Love Your Work

Big creative projects are daunting. It’s easy to burn out, and procrastinate. The problem is, creative problems don’t get solved in one go. In medicine, there’s a concept of the “minimum effective dose.” It’s the minimum dose at which the medication will elicit a response. If you follow Tim Ferriss, you hear him mention minimum effective dose often. You heard about the minimum effective dose of weight training back on episode 160. Now I’m going to tell you about the concept of minimum effective dose, as applied to your creative projects. I call it “Minimum Creative Dose". What should be our next Patreon goal? Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/minimum-creative-dose-podcast/

Vincent Van Gogh was a loser and a failure. He failed as an art dealer, and as a preacher. He even got fired and banned from his own family’s business. On top of it, Van Gogh had terrible health problems. His gums were sore, he was losing weight, and he had a hacking cough. He was also prone to psychotic episodes, during which he was institutionalized for months at a time. Vincent never really found his place in the world. He died young, at only 37. I recently read an incredible biography of Van Gogh. By the end, I was left wondering, what can you possibly learn from this tragic life? Steven Naifeh is co-author if the incredible [Van Gogh: The Life]  (@VanGoghTheLife). It’s a 900-page treasure chronicling the life of an artist who is so revered, tourists bring their relative’s ashes to spread over his gravesite in Auvers, France. Steven and his co-author and partner Gregory White Smith spent more than a decade compiling Van Gogh’s biography. To do so, they had to sort through mountains of letters and literature from the period of Van Gogh’s life. Since neither of them spoke Dutch, they worked with more than twenty translators and researchers to complete the book. The result is a Van Gogh biography of unparalleled depth, painting in intricate detail the outer and inner life of Vincent Van Gogh. In this conversation, you’ll learn: Most people think Vincent Van Gogh died in obscurity, but that’s not true. Why is it that, as he languished in an asylum, Vincent's work was actually exploding in popularity. Many people also believe that Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide. How did Naifeh and Smith come to change the opinion of even the most studied Van Gogh historians. What can you possibly learn from the tragic success of Vincent Van Gogh? Steven shares insights about what he and his late partner and co-author learned from studying Van Gogh’s life. It’s surprising, and touching. Links and resources mentioned Steven Naifeh Van Gogh: The Life - Book Van Gogh The Life - Website Van Gogh The Life - Instagram Van Gogh The Life - Facebook Claude Monet Jackson Pollock: An American Saga Jackson Pollock - Is he the greatest living painter in the United States? Theo Van Gogh Van Gogh Letters Albert Aurier Article Grave of Vincent and Theo van Gogh The Potato Eaters Van Gogh Museum Paul Gauguin German Expressionism Pierre-Auguste Renoir Georges Seurat A Sunday on La Grande Jatte Camille Pissarro Émile Bernard Paul Signac Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Salon Paul Cézanne Alfred Sisley The Eight Impressionist Exhibitions, 1874-1886 Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Manic Depression Absinthe Syphilis Syphilis and the use of mercury Gregory White Smith Wheatfield with Crows Tree Roots Museum unconvinced by Van Gogh death theory John Rewald Loving Vincent At Eternity's Gate Don McLean - Vincent ( Starry, Starry Night) Vincent Di Maio NCIS: Provence: The Van Gogh Mystery Luck Unites a Couple for a Lifetime of Great Collaborations Almond Blossom What should be our next Patreon goal? Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/vincent-van-gogh-podcast/

Do you want to love Mondays? If you already love Mondays, do you want to keep loving Mondays? I’m launching a new newsletter that will help you do just that. It’s called Love Mondays, and it’s a weekly boost of inspiration to help you find the mindset to make it as a creative entrepreneur. If you’re already on my email list, you’ve already been enjoying these. Many of them include one of the more than 11,000 highlights I’ve built up over years of reading about how history’s greatest artists and thinkers have carved out their own unique places in the world. Others are the gems pulled out of conversations you’ve heard right here on Love Your Work. Those of you already getting these emails know I told you about how Georgia O’Keeffe decided to quit modeling to double down on art. I’ve told you about how professor Dean Simonton’s work shows that quantity of creative work leads to quality of creative work. I’ve shown you how neuroscientists have discovered that the best predictor of so-called “insight machines” is brain patterns that show a high level of self awareness. Today, I’m going to give you an insight from comedian Steve Martin. If you ever feel like your big break will never come, this will keep you going. And if you’d like to get a boost in your inbox every Monday morning, go sign up for the Love Mondays newsletter at kadavy.net/mondays What should be our next Patreon goal? Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/introducing-love-mondays/

Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) woke up one day and realized two things: The world seemed to be filled with more and more anger and distraction every day, and – to make matters worse – consistently doing creative work wasn’t getting any easier. Austin had already written three New York Times bestselling illustrated books. Millions have already learned to Steal Like an Artist – the title of his first book – and they’d learned to put their work out there with Show Your Work. Austin wasn’t sure how much more he had in him. That inspired him to write his new book, Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad. In this conversation, you’ll learn: Why making something for yourself is technically making something for someone else. Learn about the many different ways that focusing on your own creative expression can reach others. How can you be a valuable asset to the creators you admire? Austin shares a specific story that shows you why you have more to offer than you might think. What one thing can you do in the morning – or rather, not do – to do your best work yet? Links and resources mentioned Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon Austin Kleon Austin Kleon Newsletter A/B Testing The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter by David Sax Leave A Message Studs Terkel Radio Archive Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry Honoré de Balzac Seth Godin This is marketing by Seth Godin Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson Stephen King The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon Lynda Barry Dan Chaon Saturday Night Live Five-Timers Club Role Models by John Waters Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy Walker Percy’s problems of reentry Frankenstein Ryan Holiday Morning Pages What should be our next Patreon goal? Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/austin-kleon-podcast/

If you do particular actions on a regular basis, you’ll change your identity. For example, if you make it a habit to write every day, you’ll eventually see yourself as a writer. But it can work the other way around, too. If you change your appearance, you can change your identity. If you change your identity, you can change your actions. In this week’s episode, I share my own experience of changing my identity, in order to change my actions. What should be our next Patreon goal? Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/identity-actions-podcast/

David Allen (@gtdguy) has built a legacy. He’s created a system that helps millions of people get more of what they want out of life. Getting Things Done, the book, has sold millions of copies. And there’s an entire cottage industry of GTD apps and consultants, all over the world. Even if you’ve never read or heard of GTD, you or someone you work with probably operates with “next actions,” and “contexts.” David and I talked more about the GTD system back in his first appearance on the show on episode 85. This time, we’ll be talking about David’s accidental legacy. How does somebody create something that spreads like wildfire and changes the culture? Today, we’ll talk about: Your day to day actions are guided by meaning on various levels. How can you think about the different levels of what’s meaningful to you, and how can you think about what actions you need to take to make those things happen? Why does David’s screensaver say “let go?” Following a system like GTD may feel like it’s for control freaks, but learn the difference between being in control, and under control. What was the one email David got that made him decide that GTD was ready to scale globally? Links and resources mentioned GTD Getting Things Done Summit Getting Things Done Coaching Programs Merlin Mann 43 Folders Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen Franklin Covey VitalSmarts Top Gun Howard Stern Will Smith Robert Downey Jr Julie Flagg GTD Summit Marshall Goldsmith Dan Pink Charles Duhigg Cady Coleman We've reached a new funding goal! We now have detailed show notes, starting with next week's interview episode. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/david-allens-getting-things-done-legacy/

Lots of people want to build a “legacy.” They want to be remembered when they’re gone. It’s a natural product of our fear of death. But is it realistic to want to build a legacy? Is it realistic to believe you can control whether or not you’re remembered? And might aiming to build a legacy prevent you from doing the type of work that builds legacies in the first place? I examine these questions in this week’s episode. We've reached a new funding goal! We now have detailed show notes, starting with next week's interview episode. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors https://kadavy.net/motivation Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/no-legacy-podcast/

To me, Andrew Warner’s (@andrewwarner) Mixergy podcast created the entire category of entrepreneur interview podcasts – a category this podcast here falls within. I started listening to Mixergy something like ten years ago, and it was one of the main podcasts that got my gears turning to eventually start this podcast – after putting it off for years, of course. Andrew has created over 1,700 interviews and courses with top entrepreneurs. People like Jimmy Wales, Barbara Corcoran, and Paul Graham. He’s known for getting his guests to open up and reveal exact numbers in their businesses. Sometimes I find myself squirming at the direct questions he asks, but it works! I recently took a trip to San Francisco to be on the Jordan Harbinger Show (look out for my appearance on that show toward the end of the month, I think you’ll like what I prepared specifically for that show). While I was in town, I was trying to think of who I would like to interview. The first person who came to mind was Andrew Warner. In this conversation, you’ll learn: Monetization: Andrew was the first podcaster I can think of to put his past episodes behind a paywall. Why does Andrew think that was a great decision, what drove that decision, and why does he hate the word “paywall?" Did Andrew create the category of the entrepreneurial interview podcast? I was dying to know who inspired Andrew to interview entrepreneurs in the first place. We’ll find out. Why is harsh criticism a gift? Andrew shares his perspective which helps him keep improving. Also, the day before the interview, Andrew messaged me. He wanted to change the location of the interview. We were originally going to do it in Mixergy’s offices in the Financial District of San Francisco, but now Andrew was inviting me to his HOUSE. He said he’d explain why later. You’ll hear why in the interview – it’s pretty cool. Links and resources mentioned Pagerduty Crescent Hotel NEA Mixergy Hero’s Journey Venture Voice Rosalind Resnick Howard Stern This American Life The Biography Of WordPress with Matt Mullenweg shorty awards Everyone is Accessible – interview with Gregory Galant VV Show #40 – Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn Anchor techstars AngelList Paul Graham Readwise Airtable Kindle Direct Publishing We've reached a new funding goal! We now have detailed show notes, starting with next week's interview episode. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ https://backblaze.com https://kadavy.net/motivation Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/srini-rao-unmistakable-creative-podcast/

To optimize your creative output, you need a creative productivity system. If you can identify the building blocks of your daily work, you can construct a system that works for you. One of those building blocks is what I call “task transitions.” Task transitions are those little spaces between finishing one task, and starting another. Each transition is a critical moment. It’s when you decide whether you’ll keep moving, take an intentional break, or simply fall off the tracks. I’ll tell you more in this week’s episode. We've reached a new funding goal! We'll have detailed show notes, starting with next week's interview episode. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ https://kadavy.net/motivation Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/task-transitions-podcast/

Vanessa Van Edwards (@vvanedwards) is a recovering awkward person who teaches people how to be more successful with people. Vanessa was a great student, but, she says, she was terrible with people. Until one day she discovered that she could study people and interacting with people the same way she studied math and science. In fact, she used math and science to break down social interactions. She set up a lab and started running experiments on everything from conversation starters to reading facial expressions. She shares everything she’s learned in her hit book, Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People. This book breaks down social interaction so you can succeed, whether that’s thriving in networking events, or having a more fulfilling dating life. You’re going to learn: How can awkwardness be a part of your own unique brand of charisma? How can you get the most out of conferences, even if you’re an introvert? What is "The Franklin Effect," and how can it make you more likable, even to your mortal enemies? We've almost reached a new funding goal! Help us get detailed show notes. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/vanessa-van-edwards-podcast/