Expectations Being Great

Would you say this works aswell with learning new things?Sometimes I find if I puttoo many expectations,I don't end up producingsomething at all.You know what I mean?I get caught up inthat state of mindthinking I neededto look this way.I needed to feel that way.And then I get socaught up into thinkingof how I'm going to do itthat I don't end up doing it.Oh, yes, yes, Yes.Yes so your question threwme off a little bit there.Let's see.Mustafa yes, but youcan call me moose.See moose Mustafa.OK, OK.The real question is when youI think if I understand youcorrectly, when you'remaking something, when you'recreating, you haveall these expectationsthat it's going to be great,that it needs to be great.And so that's going to createa certain amount of stresson you.And then when you finish it,you define your own self-worthwith how it turned out.And this is a superdangerous thing.I've spoken about thisbefore and one of the talks,right, which is if yourgoal is to make great work,potentially that's verydamaging to your personal,your own mental health.My goal isn't to do great work.My goal is to learn andto enjoy the process.Sometimes the workturns out pretty good,sometimes it's not thatgood, and that's OK.I hold learning andself-improvementto be the highest goalabove everything else.And only I can measurethat, and only Iknow what that is goingin and after the fact.So for example, ifyou're creating somethingfor a client, your goal shouldbe to push your own boundaries,to try new things, to explore,to refine your processand to be really happyand to be in lovewith the process of learning.That's why oftentimes I'm upto 2:00, 3:00 in the morning.Working on stuff.And that's where myEast Coast friends like,what are you doing up so early?It's like, I'm not up early, Ijust haven't gone to sleep yet,and I always kindof test my audience.I test you guysfrom time to time.I post things at one o'clock,two o'clock, 3 o'clockin the morning.And if you're in the same timezone or a similar time zone,I wait to see who's on,who's on the grind with me.And every once in awhile, Bonnie sayingis on the grind withme and I'm like,Oh my god, we're just messengermessaging each other likeback and forth at2/4 in the morning.It's like, what are we doing?I don't know.Maybe misery loves company.OK, so your highestgoal should beto learn, to enjoy andlove the process if youdon't want to burn out, ifyou want to be a life learner.That's your goal andthat'll make you happy.Can I can I tag alongfor that question?So you brought up a veryinteresting point thathit homes pretty, pretty hard.I'm seeing signs ofburnout for myselfbecause literally rightnow in the processof creating a new portfoliofor myself, having to adaptand pivot the fact that probablyI can't start my own businessand I have to find a fulltime job or an internship,so I'm going deepin the process.I'm making sure theportfolio is on point.And it's hard to detachbecause a good portfolio isdirectly related to a decentjob and hence a good self-worth.Right so I know it's aflawed thinking process,but it gets tied in becausenow dreams and ambitions thatare attached to the same thing.Yeah Oh my goodness.Monday morning callsit are like deep.My goodness, you guys.Can we talk abouttypefaces or something?OK, so there's thisattachment to your own selfworth with the portfolio becausethe portfolio leads to a joband then job definesuccess and fulfillment.It's a pretty standard metricthat most people can useor parents or friendsor cousin your siblings.Society can look atyou and say, well,on-message is quiteaccomplished, isn't he?He's able to get this jobwith that kind of title,with that kind of prestigelives in that zip code.That's amazing.And so you could bemaking a lot of decisionsfor all the wrong reasonsfor the pursuit of that,and I'll tell you why.I've had many friendsin my life who'vepursued that exact thing.Now I'm not saying thisis what I I'm saying,but I want to caution youon the other side of this.I've had friendswho went to collegeand studied the thingthat they thoughtwas the most economicallyrewarding in the least amountof time they studied business.They study trading,aeronautical, engineering,whatever it is theythought was a booming fieldand really theirheart wasn't there.It just wasn't there.And that's the realdanger is that when you'restanding next to somebody whosepassion, whose dream they'vebeen able to manifestin their mindssince they were alittle baby, how canwe stand a chance competingagainst that person?You know, Bonnie saying she'ssuper obsessed with Instagram.So she's going throughfriends accountsand editing it for themkind of unsolicited.That's how sick ofan individual she is.And that makes her perfect to bea coach and a guide for peoplewho want to grow theirInstagram account.And she's like writingmessages in her stories.I'm testing thealgorithm like I haven'tposted in like three weeks.See the big difference there.That's like Bonnie.And so I'm not going togo out there and say,I'm an Instagram influencer,but you know what?I kill you on YouTube.I love you, too.I'm up all night last night.It's 2:30 in the morning.I should be going to sleep.I'm so tired I bumpinto this video.It's like how to get moreviews in five minutes.Like, I should notbe watching this.Just add this toyour watch list, man.Like, no, I need towatch this right now,and I'll just watch some of it.That's why I tellmyself just some of it.And then I'mwatching half of it.I'm like, well, Ifinished half of it.Let's not go tobed without knowingwhat the other half says.I watch the other half.I'm like, I shouldgo to sleep now.I'm like, no, no, no.You don't learn somethinguntil you actually do it.Remember, Chris,you tell everybody.Action beats intent.Damn it, I startgetting into my video.I'll just edit one videobased on what I know.So it took a screencapture, and I'm like,let me make sure I have ametric to make sure I knowthat I've done something good.I do one video I do twovideos, 12 videos later.I gotta go to sleep, Ihave a call tomorrow,it's like 4 o'clockin the morning now.OK, so that obsession,just the desire,the passion that you have isyour guiding principle now.The world can'tpay you on passion.They can't pay youon how interestedyou are in something.But I suspect when youfind the thing that you'revery passionate about.Things will fall into place,maybe not today, maybenot tomorrow, but theywill fall into place.And then this is whereyou're playing the long gameand I think you're doing exactlythe right thing right now,which is to know that you haveto get a portfolio togetherbecause you've got toget a job at some point.But hopefully it's alignedaround your passionand you're in thiswonderful group of peoplewho are very open and sharing.Just reach out andtap into this network.Don't be afraid to ask for help.I believe they will help you.Because we help each other.OK so when you workon that portfolio,I got to tell you rightnow the easiest thing,this is my quick 2minute tip on this.The easiest thing is toput together a portfolio.You're you're going to lookat me and say, shut up.That's what I'm struggling with.How dare you?How dare you say that,Christo, dare you?And I'll tell you how you do it.You look at the company'sportfolio, the onethat you want to hireyou, whether it'san internship, a junior designposition, a senior positionstudy, their work.And then deconstruct that workand make work like that workand you will get work.That's how you work it.You understand we canall copy something.Not all of us can invent things,but we can all copy something,so we've done this before.You just look at thework, you deconstruct it.I know you're a smart man.You broke down the Socraticapproach on the last call.Two calls ago.And you can do it again.Look at it and break it apart.Start with the obvious.OK, now let's say we'relooking at a poster.Let's say it's aSaul Bass poster.The man with a golden arm.What makes thatpost to that post?Well, jagged shapes.To color design,orange and Black.Using probablyaccidents, grotesque,I'm not looking at itright now, so I don't know.Or hand-drawn type looks likeit was made from scissors.So if I'm makingan illustration,I need to usescissors or a knife.Something that's blunt.OK and a very graphic shapethat draws your eye in,it's very jagged.That's what makes that thing.Now then go makea version of that,as if Saul Bass madethe SQL to that movie.And you can do that.And I know youcan do it because,like I've told you this before.My students Art Center hadthe same assignment, literallycopy a master work, and theyall told me they couldn't do it.Two weeks later,teaching me how to do it.So I know it's not that hard.They all panicked.They all threw up intheir own mouths, saying,this was my hero.You're telling me now Ican do work like my hero,and I said, yeah, I knowyou can't just do it.It's not as hard as you think.What's hard issitting in a vacuum,not knowing what your goalis, fumbling around, tryingto make somethingthat you think is hotand working on thatfor three monthsand then realizingthat thing hasno correlation tothe company or thatplace you want to work with.That is hard.OK give yourself.A week to producetwo pieces, dependingon the complexity of the work.That timeline is your friend.Believe it or not, thatdeadline, the shorter,the better.Now, you guys that workedon the 30 day challengefor the skateboarding thing.No, what I'm saying.At first, it's very frightening.Then it becomes alittle less painful,then actually becomesfun, and some of youare addicted to it now.And we're talking about 30minutes, 45 minutes an houra day to produce something.Eric, wow, that surprised me.That turned out really cool.Now I learned new things.And that makes me happy or thatthings sucked, but I learnedwhat not to do next time.That makes me happy.