Making stuff automatically makes you better.

Music and links from this episode

Sofia 30 by Nuno Adelaida

Internally Grateful (feat. Josh Büche & Jonee Whatley) by Captive Portal

The Pet by Sebon

Line-by-line notes

INTRO

You've probably heard of Jerry Seinfeld before

If not though, he's an actor, comedian, and a writer

He made the sitcom Seinfeld, with Larry David

The reason I mention him 

Is because he once told his method for becoming a better comedian

It was simple really

Write something every single day

And write a cross on a calander for every day you do it

You've got one goal

Don't break the chain

And never stop

This is Ask a Designer Anything, and I’m Craig Burgess

PLAY MID SONG

I absolutely adore Seinfeld idea

And it's something I've long since subscribed to myself

I'm not as prescriptive as seinfeld

I don't do something every day

Unless I'm doing a silly 365 day challenge that is

But the idea of doing things regularly for yourself in your spare time is something I'm mega passionate about

You've probably noticed

It's a running theme through my podcasts

Because I think, especially for designers, designing something every day is a really easy way to get better without even trying

When I look back at my first ever 365 day challenge

When I designed a poster a day for 365 days

I did it because I wanted to get better at making vector graphics and using illustrator

It automatically worked, because of the volume of work I was producing

The same idea applies to these podcasts

Because I'm making one every day

I'm automatically getting better at audio production, writing scripts, talking into a mic, reading scripts, the list goes on

This is the very thing Seinfeld was getting at

Just by writing every day, he got a little bit better every day 

By the end of 365 days, he was a lot better

The reason most peope don't do this

Is 2 reasons

1, it's hard to stay consistent and to not just come home from work and watch TV

And 2, most people don't like making rubbish stuff

Because when you're never stopping, and making something every day, most of what you make will be rubbish

And that's part of the reason for doing it too, to start to accept that sometimes your ideas aren't good, but you have to try them anyway

It stops self limiting beliefs

This is why Michael Beirut promotes this idea too, in a smaller way, for the students he teaches at university 

He gets students to perform a design operation every day for 100 days

One that you can complete every day so you don't give up

It teaches you to work faster

It teaches you to come up with ideas faster

And it teaches you to never stop

If I could get every design student in the world to make something every day for 365 days 

I would

Because I know from personal experience that they'll be so much better of a designer when they're finished

Even Gary Vaynerchuk talks about a similar concept

Of never stopping, and doing something every day

So, there's 3 successful people here who have all discovered something that definitely works to make you a better designer

Jerry Seinfeld, a very successful comedian

Michael Beirut, a very successful designer

And Gary Vaynerchuk, a very successful businessman

Do I need to carry on? 

Is that enough convincing for you to wake up tomorrow and start plotting your 365 day challenge? 

The concept of never stopping is so simple

And so powerful at the same time

But it's a concept and ideology that so few people bother to even attempt

If you want to be the best in the world

A genuine world beater at your craft

You need to work

And work hard

So if that's you

Prove it

And start now

And never stop again

OUTRO 

This was AADA, and I'm Craig Burgess 

Music featured in this episode was 

Sofia 30 by Nuno Adelaida

Internally Grateful (feat. Josh Büche & Jonee Whatley) by Captive Portal

The Pet by Sebon

For a line-by-line run down of this episode, go to askadesignernaything.com/ep106

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