Love Your Work

Vanessa Van Edwards (@vvanedwards) is a recovering awkward person who teaches people how to be more successful with people. Vanessa was a great student, but, she says, she was terrible with people. Until one day she discovered that she could study people and interacting with people the same way she studied math and science. In fact, she used math and science to break down social interactions. She set up a lab and started running experiments on everything from conversation starters to reading facial expressions. She shares everything she's learned in her hit book, Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People. This book breaks down social interaction so you can succeed, whether that's thriving in networking events, or having a more fulfilling dating life. You're going to learn: How can awkwardness be a part of your own unique brand of charisma? How can you get the most out of conferences, even if you're an introvert? What is "The Franklin Effect," and how can it make you more likable, even to your mortal enemies? We've almost reached a new funding goal! Help us get detailed show notes. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/vanessa-van-edwards-podcast/

To follow a productivity system, you need to be able to trust that system. You need to trust that if you put something into the system, it will get taken care of at the right time and place. But the more complex you make that system, the harder it becomes to follow and maintain. This is where building "triggers" becomes invaluable in tweaking a system that works for you. A "trigger" is a stimulus that elicits a response. You can use productivity triggers to simplify your productivity system. Triggers keep your productivity system running smoothly, and they keep your system from getting bogged down complexity. In this week's article, I'll tell you exactly how to find the right triggers for you to use to be effortlessly productive. We've almost reached a new funding goal! Help us get detailed show notes. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ Shown notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/productivity-triggers-podcast/

Dr. David Rock (@davidrock101) is the author of Your Brain at Work, is also the founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute. They use a science-based approach to growing soft skills, working with companies such as Intel, Microsoft, and IBM. When I was just getting finished writing my first book, Design for Hackers, I was really mystified by what was going on in my own brain. I wanted to know why creativity was easy sometimes, and hard other times. That's when I picked up Your Brain at Work, and my work changed forever. It served as a handbook for my brain. I learned to think about the strengths and limitations of my brain, the different categories of thought, and what mental and emotional states would make creative work come easily. Today, you'll learn about: What are level one, two, and three tasks, in terms of your brain's horsepower? How can you manage your day by these categories? What is construal, and how can it help you work more quickly, with more clarity? What are the four keys to creating the conditions for insight? If you can set up your work so that you're consistently creating these conditions, you'll think more creatively. We've almost reached a new funding goal! Help us get detailed show notes. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/david-rock-podcast/

Creative productivity is about mind management, not time management. You have to get into the right mental state to be creative. And you need to have your brain stocked with the knowledge it takes to solve the creative problem at hand. I believe creative energy is the next resource to be managed—at least in the age of creative productivity. Think about the way we manage time, and we take that for granted. That's why I've built my own system specifically to manage my creative energy. Today I'll be sharing, in more detail than ever, the exact creative productivity system I use to crank out not just the ideas for books and podcast episodes, but to actually produce the work. We've almost reached a new funding goal! Help us get detailed show notes. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/creative-productivity-system-podcast/

Mark McGuinness (@markmcguinness) is a creative coach, a poet, and a former psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, calls Mark an "overeducated Brit who thinks deeply about stuff you and I have never heard of." Mark is the host of the 21st Century Creative Podcast. On the 21st Century Creative, Mark explores how to take advantage of the huge opportunities presented by the digital age. This at a time when there are more distractions than ever threatening to take you off course, and fewer traditional safety nets to catch you when you fall. In this conversation, we'll talk about: Click here to be creative: How to use mantras, chakras, – and other sometimes thought of as "woo" things – as like graphical user interfaces for altering your mental state. How the feeling > action > response loop can guide your creative direction: If you're wondering how to create work that really moves people, this is the key. How to use impostor syndrome to your advantage. It's a double-edged sword, or a sushi knife, as you'll see. Use it carefully. Mark also mentioned his 20 Creative Blocks list and ebook in the conversation. Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/mark-mcguinness-podcast/

When you're trying to make it as a creative entrepreneur, you need to make the most out of everything you have. You need maximum output with minimal investment of time and energy. The more complex you make things, the more you get bogged down. The more you surrender your creativity to the whims of the the muse, the harder you make it to bring your work into the world. Last week, as we talked to Paul Jarvis, you heard how he uses repeatable processes to make the most of his resources. I call these repeatable processes "productivity cycles." This week, I'll break down what's so great about productivity cycles, I'll share some productivity cycles that I follow, and I'll tell you how to build your own productivity cycles, based upon how you work. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors https://ce.uci.edu Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/productivity-cycles-podcast/

What if success isn't about scaling up as big as possible? What if success is actually about the freedom to call your own shots? Paul Jarvis (@pjrvs) was asking himself these questions as he left the corporate world way back in the 90s. Now he works from his home in the woods on an island near Vancouver. He explores what he's learned in his new book, Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business. Previously, Paul was a freelance designer, working with clients such as Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, and Marie Forleo. He now writes books, and makes courses and software products. Courses such as Creative Class, which teaches you how to "go pro" in your freelance career, and software such as Fathom Analytics, which gives you simple website analytics without tracking or storing your users' personal data. In this conversation you'll learn: How to manage your time in a company of one: Paul shares specific details on how he manages his time on a weekly basis, a monthly basis, and beyond. How to build your company of one around your skills: How does Paul build on his strengths and make his weaknesses irrelevant? How to make room for creativity by being organized: Learn why systems and processes actually enhance creativity rather than stifle it. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://audible.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/paul-jarvis-podcast/

To start off the New Year you can see that we're covering topics for how to improve oneself – stuff like staying focused or even staying secure in your digital life. This week, I'd like to share with you a workout protocol that I've been enjoying for staying fit AND healthy – which, as you'll see, are not the same thing. I've tried many different workout programs, INSANITY, CrossFit, Strongfirst, many others. This is by far the best results for time investment I've ever experienced. It's a workout that only takes about 12 minutes, once a week. Now, I know a claim like that makes your BS detectors go off, but hear me out. And as you'll see, just because it's only 12 minutes doesn't mean it's easy. But I personally find it really enjoyable. Disclaimer: Always talk to your doctor and fitness professional before starting or changing an exercise routine. Try any of the following at your own risk. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/body-by-science-summary-review/

Chris Wilken (@whereswilken) is founder and CEO of Let's Fix Security. He takes a behavioral approach to thinking about security, trying to make good security practices easy to implement. As a small business owner and a person in general, I've been thinking more and more about how to stay secure online. As soon as you start trying to think about how to stay secure online, you start to feel overwhelmed. It's hard to think up new passwords that are tough to hack, and it's even harder to keep them all straight. The two-factor authentication that more and more services are starting to require is annoying. I have limited resources as a solopreneur. Any unexpected interruption or loss of data means I'm not working on the things I want to be working on. Yet I also don't have the resources to have a full-time security expert to keep things buttoned up. It's probably the same for you. So this episode is for you. In this episode, we'll talk about: Are you a target? You don't have to be high-profile to be a victim of a security breach. Find out why everyone is vulnerable. How can good habits make security easy? We often put off thinking about digital security because it can be overwhelming. Throughout this whole conversation we'll be talking about how to reduce overwhelm so you can take action. Learn what the four "buckets" of security are. We'll be talking about how to prioritize your security concerns, again so you can take action. Make sure your most important stuff is secure. One thing I wanted to mention. I talk in this conversation about canisters for securing cryptocurrency paper wallets. I researched further, and it turns out that's not what they're called, so if you search, you'll have trouble finding them. They're actually intended to be "pill cases,". They are still very handy for keeping paper-based two-factor authentication numbers – especially if you're nomadic or traveling. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/digital-security-basics/

Smart phones are powerful. But with great power comes great potential to get off track. Smart phones are like a superpower. If you had x-ray vision, you wouldn't want to use it all of the time. I've discovered one simple thing to do with my smartphone. Since I started doing this, it's made me more productive than ever. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/one-phone-resolution/

Chris Bailey (@Chris_Bailey) had a crazy thought: What if, after graduating from college, instead of getting a job – what if instead he spent a year learning everything he could about productivity? Chris followed that crazy thought into a project he called "A Year of Productivity." That was five years ago, and Chris has now written two books: First, The Productivity Project, and now his new book is Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction. Chris has a unique approach to productivity advice. He mixes scientific research with his own sometimes-whacky personal experimentation. He once purposefully made himself bored for an hour a day with tasks such as "watching paint dry" or "reading the iTunes Terms and Conditions." As we go into 2019, we're all thinking about how we can be better in many things. This conversation will give you fresh thinking for how you keep yourself productive and focused. We'll talk about: How did Chris make the decision to turn down job offers and dedicate himself to studying productivity? The more confident you can be in your decisions, the more focused you can be. Chris's "regret minimization" technique will help you frame your big decisions. How does Chris separate the scientific research behind staying productive and focused from the hype around being productive and focused? The better you can separate the wheat from the chaff, the easier you can find what works for you. How can you start forming your own unique approach to productivity and focus – and how can you start that TODAY? There are already clues you can look at to start being more focused than ever. Chris is going to share those with you. Image credit: Chris Roussakis Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/chris-bailey-hyperfocus/

December 15th is the three year anniversary of Love Your Work. I've often found that it takes three years to really accomplish something, so I get the sense that something big is around the corner. Then again, the podcast has recently become profitable, so maybe that big thing is already here. We often want results right away, but oftentimes, it takes three years. I talk about it on today's episode. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/three-years/

When your life gets too comfortable, you stop taking risks. Loss aversion takes hold and you become complacent. You stop innovating. You stop being dynamic. By the time you realize you've become irrelevant, it's already too late to change. This is one of the main themes behind the work of Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen). Tyler writes one of the most influential economics blogs in the world – if not THE most influential – at marginalrevolution.com. He's also an economics professor at George Mason University. In Tyler's book, The Complacent Class, he argues that Americans are getting too comfortable, and not taking risks – or, as the title would imply, they're getting complacent. Average is Over – another of Cowen's books argues. The complacency of Americans is leading to The Great Stagnation, another of Tyler's books. Instead of being stagnant, we should be dynamic. Keep learning, take risks, and step out of your comfort zone. This, Tyler believes, will lead to economic growth, which Tyler argues is a good thing in his latest book, Stubborn Attachments. I was thinking about the theme of taking risks and stepping outside of your comfort zone just before I wrote this intro in a cafe in Chicago. Moments prior, I was thinking about how – out of all of the places in the world – this cafe was not where I wanted to be in that moment. Not only had my Colombian visa application been rejected, but my first AirBNB stop in Chicago turned out to have a bedbug infestation – so I had to hastily move to a different one. But then I realized that while my life is riddled with problems in recent months – and if you're interested in details, listen to my recent notes right here on this podcast, especially "An Update on My Colombian Visa." While my life has these problems, these problems lead to growth. They're problems that lead to a lifestyle that I have built and that I continue to build. I could avoid all of these problems by living a more comfortable and stable lifestyle, but that wouldn't help me grow in the ways I want to grow. It would cause me to stagnate. Critically important, I've designed my life and work to withstand volatility – whether that's political, financial, or emotional volatility. Not only can I withstand that volatility, I can grow from it. I've built this outlook with the support of Tyler's thinking. I find him to have a holistic view of the economics that rule our world – with uncommon emphasis on art, culture, and creativity. So, this is perfect timing to have Tyler on the show. In this conversation, we'll explore: Why should you move? Tyler says that even if you're merely considering a change, that probably means you should make that change. He explains the data that tells you why. Is there a "next Austin" just waiting to explode in growth? Find out where that "next Austin" might be so you can get there first and take advantage of the opportunity. One way we get complacent is by trusting algorithms to make all of our decisions for us, whether that's on Netflix or Facebook or Amazon. How can you be "anti-algorithm", and how can being "anti-algorithm" help you be more dynamic. Image credit: [Politics and Prose Bookstore](https://www.flickr.com/photos/politicsandprose/5907532234/in/album-72157627002886179/ ). Love Your Work is now available on Pandora! Pandora recently launched a podcast genome, and Love Your Work is one of the few hand-picked podcasts included in the public beta. To sign up for the beta, go to https://pandorapodcastbeta.splashthat.com Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://audible.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/tyler-cowen-interview/

We're wired to seek pleasure, and avoid pain. But to make it as a creator, you need to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Many things that feel good about creating can hold you back, while many things that feel bad are powerful fuel. Stoicism is a philosophy that has been getting a lot of attention lately. Ryan Holiday, who we talked with on episode 31 is one modern popularizer of Stocism. In today's episode, I share with you eight mantras I tell myself to resist temptations that will only hurt my creative work in the long run. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/eight-stoic-mantras-creators/

Amber Rae (@heyamberrae] was on the wrong path. She was swept up in the hype of the Silicon Valley startup scene. She was working too many hours on too many projects. She pushed herself so hard, she drove herself into anxiety, addiction, and eventually triggered a seizure. But Amber was doing some writing on the side. That writing helped her discover what she was hiding from, and find meaning in her past. In Amber's mess, she found the message. Now Amber helps entrepreneurs and creators develop emotional mastery. She's sharing what she's learned in her new book, Choose Wonder Over Worry: Move Beyond Fear and Doubt to Unlock Your Full Potential. In today's conversation, we'll talk about: What's easy for you, but amazing for others? You'll hear shortcuts you can take to find the secret superpower hiding right beneath your nose. How did Amber become a writer by accident? You'll hear about the way she mentally framed the work she did, and how that held her back in some areas, while propelling her forward in others. What did Amber learn from working closely with Seth Godin? What did she do when Seth told her he thought the project she was working on would wind up a failure? Amber's a very exciting creator, and there's much much more to this conversation, so listen to hear the rest. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/amber-rae-podcast/

I regretfully have to cancel tonight's meetup in Chicago.

One thing I've discovered in talking to many of my guests is that your creative voice doesn't magically appear in your mind. You have to put in the work, and then your voice emerges from that work. But to do that work, you have to keep your creative machinery working. You have to keep putting out work, and you have to keep cleaning out the waste that gets in the way of putting out that work. That's what I'm talking about on this week's episode. I call it "creative hygiene." Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/creative-hygiene/

Bad news.

A long and detailed update about the status of my Colombian visa.

Ariel Garten (@ariel_garten) envisions a world where we can control computers with our minds. She's on the cutting edge of computer and brain interfaces with her creation, the Muse headband. Ariel sent me a headband a few months ago, and I've been using it to refine my meditation sessions. The headband gives me neurofeedback to help me identify a relaxed-focus mental state. So while I'm meditating, I get audio feedback that's an expression of my brain's activity. That audio feedback helps me adjust my meditation technique. The point of muse is to train your brain into focusing on one thing so you can build that skill and carry it over into other forms of meditation, as well as to have the mental awareness throughout the day to manage your attention and focus. I've experimented with EEG headsets before. I first bought one about seven years ago. The Muse absolutely blows away that experience. In addition to being useful for meditation, it is also a clinical-grade headset – used by neuroscientists everywhere – that measures all brainwaves as well as certain movements. In this conversation, we'll talk about: What mental cues can keep you in a meditative state? We'll talk about how mental cues differ from one form of meditation to another, and how those cues relate to what Muse measures. How do you develop a product with a new technology, when the application is unclear? Hear Ariel's story about how Muse started as a playful experiment, and evolved into a useful product. How do you follow disparate interests to an original idea. Ariel has a background in psychotherapy, fashion design, neuroscience (of course) – as well as having many other interests. How has that curiosity helped her arrive at an original idea, and how did she see past the naysayers who wanted her to focus on one thing? Muse is not a sponsor, but they have set up a special deal for our listeners. If you use the code LOVEYOURWORK at choosemuse.com, you'll get 15% off the Muse headset, or the new Muse 2. Plus, a portion of your purchase will support the show. Again, that's LOVEYOURWORK at choosemuse.com. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/ariel-garten-podcast/

Productivity is about mind management, not time management. I've been thinking about how this applies to managing your tasks on a day-to-day basis. I've come to realize that as long as you have the proper due dates attached to your tasks, it doesn't matter what project those todos are for. What matters is your ability to do those tasks in an energy-efficient way. In this week's episode, I share with you how I keep creative work coming with ease all day long. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/mental-state-not-todos/

Srini Rao (@unmistakableCEO) is host of the Unmistakable Creative podcast, and author of the new book, Audience of One: Reclaiming Creativity for Its Own Sake. In Audience of One, Srini gives you the tools and encouragement you need to stop focusing on external validation, and to reconnect with your creative spark. In a world where you can publish your creative work to more people than ever, it's easy to lose sight of why we create. If you're dead set on your work reaching a lot of people, ironically, you'll lose touch with that special something that makes your work resonate with others in the first place. In this conversation, we'll talk about: How do you follow up a success to reconnect with "Creativity for Its Own Sake?" We'll hear about how Srini's self-published book hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, and we'll hear about how he has struggled to reconnect with the true source of creative work that resonates with others. How do you ask a question that gets right to a great story. Srini asks great questions on his podcast, The Unmistakable Creative – in fact, I was on there recently, and he got stories out of me that I had never told before. So I loved digging into his questioning style. His thoughts on this could be as useful for a first date as they are for a podcast interview. What has Srini learned from hosting more than 700 podcast interviews? He'll break down the best tips and ways of thinking that he's gleaned from creators, bank robbers, drug dealers, performance psychologists, and more. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://everyplate.com http://earthclassmail.com

There's something I've noticed that very successful communicators do. It's a very simple tactic, but it can go a long way in making everything you say or write more engaging, more memorable, and more effective. I'll tell you about it – this thing that successful communicators do – this week. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/prompt-talking-podcast/

You hear it all of the time. Maybe you even say it yourself: It's "crazy" at work. There are unrealistic deadlines, demanding bosses, and wall-to-wall meetings. Jason Fried (@jasonfried) believes it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, he'll tell you why in his new book, called It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work. Jason needs no introduction for many of you, but for everyone else: Jason is the CEO of Basecamp, which is simple yet powerful project management software. Basecamp the software has a long history of staying simple even when it doesn't make intuitive sense. Basecamp the company, with Jason at the helm, has a long history of espousing sensible work practices, even when they don't make intuitive sense. We'll talk about: What's the difference between deadlines, and "dreadlines?" How can this simple distinction help you stay in control of your projects? How does Jason and his company struggle with it being "crazy" at work, and what do they do about it? Hear about their fascinating "uphill/downhill" tactic for deciding when to quit a project that just won't end. Hear specific ways to handle clients that make it "crazy" at work. Jason will tell you exactly what to say, and guide you through a real-life scenario using the stoic technique of "negative visualization." Jason was the very first guest on Love Your Work, three years ago. I'm thrilled to have him back. Image credit: Michael Berger Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jason-fried-podcast-2/

When you're marketing your business, it's easy to gravitate toward sure bets. Things you can do and be assured of a positive outcome. But these sure bets can cause you to miss out on asymmetric opportunities: Things that take a small amount of investment, with a small chance of a very big upside. We talked about asymmetric opportunities in last week's conversation with Tynan. This week, I'll tell you how to find asymmetric opportunities for growing your business. These are also known as "Black Swans." We'll get to why. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://babbel.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/black-swan-marketing-podcast/

Sometimes an idea pops into your head, and you think to yourself, "nah, that's insane!" Then you move on with living your regular life. We all have these ideas. Sometimes we don't even notice them. In The Heart to Start, I called the source of these crazy ideas "The Voice." The thing is, sometimes these crazy ideas are what you call "asymmetrical": It doesn't take much to try them out, but the potential payoffs are huge. Our guest today has to be the king of crazy ideas. Tynan (@tynan) is his name. That's it, he just has one name – like Madonna. Tynan. Just a few of the crazy ideas that Tynan has followed through on: He owns a private island (it's not as expensive as you think); he lived in San Francisco, rent-free in an RV, for several years; and he owns both a minivan and a Bentley. Tynan is also a serial self-publisher, and watching his self-publishing story was a source of inspiration for me as I made the leap from traditional to self publishing. I first met Tynan several years ago. He joined mutual friends of ours for dinner during my mini-life in Austin. When I met Tynan, I thought to myself "if and when I have a podcast, this is definitely the type of person I want to have as a guest." Here's some of what you'll learn: What thought processes can you employ to seek out interesting opportunities in your life? How can you prevent yourself from making an emotional decision about your crazy ideas, and instead see the true cost/benefit? If you have a crazy idea, but you have hesitation about following it, what are some ways you can break through that hesitation, and any other mental blocks you see? Tynan's new book is Forever Nomad, and his site Cruisesheet is full of the best cruise deals. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/tynan-podcast/

What does it really take to "make it" as a creative entrepreneur? I often have people asking me for ideas on strategies for how to smoothly transition from their day jobs to making their art for a living. Is it possible? What do you have to do? I always feel like I have an answer that they don't want to hear. But here it is anyway, in this week's episode. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/walk-through-fire/

Nathan Barry (@nathanbarry) knows better than anyone: Sometimes, you're working hard on something, and it's just not happening. How do you decide whether to double down, or shut down? This is what Nathan was asking himself two years after launching his email service, ConvertKit. He was bringing in only $1,500 a month, and he was losing customers every month. It was time to decide: Double down, or shut down. Today, ConvertKit brings in much more than $1,500 a month. They recently had their first million dollar month. Spoiler alert: Instead of shutting down, Nathan did double down. Today, we'll analyze how he made that decision: When Nathan decided to double down, he had no idea if his business would succeed. How did Nathan – and his spouse – mentally prepare for the worst-case scenario? Nathan had to dig into his savings to the tune of $100,000 to double down on ConvertKit. What criteria did he use to know whether or not to quit. What was the one question Nathan asked himself that ultimately got him to double down? This is a super valuable conversation. It's incredibly helpful if you've been working on a project that just isn't taking off. I've used this conversation myself to think about this podcast, how I define success, and how I should divvy up my own resources amongst my various projects. (Note: Since recording this episode, ConvertKit has decided not to rebrand as Seva after all.) Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/nathan-barry-podcast/

It's no surprise that we procrastinate on things that we don't want to do. But why do we procrastinate on things we do want to do?: Our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. I call it aspiration procrastination, and there's a fascinating theory from psychology that can help you understand why you put off your dreams, and what you can do about it. I'll talk about it in this week's episode. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/aspiration-procrastination/

Steve Stewart was manager of the band Stone Temple Pilots. He guided them from being an unknown funk band to a multi-platinum powerhouse whose sound is synonymous with 90's grunge. With Steve by STP's side, they sold over 25 million records, for nearly half a billion dollars in sales. But then the Internet happened. The record industry wasn't selling many CD's or records anymore. Fans were becoming a bigger part of helping music spread, and free music was key to the new success equation. Steve had to stand by helplessly as big music industry players shot themselves in the foot, and tightened their budgets in the process. But now, Steve is trying to fill in the gap that free music created. Now, imagine that Justin Bieber paid you. With Steve's new company, that could become true. Steve is now CEO of Vezt. With Vezt, music fans like you can buy a share of the future earnings of a song. So if you're a Justin Bieber fan, you could at some point buy a share of his song. (In case you're wondering, you can't "short" a song, these aren't stocks you're buying.) We're going to learn more about how that works in today's conversation. Find out: What artistic decisions did Stone Temple Pilots have to make in order to become a huge success? I take Steve back to the early days, and we find out why early-90's music critics have called him to apologize. How does Vezt fill in the hole that music-sharing created? Fans have become a part of the music promotion process, with Vezt, they'll start getting a piece of the pie. Blockchain companies are hot now, but the blockchain is not always relevant to the business model. What about blockchain technology makes Vezt possible? Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/steve-stewart-stone-temple-pilots-vezt/

You've heard the advice to find your passion. You've probably also heard the advice that finding your passion is bad advice. But if you shouldn't "find" your passion, what should you do? Isn't passion important? New research tells us exactly what is wrong with "finding" your passion. It's the subject of this week's article. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/dont-find-your-passion/

Brave is a new browser that's reinventing the attention economy. Brave does block ads, but it's not just an ad blocker. It also blocks scripts that slow down your browsing experience, invade your privacy, and leave you vulnerable to hackers. Since much of the internet currently runs on the ad-supported model, Brave doesn't stop there, with the blocking of ads. They've invented a cryptocurrency that could change creative monetization forever. You can use the Basic Attention Token, or BAT, to pay creators whose content you consume most – or, as a site owner, you can earn BAT. In fact, I've earned some BAT myself. In the future, Brave says they will be paying you for browsing content. Now how does that work!? We'll talk about that and more in today's conversation. I'm talking to Jonathan Sampson (@bravesampson), who is Brave's Senior Developer Relations Specialist. We'll talk about: How did we end up with an internet where we need a browser like Brave. Brave's founder and CEO invented Javascript, yet Brave blocks a ton of Javascript. How did that happen? Brave claims to save you about $23 a month, and give you a browsing experience up to 8 times faster. Where do those gains come from? How is it possible that Brave could pay you for browsing the web? Where would the money come from, and who will be missing out on that money? I've been using Brave regularly for a few months now, and I really enjoy it. As we'll talk about in this conversation, if you'd like to support the work I do, download Brave at kadavy.net/brave. If you stick with it for 30 days, Brave will reward me with $5 worth of BAT. Again, that's kadavy.net/brave. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-brave-browser/

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Just ask me, as I'm on my temporary exile in Peru right now, since having my Colombian visa rejected. If we can't plan something in our morning, if we can't plan something when we visit a website, then where do we get the idea that we can plan things as complex as our lives? Or as complex as a big project, such as a book? When things don't go as planned, you get new information. You can use that information to make a new plan. So, in this week's article, I'm suggesting that you make things not going as planned part of the plan. It can take you places you never expected to go. Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/plan-for-the-unplanned/

BJ Mendelson (@bjmendelson) is author of Privacy: And How to Get it Back. One of the key themes we've been exploring on Love Your Work over the past three years has been just how it is that creators get paid. This was certainly top of my mind when I doubled down on writing and podcasting and moved to Colombia with no clear business model in site. To understand how creators get paid, we need to understand the entire economy of content. How does content get monetized, and how much or how little of that monetization makes it to creators? We've talked about how the economics of content shape technology in my essay on the Behavioral Revolution. We've talked about how those economics promote digital distraction in conversations with Hooked author, Nir Eyal. We've talked about new models for monetization – such as cryptocurrency-based compensation – with Steemit CEO Ned Scott, and with Maneesh Sethi from Pavlok. Today, we're going to dig into privacy. When you understand how your privacy is being invaded to keep the web running, it becomes more clear just where things will be going in the future, and what you can do as both a creator and consumer of content to make that a bright future for yourself and your fellow creator. In this conversation, we'll learn: What are the ways that our privacy is invaded to keep the web running. Why does it matter? What can you do to protect your privacy, and encourage companies to search for other ways to monetize? Is the online advertising industry in for a day of reckoning? What trends should you, as a creative entrepreneur, be aware of? Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Thank you supporters! To help, go to kadavy.net/donate. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://backblaze.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/bj-mendelson-privacy/

Socializing is good. But socializing as a default — out of some Fear Of Missing Out — is not good. If you can find the discipline to pursue your work, while others are just killing time, you will have mastered The Art of Staying In. The Art of Staying In is deciding not to go out and socialize just because it's the default thing to do. Instead, you use that time and energy to take control of your life and your work. If you master The Art of Staying In, two things will happen. One, you'll suddenly have a lot more time and get a lot more done. And two, you'll suddenly be in control of your destiny. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/stay-in-podcast/

Adam Conover (@adamconover) had good things going for him. He had just graduated from college, and his sketch comedy group was a hit. So many people were watching their videos! This was before YouTube, so they kept on having to find new places to host the videos, there was so much traffic. But then the group broke up. At first, Adam wasn't worried. Since he had so much success, he figured he could easily build a career in comedy. But he slowly learned that he was wrong. It was slow going. Today, Adam has his own hit show, Adam Ruins Everything, on TruTV. On Adam Ruins Everything, Adam takes a well-researched and hilarious approach to straightening out popular myths and misconceptions. Adam has "ruined" Tylenol, pure bred dogs, and diamond engagement rings, just to name a few things. Adam Ruins Everything starts its third season on TruTV this fall. So what happened? How did Adam work his way back to success in comedy? In this episode you'll learn: How did Adam discover that "ruining" things was his calling? What mindset did Adam have that helped him bounce back from failure to find success again? In businesses where personal connections are important, why does Adam tell you NOT to suck up to successful people. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]." Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/adam-conover-podcast/

After publishing my first book, it took me six years to publish my second book. After publishing my second book, it took me only six months to publish my fourth book. I published three books in the past six months, and I learned a ton along the way. I'm going to share it with you today. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/self-publishing-lessons/

Phil Thompson (@Cape_Horn_CHI) is the illustrator and business mind behind Cape Horn Illustration, which sells Chicago wall art. Today we have a great discussion on making art that sells. Phil's portfolio of products includes maps of microbreweries in Chicago, marathon maps for all of the major marathons, and "home portraits." His work has been featured on the sets of major motion pictures like "The Big Sick," and "Blockers." Phil also happens to be my mastermind partner. We've been talking every two weeks about how to balance our individual artistic visions with what the market wants. We've learned a lot in our conversations, and I'm really excited to be sharing Phil and his work with you today. Today, we'll talk about: How do you "validate" your art. Hear about Phil's first experiments in selling his artwork online. What did he learn from his first success, and what did he learn from his first big failure? How do you make your art marketable? Learn to think about what your art does for someone. How does that translate into sales? How can you turn your interests into profitable art? I love how Phil has been able to take his curiosities – whether it's running marathons or learning about Chicago architecture – and he's been able to use those curiosities to fuel profitable art. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/phil-thompson/

You heard me talk last week about morning routines, with the co-author of My Morning Routine, Benjamin Spall. I have a new morning routine I've been practicing this year, and it's been giving me some of my best ideas yet. The amazing part is I'm able to do this routine before I even get out of bed. I'll tell you why in this essay. Sponsors http://earthclassmail.com http://weebly.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/stay-bed-podcast/

Benjamin Spall is co-author of the new book, My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired. He and his co-author have interviewed 300 successful people from business, fitness, and the arts. People like Biz Stone, Arianna Huffington, General Stanley McCrystal, and Marie Kondo. The way you spend your first hour of your day sets the tone for the rest of your day. But there seems to be endless ways to you can spend this precious time. Should you meditate? Go for a jog? Do some writing? Oh, and I'm in the book as well (page 132). They interviewed me about my morning routine, and my evening routine. I'll tell you why I wear the dorkiest orange goggles imaginable before bed. They've looked for the patterns amongst successful people to find out the things you'll hear about in this conversation. Things like: What time do successful people get up in the morning? You hear a lot of talk about getting up at 4 a.m.. Is that the norm? How do successful people manage technology to get the most out of their days? You'll hear a tip from a former Love Your Work guest, Nir Eyal. And if you haven't optimized your morning routine, the options can be overwhelming. How can you start making lasting changes now? Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com http://weebly.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/morning-routines-podcast/

Clear prioritization inspires clear action. But how do you decide what's the most important todo item to tackle first? For me, I like to listen to my body. It's the subject of this week's essay. Sponsors http://weebly.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/listen-body-podcast

You've heard about the importance of working with people who come from different perspectives. But will that automatically lead to great work? It's not so simple. Our guest today, Shane Snow, was curious about why diverse teams are supposedly so powerful, when they're in fact hard to pull off. That's why he wrote this new book, Dream Teams. In this book, Shane really breaks down what makes a truly great team. How can you have just the right amount of conflict to have better ideas and go farther as a team, without the relationships turning sour. Even though I work by myself, I really enjoyed this book. It's full of great stories of dream teams throughout history, and it really made me think about how to seek out differing perspectives in improving the work I do. In this conversation, Shane and I talk about: Do we always have better ideas working with a team? What are the key components of making something great as a group? We also talk a lot about writing. How did Shane turn his curiosity for one subject, into a marketable idea about Dream Teams? We also trade tips about how we do research for the books we write. Hear exactly Shane and my different approaches to doing research and collecting ideas to write about. Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/shane-snow-interview/

I have a new book! STEEM is revolutionizing the way creators get paid. I've cashed out over $4,000 from writing on the STEEM blockchain. The most amazing thing is – nobody had to pay me a dime. You heard me interview STEEM co-creator Ned Scott on episode 71. I explained how to make money on STEEM on episode 110. This short read is an updated and slightly expanded version of that free episode. Grab the new book – on Kindle, Paperback, or Audible – at kadavy.net/steembook

If you've heard about stoic philosophy, you've heard about Seneca. Stoicism is in many ways about being indifferent to pleasure or pain. One thing that's pleasurable is getting free things. Free things like Facebook. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the mainstream is really waking up to the true cost of "free." If something is supposedly "free," you're paying for it in some other way, whether that's with your data, or just the opportunity costs of your attention. As you'll see, even Seneca knew that almost 2,000 years ago. I've of course talked many times on this podcast about the broken economics of media. With Nir Eyal on episode 21, also on episode 22 when I talked about The Behavioral Revolution, and many many other times. I wrote this article two years ago, but with everything going on in the collective conscious, I thought it would be a good time to dig it out and share it on the podcast. It might help you reframe the idea of "free" in your mind, and make smart choices that make you the person you want to be. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/seneca-facebook-podcast/

Tim Kasher's (@timkasher) work is deeply embedded in my creative DNA. When I was a young 20-something sitting in a cubicle in Omaha, Nebraska, Tim's work and his success was there to inspire me to find my own creative voice. Tim is one of the pioneers of indie music. He's the frontman of Cursive. Of all of the Cursive songs out there, you're most likely to have heard "The Recluse." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JcFgL2qO9Y The Recluse is on Cursive's most successful album. The Ugly Organ recently passed its 15-year anniversary, and has sold an amazing 170,000 copies. Before Cursive, Tim was in a band with Conor Oberst, of the band Bright Eyes, called Commander Venus. After leaving Commander Venus to focus on Cursive, Tim also started a folk band, The Good Life. Omaha in the mid 90's and early 2000's was an indie-rock fan's paradise. Artists like Kasher and Oberst cross-pollinated. They started producing their own cassettes, and eventually formed the label Saddle Creek Records, featuring bands like Bright Eyes and The Faint. The success of Saddle Creek records was a sign of the times. The Internet was allowing great music to spread. They could use lower-cost production and distribution, and communication for spreading their music and booking shows, and a cluster of kids from Nebraska could build a fanbase around the world. I personally always found the story of Saddle Creek records and Tim Kasher inspiring. When the world was telling me to live one way, it seemed like the band members of the various Saddle Creek bands were always underfoot in any bar I stepped into. They were there to remind me you could do things your way, no matter where you're from. I guess that message was still with me when I left Silicon Valley, and as I moved to Colombia to double down on writing and making this podcast. The message that you can "make it" anywhere. You can get by on the power of your ideas. I also love that Tim isn't afraid to follow what interests him. He was brave to split genres between Cursive and The Good Life, and now he's branching off into other crafts. He recently wrote, directed, and produced his first feature film, No Resolution. Following the theme of dysfunctional relationships you'll often hear in Tim's lyrics, No Resolution is about a rift between an engaged couple on a particular New Year's Eve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f6Uzn6LgOI Since Tim is multi-talented, he couldn't stop at writing and making an entire film, he even made a soundtrack to go along with it. I'm thrilled to have Tim Kasher on the show. This is a great conversation for anyone looking to find their creative voice, and the courage to follow their unique path. Learn: How does Tim think about genre? Fitting the confines of a genre can water your creative work down, but it can also help it find an audience. How did Tim avoid the "sophomore slump?" He had to push himself to find his creative truth. How does Tim follow his many interests? You can worry that you're spreading yourself thin, but Tim wanted to pave the way for other artists to do what's interesting to them. Clips you'll hear during the interview are The Martyr, and Art Is Hard. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/tim-kasher-podcast-interview/

I was forced to leave Colombia, but now I'm back. Thanks everyone for the help over the past week. I'll explain shortly what happened, and what my situation is now. If you're interested in an even more in-depth, though somewhat redundant overview, delivered after a good night's sleep, watch this Facebook live. If you've been considering supporting the show, now is still a good time. This snafu has disrupted much of the past month, and will require more travel and expense to keep things going as normal. You can donate at http://kadavy.net/donate. I'm also accepting the following cryptocurrencies: bitcoin:3FKfyxtQ8wUww4XxGF9EZ6ukKzbPqCe3aQ ethereum:0xE3CF82Feb6B83b18E37b472017e2a660d33B6fe0 monero:43AV7YumpkB4eAPgv3uMpW63svuqaM1C8ZdEoPvZe76wU8gxZYsdiqSEB4TJUTkD3s7rmHzoxdEubBY7qNzyEAFf3HC4Knp

Human productivity has its limits. You can only type so fast. You can only fill out a spreadsheet so fast. But creativity is infinite. It takes no time to have an idea, but not all ideas are created equal. Traditional productivity and creative productivity seem to be at odds with each other. This week's essay explores why productivity is limited, and creativity is infinite. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/creativity-infinite-podcast/

A short note for you listeners. I got kicked out of Colombia. I hope to keep bringing you a high-quality show. Thank you so much for your support. If you want to help keep the show coming, please support on Patreon at kadavy.net/donate

Is the educational system a waste of time and money? Most people can agree that schools are inefficient, boring, and expensive. I personally love learning, but I always hated school. Yet, if you're like me, you're probably initially resistant to the idea that we should spend less on the educational system. Our guest today, Bryan Caplan (@bryan_caplan), wants to make the case for spending less time, less money, and less human energy on trying to educate people. He's author of the new book, The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money. Bryan says that people aren't making more money after earning a college degree because they learned more. It's just the piece of paper itself that employers care about. If we didn't push so many people to earn college degrees – and to rack up debt in the process – degrees wouldn't be a base-level requirement for survival in today's job market. Intriguing isn't it? In this conversation, you'll find out: What's the difference between the "signaling" and the "human capital" models of looking at education? Why is this the key to seeing education as a waste of time and money? If we cut education, won't inequality get worse? Bryan tells us why he thinks cutting education spending would actually bring more opportunity to the underprivileged. What is the "social desirability bias?" Bryan tells us why this bias leads us blindly into wasting time and money on so-called education. It's a thought-provoking conversation. You're bound to hear something you don't agree with, and you'll be forced to think about it. Hopefully you enjoy that as much as I do. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Sponsors http://skillshare.com/loveyourwork http://weebly.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/bryan-caplan-interview/

As humanity progresses, we're always finding new resources to optimize. Time is one resource we optimize. But the idea of time management has become so ubiquitous, it's hard to imagine what it's like to not manage our time. By understanding that time management as we know it hasn't been around forever, we can be prepared for the next resource to be optimized. I talk more about that in this week's essay. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me [email protected]. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/time-management-invention-podcast/