Category / proactivity

by Nathan Coumbe

Stop telling people to avoid the arts

How many of us have told someone that she should choose a real major, one that is applicable in today’s job market, rather than pursue something creative like art, music, or literature?

(RAISES HAND)

Why do we do this? It is well-meaning enough, I suppose: we don’t want them to struggle financially, we don’t want them to fail, we don’t want them to get hurt because it is so hard to live as an artist…

Let’s just stop, shall we?

What if the person to whom you gave this advice is actually quite talented as a writer? What if she has spent so much of her free time drawing, painting, and sculpting that she has become a fantastic artist? Do you really feel comfortable telling her that she should go get her MBA, work in middle management, collect her benefits, get the 401(k) match, and just worry about “all that artsy stuff” in her off hours, because she can’t make real money in the arts? Why is that good advice (especially when that last claim is bogus)?

Handle Money. Fail often.

Why don’t we teach her instead? Let’s make sure that we are teaching our children how to handle their finances, how to live on a budget, spend less than they make, save money, make money, and how to avoid debt at all cost (this is the real reason so many of us starve these days). We should most definitely teach her not to go $100,000 in student loan debt for her MFA in painting, but that does not mean we should tell her not to pursue her passion – those are not the same thing.

At the same time, we should also be teaching her to fail and fail often. Have her start trying to sell her art online. That doesn’t work? Should we tell her that she should quit and go get a real job? No! You don’t tell a child to stop trying to ride a bike because she fell off and scraped her knee; you tell her to get up and encourage her to try again.

Do the same thing with your creative child or friend. Encourage her start teaching other people what it is that she knows. She can make online videos of her work so that others can see it and her ideas will spread. Find whatever avenue works for her.

Encourage

There has never been a better time to be an artist than today – the market is wide open, the possibilities are limitless. You can be an artist in anything at which you are talented; it does not have to be a traditional “art”. Let’s focus on teaching our family and friends the right skills they need to survive and thrive – let’s teach creativity, leadership, personal finance, marketing and storytelling. Then let’s send them forth to pursue that which they most truly enjoy.

If we can teach them to handle money well, and to learn and grow from failure, they will all be fine.

We will all be just fine.

by Nathan Coumbe

Decisions

Sometimes you agonize over making a decision, only to have that decision taken out of your hands. There may be a sense of relief when it happens, but all too often, that relief turns to regret.

The questions start boiling up: Why did I not jump on the offer when I got the chance? What held me back? Why was I so afraid?

Are you guilty of “paralysis by analysis” when it comes to making life decisions? I most certainly am.

I have lost so many opportunities over the years simply because I waited too long to decide. I sought out advice, weighed the pros and cons, did research…the problem is I never took action when it was time to decide. I was too afraid of failure, of taking the wrong road, of looking back at the possibilities I may have missed because of what I chose.

So I didn’t choose, and that in itself was a choice. It was a choice to have someone else decide for me.

Sometimes the decision is taken out of your hands. You have to learn from the experience. The question is not, “What could I have done differently?”

The question becomes…

What are you going to do now?

by Nathan Coumbe

Overcome the resistance

Steven Pressfield talks about “the resistance” in his book The War of Art when discussing the mental blocks that Creatives encounter during their artistic pursuits. This is that fear in the back of your mind, the one telling you there is no use in trying what you are attempting to do as it might not work.

Every Creative goes through this; you are not alone.

My resistance is telling me now that my business endeavors might not work out; it’s trying to convince me that I am not skilled enough, not knowledgeable enough, or not important enough for people to use me as a resource in their creative endeavors.

Don’t listen to the resistance. All you can do is press forward.

Launch your ideas; reach out to potential clients and customers; let the public see your work.

Beat the resistance down, and when it comes back, do it again.

by Nathan Coumbe

You can’t always do what you want.

Sometimes all of your available time is taken up by getting things done that have nothing to do with your passion, your dream job, or anything else you are pursuing

The laundry has to be done; the home can’t be left unclean and disheveled; dinner must be cooked. Every artist, writer, musician, every genius in every field…they still have to eat, sleep, and live.

Do what must be done so that you can later do what you want done.

by Nathan Coumbe

Your time is not for sale

One of the members of the 48 Days Eagles group posted a quote today which prompted some ideas I’d like to share.

“Our time is not for sale.”

Brene Brown, Dare to Lead

Two points I’d like to make:

Number one – being compensated for our time is a dreadful, soul-sucking way to make a living, a remnant of days long past, days spent mindlessly working as a cog in the machine that was factory work.

What is more satisfying than getting paid for results that you create or for thoroughly completing a job? Would you rather show up, punch the clock, and work half-heartedly through a mind-numbing shift where the minutes, not the work, are the only thing that matter for your compensation?

Why not instead go solve a problem? Find something that needs solving and do it, then get paid for it. Then go solve another problem and get paid for that, too.

Number two – our time is the most precious commodity each of us own, and therefore it cannot be squandered away. We are here for the blink of an eye – this time cannot be wasted staring at a clock or wasting away in front of a screen; it must be spent wisely. We are each here for a specific purpose, and we’ve been given a limited amount of time to fulfill that purpose. Don’t waste this precious gift.

Go find an interesting problem, try to solve it, get paid, and then do it again.

by Nathan Coumbe

How to learn anything

Do it.

The thing you want to learn how to do? Start doing it.

Start writing. Start playing the drums. Start drawing. Start reading the classics. Start creating a podcast.

How do you learn how to speak another language? Any teacher worth her salt will tell you that you have to immerse yourself in the language and start speaking it. All the books and college courses in the world won’t help you if you don’t do it.

This is scary, isn’t it? The resistance in your head is telling you that you don’t know where to start or that you can’t possibly learn how to do this or that without a rigorous amount of study. If you don’t know where to start, then yes – go and pick up a book. Watch a YouTube video or download an app. Hire a teacher. But all the reading about it, watching videos about it, being lectured to about it – that won’t get you anywhere until you take action. Once you have a grip on the basics, you just have to start doing.

Learning is easy once you start doing it. Taking action is what’s difficult.

by Nathan Coumbe

Rainy days

There will be days, inexplicable days, where nothing seems pleasant, your mind heavy, restless, and frustrated. Your ideas won’t click; your hopes and dreams will seem frivolous or impossible…the words don’t come or the music sounds wrong.

On these rainy days, acknowledge them for what they are. They suck, but they happen to everyone. So take the day and do whatever it is you need to do.

Just make sure you show up again tomorrow…

by Nathan Coumbe

Ask someone

Sometimes the easiest way to get an answer, the easiest way to get unstuck, is to just ask a question.

Want to know what comes next for you in your career? Ask your leader what he thinks.

Want to know how to market your latest work? Get around people who do it and ask them how they did it.

Want to know if the person you are dating will marry you? Ask them (hopefully not too soon).

Sometimes it is best to get out of your own head, away from the fear and uncertainty, and just ask someone a question.

by Nathan Coumbe

Progress

Sometimes the progress you get isn’t necessarily the progress you wanted or expected.

You might be trying to lose inches around your waist, only to get to measurement day and discover that result didn’t happen, but your shoulders, arms, and legs grew slightly bigger and more muscular.

Progress.

A really challenging exercise or song being learned on the guitar doesn’t sound any better, but you notice your fingers don’t hurt anymore from the biting of the strings, and your wrist technique has improved.

Progress.

Progress is change in a forward direction. Look for it everywhere, not just in the one thing on which you happen to be focusing.

Progress: notice it everywhere, celebrate it often, and keep trying to create it.

Progress.

by Nathan Coumbe

Change happens

Human beings are notoriously bad at two things: thinking about the future…and adapting to change.

Now before I go on, this article references something that was sent to me about President Trump’s campaign, but I am not trying to write a political post. This is simply an observation of how people are are being set against one another because of change.

We have scientific proof that there is more carbon in the air today than there was 50 years ago (which causes the Earth to retain more heat). We have documented, scientific evidence that our oceans are becoming cesspits overflowing with plastic and other waste which is harmful to the creatures that inhabit them.

So the culture is experiencing a change: companies all over are adding links to their “About Us” sections to show their customers how they interact with the environment. Start-ups and entrepreneurs are creating delivery boxes to help people go greener. Local businesses are trying to source their goods from local people with minimal or no packaging. And individual Americans (and humans in general) are making efforts to lower their footprint by using less plastic or finding alternative ways to commute.

Then you have something like this:

You can find more information about the item here if you want to look more into it.

A small idea like a biodegradable paper straw, innocent of anything except trying to save a turtle here or there, is politicized and given the label of “liberal”.

What purpose does this serve except to divide us Americans even further? Why take an idea like the paper straw, something that harms no one and has long-term benefits for everyone, and use it as fuel on a fire to incense one group of citizens against another?

Change is happening; change is inevitable and has been occurring as long as there have been people. And people have fought against change as long as we have existed.

Yet change is still happening. People are attempting to think long-term about some of the behaviors we have practiced over the past century and are trying to do something about it. We can either accept it, or attempt to fix it later when it’s too late to prevent it. Either way, change will occur.

In the meantime, we must stop politicizing EVERYTHING and making every single issue in our culture an issue of belief, of us pitted against them. And we must stop letting people drive wedges between us regardless of our own thoughts and beliefs. We must be able to have a civil discourse about issues that affect the future – perhaps not your future, but that of your children and grandchildren.

Change is going to happen whether we want it or not, but we can affect the sort of change that we want if we can only stop working against each other and ask questions, then listen

In the meantime, I will continue to take my own cup to restaurants and politely refuse plastic straws when offered. If you wish to ask me about it, I would be delighted to have a civil discussion with you.