In 1929, the 5-day workweek was introduced in Great Britain. This occurs a couple of decades after the biggest revolution in work ever: the industrial one.

Henry Ford solidifies this idea. Factory workers learn the assembly line, productivity skyrockets, and the work-life balance is born. After the catastrophe of the Great War, there is no going back. The “weekend” is now sacred.

Fast-forward to today; we’re going through the other biggest revolution in human work: the information one.

That means we should begin to see hints of the next “weekend.” What will it look like? 4 hour work weeks? Everyone…

I had a really good meditation recently. During it, I knew my problems are invented BY me, FOR me. That’s why I’m here.

When we get so caught up in the struggle, we forget we chose this. Sometimes the veil lifts, and we see it… “Oh, I wanted struggle, pain, and challenge. Suffering is just forgetting why I’m here.”

We walk around feeling abandoned. We forgot that we decided to come here so that we could experience separation.

You went camping and forgot you had a home all along. So you’re sitting in the woods feeling sorry for yourself.

You…

The Creative Life Is Possible

A friend of mine just got a job writing on a TV Show.

She’s been teaching online comedy classes all during the pandemic. When a student (now famous) asked if her father could join, she said absolutely.

The father was a businessman his whole life. He always loved comedy but thought it was too late to start. My friend helped him see it wasn’t too late. Grateful for her kindness, he used his business acumen to get her a writing job on the TV show with his famous kid.

Alright — this is a crazy set of circumstances, I know…

The Creative Life Is Possible

“I’m fine!” she says. “I’m just tired.”

What do you think she’s really feeling? In every human interaction, there is what someone wants and how they are hiding it.

All compelling writing has the tension between the want and the smokescreen around the want.

How to find the want

Wants are easier than writers tend to make them. Human wants are simple: food, water, status, sex, connection, and safety. Anything more complicated than that is just flavor.

When you see When Harry Met Sally, you can viscerally understand each character's wants — they want sex and connection. Harry wants sex more, and Sally wants connection…

Most writers, entrepreneurs, and artists don’t make it.

I remember where I was when I decided I wanted to be a writer.

I was doing traveling sales in Kentucky, listening to Danny Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow. It was snowing. I’m from Louisiana, so this was like the third time I had seen the snow. I was inspired.

That book showed me secret backdoors to human psychology. Just because most people fail at creative pursuits didn’t mean I had to.

I decided then and there — I didn’t care how long it took. I would beat the odds.

Risk Aversion

Danny…

Can you make a decent living doing the thing you love?

YES.

Your earning potential has no limit — no matter what you’ve chosen to pursue. For example, great plumbers hire other plumbers and become millionaires.

Sure, follow your dreams, etc. But, let’s make this concrete. Let’s talk about real people making real money:

James Clear Did His Best for 3 Years

I love this recently published story about James.

“The most important thing is also the least sexy one. I wrote two to three articles per week for three years, and I tried my best every time.” — James Clear

Compare that to your dream. How long…

The Creative Life Is Possible

You’ve definitely seen his stuff. We sat down to dinner because he dates one of my oldest friends.

I’m still trying to get my pilot across the finish line of being “made.” I asked for his advice. Here’s what he told me.

“Write a lot. Meet other writers.”

Sure, we dug into the finer details. But the real advice boiled down to “write. network.”

Let’s break this down a little more.

Be where the action is

If you want to be big on Medium, you need to be involved with Medium. When I first started here, I signed up for Tim Denning’s workshop. …

In Quaker weddings, the bride and groom stare at each other’s eyes. No one is allowed to move or speak until moved by God. Sometimes they stare at each other for hours.

When the moment comes, they say vows. Now they’re married.

I’ve been a hustler. I’ve worked 60 hours a week. I’ve written my book all night. I’ve sacrificed family, social life, and mental health. And for what?

Now that I work less than 10 hours a week — and the outcome is more of an afterthought — I get more of the results I want.

Life is a…