Motivation – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast

Adding More Weight

In order for me to understanding something, or to make sense of something, I need to dumb it down into athletic and physical terms. Sport metaphors work real well for me.

I was scribbling in my journal this morning about my inability to gain any kind of altitude. And yet I do the same thing every day expecting to generate lift. Isn’t that the definition of insanity?

But something more apt came to mind: weightlifting. This is my favorite form of exercise. It’s objective. Lift more weight, you’re stronger.

Say you’re squatting 135 pounds and it’s hard the first week. You do it the second week and it’s easier. Third week easier still. At some point, you need to add weight to the bar to test yourself, to stretch yourself, to test your limitations.

I know this is true for me regarding my writing, career, podcasting: I’ve just been squatting the same 135 pounds day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year and wondering, why am I not getting any stronger?

The real question becomes: What’s the equivalent of adding weight to the bar in a progressive manner that doesn’t create injury but still gets us to where we want to go?

Slow = Fast

By Brendan O’Meara

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I may have said this before but it bears repeating: slow is fast.

I read a great quote thanks to the brilliant NITCH account, from the actor Viggo Mortensen:

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was: go slow to go fast. We live as though there aren’t enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.

That’s so spot on.

And if you’re a fan of Cal Newport’s work and his concept of Deep Work, it means turning off the notifications, turning off the WiFi and methodically going about the work. Don’t check Twitter or Facebook or IG as it’ll spike the cortisol and make you feel like crap. It’s like a candy sugar high. You might get a bump, but the crash isn’t worth it.

Try five super deep breaths if you need a moment. Try a short walk. Then get back to the work, bit by bit, drip by drip, and you’ll feel much more accomplished.

Episode 169: Chase Jarvis — Discover Your Creative Calling

Chase Jarvis, author of *Creative Calling.*

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By Brendan O’Meara

Can you believe it? Chase Jarvis (@chasejarvis) is here! He’s here to talk about his incredible new book Creative Calling: Establish a Daily Practice, Infuse Your World with Meaning, and Succeed in Life + Work.

I can’t recommend it enough. Do yourself and a friend a favor and buy this book. You might want to listen and subscribe to his great podcast too, Chase Jarvis Live Show. He’s been doing this for ten+ years. Amazing stuff.

He made his bones as a photographer and might be most known for (these days) for founding Creative Live, the great online learning platform. I’ve purchased several classes that have helped me immensely.

As always, keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod, Instagram @cnfpod, and Facebook @CNFPodcast. Sign up for the monthly newsletters where I share reading recommendations and what you might have missed from the world of the podcast.

And if you’re feeling froggy, leave a kind review on Apple Podcast. We’re knocking on the door of 100. It’s a long knock, but we’re getting there. Let’s do this!

You’re going to love how Chase went about writing this book as we break open the pinata of what makes this book — and Chase — so special.

Win the Hour, Win the Day

By Brendan O’Meara

It’s so easy to get swamped and say that the book project is too big, or I have too much weight to lose, and then you end up sitting around doing nothing and feeling lousy.

The scope is too big.

But what if you broke down what it would mean to have a successful 60 minutes? What if you attacked each hour of the day with focus and rigor?

You know the old sports cliches of take it one game at a time. Well, what if you took it one hour at a time? Do the tasks that will give you great satisfaction in this hour.

Regroup. Reload. And get after the next hour. You win that hour. You start stacking up those hours. And those hours become a day. And those days become weeks.

Win micro to win macro.

Be Ready For Luck

By Brendan O’Meara

Breaking Bad had a niche audience through four seasons. It was a hyper-serialized show, perfect for binge watching…except binge watching wasn’t exactly a thing back in 2010, even 2011.

The show was critically acclaimed and doing its thing.

Then all four seasons were dumped on Netflix, which was starting to stream entire seasons of shows.

The Breaking Bad was “discovered,” and it blew up. It had one of the great final seasons and an audience hungry for what would happen.

The creators of the show could not have known that binge watching would be a thing. Breaking Bad happened to be perfectly suited for it when Netflix started streaming.

As good as Breaking Bad was, it needed luck to blast it out of the stratosphere.

But they weren’t waiting to make a good show as Netflix came along. They did the work, great work, and were ready for when the Netflix lightning strike came.

Point being, you need to be doing your thing and maybe, maybe, maybe, you’ll get lucky. But don’t expect it. Use obscurity to get great at your craft and when you’re good, maybe luck will be on your side and you’ll be ready for it.

Cutting Some Slack

By Brendan O’Meara

I skipped two days of this daily pod-blog thing.

I doubt the world was up in arms, but I’m mildly disappointed in myself because I said I’d do it every day for 100 days in a row.

But the weather was nice and I didn’t feel like being on a computer this weekend.

The world will very much keep on spinning on the days we don’t show up.

The problem becomes if we make a habit of not showing up.

That, my friend, is not an option.

Time to Quit

By Brendan O’Mearahttp://twitter.com/brendanomeara

This is a tough one. This is a real tough one.

When do you quit a project? A book?

The greatest lesson I learned from my MFA program was when a mentor told me that my book was basically unpublishable and that it’s time to move on.

That stung.

So I did move on.

And published the next book.

It might be that once you’ve given it everything, that everything isn’t enough, so you must move along.

That book you keep failing to sell might be an anchor keeping you in harbor. Just because you pull up anchor doesn’t mean the anchor is gone. But until you pull up, you’ll never move.

Quitting isn’t forever, but only you can tell when you’ve exhausted your efforts. Quitting isn’t for losers. It’s for those who realize there’s far more to do.

The Aliveness of Silence

By Brendan O’Meara

After watching the brilliant documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor, I was especially struck by how silence is anything but quiet.

Silence is an ally.

As an interviewer, it helps coax more from people.

As a human, it makes you a better listener.

And a minute—60 seconds—is a long time. It is. And it can be a gift. I can recalibrate your mind. Temper anxiety.

I’m going to give you one minute of silence. You may use it however you want. You can breathe deeply for one minute, or maybe think about somebody special to you.

Here: Have a minute on me.

Yeah, But What’s In It for THEM?

By Brendan O’Meara

I’m a newsletter junkie and the best ones are the ones that have the reader in mind. And even something as simple as phrasing goes a long way.

What works for me, and I hope you keep this in mind for your readers, is when the author frames his or her suggestions in terms of what she thinks the end user will most benefit from. Austin Kleon does this perfectly.

Others, and I won’t single anyone out because I’m not about that noise anymore, will say things like: Song I’m listening to. Quote I’m pondering. Article I’m reading.

I. Don’t. Care.

That’s implicit in the recommendation and saying you’re pondering a quote is superfluous and downright egotistical.

I guest this is a rant of sorts, but when I see that I see someone who thinks he’s Moses coming down with the tablets.

But there is a lesson here that if we get by the stifling nature of always thinking about the audience, that keeping that in mind is a way to be of greater service, because all art must be in service of an audience. That audience, of course, is up to you.

Drop Sets

By Brendan O’Meara

In weight lifting there are these sets called drop sets.

What they are is you start with heavier weight and do, say, eight reps, then drop weight, do eight more reps, and so on, for about four to five total sets in quick succession.

What happens is that first round is real heavy, but as soon as weight gets stripped away, it’s easier until you get tired. And so on.

Point is, the hardest reps are the ones at the start, but once you get moving, the weight gets lighter.

Same goes for your art. The heaviest words are always the first ones, but they get lighter and lighter as you get moving, but first you gotta lift that heavy weight so you can get the cascading effect of the drop set.

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