The artist who’s into discipline If you expect criticism in advance and take pride in your unusual stance, you can bash on with a smile, being who you want to be. Then every time they say you’re wrong, that’s a sign you’re doing it right. sive.rs/wrong 15

Obvious to you. Amazing to others. Any creator of anything knows this feeling: You experience someone else’s innovative work. It’s beautiful, brilliant, breath-taking. You’re stunned. Their ideas are unexpected and surprising, but perfect. You think, “I never would have thought of that. How do they even come up with that? It’s genius!” Afterwards,

If you keep thinking about doing something big, and you fnd that the idea both terrifes and intrigues you, it’s probably a worthy endeavor for you. You grow by doing what excites you and what scares you. 130 sive.rs/passion

When life or a plan feels ultimately unsatisfying, I fnd it’s because I’ve forgotten to fnd the intersection of all three: • What makes me happy • What’s smart • What’s useful to others 88 sive.rs/hsu

So look around at those existing ideas in the world. You can imitate them and still be offering something valuable and unique.

It’s not that I hate people. The other best times in my life were with people. But it’s interesting how many highlights were just sitting in a room in that wonderful creative flow, free from the chatter of the world. No updates. No news. No pings. No chats. No surfng. Silence is a great canvas for your thoughts. That vacuum helps turn all of your

Don’t expect your job to fulfll all your emotional needs. Don’t taint something you love with the need to make money from it. Don’t try to make your job your whole life. Don’t try to make your art your sole income. Let each be what it is, and put in the extra effort to balance the two, for a great life.

So apparently all of that exhausting, red-faced, full-on push-push-push I had been doing had given me only a 4 percent boost. I could just take it easy and get 96 percent of the results. And what a difference in experience! To go the same distance, in about the same time, but one way leaves me exhausted, and the other way, rejuvenated. I think of

On a small level, it can be that little nervous moment, when you’re scared to talk to someone intimidating. You notice you’re scared. Aha! Whatever scares you, go do it. So you go talk to them. On a big level, it can be that huge terrifying idea that won’t go away. Starting a business. Visiting a country. Quitting your job. Whatever scares you, go