Hiya,

A quick note inspired by a person whose moustache I deeply admire—

That ☝️ is why I've been inconsistent with the newsletter lately.

I've been trying to do too much. I have been spreading my cheeks too far. A-hem.

But, I've been whole-assing it lately.

I've been consumed with launching my next course/community, now officially called The Escape Artists.

It's for creative people who want to create more for themselves vs just for other brands/agencies. And I'm not talking art for art's sake but about making things that matter and make money. Big things like your own product, brand, personal brand, or agency. Or writing a book, starting a podcast, etc.

______________________

I'm painfully realizing ONCE AGAIN that bringing anything significant into the world takes 100 times more effort, energy and time than we anticipate.

And on top of that, we don't have nearly as much time as we think we do in each day or year or lifetime because...

Even if you're organized and motivated, there is so much that can happen outside of our control.

Family members can get sick. We can get sick.

There are planned vacations. Unplanned holidays.

Children to look after. Pets to look after.

Meals to cook. Missing socks to track down.

Doomscrolling. White Lotus-ing.

And let's not forget that thing called a job.

And what about all the ships? Relationships. Friendships. Pirate.

Then there's our internal resistance, which gets more intense the deeper into a project we get.

It's a miracle anyone finishes anything. Which is why (DAN! and readers who need to hear this)... if you want to make big things, lots of big things, you've got to choose one and make it your sole focus and your soul focus.

Pick something and start fuc*ing tomorrow. Or tonight. And start chipping away.

It took Michelangelo 4 years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

He averaged 18-hour work days. That's 26,280 hours. On one project. 

But when did he work? When did he see his kids? His family? His friends? And the other ninja turtles?

This was his work. He never had any kids. Or romantic relationships. Like ever.

Art was his job, his hobby, his passion, his everything.

If he had only spent an hour a day on it, it would have taken him 72 years.

But most of us do only HAVE that 1 HOUR A DAY (on a good day) to make things outside of our 9-to-5. 

And if we aren't working on a big project daily, momentum ebbs and distraction flows. And not just the day-to-day distraction from the social networks hijacking our brains.

We get distracted by the next big idea that pops into our brain. And then in 10 years, instead of having 3 big ideas in the world, we have 100 big ideas, each one 0% finished.

We need to get in reality with the amount of time it takes to make things and the amount of time we have. If we spread our cheeks too wide (sorry, again) or don't spread them at all, we'll never paint the ceilings of our chapels. We'll only ever sweep the floors.

Are you whole-assing anything at the moment? Or even half-cheeking something? If you are, what is it? Are you stuck? What's the problem? Tell me.

And if you are not whole-assing or half-cheeking anything and that's your problem, sign up to the dang waitlist.

At most, I'm a month away from launch, which means you're a month away from focusing on your first/next big thing.

If you enjoyed this, please do me a solid and 👍, 💬 and/or ♻️ this LinkedIn post right here.

If you have any questions, 🪓 me.