In this week’s episode we chat about sticking with your creative endeavors. Consistency is so important to improving as a designer, but often life and our own mind set can get in our way. Today we dig into the best ways to ensure that you keep going and practice your skills on a consistent basis.

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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


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