Seth talks about leadership vs. management and also how we develop leadership like a muscle. There’s a tension when someone wants to lead, but maybe doesn’t know how for fear of failure, fear of rocking the status quo, fear of judgement. Seth makes the impossible feel possible. It was a thrill and honor to spend some time with this wonderful person.
Debbie might be most known for her incredible work in branding, where at one point or another in her illustrious career she had “touched” roughly 25% of most things on the grocery store shelves. She worked on Burger King’s logo, Tropicana, Twizzlers, and more.
But I know Debbie because of her amazing podcast Design Matters. It started in 2005 and has developed over the years to be one of the greatest interview shows in the podcast-o-sphere. As you know, there are quite a bit.
There are two faces on Mt. Podmore and it’s Debbie Millman and Joe Donahue. That’s it.
So excited to have the one and only Alexandra DiPalma back on the show to talk all things podcasting.
She leads the Podcast Workshop, a part of Akimbo Workshops, and in it you’ll learn what it means to find your voice and develop skills that will translate to other areas of your life and career.
If you follow this link ===> THIS ONE <=== you’ll get pretty slick discount. I’m not sure when it expires, but check it out.
We wouldn’t tolerate a boss who talks to us the way we talk to ourselves.
Meichi Ng, the brilliant cartoonist behind Barely Functional Adult, said,
I think I still don’t have a bulletproof way to silence that voice. But I try to focus on what friends told me. I try to focus on what I know to be true. That might be a bit more positive than what I’m thinking about at the time. And then, if anything, I just talked to friends about it. And I feel like it’s always a good reality check to have someone else tell you what they know about you as opposed to you kind of spiraling into darkness.
Maybe look at your work, imagine it being done by an employee, and imagine giving that employee a figurative pat on the back. It always feels good when the boss recognizes your work. So recognize it in yourself.
“That’s what the practice is. It’s for people who have read enough blog posts or books to know the method, but for whatever reason look straight at the method and blink,” says Seth Godin.
It’s an incredible book and the book we need for these distracting and troubling times. You’ll want to pair this book with The Dip and This is Marketing. And Linchpin.
You’ll want to keep the conversation going on social media, @CNFPod, across the Big Three.
Signing up for the my monthly newsletter is where it’s at! Reading recommendations, writing tips, and news from the podcast. I hosted the first CNFin’ Zoom Happy Hour for newsletter subscribers. If you want to come to the next one, subscribe! Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it.
If I’ve made something worth sharing, I hope you you’ll considering linking up to the show on social media. And if you have a moment, leave a kind review on Apple Podcasts.
Alexandra DiPalma, seen here on the set of her amazing Creative Live course.
By Brendan O’Meara
“It’s natural to most people to be like this needs to be perfect before I put it out into the world, but I think when you take that element away, it allows such a new level of productivity and creativity.” —Alexandra DiPalma (@LSDiPalma)
This is the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling trues stories. I unpack their origin story, their rocky roads, their habits and routines, so you can improve your own work. Today you will get to know Alexandra DiPalma.
But first…
Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and wherever you get your podcasts. Visit brendanomeara.com to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat that.
“We need to be shipping more than worrying about the details.”
“Nothing upsets me more than when someone says, ‘I’m too busy.'”
“You’ll hear young learners say, ‘How did you get so good at that?’ And the answer almost always is practice and reps.”
“I’m still trying to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
“I’m a person who learns an unbelievable amount by talking things out.”
“Who are the people in your damn neighborhood?”
“The art and science of conversation and interviewing is intoxicating.”
Hey, it’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast (please leave a review!) where I speak with the world’s best writers, freelancers, interviewers, authors, and documentary filmmakers about why and how they go about creating works of nonfiction and how YOU can apply what they do to your work.
Today’s guest is Joe Ferraro (@FerraroOnAir on Twitter), the fourth Joe I’ve had on the podcast (Joe DePaulo, Joe Drape, Joe Donahue, and now Joe Ferraro). Need a Josephine…anyway…
So who’s Joe Ferraro? He’s a teacher and a learner, but above all he’s a leader. He just started a podcast: The 1% Better Podcast. His tagline is Conversations designed to help you get 1% Better. It’s aimed at gradual, continual, rigorous—though not overwhelming—personal improvement.
“If we’re talking about hard work, it’s about squeezing out more of the day,” says Joe. “Nothing upsets me more than when someone says ‘I’m too busy.’”
Joe talks about his allergy for negative people, finding ways to challenge himself, and how after teaching for 20 years, he feels like his best years are still ahead of him. He’s the type of guy that inspires you to take action. He also talks about how he met his good pal Kevin Wilson, who you may recall from Episode 32.
Be sure to reach out to Joe on Twitter and subscribe to his podcast right away. Whether it’s listening to world class leader Ryan Hawk or how to make the best cold brew coffee, the art of thinking and redefining a restaurant, The 1% Better Podcast will open your eyes to where you can add value to you life and those around you.
It was the best hour I’ve spent. The second best hour I spent was this past weekend sitting on a bench on my apartment patio with my wife drinking a six-pack (three each) of Goose Island IPA.
I listen to Brian Koppelman’s podcast, The Moment, every week. I’ve read a bunch of books written by Seth Godin. So when Koppelman interviewed Godin on The Moment my iguana brain almost hemorrhaged.
Koppelman brought up Godin’s The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). It was a formative book for Koppelman. I bought it on my Kindle. I read it in an hour on a Tuesday. Then I read it again on Wednesday. In my extensive morning journaling, I wrote for a few days on the Dip as it applies to freelance writing.
Let’s first define the Dip as Godin writes early on:
If you learn about the systems that have been put in place that encourage quitting, you’ll be more likely to beat them. And once you understand the common sinkhole that trips up so many people (I call it the Dip), you’ll be one step closer to getting through it.
Extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny minority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most.
Godin also writes, “The Dip is the set of artificial screens set up to keep people like you out.”
It’s only natural to read these things through your own subjectivity. It got me thinking what the “artificial screens” to being a freelance writer and author. Here’s what I know from living in the Dip.
Low pay/No pay
Low pay that doesn’t arrive on time
Low pay that doesn’t arrive at all
Having to chase down payment
Rejection
Loneliness
Lack of validation/appreciation
Killed stories
Constantly having to hustle
There’s probably more, but you get the gist. Another point to consider—and what Godin makes you ask—is: Am I in a dead end or am I in a Dip? Here’s my Dip:
My Dip from my morning pages. Pretty, isn’t it?
If it’s a dead end, you need to quit yesterday. I’d say most reporter jobs at newspapers are dead ends. You have to leave the newspaper to get a promotion or you need to be a hard core freelancer like my friend Brian Mockenhaupt. At least in that instance you can pick your spots. That’s how the great Michael Paterniti did his work.
In order to recognize if you’re in a Dip or not, you need some form of validation. You need to have talent. Work ethic is a given, but you need to have some talent and that talent needs validation while in the Dip. That validation gives you the strength to remain in the Dip and lean into it, to push through it to the relative bounty on the other side.
I’ve known countless writers and colleagues who gave up. The Dip killed them. The Dip filtered them out and now there’s less in the Dip for you and for me.
While in the Dip you need to publish something of merit at a higher profile magazine or literary journal. Or, if you pitch a high profile magazine (and get rejected) and the editor is nice enough to reply, he/she needs to say a positive thing or two about your pitch. When you get these micro victories, you know it’s a matter of time.
Blogging doesn’t count. Self-publishing doesn’t count. The former is good practice for connecting and for getting words down; the latter is a shortcut (however, if you somehow prove to sell tens of thousands of copies, then you can tell me to shove it. And God bless you!). There must be an external validation to justify remaining in the Dip. It’s ugly in the Dip. It’s dark down here. I mean, it’s dark. It’s grim. At least my Dip is grim. My Dip is the freakin’ Hunger Games. If yours is better, can we get coffee?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought of quitting. In the last two weeks our Civic needed $691 worth of repairs. Our Accord needed $600. Our dogs needed semi-annual checkups for $430. I’ve thought about quitting today. I’m thinking about it right now.
The people on the other side of the Dip? Talk to them they tell you the same thing: Write every story like it’s for a Pulitzer and query like hell. Turn work in ahead of time. Make editors’ jobs easier so they come to you in the future.
I’d add another thing: Have fun. Have fun while writing. We could be shoveling coal or pumping septic tanks. When you have fun with this crazy craft, it shows on the page. Don’t be self loathing (I’ve been guilty of that. That’s bad, bad practice.). Don’t complain. Have fun. The more fun you have, the better equipped you’ll be to get through the Dip.
A great sister book to The Dip is The War of Art. I’ll write about that another time.
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