Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

Dining on two day old French fries

Before there was Instagram and many of the social sites artists use today to show their work, there was DeviantArt.com.  

You could find and follow great artists from all around the world!  It’s still one of the most popular sites for artists online.  

One thing that I always found interesting was…  

When artists developed a bit of a following and accepted commissions on the site, they seemed to focus all their time and energy into doing what the commissioner wanted.  

And doing what they THOUGHT would-be-commissioners would like.  

I was in many conversations on this topic and most of them could be summed up to this…

“I can’t make money drawing what I really want to draw so I have to draw this other thing”.  

I get it.  

When I was younger I thought that way a little.  

Draw what sells!  

Focus on what’s hot right now!  

But doing this made my insides squirm.   

What is true for artists is just as true for everyone else.  If I was to break it down for you, it’d sound like this… 

Don’t let the outside world control your inside world.

In comics we used to call copy cat artists “hacks”.  Nowadays I prefer Seth Godin’s definition of a hack, “a hack is a professional who doesn’t care.”

Seth says, “the hack has been beaten up enough times that he has emotionally disconnected. The hack has a short-term view, able to do what the client asks, without regard for how it will impact the culture or his long-term prospects.”

We all start somewhere but do the work that energizes you.  The work that you are curious and passionate about.  The stuff you love.

Treat other people’s opinions and desires like two day old french fries.  You can consume them if you’re desperate but it’s best to leave them alone.

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam

Slay procrastination with one question

Like many creative ADD types my brain is like a Ferrari.  

Which is great when someone with a sound mind is driving but other times it’s like an licensed teen boy is behind the wheel.  Other times, no one at all!  

When I need to get something done, I end up…

Checking emails obsessively.

Going on YouTube for one thing and being on there an hour later.

“Researching” on Google for WAY longer than I need to be.

If I’m not careful procrastination rears it’s ugly head like a Kaiju from the Pacific Rim movies!  I don’t want to draw or type anything.  My energy level drops to the floor so now I need coffee or an energy drink.  

Return a phone call?  Nope.  I’m too busy because I have so much to do!!!

But just one more TikTok video before I go…

I may be a little ‘extra’ but this can happen to anyone.  Recently I’ve been able to calm my mind and cease doing this nonsense by asking myself one question.

How may I serve?

Instead of thinking about MY schedule and what I FEEL LIKE doing today.  I look at my client’s request and I think, how may I serve you?

My energy totally changes.  My imagination activates and I visualize the first best right action to take on a project.  I even did this last week when I drew at a live event. 

Procrastination gone.

Low energy, gone.  

Tiktok, well…  Gone too.

Everything shifted when I used all my energy and intention to focus on the needs of my client.  

Try it!

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam

Use or lose it

Imagine you drive an old beat up 1972 Ford F100 truck, but it usually starts everyday.

You really want to buy a shiny new Ford F-150.  You’re qualified for the loan but you just haven’t gotten around to pulling the trigger.  

For people like me like it makes sense to man up, find an F-150, and buy it. It’s new, it looks better, feels better, and it has the new car smell.  Ahhh!

But…

Everyday you drive the old F100.  It smokes, sometimes it breaks down on you, but you’ve driven it for years and you’re used to it.

This is what so many of us do with our marketing.  You get comfortable in your box and it becomes harder and harder to step out it even though something better is out there.

The fastest way to “better” isn’t necessarily in taking a course, reading a new book, or copying one of your competitors.  

It’s using your creativity and accessing it through your imagination.

Ralph Waldo Emerson  said, “the imagination and the senses cannot be gratified at the same time.”

Gratify here means to indulge or satisfy.  When you try to fix a life or marketing problem with the senses (looking around, reading, listening to videos and podcasts, etc.) it’s too easy to miss the boat because your imagination isn’t active, it’s passive.

On the other hand when you use your imagination you move from reacting to creating.  

Steve jobs said, “creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.”

The prime times to access your imagination is first thing in the morning, last thing at night, during meditation, or getting in the shower.

You can also access it driving, moving your body (dancing, hiking, exercising, etc), cooking, all sorts of other ways.

Find a way that works best for you.

And don’t forget Napoleon Hill’s words in Think and Grow Rich.  “The creative faculty becomes more alert, more receptive to vibrations from the sources mentioned, in proportion to its development through use.” 

So uh…use it!

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam 

Holy low expectations, Batman!  

April is Autism Awareness month.  

Every month is Autism Awareness in my house because my son, “The Peanut”, has autism.  We love every inch of that boy!

Then why am I so annoyed right  now?

I wanted the dates for Autism Awareness month so I went to autismspeaks.org.  I didn’t find what I was looking for but I saw this on their donation page:

“Your gift gets us one step closer to our vision of a world where the 1 in 44 children and 1 in 45 adults with autism can reach their full potential.”

WTF is this nonsense?    1 in 44?  Holy low expectations, Batman!  

I know they mean well but could you imagine if FedEx said we’ll get ‘most’ of the packages there on time.  

What if churches led with, ‘Jesus loves some people but not everyone’.

Like… What?

Ok, look.  I get that Autism Speaks means well and most human beings don’t live our full potential.  But that’s exclusive to ALL of us, not just kids on the spectrum.

That’s why I do what I do.  Wayne Dyer used to say, “don’t die with your music still in you.”  

That’s why I draw.

That’s why I teach.

That’s why I mentor.

And let me tell you one of the most important things you can learn from The Peanut and kids with autism.   

They don’t feel like they have anything to prove.  They believe and KNOW that they are worthy.  

Timothy Shriver said, “To the extent each of us learns that, we have the key, the first steps to feel fully alive and feeling that our souls are free.”  

That quote came from Shriver’s interview with Oprah:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRWv4EygIQ .

To be, do, say, and act however you want is something that eludes most people.  The Peanut has a level of trust and honesty that I constantly work towards.  It ain’t easy!

Too often we treat Autism like this BIG thing we have to eradicate kids and adults from.  But in reality we can learn just as much from them as they can from us.

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam

Warding laundry and excuses

When my mother-in-law moved in with us she started doing all the laundry in the house.  

Older me is ok with it but back then it was weird.  She didn’t ask permission, she just did it.  I was ready to paint one of those wording spells from Supernatural on my bedroom door to keep her away.

My wife was ok with it though.  I later learned this was one of those little “boundary issues” that she grew up with.  This was her paradigm and she was used to it.   Apparently I just had to catch up…  

Paradigms in your business are the same way.  They establish and define boundaries so you know how to behave in order to be successful.

I mention Megan Macedo’s Artist and Business paradigms a lot because if you’re a Creative and if you try to grow your business with the traditional Business Paradigm you may not love ‘following your dream’ much.

This is why…

Because of what you have to DO to DO the work.  What do I mean by this?  Let’s say you’re a Financial Coach and you bought into building your business with YouTube or TikTok.  

Nuttin’ wrong with YouTube.

Ain’t nuttin’ wrong with TikTok.

Nuttin’ wrong with video.  

But if you don’t enjoy video or if you can’t stand editing, uploading, or posting everyday you will enjoy that process about as much as a flesh eating virus.  

Before you know it you aren’t “marketing”, your money slows, and you start telling people how you couldn’t make it as financial coach.  Or how it’s the economy…

Or Putin.

Or Millennials.

That’s why opened up enrollment for Attractor Factor BootCamp:  The Spiritual and Practical path to the Money for Creative Entrepreneurs.

It’s four lessons over four weeks and if it does not transform how you attract clients and money you don’t have to pay anything.  

Zilch.

Zero.

Nada.

If the experience worth it to you,  you can pay at the end and receive two coaching sessions with yours truly to help you implement and stay on course.

https://www.adamstreet.net/attractorfactor

Adam