Love Your Work

Author Alex Soojung-Kim Pang discusses the importance of deliberate rest in enhancing creativity and productivity. Topics include the hypnagogic state for creativity, optimal nap times, and strategies for improved productivity. Explore the fallacy of the 10,000-hour rule, the power of naps for creativity, and the significance of deliberate rest in structured routines for creativity.

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/

I first discovered the work of Seth Godin about 13 years ago. Since then he's helped me think about how to make work that's remarkable – The Purple Cow. He's shown me how to think about having a direct relationship with my customers – with Permission Marketing. He's shown me how to push through when things get tough – with The Dip. Plus, countless other things. He's written so many books, Tribes, The Icarus Deception, All Marketers are Liars, just to name a few more. He writes a blog post every day. I still love going to Seth's blog because it looks like it came out of another time. It's on typepad. He doesn't even have a custom domain. Still, it's one of the few sites that I visit directly just to read what's there. While people are screaming about how you've gotta figure out a Snapchat strategy, Seth just sticks with good old-fashioned words, and he's so good at it. Seth has been at the forefront of how technology changes how we communicate with one another. He started his first email newsletter in 1990. In fact, he invented the concept of getting emails from companies. Throughout his career, he's pointed out and described what this new paradigm makes possible. You have to Unleash the Ideavirus, you have to tell stories, you have to build your tribe. But in more recent years, he's focused more on helping people overcome the emotional barriers of actually putting this advice into practice. This is what I was interested in figuring out coming into this interview. What caused that shift? How does Seth think about doing generous work? How do you gain the courage to do something that might not work? I also wanted to dig back further into Seth's origin. I'm still struck by how far ahead of his time he was way back in the 80's and 90's, and how long it took for some of those concepts to gel and become true. It's a good lesson that if you want to do work that resonates with people, sometimes it takes a long time. Here are the three links that Seth sent me about publishing: Advice for authors Advice for authors Why (some) Kickstarter Campaigns Fail Join Love Your Work Premium Would you like to hear raw, ad-free interviews like this one with Seth Godin, 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. You'll also get access to fully-produced episodes a couple of days in advance. Just go to kadavy.net/premium to sign up.     Sponsors http://freshbooks.com/loveyourwork http://www.casper.com/loveit Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/seth-godin-podcast-interview/

Some of you already know that I'm writing a new book. Getting Art Done will help you overcome Resistance and bring your work into the world. I had much of my own Resistance to fight to get this book project underway. I spent three months working on a book proposal, then I failed to get a literary agent. That was a tough blow, but what really flipped the switch for me was the conversation I had with Seth Godin. You'll be able to hear that entire conversation with Seth next week, so be sure you're subscribed. Join Love Your Work Premium If you'd like to hear the raw, unedited, ad-free interview with Seth Godin (coming June 8th), you can do that right now. Just join Love Your Work Premium. For a small amount per month, you'll get access to ad-free interviews weeks in advance. You'll also get access to fully-produced episodes a couple of days in advance. Just go to kadavy.net/premium to sign up.     Sponsorshttp://freshbooks.com/loveyourwork Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/no-nyt-best-seller-podcast/  

Not too long after moving to Colombia, Danny Michelwicz got obsessed with cacao, the raw material that's used to make chocolate. Since then, he's been learning about the craft of sourcing cacao and making chocolate, learning about his new country in the process, and working to have an impact on an underserved region. I went into this interview thinking I'd talk with Danny more about how his business, Tilín Cacao, has been a source of adventure, but we actually ended up talking a lot about the chemistry of chocolate, and how it's made. There's a lot of interesting thoughts in here about finding a neglected opportunity, pursuing it with a sense of artistry, and making something unique and hard to replicate. Try Danny's Chocolate Danny has a shipment going to the United States later this summer. You can preorder for a huge discount. Just go to tilincacao.com/loveyourwork. I don't have any financial relationship with Danny's company, but I do love the chocolate. Join Love Your Work Premium If you'd like to hear the raw, unedited, ad-free interview with Seth Godin (coming June 8th), you can do that right now. Just join Love Your Work Premium. For a small amount per month, you'll get access to ad-free interviews weeks in advance. You'll also get access to fully-produced episodes a couple of days in advance. Just go to kadavy.net/premium to sign up.     Sponsors http://kadavy.net/premium Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/danny-michlewicz-tilin/

Sometimes, to make a breakthrough, you have to partner up with "the man." Sometimes it's worth it. But, don't jump at every chance you get. I recently had an opportunity to join a podcast network. In fact, it was a very good podcast network. But, I turned it down. Since writing this article, I've watched this podcast network do very well. Meanwhile, I've struggled to grow this podcast. In fact, my downloads went DOWN for the first time since I started a year and a half ago. Some of that is from Product Hunt shutting down their podcasts section, and it's hard to know what else has caused it. As I'll say in this article, it's totally possible that I made the wrong decision. But, it still feels right to me. This article originally appeared on kadavy.net.     Sponsorshttp://kadavy.net/premium Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/podcast-network-podcast/