BONUS: Create or Hate, Successful People Make Things with Dan Norris

We’re epically enthused about this podcast episode with Dan Norris. They’re always the most fun because a. we get to do them live in his office/studio, b. we go 0n all the weird and wonderful tangents and c. becuase it’s THE Dan Norris. 

During this chat we mostly discuss the topic… idea… no, the MAGIC of creativity. Because Dan has a brand spankin’ new book out: Create or Hate. Check it out here! (for free this week!).

Far out even the title is freaking amazing. 

But wait, we gotta talk about that sub-title: Successful People Make Things.

ARGHHH. It’s like oh yeh, duh! We gotta make stuff to be successful. Yes, making things can bring in the dollars (yay) but what about the joy, fun, love, inspiration and life changing stuff these ‘things’ also bring?

Steve Jobs made the iPhone (um epic and makes our lives a whole lot easier), Frida put her magical reality on canvas (talk about inspiration), The Beatles made music (joy, sadness, hope, love, bliss… every emotion) and Erica our old neighbour creates a garden oasis year after year, after year. Not sure about you but when we look at a beautiful garden we instantly feel happy and calm… see, magic.

Just make something! Make something for fun. Make it to earn money. Make it to help people. Make it to spread a positive message around the world a billion times.

This is from the back of Dan’s new book…  

Dan talks about all sorts of stuff we love…

• How negative self-talk will limit you and that your thoughts matter.
• The magic of synchronicity. Maybe these small signs are giving you a message that you’re on the right track.
• Failure = course correction. Failure is a good thing, what we like to call a ‘blessing in disguise’. 
• Gratitude is a game changer. More gratitude equals more creativity and less negativity. It kills anger and stress. You know how we feel about gratitude. 
• Following the flow, the momentum… the bliss. 

He also gives a bunch of action steps to help you create and overcome hate. 

Our key message from Create or Hate was to keep on creating. Create for fun. Create for health and happiness. And in the words of Dan… create so much they can’t ignore you. 

 

Steve Martin has a great quote, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” I love this because it puts the responsibility squarely back in your court. It’s your job to be good; the rest will look after itself. If you really are that good, people will eventually notice. The problem is — in the public sphere — it’s up to others to decide if you are good enough. When you make things you are virtually guaranteed that whatever you make won’t be good enough for a great many people. With this in mind, I made up my own version of Martin’s quote: Create so much they can’t ignore you. Making stuff is entirely up to you. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hit. It only matters that you made it. I wrote 300 blog posts before I had one with more than 10 shares. I know people who got hundreds of shares on their first blog post. Good for them. I’m going to keep writing blog posts. Steven Pressfield — the successful author of numerous works of historical fiction and screenplays — wrote for 17 years before getting his first book deal. If it’s good enough for one of the most prolific writers of our generation, it’s good enough for me. I’ve just written my fourth book, despite never having been offered a publishing deal. I have friends who are first-time authors who were given multiple six-figure deals for their first book. I’m happy for them. I’m going to keep making books. I’ve posted almost 4,000 images on Instagram and have around 8,000 followers. My girlfriend has posted less and has almost 70,000 followers. Kim Kardashian has posted less and has 70,000,000 followers. That’s great for them. As for me, I’m going to keep posting what I believe is good content until my account gets noticed. If it doesn’t, I’m going to keep creating content on another platform until that gets noticed. I’m going to enjoy the process of creating things on all the great platforms I have the privilege to use. Taking this approach doesn’t mean blindly putting out crap in the hope that one day something will stick. It’s your job to make sure you make good stuff. But the world is filled with good stuff. Which means you might create good stuff 5,000 times before anyone notices. #createorhate

A photo posted by Dan Norris (@thedannorris) on Sep 25, 2016 at 2:57pm PDT

If we’re too busy creating, creating with gratitude, empathy, joy there is no room for the force of hate.

So what have you made lately? Heaps… or… nothing?

Either way, we know you’re gonna love the crap outta this book and episode. You’ll read it, you’ll get inspired to make something and magic will happen.

Go and download it for free (for a limited time) but first listen to this episode!

Listen on iTunes or Stitcher and if you LOVE the episode, give us a 5 star rating and write us a merry-filled review! Pretty please! 🙂

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla