gonna work in the long haul because not everyone is going to give you permission or acknowledgement, and it really does lipping matter if you're not getting paid it's not sustainable. The ironies that doesn't come until it sees is to be the goal when you know, when I get the most accolade is when I just love the smell of microphones, you open up the box and I just love that musty metallic smell of like velvet from the box. And would I love the smell of the microphone? I love making coffee for the artists says they come in and talking to them before we start working, when the actual thing itself, when what you're doing is your knowledge is the reward and you fall in love with the small details, then people love to tell you about it, but is but when you make the accolade the reward, first of all, you miss all the gorgeous, beautiful you miss your life, essentially and you miss what's great about doing this, any of it on dh, then you're not going to get that blue ribbon that you were chasing anyway so it's a very sad it's even worse than one of those things it's like it's like it becomes mythological bad that's where goto all right so so grammy down recap the three the three things that can happen undermining our creative success getting a tiny taste of your efforts and then just stopping you ask yourself everybody is that has that happened to you the great snow it's got a grin on his face I get might happen to him all right so I think it's pretty good you know are even worse someone else tells you or you're working your ass off and you're not giving yourself proper sleep proper rest and just looking yourself in the mirror and just be like you know what? I don't know where this is going but I know you're working hard, you know, having those like awkward self conversations like you're busting your butt and and I see that get backto work, you know? So it's that kind of loving it's that get backto work but with a lot of acknowledgement for who you are one of the one of the lessons I am teach and I wish were going teaching this course is about being a good boss and being a good employee because you're both how do you manage that relationships that you get along and that you're you want to work with one another because you have to be those two in your own head, which means you need a day off and you need teo you need positive reinforcement, you need feedback so very a bonus, derek silver said, you have to love your it's like the old methods that you had to suffer for your art, but the actual thing is that you have to love it so much that you're willing to live well for it you have to live for your art, not suffer for your art and then live take care of yourself, he said it a lot more succinctly and then the third thing is, you know, that is making anything other than the work itself and the details of the work, the joy of that hands on the reward because everything else I tell people my literal I said everything else will leave you in a gutter, you know, other than eso when when my people get played on the radio it's super exciting, I get the text like they're playing me on the right now and I'm late and I tell people unless I know how they're super grounds to go play scales that's how you celebrate your first radio plays like either go right bill practice go backto work go backto work that is how you celebrate that on I want to hear I'm so curious to hear, but this is an awesome I was a college of william mary in virginia and my band was playing there and it's funny we sat down, they fed us in the cafeteria, you know, it's like we're rock stars were touring, you know, chicken sandwiches and there's two extremely tall women were sitting at this I mean and so we get to talking to them and they played basketball for the college will even marry this is a few years back back when I was a touring musician and so we just start talking they played for the team they were recruited there from canada and so eaten our chicken sandwiches in our curly fries uh uh what's the biggest difference between american basketball and canadian basketball and, uh they said, well, the team concept and they said when they would win a game there coach would reward them they both came down together from the same high school in canada and, uh they would celebrate winds by running laps they get off the bus, get back to their go celebrate you won the work is the reward go run some laps nice work so that's I mean, that was I'll never forget that. So celebrate your winds but get by opening up those microphones and doing some experimenting and working again that's, that's that's the deal right oh, beautiful, all right do you have any questions from the chat room yeah we do actually um fred or frieda says how do you get past I'm the fac aid and listen to your voice alone to fully experience your act rather than what you think people want how how did you pass your facade and there your facade I'm sorry I and versus differentiating what other people want from you it's a multi tiered answer and then uh uh the work you know just go back to the work if you just immerse yourself in the details and caressed the details enjoy the details your your true self will come out if you're in your head too much and not work that's when it can go and a good therapist health and meditation practice exercising eating well take care of your mind and take care of your whole thing and I have this sort of idealistic sense that when we take care of these machines were sort of program to do well I feel like the underlying essence of that question has to do with her confidence it feels like a question about confidence they had it I had a a conversation with one of the other creative live instructors soupy zimmerman who was a great class on instagram by the way and we were talking about creatives and we're talking about that you know she think you know is it confidence that's important and I said I think it's focus because I think that you've gained can't you earned confidence by having a focus? What do you guys think about that? Because I think that's what that question is about what do you guys resonates you in line with the last one? What are the three things that make artist failing? Yeah, let's go back there the stoic answer, I think, is that nothing because the stoic sees that we can control the things we can control, we can't control the things we cannot control, and we're kind of graced with this thing called art because often times it's the only thing we can control you know, if you don't like your job if you don't like this, if you don't like that, the reason we do art because it gives us those moments of what we I can control where their creators were the make or the god of that particular yeah, I don't know price to go back to her question is kind of she's asking a little bit how did I get that feel? Feeling back the first time that I picked up a pen or first time picked up a camera and instrument because I wanted to create something, so how do you always keep that I think it's something precious and a lot of people you know, you always hear about band selling out or they're just not good anymore they went to commercial but then there are other bands who are able to maintain that throughout their whole life and just kind of be themselves uh so I think that it's a battle that all artists kind of fight like j d salinger I think the famous case because, uh, you know, he spent ten years isolated writing catcher in the rye senate an editor and editor like corrected a couple words so he had said something my manuscript back because you're not changing one word in it so you know, and then he spent the rest of his life just writing everything without showing it anybody I think because what he was trying to do was maintain that perfect state of course, you know, with the big hits of books he kind of that luxury of doing that without having to make money but socrates well, steve jobs said he trade all this technology to spend an afternoon with socrates so who's the socrates guy? Well, socrates said, uh, virtue does not come from money, but money in every lasting good of man derives from virtue says this whole sense that if you set out pursuing money often times you're not going to get us much money as if you would've pursued virtue and honor kind like the pure artist I think that's what makes someone like salinger really valuable is that you know he wasn't doing it for the money we're saying some back my manuscript you spent ten years on this like a really repeatable shouldn't do it if you didn't have any fun right yeah he had money coming in but yet no I always think that uh that whole kind of perspective is what brings more money and like later on socrates that is true so s so to your point it's been staying true and we talk about this issue of confidence and we'll win it just touched on dutch on this again because when I asked artists who I've worked with that they've gained from are working together the number one thing they say I would I would think they would say oh I'm making more money what they say is I have more confidence and the reason they have confidence is focus and they're also brave these folks in this audience have been brave I put them through a little mini mill and it requires courage tio it's it's it is it is an element of being an artist courageous enough to be yourself and put your flag in the ground um this way your references to literature are so very valuable one of things you said about homer was like look at its most enduring brand there is well they're the greatest artist so the epic poets so we have so much to learn from them so it's kind of like turn towards him real quick, socrates basically during this trial what you're saying plant your flag in the ground he is saying that ah what wherever your station in life and whatever you have to fight for, you should never turn and run from it and then he actually references achilles going way back, seeing would achilles have run? Well then I can't run either from that teaching that they're trying to get him to recant that teaching right of the relation between virtue and money so it's kind of the whole idea that, uh courage, you know, going way back when his and said er down through the centuries that's kind of been the one kind of element that's driven the art because the fear is what stops us, the fear is what puts us in a state of perfection, right? We're fearful of failing, right? We're fearful of claiming that we want to be a writer, that we want to be a photographer, that we want it's you know, we're here that we're fearful that will be judged, we feel that we're fearful that will fail. We're fearful that we won't get paid so fear is one of them. If I had to like name one of the three things that I see um undermining artists or creative, since that they are on allowing themselves to be taken over by fear I'm so lit up, but you're talking about rage and about this this? Yeah, let's e I want to speak to this facade thing because we all have facade. I mean, it's, it's, an imp important part of, you know, we have a social self, and we have to use it. You can't see everything you think sometimes I'm better at that than you inside thoughts. And and, um so we've developed them for really good reasons. So it's important again to shake hands with yourself? Not not, uh, I saw, because I have a facade. No, we all have a facade, right? But we have to find ways, teo, be a choice with that facade and not be stuck in it. And on bits and it's, pervasive and society doesn't necessarily always set us up to be our true self and it's, very confusing and a couple of things. I keep thinking of this, uh, press field, steam press field, that warrior ethos. He also reveal more of art, and this is kind of an intense image. But he was talking about the spartan mothers and how they would raise the spartans to be brave and to show the spartan mother sends tio two sons to a war one is one dies honorably on the battlefield the other was said to have run and then they ask her about her two children said I only had one the other she disowned the one who ran that's very intense and this kind of from a strong another one another one another one and and then she said, uh where is he where she lifted up her skirts and where does he think he's going to run back from where he came and that's so there's a way in which at a certain point you have to have take, um at rubicon my studio and development program is named after the rubicon because it's about taking that you know, probably a lot more about that and I do but it's not taking taking that leap where you burn your you know, your it's um all in so there's a certain point which, like I'm just like, well, I'm just freaking end, so I don't know what I'm gonna do the only way is forward so there's a certain point there is value in that range on another teacher musashi was a japanese hey talks aboutthe samurai that they would fight like they're already dead just what do you holding onto like what's so great in your life like most people who are trying to do this it's not like they're current situation is like so freaking amazing so you're holding on like one of the deals I made with myself when I became when I went all in was I had to let to shed certain things and one of them was cool there was a large period of my life where cool was super important a lot of musicians artists are into being cool and this is the funny thing about that now that I looked at it yet that is how the how cool I wasn't so I spent so much energy trying to procure this sense of cool which is really just the defense which separated me from people when I got real dorky like just full out like this what I think is what I'm doing and yeah, some people didn't think I was this cool but I was so bad at being cool it turns out I didn't even know it still like what great you know fields of cool was protecting it was like a little tiny patch of cool barely so that's one of the things that we're holding on so I don't know if I should make the leap or I don't know like how you know if you were like saving children and teaching inner city math and then yeah maybe more protective of that but if you hate your job and you hate your current situation you kind maze will forge forward you know like what? What are you protecting that's that's the irony right? It's not always so so rad we're gonna get to your three points but I want to check in is there any any questions from the chat moon teo and we actually had a couple of votes on this one this is from jalen ross who says, how do you overcome the attachment to your and result? My vision for my book that I'm currently writing has been holding me back so how do you kind of clear that path for you to let it go? The first step is to start I mean, if you want to write right um and yes, you started to move forward, we will constantly adjust our vision based on our ford movement and improving in fact, I think there's something about the way we're just wire like working in a three dimensional world, you know, just working in your space, you don't actually know where you are unless you have more than one vantage point. The more you are moving, the greater of the sense you have of where you are and you know, I think like, if we close our eyes and we will eventually fall over because we don't have some type of movement, our body, we don't actually know how to orient ourself in space if if you want to write, you write and you start writing and you write a bunch of crap and, you know, it was like like like there's this hose has been laying out all winter long and it's filled up with insects and mud and also a source of water. You have to start pushing some water through that thing before you get the clear stuff out. So if if you want to be a writer, you just start writing and you start writing consistently with enough time. You know, whether it's two hundred fifty words a day, a thousand words a day, you start setting yourself a target and you do it and you just accept the fact that there's going to be a lot of crap coming out to start that process? Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah, my writing teacher natalie goldberg. Uh, natalie, uh, she said, you write so much crap, you know that you create a pile of crap and then it's so fertile that beautiful flowers start to come up because the ground is so fertile from all the crap that's a real it's, a really good point we have to get the stuff out. Yeah, and what you're doing is you're building even though it looks terrible, you're building the foundation that you're actually able to build your future on yeah, I figure I need teo make really like ten or doesn't crappy paintings before I get to a good study and I'm really pleased with yeah, so one thing about people but creative's is that people who want to create, whether it's aesthetic or whether it's tactile, whether it's music, whatever it is, they're drawn to this because they love the medium in which they want to create. And so one of things about creatives is we are very, very aware because of our taste, how bad we are when we start, I feel like if I if I have been listening to music my entire life, and I know and I have the grates and I have all these I start to play all of that thing that drew me to music educates me and how terrible I am a music right now. Ira glass has a great little piece thirty seconds or a minute of that look up this ira glass piece of artists he nails exactly what you just said you if you have great taste, you know how upset you are, it's great. Yeah. And you have to keep going. What I like to think about it. If you ever gone to like a kindergarten and a watch, kids singing with the teacher and the teacher will be singing in tune and on pace and everything else and the kids will be all over the map and it will be terrible and you don't think they're artists and it'll be grinning and they'll be enjoying it and that is what we need to just accept is that when we're when we're started that's what you don't tell everyone where you want to go like you just you just share we want to go there a couple people and then you share the work and you just started doing the war and it's not it's that it's a hot mess in the creative process also about being a hot mess in business tio invoices they're not going to get paid you're gonna have some cranky clients you're going to forget to file your sales tax right? You yes e I much better business now because I know from so many mistakes along the way she had investment you made it and that was that that mistake that failure was an investment yeah he was framed and the other thing too is so see my goal setting in about like creating and I love this this kind of place with your common but virtue doesn't come from the money and doesn't necessarily come from the accolade down the road whenever we whatever we say we want if you want something you want to be a writer if you want to be you know a musician will be an artist I think people's minds or some sense that there be some type of emotional payoff that's goingto happen at some point the future there's driving that and the thing is about there is like at any given moment regardless of whether we're you out right now whether you have no money with everything else, you have the exact same emotional range today that you were going to have in the future yes that's right? And it would be the same person well, what I'm saying is those things are not what triggered the emotional response you don't get the emotional response based on what it is you create like the song that you finished doesn't actually give you emotional sponsor's product yeah, yeah um and you can experience the emotions you want to have in the end in the process of making if you just allow yourself to do the work and experience the emotion you want to have, including the frustration including the perfection itis including the uncertainty and including the joy and including the oh, I just thought of a new idea that's really cool. All right, dr e so three year you've got from your perspective what air three ways that the hero fails three ways are the answer is that the hero doesn't fail that right that's true, they're there, yeah, no, I think I'll play nicely with others thie basically uh say what when you're going into the art just read this was like a quote john flaxman he drew a lot of like paintings beta based on the classics in the seventeen hundreds also like some famous presidents back then and stuff like that but basically he said that he felt his job was to communicate like the classical ideals in the contemporary culture and I think that in many scents like an artist like you should always strive you know that whole idea go big or go home and eminem says like failure's not an option success is my only option failure's not so that whole idea is that you wet yourself you kind of hitch your wagon to like these higher ideals and that you don't really have an opportunity to fail because you're serving other people with um you're important because you're bringing these time honored ideals. Okay, so can I pause for a moment and talk about that? Because that this course is about how you're going to be of service ultimately which is a point of confusion for creative so they think there it's all about me it's about my creation and my artist's statement and me me, me, me me talk a little bit about that it's about serving in the in the beginning of the odyssey the first lines you're saying that odysseus strove to like save his men and bring them all home but they all died on the cattle, the sun god and they all ended up dying, but the whole idea that as a captain he was trying to serve everybody and trying to, like save thumb and he's played the cyclops because the cyclops is eating his men, and he had, like, find a way to get everybody home. I mean, he failed, but it wasn't really his fault like totally and then, but this whole idea that it's your duty to serve and we see that again and kill ese. Why? Well, he quits the greek army and let's all this, like friends like die out of a fit of rage because he was dishonored. But it's really the general who dishonored the greek army by dishonoring the killing is making a quit because when a kill his friend is killed, achilles goes straight back to battle to avenge his death. So what achilles is showing that he fights for honor and honor alone? Uh, so this whole idea is once you start thinking of life in those terms, two things happen, one is there becomes less and less options for failure because you're doing something really important, and then I think it then too, the day you don't feel quite as much, even though it might seem like you are might be like the harder road and not turn this into a church sermon but a mythological contact but uh in the book of matthew in the king james version the very last words of jesus up on the cross is why has thou forsaken me uh asking god so even jesus felt completely abandoned the very end uh and you know he's a pretty significant historical religious figure so it's kind of ah, that whole idea that if you live your life in service sometimes you might think that you failed but you know, like you have this enduring like lasting success socrates again going back to his trial he's saying you know, I've been and this is philosophy he's a philosopher you know he's not a hero like on a battlefield but socrates genius at that point in the historical context was he took the external actions depicted in homer and he internalized them that it was a battle for truth the truth of the soul and that's what the artist is going for and what he was saying is you know I'm not going to recant my teachings because he called everybody a phony you know, the same classic stuff that the rebel guy always does to get in big trouble these days you just get kicked out and you won't get tenure back then they like made you drink the hemlock and put you to death thank god they don't happen tio not yet but soon anyway so uh he basically has that little speech for it compares himself to achilles and he makes philosophy and I'd say I'd argue art at that point a heroic act and speaking of that, homer makes both achilles and odysseus poets like there's one point where a decision recounts all this tails to somebody so of course he's the poet telling it and achilles whenever he speaks he speaks is a poet you know, he's the first one who philosophizes about war like what's it good for you know I think inspired bruce springsteen but he's the one saying like, look, why am I taking all the risks on the front line when you just take my rewards like I'm just not going to do this anymore? So in a way achilles is kind of like the first war protester and that's kind of what makes the genius of course it's one of the it's something that's very inherent in all the classic works is someone speaking truth to power and I think that's kind of the artist job because a lot of times whenever you align yourself with ideals like the truth of the matrix, you find yourself up against all the agents mess this is a good point we're talking about endurance earlier, right? And when you're when you feel when you were acting in service to others it's harder to quit thes e to quit on yourself like quit on your diet or quit on, you know, quit and start smoking again. If you're in service to others, it's easier to maintain your resolve and to maintain your mission. And then, um so let's, I just want to get to like elliot three three areas where artists can fail. You can sum that up quick. Now. Now that I've gone through that whole, I love it, I could talk to you. I can talkto him. I could talk. Teo elliot for oh, I have talked elliot for hours, actually. He's. So you're so so much rich. You have a lot to offer him. And I'm so glad that you're here, so I want to cut you. Sure. One thing that homer teaches us also is to look out for when athena comes and visits you because it's very beginning of the odyssey, like athena disguised herself as an old man named mentor the works with the place where the word mentor comes from and she calls upon telemachus to man up he's, a son of odysseus. You know, take control of his home, go find use of his true father and make a name for himself in story. So there's an artist right there you know that whole idea so ann's kind of like I need that athena would be calling at some point just like morpheus calls on the phone and tell us a new yoda like walk out so you know and she says like you've got a lot of cool stuff going on we need to organize it and that's like a little voice it's always been in my head and outside of my hats like the gallery that I just worked with they just laugh at all my like bio pages or anything like that it's just like one big mess but uh anyway, so the three things is forgetting to serve something greater than yourself because I think that once you won your living getting up with that every day that you're trying to serve something a little bit like all my take my due here is odyssey mythology photography I'm trying to incorporate some of the, uh like classical elements into it and my whole idea then of the day is can I introduce more people to mythology so it's not just about the photography it's not just about like me and it's not just about a pretty picture, but there's that little thing there to like maybe some of these books can help some fellow artists, right? Ok, so so one thing is forgetting that you were acting if yeah, forgetting toe like active service act in service. Rory and orient, what you're doing in service to others, what's number two, number two is when you find it is here, when you find yourself a socrates like and they're telling you, look, you can like, choose, we'll let you live if you re can't you're teaching what you know is true or like, if you don't, we're goingto you're going to die, uh means not just number that extreme, but somebody telling you like a producer or somebody maybe telling you like, look, if you stay true to yourself and you do what you want to do, we're gonna get rid of you and cut you, but like, if you play it our way, you know we'll give you a deal so that's kind of like a big choice, and I think that the greater pay off, you know is the one and that's kind of what the great books and classics are trying to tell us, so stick to your ideals. Yes, don't compromise your ideals and don't compromise your honor, don't so out don't sell out.