David Kadavy – Medium

Published in Forge

·Pinned

Are You on ‘Clock Time’ or ‘Event Time?’

What happens to your creative work when you redefine your relationship to the clock — Before moving to Colombia, I spent my first winter here. Once I arrived, I quickly found just how different the pace of life is compared to Chicago. People talk slower, walk slower. The U.S. custom of standing on the right side of the escalator so people can pass you on…

Time Management

4 min read

Are You on ‘Clock Time’ or ‘Event Time?’

Jul 14

Fifteen Years as a Creator. (I’ll Never Make It.)

Five years ago, I wrote about how — after ten years as a self-employed independent creator — I hoped to “make it.” I now realize, I never will. Five years ago, I sat at my keyboard to have a serious conversation with myself. It had been ten years since I…

Creativity

8 min read

Fifteen Years as a Creator. (I’ll Never Make It.)

Published in Getting Art Done

·Jun 16

E.R.A.S.E. F.E.A.R. and Finish Your Creative Projects

In fifteen years as a self-employed creator, I’ve learned how to finish what matters. I follow a nine-step process that makes an easy-to-remember acronym, that also describes what this process does: E.R.A.S.E. F.E.A.R. Fear is Resistance Fear is at the root of most struggles to finish creative projects. Even when you think you’re…

Creativity

4 min read

E.R.A.S.E. F.E.A.R. and Finish Your Creative Projects

Published in Getting Art Done

·Jun 2

Surround and Conquer (Your Biggest Dreams)

When Facebook was first expanding, they used a timeless military strategy to win their most-crucial first users. You can use this strategy to attack your toughest projects, by leveraging hidden complexity to lend devastating power to simple actions. Facebook faced tough competitors When Facebook was starting, in the mid-aughts, it was only available at…

Creativity

6 min read

Surround and Conquer (Your Biggest Dreams)

May 25

The mourning dove

Today in Colombia I heard a mourning dove. It was the same call I heard thirty years ago in Nebraska, so I asked myself, How many generations of mourning doves have been born in thirty years? How far back in the family tree before the one I heard in 1992…

Life

1 min read

Apr 7

My Self-Published Book, On A Times Square Billboard

How I bought the most sought-after ad space on Earth for $20 — Recently, my book was advertised on a Times Square billboard, right between Forever 21 and McDonald’s. Pretty cool, right? Here’s how I did it. Blip Billboards lets you advertise all over the U.S. I used a site called Blip Billboards ($25 free credit). It allows you to advertise on billboards all over the U.S., paying per “blip,” or 15-second…

Self Publishing

4 min read

Your Self-Published Book, On A Times Square Billboard

Apr 4

Why I don’t like music

Many years ago, I was filling out a profile on eharmony, and their questionnaire asked what kind of music I liked. I chuckled as I read the ridiculously-restrictive options: “Rock,” “R&B,” “Country,” and that was about it. …

Music

3 min read

Mar 30

Use the ‘Surround and Conquer’ technique to make hard things easy

There’s something you want to learn, or a project you want to take on. But it’s too big or too hard. The walls of that city are too high to scale, too thick to bust through. Some challenges are too great to face head-on. Instead of doing the one big…

Creativity

2 min read

Use the ‘Surround and Conquer’ technique to make hard things easy

Mar 29

Pros and amateurs both fail. But here’s the difference.

The main difference between pro and amateur creators: Amateurs expect everything to work. So, the amateur leaves in their wake a trail of half-finished and failed projects. The pro also leaves a trail of half-finished and failed projects, but by a different name. They’re called prototypes. The amateur tries to…

Creativity

2 min read

Pros and amateurs both fail. But here’s the difference.

Mar 25

What happens when you give away money on Twitter?

You fix the algorithm, that’s what — Lately, it feels like Twitter’s algorithm is, let’s say: broken. I’m not getting the impressions I used to. I’m not getting the likes I used to. I have an account with 600 followers getting as many impressions as another with 23,000. I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Even Wait…

Twitter

1 min read