Creative Calling: Establish a Daily Practice, Infuse Your World with Meaning, and Succeed in Work + Life

You don’t have to be good at anything yet. You can learn. In fact, you’ll begin to see the process of learning as a joy, not an obstacle. The only question that matters here is, what would you be excited to try?

For each image, I’d ask myself: What are the elements that make this good? Why did someone choose this image over the hundreds that must have been available? Technique was critical, that was obvious, but at this level, technique was a given. What elevated an image?

What matters is that you start. All you’re deciding to do is to try. Do whatever you can with what you have. It will never feel like the right time. You will never be “ready.” Avoid preparing too much. Start before you are ready. Start with fear. Start with uncertainty. This is one of the biggest secrets of the most creative, happy, successful peop

To find a home for your ideas and your creative work, you need to cultivate and inspire a group of diverse but like-minded people to receive and ultimately Amplify that work. A creator’s audience is your single greatest asset for creating impact. It will bring as much color to your world as creativity brings to your life.

Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. . . . One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you. —CARLOS CASTANEDA

Clearly, I needed to get into the pro scene to assemble the winning elements. Once I’d reached the aspirational locations, I’d find the top-tier athletes. Once I’d found the top-tier athletes, I’d have to connect with them somehow to capture one of them in action. That method of deconstructing what works into its component elements has been the key

You are not your art. The greater the separation between your ego and the products of your creative efforts, the happier and more productive you’ll be. So let go of all your assumptions and think. Ask yourself what creative activities you might enjoy. Don’t worry about the product yet or where it will go.

It sounds simple, but it’s shockingly powerful: Deconstruct Emulate Analyze Repeat DEAR for short.

worked steadily and published regularly. Pros go to work whether they’re inspired or not. They allow for imperfection in their work. They finish what they start. They share their work when it’s finished. The exceptions only prove the rule.