This is my second Daily Digest. I want to capture my thoughts, feelings, ideas, progress, and readings each day.
Learning to draw
One goal I left out of my focus areas for 2017 post was trying to get better at drawing. I took a class on Adobe Illustrator in the first half of 2016. Derek Casio was the instructor. More than his Adobe Illustrator talent, I was struck by his “regular drawing” talent. In Illustrator, he made a really cool looking 2D character with only a few shapes and colors in 30 seconds. I thought that was amazing. A few minutes later, he drew really cool stuff on the board about shapes, elements, perspective, and things I never learned before. I realized if I was ever going to have any basic graphic design competency, I would need to get better at sketching.
A few weeks ago, I asked my buddy Adam Cutler, the graphic designer/UI designer at CoachUp if could suggest a few books to help me learn how to draw. He pointed me toward Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way. I’m starting the former today. Excited to improve because my drawings are HORRIBLE. I would show you one bad drawing, but I’m too embarrassed. Maybe one day.
“Just Not Sorry”
A buddy that used to live in Boston (Matt Mazur) has a goal that I semi have in 2017: to stop qualifying many of the things he has to say with “I think”. My main qualifier is “just”.
I think my goal for 2017 is going to be to stop qualifying so many of the things I say with “I think”.
— Matt Mazur (@mhmazur) January 11, 2017
I pointed him towards this chrome extension that makes it easier called “Just Not Sorry”. Someone later replied that he wished things like this were made for non-gmail email clients. I then found the meat of the extension here: https://github.com/cyrusinnovation/just-not-sorry/blob/7c405a8110d69b7b1bc630fa26879869cf4f0949/src/Warnings.js . It’s a json file that is used to highlight all the times you are qualifying things you are about to say. I thought it was a cool find.
Writing Podcast – The Writer Files
I listened to an interesting podcast today about writing. It’s called the Writer Files and the episode I listened to was with Ann Handley (hosted by Kelton Reid). Really interesting and I think I’ll listen to more episodes of that podcast. There’s also a 2 parter that features Austin Kleon, who I’ve been talking up lately – I really loved Steal Like an Artist and I’m currently reading Show Your Work.
Ann about writer’s block: “My dad never had trucker’s block…. Sometimes when you don’t know what to say, you need to think more or research the problem more.” This reminds me of similar sentiments from Sebastien Junger on the Tim Ferriss podcast.
Ann has also been really into paper books recently. I’m not hearing anyone prophesize about ebooks this year. This year is the return of the physical book!
Lack of Sleep
I woke up really tired today. Last night, instead of going to sleep, I listened to a podcast, I swiped through facebook a few times. I looked through Twitter. I did everything I know is just a waste of time and also keeps me awake. In order to compensate for my mistake, I looked up ways to get to sleep today. Warm shower before bed, keep the temperature low, breathe slower and deeper, stay away from blue lights a few hours before bed. I had some good takeaways from the research, but I know I need to stay off of my phone when I go to sleep. I should keep it in a different room when it’s bedtime.
Inflammation Updates
I happened upon an article that says lack of sleep can be a cause of inflammation. I doubt it’s the main cause of my jammed finger still being larger than normal months after the injury, but it’s something to think about. Besides the bags under my eyes, possibly getting rid of the inflammation in my finger is an added bonus of getting more sleep.
1800s Titans of Industry
I think I started to see a pattern from a lot of Titans of Industry in that era. Ford, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and others – they all built up to their giant fortunes. Their major opportunity didn’t come until they had already been successful building things. Mostly things that other people were also doing. Start building something now, even if other people are doing it. I don’t care if its consulting, or a product where other people are in the same space. Start building a product or service and getting customers. You don’t need your life-changing idea or opportunity. It will come eventually, and it will be much more likely to work out if you have something already built – you’ll be more likely to take advantage of that opportunity or idea when it comes.
Quotes
“Do one thing each day that scares you.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.” -Bill Gates
Learning to Draw Part Deux
I started the lessons in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain this evening. The first few drawings you do are call “Pre-Instruction” drawings because they want you to see what you are able to do before you start. The purpose of this is to get a baseline of your abilities so you can look back at the progress you’ve made down the line.
What surprised me was how decent my sketches were. I think this is the most effort and time I put into drawing anything. I learned that you can really surprise yourself at the talents you have when you put effort and energy into something.