14 quotes about life, sharing work, and making money
Tons of quotes to share plus my musings on them. Part of why this list is so long is that I’ve gone through weeks of my Apple Notes and was consolidating them into Notion pages.* Each of these quotes could probably spin off into their own articles at some point.
Overall life
64% of the year's now over and 36% remains. What will you do in this 36%? What did you do in the 64%?
No direct quote for this, but someone had reminded me that the year was over halfway over. This made me step back and reflect on it so far, and calculate how much of the year 2021 is left.
What would you do in the last 24 hours of your life, if it were ending in that time?
Dr. Doug Lisle’s latest interview touched on this. I loved his answer to the question and his use of the question to make sure that what he’s doing at the moment is enriching to his life. His concept of having only 100,000 hours left and other time-constraint reminders are so motivating to me. Death is my greatest motivator, as I’ve said in my motivational video
Discipline is easy when you have desire
Austin Kleon. Good to make me step back and think about whyI don’t have the self-discipline to do certain things, and how I can find that innate drive.
The greatest appreciation we can show for our life is to enjoy it fully
Bronnie Ware. I have this self-sacrificial mindset at times, that I must suffer to help others. I'm trying to get rid of that and to not feel guilty for enjoying myself, for being happy, while at the same time I feel so acutely the unhappiness of others. I have to remind myself that the greatest honor I can give others is to honor myself and my needs too. This leads me to my own epiphany that Not being okay for too long is not okay. We've glamorized "being not okay is okay '' for too long, at least the mental health space has in tying to normalize bad feelings.
Look to the old for wisdom, the young for energy
I’m paraphrasing Austin Kleon during an interview here. And threw in my own “the young for energy” because that’s how I think of the young. If it’s an old book that’s endured time’s tests, it’s probably a good book! Vs. new information. This helps me feel less bad that my thoughts are really an amalgamation of everyone else’s thoughts, because really, nothing is that original. But as a messenger with my own unique set of experiences I can add something to this mix and therefore bring value.
I defy their “odd”—I model fashion, I model meshes, I invest in the market, I grow out my hair, I sing from my chairs, I sketch my dreams, I inspire lust, I love traveling, I love my mutations, I love other crips, I love life, I love. - Aubrie Lee
Whenever I read work about disability, especially Aubrie’s writing, I feel emotional. She’s so brave and this quote affected me all day. When I feel self-conscious about being so public about myself so online now (which trust me, I feel all the time), I then remember that I’m doing this for more than me. One of the greater reasons I’m doing this - and one of the main reasons I made the six figure income video - was to prove that people with disabilities can exist in this world and can find successes and can be more in life than just their disability. Aubrie’s work pushes me to dare to inhabit spaces I didn’t think I could ever belong in. I’m Disabled and proud. It’s not a dirty word, yet it took me years to say it: I’m Disabled and proud.
On Show Your Work
Quotes from mainly interviews with Austin Kleon on this book.
Sharing work you love is the first step to sharing your own work
He said this in response to someone asking “How do I get started sharing work?” I love this! And that’s why my blog posts so far have centered around sharing work I love.
Share before it’s done
These blog posts are like my most un-done drafts and I love having this free space to play. A newsletter (I’m thinking weekly or every 2 weeks?) will consolidate my ideas and sprinkle in new ones for more done-ness and digestibility for you, my dear reader
Give it your all - you’ll keep making new ideas
This helps me get over being an idea-hoarder. The past me wouldn’t have created this post sharing all these ideas I’m collecting (especially the “how to monetize your work” related ones which are below). Now I see how getting these ideas out there will help others AND I will always find more stuff.
I will never stop having things to share. In fact I feel a franticness over all the things I want to share but can’t yet. I’m figuring out the most efficient medium possible. Writing is most efficient for me, but it’s not necessarily the most effective way to deliver a message (hence me branching out into Youtube video creation).
Write what you like instead of what you know
Love the flip on the age-old advice “write what you know.” As a caveat to this quote, I think people should write about both what they like and know, not just what they know. There needs to be that spark behind the work. I felt this myself when creating my video on how I made six figures as a writer and artist. It definitely felt grubby and self-promotional-y to produce, even though the intention is pure to share my story so others can learn from it. In creating that video, I wrote what I knew but not necessarily what I like.
I resonate with Austin Kleon in that I really am not about the money. Like I don’t like having to think about the business side of things or how to actually profit off my work. But I know that to continue doing my work, as Kleon says
On creating monetizable work
A mix of advice from Austin Kleon, Ali Abdaal, and others.
Care about what the right people think about you, not what everybody thinks about you.
Many people say this in various forms. I remind myself of this continuously when I update this website to it's a fuller reflection of my multifaceted self, and not a niched-down reduction.
Monetize what you already do effortlessly
Ali Abdaal said this. I like it and it ties to Greg McKeon’s principle of Effortless-ness (check out his book on it!)
Focus on practical advice. Explain things in a way that’s actionable and easy-to-understand. Have 250-500 high-quality pieces of content on site.
I took these notes after reading James Clear’s website description of the value he offers. Yes, he’s that guy who wrote Atomic Habits and has a newsletter with over 1 million readers. I like following this, to focus on the actionable, clear, and practical vs. just sharing vague unhelpful musings with no “so what” answers. For my advice-related work at least.
Give people loads of stuff for free so that when you sell something you have a loyal audience who hears the message and wants to buy
Ali Abdaal. So good. So true. Start a newsletter to capture an audience, because email is the most reliable and permanent thing there is to stay in touch with someone - as Ali explains, on platforms like Youtube, you’re just borrowing the audience
*Yes, I've given up on Mem for now and am trying Notion... On a side note, the thought of adding something to my "Task List" on Notion felt so inconvenient to me that I actually just did the task. Maybe a counterintuitive way to get someone to do something is to make recording or reporting the task more hassle than doing the task itself. This might be where the friction of email communication - or even NO email communication - makes people more productive than instant-message like Slack. Which ties into Cal Newport's A World Without Email premise. Maybe I should make a task-recording tool that’s so buggy people will just do the task. Hah.