Where Do You Find Inspiration?

“Every artist,” Austin Kleon said, “gets asked the question, “Where do your ideas come from?” The honest artist answers, “I steal them.” Inspiration is that spark of genius that sets your heart to racing, and your hands to moving. It propels you forward as you strive to create something genuine and true. At least, that’s the way I see it. You may have a varying take on what inspiration is, but there it is striking as it will. It has no master, no owner. It comes and goes as it wishes, leaving behind only that which we make of it.

My sister-in-law gave me a copy of Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon for Christmas. I’ll share some of what I’m enjoying and learning from this great read with you in a few weeks. Today I want to talk about another product Austin’s put out there, The Steal Like An Artist Journal. It's filled with exercises and creativity prompts to bring out the creative in each of us. I noticed it online while reading Steal Like An Artist, and decided to order it.

I’ve always struggled to call myself an artist, writer, or creative. It’s been a lack of confidence on my part, with a dash of imposter syndrome thrown in for flavor. Who am I to publish? Who am I to claim the mantle of an artist? Doubts like these have plagued me, as I’m sure they have you at one point in your life.

The greatest help I've found is to show up every day and put something down on paper. It gives me confidence, and hope that I’m getting better. Sitting down to create something—anything—is more important that the finished product. The journey is more important than the destination.

The journal has served as a helpful tool in training my mind to be on the lookout for new and different ideas. To make connections between things that at first glance have nothing in common. “We are all having ideas all the time.” Philip Pullman said, “But I’m on the lookout for them. You’re not.”

The Steal Like An Artist Journal has helped me improve at being on the lookout for good ideas. In short, it is where inspiration finds me each morning before I write.

Enough about me and my journey for one day. What about you? Where do you find inspiration? Are there any tools, or routines that you find helpful?

5 Ways To Fend Off The Deadly Burnout Monster

Hannah and I work a lot. Our schedule is filled with photo shoots, client meetings, mentor sessions, and more. Few days pass without us having something. We closed out 2016 busier than ever before, not taking a day off for nearly two months. The blistering pace we run often has our calendar busting at the seams, leaving just enough room for friends, family and community group have to be fit in where room is left on the slate.

Working too much is a trap you can quickly fall into when you’re self-employed. Since you don’t have a boss screaming down your neck and passing out deadlines like pezz, you fulfill that role by rarely give yourself enough slack—you know how every ounce of your time is spent after all. When you love what you do, this is especially true. When work is something you enjoy, it doesn’t feel like work. You lose yourself in it, forget the time, and look up only to realize it’s 9:30pm and you haven’t had anything to eat since lunch. Do this too often however, and it can lead to burnout.

Burnout appears to be an American problem. As American’s we glorify work. The 20 something launching a startup who works 90 hours a week, is a hero. The same goes for the normal bloke with a job, and mouths to feed. Ask anyone how they are, and you’ll no doubt receive a list of all that they are doing—completely ignoring that you asked how not what. Busy, busy, busy. It’s a badge of honor. I haven’t traveled abroad nearly enough but, I don’t read of workers in Spain, Italy or Nicaragua struggling with burnout. There is something unique to the American experience going on here.

Our obsession with work has led to amazing achievements and ushered in wave after wave of breakthrough and progress, but it also has an ugly side. Parents regularly work so much their children never see them. Many do so until they end up sick or worse. Robin Williams’ character in Hook is the perfect example. He worked and worked and worked, missing Jack’s baseball games and leaving a dad shaped hole in the lives of his wife and two children. His situation was so off the rails he had to become Peter Pan in order to figure things out and put his life back in order.

Sacrificing family at the altar of success isn’t worth it. Neither is working so feverishly that you end up wearing a paper gown that splits down the back. Your family and your health are important to you. I don’t see you arguing with me on that point. But what about your mental health. Isn’t that just as valuable?

You wouldn’t drink poison—at  least I hope not—but many of you will run and run and run until you hit a wall. You’ll run until you ‘just can’t take it anymore.’ You’ll lose control, swerve and hit the guardrail going 110. Bits of glass, and plastic will go flying through the air and come to rest among the gravel and blood on the roadside. At least that’s how I picture it in my mind. All momentum, and forward progress will stop as you throw up your hands and want to quit. That’s what we call burnout.

Burnout isn’t a pretty sight to behold, but unless you do something to fend it off, you’ll most likely experience it in the not too distant future.

Hannah and I have reached that point far too many times. We used to reach the point of burnout at least once a year early on, in fact. It was debilitating. We wouldn’t want to think about work, much less actually go in the office. We were letting work take over our lives. It was what we talked about on date nights, and what we thought about around the clock, no wonder it was crushing at times.

Since then we’ve decided to do something about it by coming up with a strategy to keep burnout at bay. Like any good game plan it’s two fold—offense and defense. We’ve implemented both solid defensive measures to slow burnouts roll, as well as positive forward moving steps to beat it to the punch.  

1.) Schedule your day, setting time limits for each task on your to-do list. You can write this out on paper, log it on your calendar or use a task manager, but the important thing is that you sit down and think through your day ahead of time. If you don’t plan your day, someone will plan it for you. When you’re making your plan, schedule what you’re best at, for when you’re at your best. Then set a window of time for each project. Maybe two hours here, 30 minutes there, so that you move throughout your day in control of it not the other way around.

2.) Do more than one thing. Bounce from one project to another throughout the day. If what you’re currently working on gets boring or starts to grate on you, drop it for a while and do something else. When you get tired of that, switch back to your first project. You’ll still be getting stuff done, but without feeling like you’re beating your head against the wall.

3.) Take a day off, maybe two. Your mind and your imagination have to recharge. They can’t keep going forever without a reset. Schedule time off into your regular routine. Go for a walk, spend time with your family, and enjoy a bit of time away from your work.

4.) Begin each day in God’s Word. People still call this a quiet time every now and then, but it can be as noisy as you’d like. Plug in your headphones, crank up some Shane & Shane and start your day reading the Bible. No discipline is more important than reading God’s Word. It is the most transforming practice available to us. We face trouble, temptation and pressure every day. God’s Word provides just the encouragement, guidance and instruction we need to face the day.      

5.) Have other irons in the fire. Have creative outlets and hobbies that recharge you. Whether it’s painting, reading a book, or writing a story, find another creative endeavor that fills your warms your soul and breathes life into your lungs. You’ll find, the side projects often lead to new and exciting opportunities for your “real work.”

“All advice,” Austin Kleon said, “is autobiographical.” It peels back the layers and gives you the path previously walked by its giver. Hopefully this foray into our world and how we fight burnout will help and inspire you to turn and face the challenge head on, before it forces you off the road.

How To Build Better Habits And Reach Your Goals In Just 30 Days

You no doubt took a few moments as the clock counted down the end of another year to consider what you wanted out of 2017. Maybe you want to lose a few pounds, make a few extra dollars, or learn a new skill. That’s as far as things go for most people. They spend year after year holding on to vague hopes about the things they’d like to change. But you’re not the average bird. You didn’t stop with pleasant sentiments, you created goals, resolving to make this year different.

You got off to a roaring start hitting every target you set. You were excited, energized and hopeful. Things were looking up. You were rockin’ along, the wind in your hair, nothing gonna get in your way. This was going to be your year.

The calendar turned to February or if you were extra diligent, March. Life happened. The shine wore off, excitement faded and stuff got in the way. By now your dreams and hopes for making 2017 different, are all but dashed.

Instead of getting down, throwing a pity party, and giving up, let’s get back in the game. It doesn’t matter how poorly things have gone these first several months. You still have time to reach your goals. Remember Petey from Remember the Titans—the running back with the propensity to fumble the ball? He worked hard, carried a football from class to class and did his best every day, but still dropped the ball in the big moment. What happened to him? Coach Yoast saw something special in him, and did all he could to bring it out.

I see something special in you. You’re not meant to sit around wishing you could do this, or wanting to do that. No, you’re meant to get off the couch and out into the real world and make things happen. “Team work,” they say, “makes the dream work.” And I’m on your team. I want great and glorious things for you this year. That’s why I’m going to let you in on a secret—I struggle with the same things you do.

I fail to reach goals with astonishing regularity. I focus on where the magic happens however, instead of worrying about all the things I desire to happen. Where does the magic happen? It happens in the small everyday routines and habits of your day. Up to 40% of what you do every day isn’t based on any decision you’ve made, it’s purely a result of habits you’ve formed.

I’m working to rig the game, instead of worrying about missing targets. The best route I’ve found to reaching new goals is to decide what daily habits I need to develop to make it happen. I love to write for example. It gives me life, energy and feeds my soul. So what do I do with an already packed schedule? I get up at 5am every day and sit down in front of my computer to face another blank page. The habit I needed to focus on wasn’t directly related to the practice of writing. It was getting up earlier so I had time to write. That was the right habit for me to focus on.

Habits don’t form themselves. They take a lot of hard work and intentionality. Depending on the complexity of the habit, it can take anywhere from 30 or more days to develop a new one. There are thirty days in a month so 30 days is an easy number to latch hold of. Grab it with all you’ve got and wring from it fresh and invigorating habits that carry you down the path to accomplishing new things.

Below you’ll find a 30 day challenge sheet to help you create new habits. I found it tucked neatly inside The Steal Like An Artist Journal, and it’s been such a helpful way for me to focus on developing better habits. Austin did us all a favor by creating it but one 30 day challenge isn’t enough, I need a new one every month. After several moments online I couldn’t find a printable copy anywhere, so I created my own.

Download it. Print it. Share it. But most of all, use it to make 2017 an awesome year.

20 Powerful Resources To Improve Your Writing

It seems everyone has a blog. This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. I choose to view blogging as an unlimited opportunity to grow and improve as a writer. Like almost everything else in life, improving your writing requires doing it a lot. The best thing you can do to improve as a writer is to write. Force yourself to sit down each day and put words on the page. Few outlets serve to create a space and opportunity to acquire necessary repetitions to accomplish the goal, like having a blog. 

From time to time, people mention that they enjoy writing and are thinking about starting a blog. That's always exciting. I love to see people jumping into the blogging space and starting to write more! The world needs more voices not fewer. 

There are few things more terrifying than sitting, and starring a white blank page, however. The cursor just blinks at you, as if taunting you. You can hear it laughing in the back of your mind, it's daring you to write something. Fear wells up inside, you start sweating and your mind goes blank. Everyone's been there. 

I know that feeling all too well, and want to help you conquer it. The goal isn't just to turn out pithy sentences and paragraphs, but to impact other people with the words you pen. I've compiled several resources to make your task easier, and more enjoyable. It is my hope that what follows helps you become the very best writer you can. 

Blogs to Help You Create Awesome Content:

1. Michael Hyatt

2. ProBlogger

3. Jerry Jenkins

4. Steven Pressfield

5. Jon Acuff

Despite all advances in technology, ours remains a world of the written word. Here are a few books that'll aide you in honing your skills and becoming the very best writer you can.

Books for Honing Your Skills:

1. On Writing Well by William Zinsser

2. Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B White

3. On Writing by Stephen King

4. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield 

Good Writing Worth Reading:

1. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

2. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

4. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

5. Secrets In The Dark by Frederick Buechner 

Writers may read and readers write, but what if your schedule doesn't allow tons of time for reading? Thanks to the proliferation of the iPhone and a million apps you've still got a shot to fill your mind with what it needs to produce great work. Here are audio options to get your brain jump started and churning out content like a pro.

Audio for While You're On The Go:

1. Home Row: A Podcast with Writers on Writing

2. ProBlogger Podcast: Blog Tips to Help You Make Money Blogging

3. Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

4. A Way With Words

5. Audible - (great way to consume audio books)

Now that you're in the mood to make a move and kick start your blogging life, here is an extremely helpful blogging challenge to get you started. In this seven day challenge you'll find ideas for not just what to write about but the immensity of directions and approaches to the job.

7 Days to Getting Back Your Blogging Groove

5 Ways to Make More Happen in 2017

'Get stuff done.' That's the mantra of the daily grind that is America 2017. You drag yourself out of bed earlier than anyone else. You stay late at the office three or more nights a week. You bust your butt and stockpile vacation days like they're going out of style. You do all this and more under the guise of getting stuff done. It's as if you believe he who gets the most stuff done wins.

You do this ever year, yet reach December with unfinished projects and unreached goals. Amidst all the grinding discipline on display in your daily routine, things fell through the cracks and the goals that meant the most to you were neglected for more urgent things. We recently discussed setting goals and I'm sure you have tons of them for 2017. Today, I'd like to share with you five things that help me keep my priorities in line and give me more time to work on my goals. 

1. Write Things Down. 

You have a ton to keep up with. Most of the time you can remember it all without trying or thinking anything of it. When it comes to important things however, you write them down. Your wife doesn't send you to the store without a grocery list. You have a to do list and hopefully a don't do list at work. You use lists to run the important areas of your life. What could be more important than achieving your annual goals?

Write down your goals. Find a nice quiet spot, free from distractions, and spend some time writing out all you're committed to achieving this year. This one simple act makes you 42% more likely to reach your goals. Write them down and put them somewhere you'll see them every day. I have a friend who puts his in his closet. Every morning as he gets dressed for the day, he looks at his goals and every night before bed he does the same. It helps him ensure that he is taking concrete steps towards them each and every day. Do something similar. 

2. Rig The Game

People who want to get to Disney World don't simply get in the car and start driving, hoping the road will somehow get them there. Instead, they look at a map and chart their course. They do this in advance, rather than waiting until they arrive at the wrong destination or discover they've spent three days driving the wrong direction. If you want to get somewhere, guesswork is a poor strategy. Just like you planned a route for your last road trip, you need to decide how you are going to reach your goals.

Regardless of how strong your will power or how committed you are, there are going to be days where you don't feel like working on your goal. Imagine your goal is to run a marathon in 2017. Reaching that goal will require you to go run everyday. If each morning you have to convince yourself you really want to do this, you're in trouble. It's a huge obstacle to overcome. Over time, it will wear you down, and could derail your goals. The solution is to remove that daily decision by rigging the game in your favor.

"You will never change your life," John Maxwell said, "until you change something you do daily. The secret of success is found in your daily routine." Get over the hump and assure yourself success, by finding a way to make your goal a habit. It can be as simple as, "When I get up each morning, I sit down to write for thirty minutes." Building small daily habits like this, makes it as close to impossible to fail as you can get. It forces you to be consistent and consistent action over a period of time is the surest route I know to achieving them. 

3. Focus On The Right Things

"What is important," Dwight Eisenhower said, "is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important." Many of the tasks you spend time on each day don't get you any closer to reaching your goals. They come to you with sirens and horns blaring demanding your attention, but offer little in return. These urgent deadlines, and problems have to be dealt with but pull you away from other important things. Likewise interruptions and time wasting activities draw your attention away from productive endeavors. With emergencies, interruptions and problems coming at you left and right, how do you continue to move forward on your goals? The answer is found in a helpful decision matrix popularized by Steven Covey in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the Eisenhower Decision Matrix.     

When tasks cross your path, run it through the matrix above. If it lands in quadrant four (not urgent, not important), do it later. If it belongs in quadrant three (not important, but urgent), delegate it to someone else. Obviously, the urgent and important tasks need to be attended to immediately, but don't forget to make time for quadrant 2 (important, but not urgent). The more time you can focus on this quadrant, the better off you'll be. It will allow you to deal with important things before they become urgent. 

4. Get Up Early

If you want to get a lot done while avoiding the time wasters, interruptions and all the things that keep you from working on your goals, get up earlier. This isn't a popular suggestion. Most people scoff at the thought, and that's exactly why you shouldn't. You don't want to settle for average, you want above average. Average people sleep in as late as possible, while the above average person gets up early and gets to work on their most important projects.

As you read about focusing on those tasks that belong in quadrant 2, you wondered where the time to do that is going to come from. The early morning hours are the perfect solution to that quandary. If you made the decision to rise one hour earlier, you could gain five extra hours of productive time per week. That's roughly six plus weeks over the course of a year, while still taking two weeks off for vacation. This is how you get your goals done.

5. Don't Throw In The Towel

No one ever achieved more by quitting. Your greatest weakness is listening to that voice in your head telling you to give up when things get hard. When you find yourself on the verge of giving up I want you to give it one more try. There is so much value in staying in the fight.