Love Your Work

Daniel J. Wilson was working on a screenplay when I met him during a mini life in Buenos Aires several years ago. I'd soon learn that he was also an accomplished artist, with his work covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The London Times, and displayed all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Daniel has also worked in film, his IMDB page includes editing credits for a number of documentaries and TV series, co-producer credits for PBS's Frontline series, credits as an actor. He's also a competitive cycler, a former NYC Yellow Cab driver, and he's currently a PhD candidate in neuroscience.

If that weren't enough, Daniel's got a new app. It's called Minutiae. It's a bit of an "anti-social" network. When Instagram encourages you to scroll through lots of photos and make your life look amazing, this app is dedicated to capturing the mundane, everyday details of life.

I hear lots of people lament their varied interests. They're usually afraid to follow their curiosity because they're afraid of what they'll leave behind.

I've experienced this a lot myself. As I've made the switch to designing in advertising and architecture, to designing for startups, to founding my own startup, to writing books, and starting this podcast – you always have to wonder if you're killing your career when you switch paths.

Here's just a few things you're going to learn in this conversation:

• Daniel's app Minutiae is delightfully impractical. It won't get acquired and it won't go public. How do you get the funding to build an app that's not a business?
• Why did Daniel go through all of the work to get his NYC Yellow Cab license? He actually ended up working as a cab driver!
• Daniel's always switching from one field to another, and planning adventures in his life. Hear how he thinks about learning how to know the unknown.

Join Love Your Work Elite

Some levels of Love Your Work Elite now include a Masterclass video recording with Noah Kagan. I interview Noah about the formula he used to add tens of thousands of leads to his email list. Sign up at lywelite.com.

Sponsors

http://pistollake.com/loveyourwork http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/daniel-j-wilson-interview/

It's easier than ever for creators to get their work noticed. But, it's harder than ever to actually get that work done.

Think about it this way: You're writing a novel. You use Twitter and Facebook and write on your blog, and your work gets noticed. But, you have to put all of those distractions aside, and get to writing. If you don't, your novel will never become real.

In this week's episode, I'll show you how to pick the right creative tool for the right creative thinking. Do your best work, without letting distractions knock you off-track.

This article originally appeared on Medium

Join Love Your Work Elite

Some levels of Love Your Work Elite now include a Masterclass video recording with Noah Kagan. I interview Noah about the formula he used to add tens of thousands of leads to his email list. Sign up at lywelite.com.

Sponsors http://pb.com/loveyourwork http://pistollake.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/choose-your-weapon-podcast/

Almost 15 years ago, Getting Things Done started taking the internet by storm. Techies started buying binder clips and index cards in bulk. Today, "next actions" and "contexts" are commonplace in teams around the world. Just about everyone knows GTD stands for Getting Things Done.

When I was trying to deal with wearing multiple hats as a designer in an architecture firm, I absorbed some GTD through osmosis to get on top of my daily tasks.

A few years later, when I finally listened to the audiobook for GTD, I could feel my brain being rearchitected. I captured everything that was on my mind, and developed a habit of doing a "weekly review." Suddenly, my creative energy was unleashed. And so was my energy for thinking about the bigger picture, like what I wanted out of my life and my career.

Millions of people have been impacted by GTD in this way. It's all thanks to our guest today. After more than 20 years as a productivity consultant, David Allen (@gtdguy) finally put his knowledge into book form with Getting Things Done, which came out in 2001. Since then, he's taken GTD global, with certified GTD consultants all over the world. One of his top people even lives not too far from me down in Colombia.

Here's what we'll talk about in this conversation.

• GTD helps clear the space in your head for creative work, but what about actually getting creative work done? We'll learn how David used GTD to actually write Getting Things Done.
• GTD also helps clear your mind for making big life decisions. How did David use GTD to decide to move from the US to Amsterdam a few years ago.
• GTD suggests a lot of paper for keeping track of things. What does David think about digital management of GTD?

Image credit: Vera de Kok

Join Love Your Work Elite

Some levels of Love Your Work Elite now include a Masterclass video recording with Noah Kagan. I interview Noah about the formula he used to add tens of thousands of leads to his email list. Sign up at lywelite.com.

Sponsors

http://pb.com/loveyourwork http://casper.com/loveit http://pistollake.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/david-allen-podcast-interview/

You've heard that multitasking is a myth. I'm here to tell you that the idea that multitasking is a myth, is somewhat of a myth in itself.

When it comes to creative work, you can actually work on two projects at once. The trick is, you don't even know you're working on that second project.

This article originally appeared on Medium.

Join Love Your Work Elite

Some levels of Love Your Work Elite now include a Masterclass video recording with Noah Kagan. I interview Noah about the formula he used to add tens of thousands of leads to his email list. Sign up at kadavy.net/elite

Sponsors http://pb.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/multitask-creative-work-podcast/

By now you've heard that you need 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become a master of your craft. The story you don't hear is that it also takes 12,500 hours of deliberate rest.

When you rest, you let what you've learned sink in. The ties connecting concepts get stronger, and weak connections get cleared away.

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is author of the book Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less. He's also a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and founder of The Restful Company, where he helps companies use deliberate rest to be more creative and productive.

I picked up Rest to help with research for my upcoming book. You should pick it up, too. It's fascinating. It's packed with research and stories about why rest is critical to creative productivity. I had to have Alex on the show to learn more, and have him break it down for us.

In this conversation, learn:

• Why should you be deliberate about using rest to make your work better?
• What's the hypnogogic state, and how did the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí use it to get more creative ideas?
• Why did Ernest Hemingway always stop writing when he knew what was going to happen next.
• When's the best time to take a nap for optimal creative output? How long should the nap be?

Join Love Your Work Elite

Some levels of Love Your Work Elite now include a Masterclass video recording with Noah Kagan. I interview Noah about the formula he used to add tens of thousands of leads to his email list. Sign up at kadavy.net/elite

Sponsors http://pb.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/alex-soojung-kim-pang/

It's so easy to get caught up in ruminating over what we might do. I know I ruminated over starting this podcast for more than FOUR YEARS before I finally took action.

Fortunately, the guests here on Love Your Work are all doers, and they tend to encourage doing, instead of thinking. Having that constant reminder has helped me take action in growing this podcast, and in writing my new book.

But, sometimes doing, instead of merely thinking about doing, is easier said than done. That's what this article is about.

Join Love Your Work Elite

Love Your Work's audio hosting expenses are now fully listener-supported! Next up, let's make our publishing assistant costs listener-supported, too. Be an even bigger part of the show, and hear raw, ad-free interviews, weeks in advance. Sign up at kadavy.net/elite

Sponsors http://pb.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/stop-thinking-start-doing/

Bernadette Jiwa (@bernadettejiwa) thinks there's been an obsession with data in entrepreneurship over the past several years. When we're not sure about something, we're encouraged to run tests.

I've even heard the advice before "test everything." Really? Test EVERYTHING? If you really know anything about statistics, you'll know that many things in a budding venture don't have a large enough sample size to be tested. If you're testing literally EVERYTHING, you'll get nothing done, and your company will have no vision.

Bernadette is author of the new book, Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights into the Next Big Thing. In it, she teaches you how to harness the power of your intuition, recognize opportunities other people miss, and create breakthrough ideas.

Seth Godin (who you heard on episode 77) calls Hunch "a modern classic." You can buy Hunch at kadavy.net/hunch.

In this conversation, I talk with Bernadette about:

• Why did a hat salesman in New York do a better job at predicting the election results than data scientists like Nate Silver did?
• How did the shopping cart get invented? If the inventor had gone with the initial data, we might be stuck hauling baskets all over Whole Foods.
• Hunch is Bernadette's sixth book, so she has lots of publishing wisdom I was eager to soak up. She'll share her personal story about happily returning her advance check to a publisher. They wanted her to compromise her values.
• We'll also hear what Bernadette learned working closely with Seth Godin. She was the editor of Seth's giant book, "This Might Work."

Join Love Your Work Elite

Love Your Work's audio hosting expenses are now fully listener-supported! Next up, let's make our publishing assistant costs listener-supported, too. Be an even bigger part of the show, and hear raw, ad-free interviews, weeks in advance. Sign up at kadavy.net/elite

Sponsors http://pb.com/loveyourwork http://casper.com/loveit

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/bernadette-jiwa-interview/

There are a lot of voices out there in entrepreneurship encouraging you to "Hustle." I really don't like this word, and I think it sends the wrong message about just what you should be aspiring to in your life and work.

One thing you want to aspire to is to not pay too much for shipping costs in your business, and cut down on hassles.

Join Love Your Work Premium

Would you like to hear raw, ad-free interviews, weeks in advance? Just join Love Your Work Premium. For a small amount per month, you'll get access to ad-free interviews weeks in advance. Just go to kadavy.net/premium to sign up.

Sponsors http://pb.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-hustle-podcast/

You've heard it before. The story of the starving artist. You may even believe it yourself. You may think that to keep your creative integrity, you have to give up on making money.

Jeff Goins (@goinswriter) is returning to the podcast today to tell you about why that's not true at all. In fact, instead of being a starving artist, you can be a thriving artist.

Learn in this episode:

• How is it that Michelangelo was actually a multimillionaire by today's standards?
• How did writers like John Grisham launch their careers while having a day job?
• How can you get leverage with publishers, record labels, and other gatekeepers, so they're chasing after you instead of the other way around?
• What can you do to put yourself in the "thriving artist" mindset?

Jeff's new book is called "Real Artists Don't Starve" and you can get it at kadavy.net/dontstarve.

Sponsors http://freshbooks.com/loveyourwork

http://pb.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jeff-goins-podcast-interview-2/

The world around us can program certain goals into our minds. If we aren't careful, we can end up with goals that have nothing to do with our happiness.

You might not even realize that you expect to become a billionaire someday. You might be better off admitting to yourself that's not what you want.

Join Love Your Work Premium

Would you like to hear raw, ad-free interviews, weeks in advance? Just join Love Your Work Premium. For a small amount per month, you'll get access to ad-free interviews weeks in advance. Just go to kadavy.net/premium to sign up.

Sponsors http://freshbooks.com/loveyourwork

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/never-a-billionaire/