Episode 41: Sticking With It

Show Notes for This Episode:

[1:00] In today’s episode we are looking at sticking with it and persevering with your creative skill
[1:30] Ian has not been able to be part of this week’s podcast
[2:15] Dustin has created the Instagram profile for his illustrations and you can see his work over @heydustinlee
[3:00] This is just personal project that Dustin is doing for fun and he plans to share one illustration every day
[4:00] Creating something for fun means less pressure and no restrictions in terms of design
[5:00] When Dustin made his profile at first, he was hesitant about making it public and only left a select few people see his work
[6:00] The hosts appreciate that Dustin is taking this challenge and like hearing about his experience
[7:00] Please go and check @heydustinlee, give Dustin a follow and leave your comments on his work
[7:50] Dustin’s family is wondering what Dustin is up to
[8:40] Most important for sticking with your work is to have fun and enjoy it
[9:00] Ask yourself why do you want to do it
[9:30] If you’re working on a new skill, you might have down days when you’re not enjoying the work or having fun
[10:20] If you’re only doing something for fun, do it when you feel inspired and don’t impose on yourself to do something every day
[11:00] Tom used to put a lot of pressure on himself as he had unrealistic expectations
[11:30] He posts business tips on his Instagram profile @tomrossmedia and noticed engagement has dropped since he’s not posting as much
[12:00] The more you put in, the more you’ll get out
[13:00] Dustin want to post something interesting that draw people back, not just pretty illustrations
[14:00] Dustin gives the example of The Oatmeal and creating the Exploding Kitten Cards game
[14:45] Being authentic will stand out and people will navigate towards your work
[15:20] Try and think what will stop you from sticking with your work and mitigate those aspects
[15:40] Lisa struggles with creating a plan for the week and/or sticking with it
[16:20] She always sees the bigger picture and finds it difficult to break her work load into small tasks
[17:00] Dustin agrees and says he finds it hard learning from his own experiences
[17:10] Tom suggests the fix for this problem is readjusting your expectations
[18:10] Dustin set himself a single expectation: to just do it, for his work as well as his personal training
[19:00] The only way you won’t succeed is if you stop
[19:30] Tom gives the example of the How to Learn Anything Quickly YouTube Channel
[20:50] Set a goal like ‘I am going to be a great illustrator’ is too vague – it’s best to set small goals everyday
[21:40] Tom used to have vague business goals such as ‘grow the business more’ and Dustin had goals like ‘make more money’
[22:20] Setting a more concrete goal will make it easier to stick with it and will also mean you can celebrate what you’ve achieved with every milestone
[23:00] Celebrate the small wins at the beginning of your creative journey
[23:40] Dustin shares Scott Adams philosophy on things: it’s better working in process not goals
[24:45] You might have ups and downs, but if you continue to do it, later you will have a general positive view of your work
[25:15] Dustin’s goal is to illustrate every day for a year and Tom suggest putting a number to track his posts
[26:00] He wonders if a year will be too long and would be better to do it for 100 days only
[27:30] Dustin looked back at Lisa’s early work and found that she did struggle to find her style in the beginning
[28:00] He asks both Tom and Lisa how were they able to stick with the work and why didn’t they give up
[28:40] Lisa enjoyed the ‘honeymoon’ phase of starting something new and she also really wanted to change her job
[29:30] Lisa believed in herself and knew she will make it work no matter what happened
[30:30] You will start by doing one thing and then new paths will open, and you will choose the one that feels natural and you’ll enjoy the most
[31:50] Tom started out as a designer too, took a while to find his style but fell in love with design
[32:50] Push for consistency if you know it will lead you to results
[33:20] How do you know when it’s the right time to stop sticking with it?
[34:20] Lisa experienced this with her jewellery business and knew it was time to stop as too many things were against her
[34:50] Lisa’s goal wasn’t to have a successful jewellery business but to move away from her job
[35:20] Passion is more important than the goal of wanting to be successful
[36:20] Lisa knew she wanted to do something that she will enjoy and it was never about money
[37:00] Noel Kagan’s example of proactive checklist and setting up only goals you can control
[38:00] The thing that Dustin can control is posting everyday
[39:00] Putting the work in the public domain will make you more accountable for it
[39:30] Tom shares Carol’s experience of doing 300 days of fitness
[40:00] Dustin mentions the 100 days challenge that most people do on Social Media
[41:00] Tom suggest an agreement between two people in which one has to pay the other if the agreement is broken
[41:30] Lisa finds this very motivating
[42:00] Dustin reiterates Lisa’s suggestion on focusing on the true core goal
[42:40] Give yourself leeway to change direction as long as you’re still true to your goal
[43:40] Tom reiterates the importance of mapping your expectation to what you put in
[44:00] Please tell us what your goal is – no matter if it’s big or small
[44:30] Thank you for listening to this week’s episode