MANIFESTO

Get out of your own way!

I have to be honest here. If any part of my journey inspires you to go after a dream, you have to know what you are in for. Nothing worth having is obtained so easily. You have to learn how to get out of your own way in order to get what’s in front of you. I’m not going to preach to the choir; it goes for me too. I’m getting better with getting over my bull$#!+. As a creative I am most critical of myself but I am learning to live with ‘good enough’ because perfection doesn’t exist. With that said, here’s a glimpse of what WE have coming our way.

01 — What do you want?

Seems like an easy question but so hard for A LOT of us to answer.

NOTE: I want to be rich too but the lottery isn’t the only way to get there. While I may continue to play the numbers, the better bet is betting on myself.

02 — What are you willing to do/sacrifice to get it?

If you are not investing time and/or money, you’re not in it to win. These are sacrifices you have to make and one way or another, it’s going to cost you something you won’t want to let go of. But, the question becomes: “how bad do you want it?” How you execute will determine your hunger.

03 — See it, study it, reverse engineer it!

No idea is original. Everything that is new has existed before in some form or fashion but done differently. The key is to make it your own. If you see something you like, add YOU into the process and the product becomes yours. Not following? A sneaker is a sneaker is a sneaker is a sneaker. Nike does it their way; Adidas does it theirs. At the end of the day, they both produce sneakers.

04 — Do you have what it takes?

Trust me, some things will not go according to plan. Frustration will creep in when things get tough and you’ll have about enough you can stand. Ask yourself, do you have what it takes. As long as that answer remains ‘YES’, find ways around your frustrations. Take a short break. It’s okay. You’ll pick where you left off and maybe this round will be even better. However, if that answer ever becomes ‘NO’. My advice: Give up! I have no pep talk for you. Once you’ve given up, there’s nothing else to say. No one is going to do the job for you. Pack it up. You just weren’t built for it. Guess what? That’s okay too. People would lead you to believe that giving up makes you a failure. On the contrary, sometimes it makes you a better person and stops you from wasting time on what wasn’t meant to be. The decision is yours though.

05 — Finishing & Launching

Stick to the script and finish it out. For me, this is the hardest thing to do. I’ll start something, it gets old to me and I never finish it. The reality I never faced was things get better in time. Iterations come after. The point is getting to a good enough place at first.

To take it further, when you do reach that goal, you are obligated to launch it into the universe. You can’t predict what’s going to happen. You just have to let it go, observe the results, tweak when needed, celebrate your accomplishment and learn from your mistakes.