Dobes (Pat Dobie) is one of the most organized gifted underachievers in history. She has a huge whiteboard and a well-stocked supply of dry erase markers.

What does she use them for?

Well, Pat holds CEO meetings for her creative-adjacent work at least twice a year.

The purpose?

To recenter, prioritize, and find new capacity in her creative adjacent work.

How does she do that?

She is great at data capture. In particular, tracking time spent and money earned on her projects to identify which ones do well, and which ones need to be reconsidered.

And in the end?

Pat sets herself up for greater success for the next six months by prioritizing high-value work and projects over those with a lower return.

Questions for Listeners:

* How do you track the costs and benefits of your work?

* What do you do with that data?

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For Further Exploration:

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The Gifted Underachievers discuss the pros and cons of referring or outsourcing some of their creative-adjacent work to other professionals, especially aspects of the work that are ancillary to our core professional services.

In other words, will you do better to stick to your core competency and pass clients to others to shepherd them through the stuff you don’t want to do? Or is it better to offer the ancillary services yourself?

James is thinking that he’d like to start handing off more of the post-writing work (pitching, proposals) to trusted colleagues. This sparks questions such as:

* How do you add people to your network of vetted suppliers or colleagues?

* What will their role be?

* How will the relationship work?

We also look at how you can see and evaluate a potential supplier or colleague’s work:

* How do you approach them with this type of referral?

* Do they have the skills and experience to handle it?

* Can you send clients to them with trust that the outcome will be positive?

The goal is to create or expand your network of people that are good to work with, know what they’re doing, and will do what they say they’re going to do.

Questions for Listeners:

* Do you refer clients to other service providers in your field?

* How does it usually go?

* Got any horror stories?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

The Art of Collaboration

https://pwcenter.org/article/the-art-of-collaboration-how-do-you-find-the-right-people/

How to Join Forces with a Creative Collaborator

https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-join-forces-with-a-creative-collaborator/

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“A day without cheese is a day without sunshine,” says Dobes.

James claims, “It’s the enzymes.”

Here in the Gifted Underachievers Clubhouse, we agree that the food group known as cheese goes in many things: tuna melts, fried egg sandwiches, salads... And if you’re a REAL cheesehound, you’ll like it hard, soft, or blue.

It’s not just the enzymes, it’s not just the feel-good fats—the bald fact is that cheese makes us happy. And a happy creative is a productive creative.

Questions for Listeners:

* Ever felt better after you eat cheese?

* Exactly.

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

The Truth about Cheese:

Can Cheese Make You Happy?

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Sure, big breaks are great, but careers and talent are built over time, one project after another.

In this segment, the Gifted Underachievers conclude that the proper mindset (or at least, a healthy and realistic mindset) is to consider your career as a steady push toward a tipping point. Plan your work and future by achieving a series of tipping point acts that lead to where you want to go.

Question for Listeners:

What does your tipping point look like? Have you passed it, or are you still heading toward it?

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Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

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Our environments interact with us every minute of every day. Working in a cluttered, dusty, and disorganized space WILL reduce both your clarity and your creative output.

What’s one to do? How do you reorganize your space to optimize your hours at work? What visual and sensory elements will harness and support your energy?

The Gifted Underachievers discuss this with a view to Pat’s overhaul of her “cloffice” (closet-office—a common solution for work-at-home creatives in urban centers with high housing costs).

Listen in as we discuss “life architecture,” images, colours, and resources from creativity architect Donald Rattner and from our very own Gifted Achiever guest, writer and creative consultant Carrie McConkey.

Questions for Listeners:

* Describe your creative space in basic truths.

* How do you feel when you’re in it?

* Any plans to spruce it up and make it more functional?

* If yes, what will you do?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

Gifted Achiever Carrie McConkey (website):

Creativity architect Donald Rattner:

My Creative Space (website, book, other resources)

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You knew ticks could give you Lyme disease...but did you know they could actually damage some of your more dangly bits of organs?

Have you heard of the phenomenon called “ghost tick injury?” James has experienced it first-hand, and it’s not pretty.

PSA #2: As is often the case with your Gifted Underachievers, the useful information is in the “Further Exploration” section of the show notes.

Questions for Listeners:

* Ever caught a tick attached to your skin?

* What did you do?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

How to avoid ticks in long grass etc.

https://youtube.com/shorts/DqJyxzolF5M?si=QOvLdvAHkR94KcF3

The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention on Tickborne diseases: https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/index.html

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All creatives have immersive careers. We live in our own minds for long periods of time. We need to go to our office/home/studio wherever and just be on our own, away from people to think. That is creative work even though a brush isn’t on a canvas, words aren’t being produced, the stage is empty.

Explaining this need to people wondering why we are leaving a party…or not showing up…always (often?) feels like we are complaining.

Should we only hang out with other creative people?

No.

Being out in the world with other people fills the creative well. We need it.

How do we find balance? How do we tell people what we need in a way that does not feel like complaining?

Question for Listeners:

* Are you a Spivak?

* Do you thrive on socializing?

* Or do you wish the world would stay behind the yellow tape you’ve put up?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Guide to World Domination!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

Many creative folks work remotely and have video meetings with people from all over the world. Your Gifted Underachievers are two such people—James has many meetings with clients, publishers, and agents, and Pat has students and clients in far-flung places such as Singapore, New Zealand, Central Europe, and the U.K.

We’ve both noticed that people located in Eastern Time (North America) can sometimes struggle to respect time zone differences. In this public service announcement, we suggest that awareness and courtesy around scheduling meetings could be a good career move. This free tool is a great way to check time zones before you schedule: worldtimebuddy.com.

Question for Listeners:

What’s the most difficult time zone scheduling you’ve done?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Guide to World Domination!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

Pat’s go-to time zone calculator for meetings with multiple participants in different locations is World Time Buddy – time zone converter and world clock: worldtimebuddy.com.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

Nietzsche said “Love your fate because your trials are necessary.” This isn’t nihilism—quite the contrary. There can be great meaning in welcoming your challenges rather than seeing them as “bad luck” or “unfair.”

In this brief segment, the Gifted Underachievers talk about how loving their fates has increased their own sense of agency and control.

Question for Listeners:

Do you love your fate?

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Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

The Daily Stoic on Amor Fati: https://dailystoic.com/amor-fati-love-of-fate/

The School of Life discusses Nietzsche’s views on Amor Fati:

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

When James pitches for a ghostwriting gig, he needs to quickly present himself as a capable professional to clients for projects often worth $80k or more. Pat faces much the same situation when she meets with prospective clients: they have to believe that she offers professional services that will get them closer to their writing and publishing goals.

While they represent two different roles in the publishing world, each shares the same challenge: relate to a potential client in a way that authentically represents them as the experienced professionals they are. This is not easy.

But for both, it comes down to one simple rule: be generous.

Be generous in your time, knowledge, experience, and with the truth.

It isn’t a hard pitch, it’s a soft pitch.

Questions for Listeners:

* What three pitching strategies do you use?

* What is the basis of how you communicate with potential clients?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you’re not already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse. No cost, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com