Getting Work To Work

Have you ever made a mistake that completely rocks your world and forces you into uncomfortable situations? That brings out strong emotions and potentially revealing character flaws? It’s tough when we are in those positions. The emotions can lie to us, our bodies can shut down. How do you work while broken? Successfully dealing with the pain, emotions, and challenges revealed while not losing your confidence in who you are and what you do? I’m going to answer these questions by sharing how I recently worked through a challenging situation and what I learned.

Dan Schkade is a freelance comic book writer, artist, and member of Helioscope, a comic creator collective in Portland, Oregon. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about how Dan got into comics, bad career advice for those looking to get into comics, favorite stories to tell, and his heroes.

I love complexity. Play me a 30-minute prog song and I’m content as the musical themes weave throughout different keys and time signatures. I love obscure movies and thought-provoking books that are open to interpretation. But not all complexity is good for me, especially when it comes to getting my work to work.

In Tim Ferriss’s latest book, Tribe of Mentors, Lewis Cantley, a cell biologist and biochemist gave this career advice for college students: “My advice is to choose a profession that is really easy for you to do and that allows you to be creative. If it is easy for you to do and somewhat difficult for your peers to do, you will not have to work too hard to be successful and you will have enough spare time to enjoy life.”

Four ways I chase complexity and what I could learn from simplicity:

1. I question my process and allow doubt to take me in unnecessary directions. What to do instead: trust the process that I have been developing for over 15 years.

2. I do everything myself. What to do instead: learn how to delegate and invite others into the process.

3. I spend too much time perfecting work in my head. What to do instead: sit down and get to work.

4. Worry. What to do instead: anything.

Andy Molinsky is a Professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School, public speaker, and author of Global Dexterity and Reach. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about his research in comfort zones, how creative professionals can put his research into practice, and the importance of making an effort to consistently go beyond your comfort zone.

Occasionally when talking with others about producing a weekly podcast, I get asked: “What if you repeat yourself?” Just last week, a friend said that something I was talking about sounded familiar. At first, I started to get internally defensive. Then I started to think about a deep-rooted fear of repeating myself.

The next time you find yourself hesitant to work because you are afraid that you might repeat yourself, sit down and get to work. Even if you repeat yourself, you will learn something that can only be found in the process of doing something, anything.

Michael Ellsworth is the co-founder of Civilization, a design practice that works with causes, clients and partners that share their commitment for creating positive change and promoting a greater awareness of the world. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about the origins of Civilization’s mission, the nature of design in today’s world, the lineage of design throughout history, the importance of education, and the impact a global perspective of design has had on Civilization.

There is a lot of advice out there: 10 ways to do this better, 100 ways to optimize your clicks for likes, the best videos have this one thing, successful creative professionals do this first thing in the morning, you get the idea. There is always some mold that we need to conform ourselves to in order to fit in and “make it.” In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk about the importance of customization and why it’s a necessary component in my life, work, and creativity. I also share six thoughts on how you can customize your creativity and work to build your creative practice.

J. Blake Fichera is a TV editor, author of Scored to Death: Conversations with Some of Horror's Greatest Composers, musician, and podcast co-host of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we seriously talk about everything from the process of writing Scored to Death and interviewing his heroes to the three songs in the soundtrack to his life.

A few quotes from this episode:

On writing Scored to Death: “Something like this didn’t exist and I wanted to read a book like this. So, I decided to do it myself.”

Joseph Bishara to J. Blake Fichera: “Here I am sitting as a peer among my heroes and that’s because of you.

On Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers: “It’s nostalgia, it’s background information, it’s film theory, and it’s fun.”

“It’s easy to find time for the things that you really want to do.”

“Whatever I was into, whatever I was watching, my mom would sit down and kind of share that experience with me.”

As a creative professional who often works at home, alone, a sense of community is often missing in my life. When I have long-term jobs, where I am partnering with larger organizations, there is a fleeting moment of community that disappears once the job is over. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I’m going to talk about four ways to build a greater sense of community regardless of whether you are working by yourself or with others. Each step will most likely require you to go beyond your comfort zone.

1) Have the desire to build a community.

2) Describe your vision for the community you want to build. How can people be a part? What does the community look like?

3) Take the initiative and invite people to join your community.

4) Have persistence in building and growing your community. People will come and go. You may get frustrated. But remember your desire and vision for the community.

In Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge and Build Confidence, Andy Molinsky has this to say about going beyond your comfort zone: “No one likes to move beyond their comfort zone, but as the saying goes, that’s where the magic happens. It’s where we can grow, learn, and develop in a way that expands our horizons beyond what we thought was possible.”

Ben Keeline is a filmmaker, educator, and Executive Director of Project Spark Studio, a nonprofit film arts education studio providing children opportunities to create and collaborate on their own computer-animated movie. He is not only my filmmaking and creativity mentor, but he is the first person I met in 2000 to encourage me to go to art school to be a filmmaker. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, we talk about meeting in Israel, what it’s like to make feature films, the importance of sound design, how technological advances have changed the world of independent film, and what led him to create a non-profit.

A few quotes from this episode:

“I am your classic 80s 10-year-old kid that fell in love with movies and thought I knew what movies were, but then as I got older I found out that there’s this thing called story.”

“The difference between a being a hobby artist and a professional artist is you basically make this serious commitment to 3 hours a day that you are in your imagineering mode.”

“As the fear increases, as the insecurity increases, you’re heading in the right direction.”