Love Your Work

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95. Be Productively Curious. Ian Leslie, author of "Curious: The Desire to Know, and Why Your Future Depends On It" Oct 12, 2017

Show notes

Ian Leslie (@mrianleslie) is author of Curious: The Desire to Know, and Why Your Future Depends On It.

If you've ever had a lot of free time, you know how scary it can be. The very first day that I was on my own, more than ten years ago, I woke up to just vastness. I had a whole day ahead of me that I needed to fill up with something. I figured I'd have the best shot of making it if I just followed my curiosity.

I figured if I started with curiosity, I could keep myself from getting off track and wasting time. I also figured I would end up somewhere special, and most importantly, I'd be doing something I loved.

So I followed my curiosity and I ended up combining my interests in design, in programming, and in entrepreneurship. That became my first book, Design for Hackers.

Following your curiosity can be really powerful, but how do you deal with having disparate curiosities? How do you make sure you're being productively curious?

Ian wrote the book on being productively curious. In Curious, Ian Leslie explains what curiosity is, why it's important, and why there's a growing curiosity divide: Some people are getting curious, while others are getting less curious. The more curious will be at a distinct advantage as the world gets more complex, and traditional work gets more scarce.

In this conversation, we'll talk about:

What's the difference between diversive curiosity and epistemic curiosity? One can get us off track, while the other can really pay off.
If you have lots of varied interests, how do manage your curiosity? You want curiosity to pay off, but you don't want to be merely distracting yourself from being productive.
A popular opinion these days is that you shouldn't bother memorizing anything, because you can look it up. Ian explains why he disagrees with this. Learn why a well-stocked mind is your best tool for breakthrough insights.

I talked to Ian for more than an hour, but that's more than we were able to put in the show today. We pay by the minute for editing the podcast, so we edited the conversation down to the most critical elements about being productively curious.

But, if you are a Love Your Work Elite member, be sure to listen to the full, uncut interview for some bonus listening.

There are some GEMS in there. In particular, towards the end, I asked Ian how he thinks about writing book proposals. I've struggled myself with writing book proposals. It seems like you have to write the whole book, before you can write the proposal, before you can get the book deal to write the book for real.

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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 david@kadavy.net.

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/ian-leslie-interview/

94. In Ten Years, Will You be Glad? Oct 05, 2017

Show notes

I recently passed my tenth year as a self-employed independent creator. I don't recommend it.

I say that, and some people don't believe me. When I wrote this post that I'm sharing on today's show, some people thought it was some kind of a click-bait strategy.

I think it's because this post kind of takes a turn. It starts off sounding a little grim, but it ends up sounding hopeful.

The thing is, I never expected so many people to read this post. As of right now, it has over 46,000 views on Medium.

When I sat down to write this a couple of months ago, as my tenth anniversary was approaching, I did so with genuine questions in my mind. I wanted to know if I had made a horrible mistake. I wanted to find out if I had been fooling myself.

It was really a journal entry for myself. I didn't submit it to any publications, where it was sure to be read. But, sharing some of my most uncomfortable thoughts is my job as a writer. So, I just put it on my main feed on Medium. At least it was out there, but I wasn't thrusting it into the world.

Publishing this post was a lesson that the power of a post is enough to carry it. I think it's easy to forget that when the popular wisdom is to make sure you share on all of your social channels, and ask people to upvote, and maybe even send it to your friends. I did none of those things, and this one still took off.

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Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at lywelite.com.

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 david@kadavy.net.

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/ten-years-podcast/

93. Art is Your Job. Creator of NBC's The Blacklist, Jon Bokenkamp, on screenwriting Sep 28, 2017

Show notes

Jon Bokenkamp (@jonbokenkamp) wanted to be a screenwriter. So, he decided it was his job. He sat at his desk from nine to five every day, writing frantically, and each night he went to another job. One that paid him. He waited tables.

After three years, he sold his first screenplay. Then he sold some others here and there. Then the phone stopped ringing. After one failed script, he was contractually obligated to write one more.

That script became The Blacklist (Netflix). It's a thriller on NBC starring James Spader. They're starting their fifth season this week.

Spader plays Reddington, a veteran, private-jet-setting criminal who acts as an informant to the FBI, and who has a puzzling interest in agent Elizabeth Keen, played by Megan Boone.

In this conversation, we're going to learn:

What was the mindset that Jon put himself in to make it through the three-year project of writing his first screenplay?
How does Jon ward off his distractibility, and channel it into his writing method? I think it's a great lesson in how in creative work, the final product is totally different from the process used to get there.
How has Jon's writing process changed now that he has a whole team, and basically has to write a movie a week?

Jon is a Nebraska-native like me. Hopefully you won't mind listening to us reminisce a little about that strange place in the beginning. If not, skip ahead, and you'll hear some really great stuff on doing tough and long creative projects.

Image: Flickr user Thibault

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jon-bokenkamp-the-blacklist-interview/

92. Listen to "The Voice" Sep 21, 2017

Show notes

I'm working on a new book. It's called Getting Art Done, and it's going to help you boost your creative productivity and make your masterpiece.

Today I'm going to read a sample chapter from the first draft of Getting Art Done. It's about the voice inside your head, and how it can lead to your most explosive ideas.

To learn more and preview Getting Art Done, visit gettingartdone.com.

Join Love Your Work Elite Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at lywelite.com.

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 david@kadavy.net.

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/the-voice-podcast/

91. Emmy-award winning set designer for Bill Nye, Martha Stewart, & Snoop Dogg, James Pearse Connelly Sep 14, 2017

Show notes

James Pearse Connelly (@jpconnelly, Instagram: @jpconnelly) is an Emmy-Award-winning television set designer. He's designed sets for shows like Bill Nye Saves the World, Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, The Voice, and Top Chef.

I wanted to have James on the show to learn how he does creativity on a large scale, with literally moving parts, and an unforgiving production schedule. I figured that to do what James does, which is express the feel of a show through architecture and materials and fabrics and furniture, and to deliver on-time, James must really know his creative process. And you can tell from this conversation, he really does.

Even if you aren't a designer, chances are you work on creative projects all of the time that have lots of unknowns in the beginning. The work James does just puts a magnifying glass on what it takes to make creative work come with less pain, no matter what medium you're working in.

In this show, you'll learn:

How do you create a design that supports an idea and serves the client, rather than one that just follows trends.
How does James manage his creative vision across a whole staff?
We'll really get inside James's head for some of his best set designs. How does he integrate a subtle design language into his concepts? This was a really fun part of the conversation because you'll see how designers "talk" using subtle cues in their work. In this case, I think you'll be surprised all you can glean from a spiral staircase.

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I'll be holding an office hours hangout for LYW Elite members, NEXT TUESDAY, September 19th, 8pm. Sign up at lywelite.com.

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 david@kadavy.net.

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/james-pearse-connelly/

90. Success Favors Those Who Ship Sep 07, 2017

Show notes

I've been working on a new book called Getting Art Done. Today, I'm going to share with you a chapter from the first draft of the book.

This chapter about the importance of shipping your work. It's easy to fantasize about what a great creator you will be one day, while never really finishing your work in the present day.

If you make it a point to ship work, won't the quality suffer? I share what I've learned by examining the paths of great creators, and what I learned by making a point of shipping myself.

Join Love Your Work Elite

I'll be holding an office hours hangout for LYW Elite members, September 19th, 8pm. Sign up at lywelite.com.

Feedback? Questions? Comments?

I love to hear anything and everything from you. Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.

Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/success-ship-podcast/

89. Lead minds, not hands. L. David Marquet, author of Turn The Ship Around Aug 31, 2017

Show notes

L. David Marquet (@ldavidmarquet) had spent a year preparing to captain a submarine in the U.S. Navy. But at the last minute, he was assigned to a different submarine.

Not only was it a different ship than the one he had prepared for, it was also the worst ship in its fleet. It was so bad, only three men had reenlisted.

Since David didn't know the ship, and since the situation was so bad, he had to try something different. Instead of using the leader/follower model, he started using a new leader/leader model. Instead of David giving orders, and instead of his men asking permission, he started empowering each sailor to think for himself.

You may have heard Jason Fried on episode 1 recommend David's book Turn the Ship Around. In it, David Marquet tells the story of how his leader/leader model turned the USS Santa Fe from worst to first. The year after David took command of the ship, 36 men reenlisted, instead of just 3. In the decade following, 10 of those men would go on to become submarine captains themselves.

David was in Medellín, and I sat down with him to talk about this and more:

How does the leader/leader model save mental energy for everyone involved?
How can you encourage your micromanaging boss to use leader/leader?
How did David go from being a submarine captain, to writing a book that USA Today calls one of the top 12 business books of all time. How did he learn to tell stories, and how did he actually get the writing done?

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Each Love Your Work Elite member get their own personal RSS feed of bonus material, masterclasses, and early access to episodes. Sign up at lywelite.com.

Feedback? Questions? Comments?

I love to hear anything and everything from you. Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/l-david-marquet-interview/

88. Design Internship advice to a Millennial Aug 24, 2017

Show notes

Love Your Work listener Gustav Dybeck is a design student from Sweden. He has an opportunity to do an internship for about 9 months, and he wants to make the most of it before he starts his career.

You may have heard a clip a couple of episodes back on Gustav's favorite moment on Love Your Work.

He was in Medellin awhile back, and since I originally pursued a career in design, Gustav was interested in hearing what I thought he should do for his internship. So, we talked about it in a cafe.

A quick warning, there's a lot of background noise in this. It's was an off-the-cuff idea to record our conversation, so this episode is a bit of an experiment.

We'll talk about:

Experiences abroad: do they really make you more innovative?
Working for prestigious firms: is it really worth it? If you don't pursue a prestigious firm, what should you pursue?
What one experience did I personally have early in my career that completely changed my perspective about what I wanted to accomplish in design?

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Feedback? Questions? Comments?

I love to hear anything and everything from you. Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/design-internship-advice/

87. Cab driver, neuroscientist, PBS Frontline producer, conceptual artist, & Minutiae app co-founder, Daniel J. Wilson Aug 17, 2017

Show notes

Daniel J. Wilson was working on a screenplay when I met him during a mini life in Buenos Aires several years ago. I'd soon learn that he was also an accomplished artist, with his work covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The London Times, and displayed all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Daniel has also worked in film, his IMDB page includes editing credits for a number of documentaries and TV series, co-producer credits for PBS's Frontline series, credits as an actor. He's also a competitive cycler, a former NYC Yellow Cab driver, and he's currently a PhD candidate in neuroscience.

If that weren't enough, Daniel's got a new app. It's called Minutiae. It's a bit of an "anti-social" network. When Instagram encourages you to scroll through lots of photos and make your life look amazing, this app is dedicated to capturing the mundane, everyday details of life.

I hear lots of people lament their varied interests. They're usually afraid to follow their curiosity because they're afraid of what they'll leave behind.

I've experienced this a lot myself. As I've made the switch to designing in advertising and architecture, to designing for startups, to founding my own startup, to writing books, and starting this podcast – you always have to wonder if you're killing your career when you switch paths.

Here's just a few things you're going to learn in this conversation:

Daniel's app Minutiae is delightfully impractical. It won't get acquired and it won't go public. How do you get the funding to build an app that's not a business?
Why did Daniel go through all of the work to get his NYC Yellow Cab license? He actually ended up working as a cab driver!
Daniel's always switching from one field to another, and planning adventures in his life. Hear how he thinks about learning how to know the unknown.

Join Love Your Work Elite

Some levels of Love Your Work Elite now include a Masterclass video recording with Noah Kagan. I interview Noah about the formula he used to add tens of thousands of leads to his email list. Sign up at lywelite.com.

Sponsors

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/daniel-j-wilson-interview/

86. Choose your weapon to boost creative output Aug 10, 2017

Show notes

It's easier than ever for creators to get their work noticed. But, it's harder than ever to actually get that work done.

Think about it this way: You're writing a novel. You use Twitter and Facebook and write on your blog, and your work gets noticed. But, you have to put all of those distractions aside, and get to writing. If you don't, your novel will never become real.

In this week's episode, I'll show you how to pick the right creative tool for the right creative thinking. Do your best work, without letting distractions knock you off-track.

This article originally appeared on Medium

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/choose-your-weapon-podcast/

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