I have a little Sciatica right now.

If you don’t know what that is, you can google it.  If you’d like to hear my non-medical definition here it is.  It’s when a shit load of pain shoots down your leg.  

Always?  No, just when you sit or move.

It’s not pretty.

This is my second bout with it, I usually get rid of it with stretching.  I do different stretches at different angles, to work the pain away.  

It’s a slow process.

It reminds me of something Professor Severus Snape said when he started teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in Harry Potter.

“The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal.  Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before…”

Sounds like Sciatica to me!  Kinda sounds like business too.  I always looked at business like a three-leg stool.  Lose a leg and the stool will fall down.  

Here’s the three legs you need…  

You need skills at your craft.  You gotta learn how to paint better.  You gotta learn how to write better.  You gotta  learn how to coach better.  Whatever you do, be excellent at it.

You need to know how to sell what you do.  You gotta know your story.  You gotta know the kind of people that will pay you for what you do.  You gotta know where those people hang out.

You need to be spiritually grounded.  You gotta know thinking positive gives different results than thinking negative.  You gotta know that you are worthy of everything you want.  You gotta know that because you are part of all that is, all that is is possible for you. 

You gotta know this stuff!  

But the problem is, too many people focus on one of the three.

And in our defense, that’s natural.  I drew because I loved drawing.  I didn’t think in the 8th grade that maybe I should take a business course so I can have a thriving art business when I grow up.  

I just drew.

I just sang.

I just, wrote.

But in the business world, like Snape said, it can be like a many-headed monster so YOU need to be just as clever.  

Do you need to be exceptional?  No, just flexible.  

You want to do YOUR WORK.  Your craft, the work that excites you.  AND you want to have a powerful positive expectation.  You need to KNOW who you are and where you want to go.  And you need to be able to share what that is with other people.

Is it easy?  Not always, but to solve your problems you usually only need to focus on one leg of the stool at a time.

Life is doable.  Business is doable.  

So stop freaking out.

Adam

When people talk about growing up and role models, it usually starts in the home.  

My mom was my first and primary role model.  Papa was a bit of a Rolling-Stone but my step-father was a role model too. 

My first external role models were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jordan.  I know what you’re thinking.  Michael Jordan was pretty bad ass, that’s why he’s my guy.  There was NO ONE at that time that was as fun to watch play basketball as Michael Jordan was.  

But that’s not why I wanted to be like Mike.

As a teen I watched his video Come Fly With Me and he talked about being in “the zone”.  My young self had heard about the the zone but I didn’t think it was real.  It’s like Big Foot.  You can’t prove he exists but you wouldn’t be surprised if he was really out there either.

Well, Jordan talked about being in the zone and he said when he is on his game the rim doubles in size like big bucket and he can’t miss.  When he’s in this ‘zone’ he’s unstoppable.  

If I didn’t see Jordan virtually unstoppable in so many different instances I may not have taken him so seriously.  But maybe he’s on to something? 

Then came Schwarzenegger.  

As a teen—younger than I was at the time, Schwarzenegger said he was going to be like Reg Park and use bodybuilding as his path to become an actor.  He set goals to be Mr. Universe, move to America, become a movie star, and marry a Kennedy.  

He did all those things by the way…

Since Michael Jordan is 6’6”, height well suited to excel in NBA basketball.  And Schwarzenegger was born with a frame able to pack on massive amounts of muscle to be Mr. Universe (and later Mr. Olympia).  Their success must be due to gifts.  

I’m not that lucky. 

God only gives talent to the few.

Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline.  

I don’t know.  Or do I?

In Wayne Dyer’s audio for There Is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem he talked about the book Power Vs. Force and genius.  He said genius isn’t something you’re born with, it’s something you tap into.

The author of Power Vs. Force is David Hawkins.  Hawkins wrote:  

“Recognized geniuses may be rare, but Genius resides within all of us…  Consciousness is a universal quality, like the quality of physicality.  Because genius is a characteristic of consciousness, genius is also universal.  That which is universal is, therefore, theoretically available to every man.”

Everyone is born with different gifts.  You could take voice lessons from now till the day you die and could never sing as good Mariah Carey.  You could play chess for 10 hours a day for a decade and never get as good as Bobby Fischer was.  

But you can tap into genius and be amazing at what you do!  You can ride that wave of passion and creativity much more often than you think.  Honestly I think we’d all be connected to genius much more often if we would just stop blocking it.

This is why solutions come in the shower.

Or while driving.

Or while walking.

When you relax your mind or aren’t focused on problems, the right solutions can come in.  

My wife has rescued animals all of her life.  And in recent years she’s worked with animal rescues.  So often I see them waste their time whining and complaining about people and animal cruelty.  

Animal abuse sucks but the best solutions to problems can’t reach you when you’re whiney, bitchy, and complainy.  You’re like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but you’re the Seven Dwarfs that no one wants to be around.  

But here’s the rub.  

Genius doesn’t want to be around you either.

Adam

I went thru a group coaching program. 

It didn’t do a lot for me.  Well, aside from being really good at draining my wallet…

Going thru the process didn’t meet my expectations but don’t cry for me yet Argentina!  I took a lot of great things from it.  One of those great things was taking the Wealth Dynamics test.  It’s a profiling system for entrepreneurs.  

My primary profile is Creator.  Well, duh.  I’m an artist.  I create stuff.  I’m creatIVE.  That is a no brainer.  That’d be like if Jack Hanna took a profiling test and it said he’d be good with animals.

No fireworks there…

But my secondary profile was a lot more interesting.  It told me I was a Star.  All of a sudden, holes started filling in.  

I always looked at purpose and following your passion like the Eastern philosophy called Dharma.  If you’re not familiar with it Mallika Chopra summarized it well.  “Dharma is your unique purpose in life. It is the process by which you use your unique skills and passions to serve your community and the world.”

I always associated my dharma with my art.  Recently I heard Oprah say something though, that gave me even more clarity.  

Back around the time she did the movie The Color Purple, Oprah hired an acting coach.  The coach asked her why she wanted to act.  I don’t remember what Oprah said but I sure as hell remember the coaches response.

She said, “You don’t want to be an actor, you want to be a star.”

I realized that’s why I wanted do everything from having my music played on the radio to being featured on CNN.  I have always wanted to create and do my art (no matter what shape it took) but I also wanted to do it big.  

I wanted to be a star at it!  

I realized even some issues I had in my marriage had to do with my Star-ness.  After all I’m  metaphorically selling tickets to perform at Carnegie Hall, why is my wife not buying tickets?  Or worse, why is she going to Madison Square Garden that night?

Knowing that I’m a “star” also made me see why it was easy to bounce around jobs.  Why as an entrepreneur I kept looking at one opportunity after another.  

I thought I was unfocused.  

Indecisive.

Lazy even.  

Well, maybe a little sometimes.  But I think it came down to I knew I would be creative no matter what, but I also wanted a place my inner star could shine brightest.  

That’s why drawing cartoons at events was such a perfect match for me.  

At events am I a star like Taylor Swift?  Do most people in the world know my name? No, not at all.  But to the 100 people attending the wedding I’m drawing at?  

I may as well be  Harry Styles…

Ok, maybe not Harry Styles but I’m an amazing Adam Street.

Adam

A Facebook friend posted the other day that he wanted to draw portraits of comedians but he knew there was no market for it. 

Should he do it?  Of course he should!  

If you’re being called to do something your job is to accept the call.  He said he was passionate and really wanted to do the portraits but fear was paralyzing him. 

Not to over simplify it but motto is:  If you feel called to do the thing…DO that THING!

Life and business can be tricky.  When advice sounds great it seems like you can apply it everywhere.  But that’s not always true. 

Warren Buffet is known for his investing (and for being really really rich).  One of his investment philosophies is buying stocks he likes and holding onto them.  He’s quoted as saying his, “favorite holding period is forever”.  Forever is a long my time, my friend. 

I’m no investor pro but most people who are say this is good advice.  But if you applied this to what you do, you may mess up like I did.  

When I started drawing live caricatures I noticed the #1 obstacle people had to being drawn was thinking they’d be drawn ugly.  After all, who wouldn’t love bigger teeth and a giant forehead?  

Some do enjoy that, but still…  Ugly (exaggerated, really) isn’t my style so I changed my business name to Draw Me Sexy.  You can’t get a fugly drawing of yourself with a name like Draw Me Sexy, right?  

I was right.  

When I did retail caricatures (charging people per drawing at public events) I noticed more people got drawn faster and my promotion created a lot more buzz and chatter.  I was crushing it.  

Until I entered the wedding space.

The purposed of being at bridal shows was getting people to pay me a flat rate to draw at their wedding reception.  When I set up at bridal shows, people seemed to enjoy me just as much as everywhere else.  But I heard negative chatter too.  

My (not!) favorite excuse for not getting hired ​was when young brides would come up to me and say, “I’d love to have you at my wedding but my mom doesn’t want to hire you.  It’s the ‘sexy’ thing.”

One comment even came from someone who hired me.  The groom said, “Adam I’m sure I know the answer to this but…  You’re not going to draw my grandma in a thong or anything right?”

The truth is, if she asked to be drawn in a thong, I’d probably draw her in a thong.  But I knew that question wasn’t about requests, it was about judgement.  

Maybe I should change the name of my company?  No, this is my conviction.  

At one bridal show I saw a Mom walking with her kid.  I saw her wordlessly mouth, “Draw Me Sexy” and walk even faster past my booth.  Clutching her little girl like we had Larry Flynt and Jenna Jameson there signing autographs.  Nude. 

Should I change the name of my company.  Nope, like George W. Bush I stayed the course.  

My wife helps me at trade shows so she knew about the negative chatter too.  At least twice a year she would ask (or tell me more like it), why don’t you just change the name?  

I eventually caved.  I changed the name.  At least for the wedding events.  Keep in mind all the art and everything I do is 100% the same!  But I quit holding on to a business name that wasn’t working in that space.  

Forever works for investing but not business names it seems.

If you feel called to do the thing…DO that THING!  But don’t fear change or be attached to some of the details.

Adam

I’m a crappy parent.  

What made think I had the unmitigated audacity to bring kids into this Earth?  

That’s what I thought about briefly one day when I was thinking about my kid’s futures.  All my kiddos have development delays or social issues, health problems, and all sorts of acronyms after their diagnoses.

I was beside myself knowing the discomfort and pain they will likely go thru in their young lives.  

Moments later I pushed that head-trash aside.  Feelings like that are about as useful to me as  tampons.

On the flip side, all my kids are beautiful.  Like unicorns in the Harry Potter series they glow with beauty and personality.  And don’t think for a minute I’m not taking credit for this too…

I understand that life can be challenging for us all…  

But they are my kids!

I continued to tell myself everything would be ok but I couldn’t really tell my lizard brain to go to hell until  I read the book, David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  The sub headline says it all: “Underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants.”

The book starts with bible story of David and Goliath.  Gladwell says everything we know about that story (why David won) is wrong.  

David winning would have been shocking only if he fought Goliath in hand to hand combat—Goliath’s way.  That’d be like me trying to get a date with my wife by arm wrestling The Rock.  There’s no way I’d win.

But David used his strengths.  He refused to wear armor so he could focus on speed.  Goliath was big and slow because he was in enough armor to coat a VW bus.  And as you probably know, David slung a rock and hit Goliath in the head and killed him.

David was a “Slinger”.  

And I said slinger not swinger.   Please try to keep your mind out of the gutter…

Gladwell said paintings from medieval times show slingers hitting birds in mid-flight.  Irish sligers were said to be able to hit a coin from as far away as they could see it.  

In Gladwell’s book there was example after example of things people went thru that seemed negative but it gave them the skill or edge to make them well suited to do what they wanted to do.  

Finally I had the ammunition to make my monkey mind surrender.  I KNEW in every fiber of my being that not only will my kids be fine, but they will likely be exceptional in some way.  

For example my teen daughter would barely eat any food that wasn’t processed after she was about 8 years old.  Getting her to eat fruit or vegetables was like asking Putin to get outta the Ukraine.  

But now she eats a variety of food and she loves to cook.  And her growing up fussy and with a picky palette drives her to cook and bake restaurant quality food.  After all it can’t be… 

Too brown.

Too burnt.

Or too Doughy.  

It’s like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, her food has to be, just right.

Napoleon Hill  put it this way, “every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

Abraham Hicks put is this way, “when the contrast gets greater, the desire gets greater too, and that’s what miracles are from.”

How could I even think of coming my between my kid’s and their miracles?  

And by the way, don’t come between yours either.

Adam