The Weekly Briefly

The Weekly Briefly went on accidental hiatus as I've been spending all my time over the past month with the launch of the Focus Course. Now, on the heels of that launch, and a relatively busy year, I'm taking some time off to be with family and plan for the next season of the show. I'm putting a pause to the Weekly Briefly podcast for the next few weeks and will be back in late August. Talk to you then!

I'm back from San Francisco and am glad to return to the podcast microphone. Yes, I hear you, I could have taken my podcast rig with me, but I went to SF to meet with friends and peers in the industry and drink delicious coffee and so I had very little time for "work" stuff. I'm bad at multitasking.

On today's show I talk about the highlights from the WWDC Keynote (there are many), Apple Music, and my thoughts on Apple's new publishing platform slash RSS reader slash news aggregator, Apple News.

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On this week's show I want to unpack the topic of money. I’ve been asking people what’s their biggest challenge is when it comes to doing work that matters. And a lot of people say money. As in, a lack of money.

I wrote about this on shawnblanc.net this past Wednesday. Today I want to share more about my own personal approach to money and how it helps me to do my best creative work. I also want as share some ideas to think outside the box for those who see money as a hurdle for doing work that matters.

Just a short note that there's no real episode this week. Enjoy your weekend, and I'll talk to you next time.

On today’s show I want to talk about doing your best creative work. What does that even mean?

Here’s a picture of someone doing her best creative work:

She shows up every day. When it’s easy and when it’s hard. It doesn’t matter. She is committed.

This is something only she can do. Yet even still, it might not all work out as planned. There is no clear path about comes next. There is a lot of guessing. There is fear.

Some days the work is so much harder than others. Some days everything comes together and it’s amazing. At the end of the day, it’s always rewarding.

She is telling a story. Every day she is trying to connect with others. Her work is emotional. Relational. There is learning. Teaching. Guessing. Loving. She is a mother.

* * *

When we talk about “doing our best creative work”, it’s easy to define creativity as “artsy”. Writing. Designing. Taking photographs. But creative work happens in a variety of forms.

I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is a project manager, and he very much views his work as creative. Creating a spreadsheet to analyze data — that is a form of creativity, and it should be validated as creative. The way a mother or father raises their children and the tactics they deploy. The choices we make as freelancers, small-business owners, founders, or CEOs. It’s all creative

The scope of creativity and meaningful work goes far beyond art.

Any degree of freedom you use to do your work means you have a choice about how you go about it. And that is creativity. You’ve been given the gift of choice, and you can use that to give back and do work that matters.

* * *

What do you think about when you think about art and creativity?

I think about emotions. Fear, doubt, joy, happiness, love, and honesty.

I think about telling a story. Encouraging, inspiring, educating, and entertaining others.

I think about people. Relationships and connecting.

* * *

Doing my best creative work is an amalgamation of both doing work that matters and also taking joy in the journey.

Meaningful work, work that matters, is something that I have to do. I am compelled to do it. If it doesn’t work out, if nobody likes it, if I never make a dollar, that’s unfortunate. But I still had to do it. And so, if it didn’t work out or it didn’t make a dollar, I have to figure out how to keep doing it better.


Meaningful work is also something which I hope will make the lives of other people better. Either by entertaining them, educating them, or helping them in their journey.

Having joy in the journey is just that. Having fun. Pursuing “mastery”. Being present in the moment. Getting in the zone. Creating without inhibition. Trusting your gut.

Put these two together, and boom. You’ve got yourself a recipe for your best creative work.

When you define your best creative work like this, it changes everything. Suddenly it’s less about the quality of art you produce and it’s more about being valuable, meaningful, and honest.

And you realize that your best creative work is part of every area of your life: work, family, rest, personal life, etc.

Doing your best creative work every day is a choice. You get to choose to do work that matters.

I try to make that choice when I’m at my keyboard, when I’m on a date with my wife, when I have half an hour of quiet alone time, and when I’m playing catch in the back yard with my two boys. In those moments, it’s not about the context. Art. Relationships. Business. Each one is a chance to choose to be honest, true, vulnerable, and personal.

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Today’s show I want to talk about “learning”. More accurately, I want to talk about how thirsty you are to do your best creative work. Because it takes more than just showing up every day to do our best creative work. And if we focus too much on just t...

The best musicians in the world practice every single day. For hours a day. And they don’t just practice their favorite songs and coolest licks — they practice the techniques and scales and fills that they’re bad at.

I studied martial arts for over a decade, and we did the same stretches and basic moves at the start of every class every time. Even after I received my black belt, we were still practicing basic front stance and middle punch.

You write a book by writing it. Thinking about it, outlining it, researching for it, yeah you’ve got to do these. But you’ve also got to sit down and write it. Even if you can write 1,000 words every day, you’re looking at a couple of months to write the first draft.

Something the best musicians, the martial artists, and writers all have in common is more than just commitment and fortitude. More than just routine. They have a joy in the journey.

And while the musician, martial artist, and writer all have goals they’re working toward, the goal is not the primary motivation. When we delight in the journey, then the daily grind becomes what we get to do. Not something we have to do.

In his book, Mastery, George Leonard writes that “love of your work, willingness to stay with it even in the absence of extrinsic reward, is good food and drink.”

When we’re doing work that matters there is no finally moment. The tension and the difficulty never go away. The distractions and excuses will always be around. Hard work will always be hard work. The goal is not to eliminate the tension but to thrive in the midst of it.

* * *

In my experience, the most successful, productive, and joyful people are those who live with a dual state of motivation:

They are driven to attain their goals.

They delight in the journey and live in the moment.

I began wearing a watch several years ago — maybe four years ago — because I was tired of constantly pulling my pone out of my pocket in order to check the time only to find myself suddenly checking email, Twitter, etc.

I’ve had an iPhone since the beginning. It’s my favorite gadget of all time. Literally for like 8 years this thing has never been more than an arm’s distance away. But the advantages of the technology also bring some disadvantages.

It’s not so easy to be bored anymore. Like, you have to choose to be bored. It used to be that boredom chose you — you were somewhere and you were waiting and there was nothing to do and you were bored. Now, you’re never bored. You can see pictures of some stranger surfing on the other side of the world, or get a live video stream of someone’s hike over Tokyo. This stuff is amazing.

So I have to be proactive about my boredom and my down time. We all do. Which begs the question of how the Apple Watch comes in to play? For those who want to waste less time with their digital devices, will Apple Watch make that easier or harder? Honestly, I don’t yet know.

Show Notes & Other Links

How to Show Up Every Day

The Just Checks

Alternatives to the Just Checks

Dumb

Real Life with Shawn Blanc

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The awesome members of shawnblanc.net: Their support makes the work I do a sustainable possibility.

A short and sweet episode this week, with some food for thought regarding our choice to choose and why it's so important.

Today I want to talk about the purpose of (and the science behind) lifestyle practices and daily habits.

This topic is one of the most important issues of my life. I have a personal commitment to live with intentionality in as many areas of my life as...