*Typing*

Side hustles are almost always a distraction from what you’re currently doing. If you’re wanting to earn additional income, the answer isn’t trying something new. It’s doubling down on what's already working.

It’s much harder to convince others to pay you to do something you’ve never done before than it is to pay you more for what you’re already known for.

With that said, I am a huge proponent of hobbies and passions. These are fundamentally different than side-hustles because they aren’t measured in money. They’re measured in enjoyment, expression and presence.

Something our work-centered culture struggles with is feeling like we must monetize and streamline our hobbies and passions. Hence the invention of the side hustle.

Keep your work your work. Keep your play your play. If you want to make more money, double down on your work. But, don’t let your work get in the way of your play.

Death by committee feels like that video of the raccoon falling into a chimp enclosure.

You walk into the proverbial boardroom with an idea you’ve fallen in love with, only to watch it get tossed around like a ragdoll.

For young creatives just starting out, this experience can be quite jarring. Unless you learn to separate yourself from your work, you won’t last long.

It’s not for everyone. Most creatives quit their gigs in advertising after two maybe three years. They find other mediums to be creative in. Mediums where they get the final cut, the final word, the final stay.

Unfortunately, if you want to work on large creative projects with big budgets, you can’t circumvent the committee. In advertising—and really any form of creation at the enterprise level—the committee is part of the process.

Be patient. Be resilient. Be thoughtful. Be mindful about what hills you should die on. Don’t be too proud to admit when you’ve got a bad idea. Don’t be too scared to fight for a good one. Most of all, learn to communicate your ideas effectively. Learn to sell them. Creatives who think they’re above selling have no business in business.

Love it or hate, the committee is part of the creative process.

People get addicted to going viral. Before they know it, they turn into clowns dancing for the algorithm.

I’ve witnessed dozens of incredibly talented writers, artists, entrepreneurs and creators sacrifice originality for virality.

They try and rationalize their decision by claiming they're growing an audience they can later put deep, meaningful work in front of.

But, this rarely happens.

These creatives take one step into the limelight and transform into clowns, selling their souls to feel its warmth.

It never ends. They jump from trend to trend to trend like a bullfrog who can’t swim. The moment their previous party trick runs out of claps, off they go to hijack another. Before they know it, they’re no longer capable of doing purposeful work because it doesn’t receive the same attention.

That’s the cold, hard truth of the matter. Deep work will never receive the same applause as shallow work.

Not to mention, the audience they’ve built isn’t interested in deep, meaningful work. They didn’t follow the artist. They followed the clown. I can speak candidly on the matter because I’ve been the clown. I’ve been the moron dancing in the limelight. We all have.

It’s fun.
It’s fun until it’s not.
It’s fun until nobody takes you seriously.

You are far better off doing work you believe in for people who believe in it too. You won’t experience the same growth as “the guy with the sign”.

But, you will build a career for yourself that has the legs to run the distance.

Never make a decision out of fear. Wait for the fear to pass. With time, the fear will be replaced with conviction. Make the decision then.

Stop trying so hard to get it all right.

I’m obsessed with biographies. I read them all the time. Something I’ve found that all great men and women have in common is they’re deeply flawed.

They’re idealistic.
They’re impulsive.
They’re impatient.
They’re idiosyncratic.

Steve Jobs wouldn’t bathe. He’d wear the same thing most days. He’d sit with his nose pressed up against a wall for hours at a time. He’d go on diets where he would eat only apples.

Virginia Woolf was hyper sensitive to noise. She’s get horribly paranoid about others reading her drafts. She’d hear voices of birds singing in Greek. She’d only eat bread and milk during long writing binges.

While the pursuit of mastery in a craft isn’t an excuse to be cruel, it requires and ongoing practice in letting perfection go in other pursuits.

It’s not possible for somebody to be great at a thing while simultaneously being great at many other things. And so choosing greatness is at the same time choosing incompetence.

This is liberating. Once you decide the things you’re willing to fail at, life gets so much easier.

And if you ever become famous enough to have a biography written about you—which will likely only happen after you’re dead—it will be the failures, flaws and imperfections that readers most hang onto.

I adore Virginia Wolf’s gorgeous prose but what I’m most fascinated by are those birds who spoke to her in the tongue of Aphrodite.

What did they say to you, Virginia?