Intuition knows when something is complete. And it’s time to stop.
And it knows when it’s time to keep going.
This is what learning to draw taught me today.
Intuition Knows
Today I Decided to Learn to Draw
Today’s drawing: learning the basic tools in black and white, to keep it simple. Using Adobe Fresco on an iPad Pro 12 in, with an Apple Pencil.
Today I Decided to Learn to Draw
“Drawing better” has been a latent dream of mine for many years.
Why do I want to learn to draw better now, and not before?
Because I’m traveling soon on a trip where I’ll be making many stops along the way, hiking for 13 miles a day.
Drawing feels like a good way to capture the spirit of the journey.
I have about 40 days before the trip starts, so I want to use the time to practice and learn a few tricks.
I just bought an iPad Mini for Drawing and Painting
Why Use an iPad Instead of Paper?
I’m not opposed to using paper, but the smallest iPad has several advantages.
First, it will give me greater flexibility while traveling. I’ve got weight restrictions, so the small form factor will be both pocket friendly and lightweight.
Second, while I’m not opposed to collecting real brushes and paint, sticking to one app and one digital pencil eliminates variables, while also giving me tons of options.
Third, the art App of choice is amazing! Adobe Fresco gives me , tons of tools, the flexibility of layers, and easy cloud backup and sync.
There’s One More Big Reason
Learning is super important to me.
And there is no better way to learn than to give yourself a public project that puts on the pressure to ship the results.
You can follow my 40 day journey of learning to draw and paint at this link.
What Learning Have You Been Putting Off?
Drawing and painting? Photography? Music? Video? Audio? Podcasting? Fiction? Poetry? Prose? A novel? A Foreign Language?
I challenge you to give your Right Brain something to chew on and get those creative juicing flowing again! (Check out my podcast episode on the huge importance of using all 4 parts of our brain.
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Should You Ignore SEO? Only if This is Happening
This is The Only Time You Should Absolutely Ignore SEO
I’m not an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert, but I do know this…
You Should Not Ignore SEO!
It’s super important that the people who are searching online can find your web content.
For example, the difference between searchers looking for the term “video production” and “make a video” are huge.
If you are new to making videos, you are much less likely to know that the word “production” is super common in the industry.
It only took me five minutes of research to find this out, but if I had not done it, I would have always used the less common word “production”.
If you don’t put in at least a little research effort and use keywords and “readable-by-humans” descriptions, you are missing out. You are leaving “money on the table”, as they say.
However, you should totally ignore SEO if this one thing is happening.
If you are not publishing because you are too focused on SEO, you should ignore it. Or, if ANYthing is keeping you from shipping your work, you should stop doing that thing and focus on getting your work out, instead.
At this point you might be wondering what the top thinkers in this area say.
Seth Godin Says Don’t Worry About SEO
Instead of being focused on SEO, Seth and many other wise, empathetic leaders would say that we should try to delight a few readers first.
Seth usually says that number is “ten”, by the way. This may seem small, but you have to start somewhere. And if ten people truly value something, then many more are likely to follow.
I agree with that sentiment. Please a few people first. Learn how they are finding you and do more of that. Learn what words they use, and use more of those words! This is the essence of SEO, anyway.
The One Reason I Enjoy SEO
But I also happen to enjoy tweaking SEO, and I especially enjoy seeing what words make people take action.
Action is what we want. Action is where power lies. So, if a headline gets people to act, then I think we should act on that!
However, it’s worth stating again. Don’t focus on anything if it’s keeping you for putting your work out there or slowing you down.
Put Shipping First, Then Tweak Later
The reason I’m focusing on this is that I’ve been down the “overly focused on SEO” road before. I don’t recommend it. Ship first. Make a few folks very happy. Then tweak your SEO. And have fun with it!
Image By Myriam Jessier
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Distracted by Shiny Objects? The Real Shiny Object is Your Diamond Dream in the Dirt
You Don’t Have to Don’t Fall Into the Trap of the Shiny Object Again
I just got a new Mac.
An inexpensive, very fast, new machine.
I’m in love, but…
I’m trying not to fall into the trap again.
The Trap of the Shiny Object.
The Shiny Object has so much promise!!!
But the specs mean nothing.
All my thrill is worth nothing.
What matters is not the promise the Shiny Object brings.
What matters is what’s at the root of the promise.
The reason I use these shiny tools is to make things.
What I make is the Real Shiny Object.
The ugly, clumsy, not-as-good-as-you-want,
Not-living -up-to-your-standards,
Not matching your high level of taste,
The piece of work that’s a “piece of work”.
That’s the Real Shiny Object, the diamond in the rough
The diamond you would step on and grind into the dirt
If you did not know to look for it.
Today, I’m reminding you (and me)
To look for those tiny rough diamonds in the dirt.
Gather them up by creating and sharing them often.
Ship when it feels hard to ship.
Because the Real Shiny Object
Is the Joy of doing this work.
The true joy is the satisfaction of knowing
That you did your best,
Even when (and especially when!)
You thought your best
Was not that good.
If you can relate to Shiny Objects; you love them but want to own them vs being owned by them?
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How I Learned to Never Get Lost While Creating
I’ve been lost so many times in the creative wilderness, I can’t count.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
The silvan glades that I happily entered turned into dark, spooky haunts after a few wrong turns. Thankfully, I’ve learned that exploring a real forest and the creative wilderness are not that different. If you don’t take the right tools along, you can get lost.
Tools Help Along the Journey
A compass in your hand in the woods helps you because it shows you a constant direction. Every time you look down at it you can find North. Knowing that one True direction can help you find your way.
Similarly, when you go on a creative journey (like to write a book or to start a podcast) you also need a kind of compass to help you through.
Maps and compasses are familiar enough tools. But what do we take into the creative wilderness? What creative tools can help you find your way when you get lost?
The Creator’s Compass
After many years of getting lost, I’ve finally found a kind of compass for creators that I call the Re-Creation Cycle. It’s a simple 4-part tool to help you see where you are in the process. Like a real compass, it’s a circle. One that you go around and around in as you get more and more creative.
I gave it a short mnemonic, PART to help you remember the four parts. When you choose to take PART on a creative journey, you go through each of the four letters.
Here are the Four Parts of the Re-Creation Cycle
PART
- We start with a Problem to solve. That’s the P.
- Then, we begin to take Action, A.
- These actions get Results, R.
- The results teach us something new. We have learned and come back around, coming full cycle to T, a new Truth.
People Get Lost Without a Compass
Choosing to take PART in a challenge is always a choice. So that means many people also choose not to act. They see a problem but don’t take action to change their results and they don’t find new Truths.
This is getting stuck. This is the start of despair. This is when you feel like there is no way out and you have nowhere else to go. Depression sets in and the spiral is the opposite of creative.
It’s destructive. (Did you notice TRAP is what you get if you do the PART cycle backwards? Don’t fall into the backward spiraling TRAP!)
Know Where You Are At All Times
With the Creator Compass, I know where I am in the cycle at all times. This is the key to not getting lost. When I face a Problem, I know I can choose to be scared or get curious about my next actions.
The more Action I take the quicker and deeper the learning I get. (Writing this article is one of those actions. Writing and Shipping daily is what really works. best.) My actions will yield Results, and by reflecting I can better learn from them.
And coming full circle the results will give new Truths that will give me clarity for the next time I chose to make my way around the cycle.
What Would You Choose Moving Forward?
Like a real forest, there are always challenges and pits to fall into. Would you rather enter those woods empty-handed, or with a compass as your guide? Take Re-Creation Cycle with you and you will never get lost.
