Book 282 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: How to Become a Practicing Artist!

Book – Linchpin: Are you Indispensable? By Seth Godin (Part 3 of 3)

Book Description:

Few authors have had the kind of lasting impact and global reach that Seth Godin has had. In a series of now-classic books that have been translated into 36 languages and reached millions of readers around the world, he has taught generations of readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas. In Linchpin, he turns his attention to the individual, and explains how anyone can make a significant impact within their organization.

There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there's a third team, the linchpins. These people figure out what to do when there's no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art.

Have you ever found a shortcut that others missed? Seen a new way to resolve a conflict? Made a connection with someone others couldn't reach? Even once? Then you have what it takes to become indispensable, by overcoming the resistance that holds people back.

Reflection:

Over the past 2 ½ years of this Year of Magical Learning journey, I’m proud to say that I’ve officially become a practicing Artist!

I don’t know exactly when that transition occurred, but I know that it has. I can feel it in my soul. For the first time in my life, I sincerely know what I want to share with the world, and I know how to do it as well.

There is something magical about knowing that you can create art that you love, and which has the chance of helping someone else.

There have been a few times in my life and career when I’ve created art. I think back to the call center that I started to help streamline and optimize operations for an incredibly overwhelmed order entry team at one the plants my company owned when I was 22. I saw an opportunity to help, I asked if I could do it, and I figured it out. I had no business tackling in taking this challenge on. I had no experience and no idea how I was even going to solve the problem. All I knew was that I had to help the employees in this department as they were overworked, stressed to capacity, and miserable. So, I stepped in to help. The feeling that I got when one of the order entry department staff members confided in me that after we got this up and running was the first time in here 10+ year career of doing this job that she had ever had a lunch break was indescribable. They didn’t have time to leave their desks or even use the bathroom prior to solutions I helped to lead were implemented. After it was all done and training on the new operations were complete, the team was able to structure their days to actually take some time for a break and to eat food in peace. That truly was beautiful.

That is the power that art! It is beautiful, meaningful, and rewarding for all involved.

I could name dozens of other unique examples just like this that have dotted the timeline of my life, but none of them were connected and the opportunities were few and far between spread out over the course of my lifetime with big gaps in between.

Those projects were surely art, but I was no artist.

To be an artist, one must be able to bring their art to the world every single day. It is then and only then that you have the ability to claim artisanal status in my opinion.

So, the natural question is, how does one go from just occasionally producing art to becoming a full-time artist?

While I surely don’t know anything, here is my best advice on making that transition from just occasionally producing art to becoming an artist.

Step 1 - Know Your Values

This may feel like the easiest part, but this is actually the longest and hardest step to get through on your path to artistry. You may stumble upon opportunities to produce art from time to time, but if you want to do it every day, you will need a compass to guide your direction and actions. Values are your compass to becoming an artist.

Step 2 – Bring Your Values to Life

It is one thing to have values, but until those values become actions, they are merely words on a piece of paper. Your job is to bring those words to life through the actions you perform each and every day.

Step 3 – Ship It

Share what living your values is producing with the world. Don’t worry if it is bad, good, perfect, or even makes if it makes sense…just ship it. Get it out there in the world every day and let the universe do its thing. It will eventually start to make sense.

Step 4 – Repeat Steps 2 and 3 Daily

This is an important key, to become an artist, living your values and shipping your art has to be done every single day. It is then and only then that you can officially make the transition from producing occasional art to becoming an artist in my opinion.

That’s it! I promise there is nothing more to it than that.

Question: Are you an artist or just producing an occasional work of art?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Linchpin by Seth Godin