After some back and forth emails with a real artist, Jessie from Stray Dog Arts, she sent me a link to a podcast interview with Seth Godin talking about his new book Lynchpins on the Accidental Creatives Blog.
It is a great listen and pushes all the right buttons.
I read Lynchpins a few months back and it has been kind of top of mind this summer in my daily journeys. Its about becoming remarkable, indispensable and doing things that matter. Acknowledging and accepting the resistance as part of being creative and inspirational and GETTING THROUGH IT.
From the interview….The days are over where we can expect Ford to open up a factory next door and pay us $120k to build cars. It’s OVER. What is replacing that is organizations big and small made up with unique individuals that are doing things that matter and most importantly without a manual. To do things that matter and to do them without a manual you have to get over the resistance and you have to learn to ship…..This economy is punishing the fearful and and increasingly benefitting those that are brave enough to be creative and generous enough to give it away. But to give it away you have to ship.
The single biggest part of Lynchpins that I think about is the Chapter on Shipping “Real Artist Ship”. Who said that? Steve Jobs (even when the antenna doesn’t work I guess). For me, there are thousands of things to get in the way of shipping – it can always be a little bit better if I just spend a few more hours on it – but value isn’t happening when something is still in my laptop or in my head. If it is going to matter, I have to ship it.
And to ship it – I have to confront the resistance.
Am I shipping today or am I giving in to the resistance. For me its not a philosophical question it is a daily challenge. Next