Author: Dan Blank

Do you feel burdened by all you feel you need to do in order to write, publish, and share that work with readers? Recently I have written about my process for finding clarity and growth, and along the way I noticed a critical dynamic that I want to discuss today: creative burden.

The other day, I scribbled down three words that seem to embody my intentions for the next year: CLARITY, CALM, and CRAFT. This is how these words translate for me:

1. Clarity: focus on creating what matters most to me, and having meaningful experiences with readers and those who inspire me. Cut away all else.
2. Calm: quell the anxiety, overwhelm, and comparisonitis that turns an otherwise lovely day into a nightmare of conflicting goals and challenges.
3. Craft: embrace the slow but meaningful process of simply doing the basics better. This applies to my writing, but also to how I help writers, and with everything I show up to.

These three words — clarity, calm, and craft — go deep. I am infusing them into my daily creative process, which I shared more about in this 20-minute video for paid subscribers titled, “My Daily Checklist for Writing and Reaching Readers.”

What tends to get in the way of creating and reaching readers? Creative burden. In the past few weeks, I have worked to clear away space in my life for more creative energy, creative time, and physical space to help the creative process. Along the way, I was confronted with creative burden. One possible definition of this phrase: Creative burden is the perceived responsibility of maintaining things that are slowing us down or are misaligned with our true goals. Today I want to explore how to identify this in your life and move past it. Let’s dig in…

Giving Away Your Creative Burden

I first heard the term “creative burden” from Tom Holkenborg. It felt amazing to give a name to this nagging feeling that felt so familiar. Tom is a composer, DJ, and musician who I have followed for years on YouTube. He first caught my attention when I saw a video showcasing his Los Angeles studio:

The wall behind him is one large synthesizer! Here he is actually using it, turning dials to modify the sound as it plays:

Tom calls himself a “full contact composer,” describing how he wants his hands to be able to manipulate the music he creates at every stage of the process. “[Being a ] full contact composer means you are physically connected with everything you do,” he says.

He spent decades collecting rare instruments and using them to score major films. More recently, he decided to sell off most of his gear. I was surprised for a couple of reasons:

1. His career is thriving, and he has often shown how much he uses these instruments.
2. This gear is rare and valuable, and would be difficult (if not impossible) to collect together again.
3. These musical instruments provide an amazing set for his YouTube channel and social media posts, where he has hundreds of thousands of followers.

But when he explained why he was selling most of it, the reason was simple:

“Something happened roughly a year ago, where I felt a really strong creative burden having so much gear. When I would walk into my studio, I would sometimes feel bad that I was not using [all of these instruments.] I started to feel bad that I owned so much gear, but I was actually not accessing it enough. I’ve decided to relieve myself of that burden.”

He went on to describe another reason: the burden of maintenance. He kept all of his gear in immaculate condition. He has an engineer on staff to ensure each piece stayed in top notch condition. He said: “It was a really really big responsibility, and that responsibility started to press on my creativity.”

For writers and creators, we can experience similar feelings, but in different ways. We may feel pressure from one aspect or another in how we write, publish, and share our work. It could be an endless to-do list for how you publish; constant revisions trying to please one editor or another; trying to keep up with publishing industry news; or finding the most viable way to share your work with readers.

I have been trying to navigate this for myself by taking small actions to have less. Less things to focus on. Less on my computer. Less in my studio. Less vying for my attention. That includes having fewer goals. In that process is the difficult action of letting go. But, by focusing on less, I am welcoming in more of what matters to me: more writing, more moments with readers, and more time with friends and family.

It begs the question: what can you do less of that opens up space for more of what matters to you?

That will potentially give you more energy, time, and space for your writing, creative work, and reaching your ideal readers?

Focus on Your Craft

I was thinking back on this interview that Ira Glass had in 2014 with journalist Katie Van Syckle, reporting for New York Magazine. Ira is the creator and host of This American Life on NPR. Katie asked him if he’d ever been fired, then mentions that the executive editor at The New York Times was recently fired. Ira’s response:

“I have no idea what you’re talking about… I live in my own little world and we’re putting together a show that we’re putting up at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; I was rewriting the thing here at the Peabody’s that I’m doing today and we are doing a radio show, so it has been pretty busy… Honestly, like, I’m a superfan of The New York Times, but I know nothing about how they put it together and I really don’t care.”

This was surprising in many ways, because Ira worked in the media, lived in New York, and as he mentions, is a superfan of that particular paper. Is it good or bad that he “doesn’t care?” I don’t know. But this always stuck with me, that so often we feel obligated to be aware of things, to keep up with things, to have opinions about things, to show up places, to be on top of everything.

Yet here was an example of someone instead focusing on the craft that mattered deeply to him, and being honest about not knowing about a piece of news, and not even caring. Is he being callous? Is he being dismissive? Regardless, he was focusing on creating, and wasn’t going to hide that or apologize for that. He seemed to let go of that expectation we all often feel to know everything about what is going on, and when we don’t, to feel bad about it.

For a writer, this translates into permission to focus on your craft and the experiences you want to create. I also consider how you share to be a craft as well, understanding the nuances of your ideal readers and how to reach them.

What expectations can you let go of, providing more focus and attention on what you want to create and share?

Be An Outsider Artist*

“Outsider artists have no formal training—meaning they did not attend art school or have academic art instruction… Their work is created outside of mainstream fine art. Outsider artists simply create for themselves, in order to make sense of their experiences, interests and the world around them. Outsider artists engage with their surroundings on their own terms and do not follow the rules of the art world. Usually, they do not worry about what other people are going to think of their work.”

Definitions of outsider art differ and have been debated for decades. Here, I am using the concept broadly to mean you can create that which speaks only to you. That is why I put an asterisk next to the term, to pay respect to outsider artists (past and present) who may be aligning to a different definition of the term.

The idea of being an outsider artist is to release expectations and narratives that hold you back. To remember that:

• You can create without expectation.
• You can create without aligning to conventions.
• You can create without credentials.
• You can create without considering your audience.
• You don’ have to be defined by a title or genre.
• You can ignore trends.
• You can publish if you want, when you want, where you want, and how you want. Or, not at all.
• You can celebrate creating and sharing things that are uniquely you.
• You can do all of this without seeking permission from others.

When you create what is unique to you, that makes the world a better place.

The creative burden is that which keeps you from creating and sharing, and from feeling good about it. What is one simple thing that you can give yourself permission to release, lightening your creative burden, and opening up more possibility?

One final question: what are three words that describe the intentions for how you feel about writing and sharing next year? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

Today I want to share the specific process I’m using for a creative reset: creating more of what matters to me, and taking clear actions to reach my ideal readers in 2024. This is a process I go through every year, and I will present it in a step-by-step manner if you want to consider it for your own creative reset. These are the goals:

• Create more, but only what matters.
• Better understand my ideal readers and what engages them.
• Fill my days with meaningful moments with readers and those who inspire me.
• Find sustainability and growth for what I create and how I reach readers.
• Experience a sense of fulfillment in the process.
• Quiet the anxiety, overwhelm, and comparisonitis, that leads to distraction.

So much of this is about getting clarity on what is essential to focus on — creating good routines and measuring “success” as experiences with real people, not hollow metrics like followers. As an introvert, that isn’t always as easy as it sounds!

Regardless of where you are, what your resources are, or how much time you have, you have everything you need for a creative reset. You can think about aspects of the reset while waiting in line to pick up kids, commuting to work, while in the waiting room at a medical facility, or while doing laundry. I choose those examples because they tend to be the things that make up our days — the things in-between — that too often keep us from focusing on our creative goals. Instead, I want to make those things a part of this work.

I believe in what I call Human-Centered Marketing — to put people and human connection at the center of how we share what we create. This process is not about complicated spreadsheets or weirdo systems. This is about cutting away all but what matters most.

Let’s dig in…

Start with a Clean Slate

To get clear about what you want to create and how to find your readers, don’t start with a long list of responsibilities, schedules, and goals, asking, “How can I make this work better, and maybe even add more?” Instead, start with a clean slate, as if this is the first time you are considering what you want to create, what matters to you, how you want to fill your days, and where you hope it leads.

20 years ago, I watched this TV show on TLC called Clean Sweep. I loved this show. Basically, this team of organizers and designers would help someone get control of their house, which was overflowing with stuff and preventing them from living the life they wanted while at home. They would pick one or two rooms for a makeover, undoing years of hoarding, and in the process, getting clarity on what these people wanted to experience in these spaces.

This show was very emotional. Invariably these rooms were cluttered with sentimental objects that people felt they couldn’t get rid of. Until they could. For example, in one episode, organizer Peter Walsh would ask the homeowner about a huge dusty box of dishes that took up half a closet, moving with them from one house to another. The person would tell the story of how their grandmother slowly collected these dishes decades ago, and this is the only physical object they still have to remember their grandmother by. Then, Peter would say something like, “You love your grandmother. Is keeping these dusty dishes in a beat-up old box in the back of your closet the best way to honor her?” Tears would flow…

The design team then took one place setting of the dishes and mounted it within a shadowbox along with a photo of the grandmother. They hung it on a wall in a prominent place, so that every time the homeowner entered the room, they would be reminded of their grandmother. Then the rest of the dishes were donated so someone else could find use for them, and perhaps make their own memories with them.

The team started with a blank slate for each room, moving every single object onto the front lawn. Then they would walk the homeowner into the empty space and ask them to share their dream for how they want to use this space to actually live, instead of merely as a storage space.

For your creative reset, start fresh without assumptions or expectations. Then, give yourself a few bits of structure to help ensure this work moves ahead without overwhelming you. For me, that usually involves a clear start date, some calendar reminders to ensure I attend to this work, a bit of accountability, and a firm deadline. Your creative reset can take an entire three-month quarter, a week, or an afternoon. It’s up to you.

Get Clarity

I embrace a creative reset so I can start each year feeling refreshed and clear. But you can do this work at any time. Personally, I want to feel that I have more margin in my days — which can feel like a challenge as my kids get older and feel the weight of more responsibility.

So let’s start with clarity! I developed my Clarity Card system many years ago, and I make it freely available here. It’s a 5-part system that just uses index cards. But it can change your life. It changed mine. I’ve taken hundreds of people through this process. This is what Clarity Cards look like:

Not long ago, I found my original Clarity Cards from around 2009. They included a mix of intentions, but one card jumped out at me:

At the time, my wife and I did not yet have kids. I was working at a large publishing company, commuting about an hour and a half each way to work. With these index cards I reassessed the distance between my daily reality and the life I hoped to lead.

The “stay at home dad” thing was my way of saying that I wanted to be present in the lives of my family once we had kids. To not always be on a train, or in an office 30 miles away from my wife and kids.

The second part of that card included a frantic question: “Earn money from home. How?!”

Since that time, I left my corporate job in publishing and have run my own business for 13+ years. I work a few blocks away from where I live, or from my home office, and see my family regularly throughout the day.

It’s astounding to look at this index card and consider the moment I wrote it, and then look at my life today which has answered that question, and lived up to the intention of that goal. I’m thankful for this clarity every moment of every day because it gave me direction.

Here is a case study of how I helped one writer work through her Clarity Cards a few years ago. The nice thing is that you can revisit the process. My Clarity Cards change over time, and it’s refreshing to approach the process anew each year.

Create Very Specific Habits

1. Mindset reminders.
2. Writing.
3. Outreach.
4. Platform.
5. Business sustainability and growth.

The key here is to break down big goals into the smallest ingredient. Let’s say you want to finish writing a book in the next year. The smallest ingredient is making time for writing and editing.

If you want to grow your platform as a writer, the smallest ingredient is an interaction with an ideal reader, or sending an email to a writer who inspires you, or some other action that potentially connects you with another human being.

I’m creating a little chart for myself, kind of like a daily checklist. I plan to design it in a way that inspires me, likely in 1970s colors of orange, avocado green, and wood paneling texture. (Ugly 1970s living rooms are my happy place.)

Under each category are super simple habits. More on that in a moment. Then, I will bake all of this into my daily work calendar, with reminders to attend to these habits each day.

I used to run a Mastermind group where I took people through this creative reset process on a quarterly basis. I would provide a lot of material and structures, including for everyone to post a simple achievable intention for the each week, then to report back on it at the end of the week. Even if they didn’t work on the intention at all, I encouraged them to report back on lessons they learned in the process. This would help them do it differently in the following week, slowly developing habits that lead to creating more and reaching their ideal readers.

My goal with all of this is to set myself up for success, not failure. Which brings us to…

Set Ridiculously Low Expectations

Or if you want more reviews posted to your book on Amazon, don’t set a goal of “300 new book reviews next year!” Instead consider: “What is one action I can take today to encourage the chance of one new book review this month?” In asking this question, you will be considering practical actions you can reasonably take in your otherwise busy life, instead of some GREAT BIG HUGE STRATEGY that you will never have the time to implement.

Smaller expectations encourage smaller but more frequent actions. So often, we make this work too complicated, with too high of expectations, and the result is we simply don’t show up for it.

Gain More Resources

Now, creating more resources is actually very difficult. So the trick here is to instead conserve and repurpose the finite resources you already have. Ditch the unwanted stuff that takes up space in your life, thereby opening up new reserves of energy, time, attention, and space you never knew you could have.

This is what gives you the fuel that your creative reset will run on after the honeymoon period wears off. This is how you will keep creating, reaching your ideal readers, and feel good about the process, even well into the new year.

How do you do that? Some ideas:

• Recognize your own distracting urges, then put limits that make it easier to manage them. If you are distracted by ‘all the things’ online, then use the tools that social media channels give you to control over that distraction. You can unfollow people, unsubscribe from them, even using the ‘mute’ feature. This is not to cut people out, but to help ensure you create what you dream of and connect with readers in meaningful ways. I talk to so many creators who follow those who inspire them online, but who also unintentionally trigger envy. So someone may scroll through a social media feed of inspiring people, but end up feeling bad about themselves. It is okay to take a lot more control over your online feeds.
• Show up to places and experiences that fuel you, instead of depleting you. You aren’t a bad person if you decide to no longer show up somewhere online or off that steals your energy and sense of possibility. When appropriate, clearly communicate your boundaries.
• Say no to obligations and opportunities that don’t align with your Clarity Cards. I once said no to an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii for this very reason. This will feel impossibly difficult at first, but it gets easier. Just always be kind and respectful to others in this process. You can change the expectations that others have of you through clear communication. And sometimes this is more of an internal process, changing the perception we have in our own minds of what we think others expect from us. Again, this is where Clarity Cards can lead to some big mindset shifts.
• Clean, organize, and discard of physical and digital stuff. I have been going through a big cleanup process of my computer files, as well as my studio and home office. Why? I want more space, of course, but I also want a visual sense of more openness. The less stuff I see or need to sort through, the more easily I can access key documents I need that align to the creative habits I am establishing. It may sound small, but if I can get to a file I need with one click instead of three, that helps make it feel more accessible. If my computer desktop has zero files on it, as opposed to 42, the more I feel a sense that there may be enough margin in the day to actually write more and connect with readers.
• Give yourself permission. So many people seek permission, approval, or validation from others too early in the process of a creative reset. They want those around them to see what they are doing, and recognize and honor it. And while that would be nice, it is not a requirement. Give yourself permission to embark on your creative reset. As I mentioned earlier, when you need to communicate this to others, be clear and kind. This too is another type of resource, one where you feel it is okay to do this work each day (or week.) When you worry less about what others think of it, that opens up new resources within you.

I’d love to know: what habits would you love to establish as part of your own creative reset? Tell me in the comments.

Oh, and this week’s video for paid subscribers focused on How Writers and Creators Can Sell More Online. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can access this video here, receiving one exclusive video from me every week!

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

It is so tempting for each of us to just focus on the items that are still undone on our to-do lists. To constantly be focused on tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. But when we pause, even for a moment, to recognize what we have created and learned, I feel that is where transformation happens. When we are reminded what we did, not just what we hope to do. Where we recognize our capabilities, not just our hang-ups. Where we can celebrate the risks taken along the way that remind us: you are alive and vital, you have something to say, and your work matters.

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Today, I want to encourage you to look back on the year and celebrate what you created. I imagine that for many of you, this may bring up complicated emotions. Things like:

• “This was a year of constant interruptions.”
• “Ugh, I didn’t create nearly what I hoped I would.”
• “I created a lot, but nothing felt like it worked the way I hoped.”
• “Just as I thought I was getting my creative routine in place, everything changed.”
• “I actually feel like I moved backward this year.”

But I imagine you did create this year. And more than that, you learned a lot. Recognize and celebrate these things!

And where you feel you fell flat, I encourage you to reflect on the lessons these experiences taught you. Because there, too, is progress. Gaining wisdom is creative work as well, and I’ll bet you earned some big creative wisdom this year!

It is so tempting for each of us to just focus on the items that are still undone on our to-do lists. To constantly be focused on tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. But when we pause, even for a moment, to recognize what we have created and learned, I feel that is where transformation happens. When we are reminded what we did, not just what we hope to do. Where we recognize our capabilities, not just our hang-ups. Where we can celebrate the risks taken along the way that remind us: you are alive and vital, you have something to say, and your work matters.

In talking with so many creators, I find that anxiety can be a constant, causing overwhelm, stagnation, and burnout. In many ways, this is a natural part of what it means to put yourself out there, and to grow and evolve as a writer or creator. When we are young, our culture pushes us to the next grade, the next school, the next early-life milestone. But as we get older, these things are more self-directed, and I think that causes an anxiety many people aren’t prepared for.

When you create and share, there is always that possibility of feeling you are in a never-ending grind of pressure to do more. But today, for a moment, I encourage you to celebrate what you have created this year.

Sometimes that is harder than it sounds. There is so much stimuli around us each day, even in this very minute, distracting us. These things can keep us from just saying: “Look at how much I did! That is good! And that is enough.”

I’m helping to plan a book launch for one writer who had been doing some outreach to podcasts, but hadn’t noted it on the book launch timeline we developed. I encouraged her to go back and add these tasks she already completed, for two reasons:

• She will have a clear record of what she did when, and can use this as a template for her next book launch.
• Seeing these actions written down will be a clear reminder of how much she is doing for her book launch.

She reported back that it was indeed a powerful activity to do. This feels silly to admit, but there are times when I do a household task, then once it is done, go back and add it to my calendar as a to-do. Then a millisecond later, I delete it or mark it as “done.” That split second moment of recognition always feels amazing for some reason.

I listen to so many interviews with writers and creators, and it is common for someone to ask about what lead to a big milestone, and for the person to respond, “Gosh, I just don’t know how this happened. I’m not even sure what I did.” Well, writing down what you do gives you something to point to and recognize. “What did I do to launch this book? Oh, let me show you. This wasn’t easy, but I did it.”

In recognizing and celebrating what you create, actually list out what you created, what you are proud of, and what you learned. Writing this down is a powerful way to celebrate these things, not gloss over them, which I think we tend to do in our minds.

To me, this process always begs the question of how we can live up to our creative vision, while not feeling overspent. This time of year, I often consider:

• My mission and how I can feel even more aligned to it in my daily work.
• Doing only the things that matter deeply, and cutting away the rest.
• How everything I do can focus on craft, embracing the satisfaction of improvement in the details.
• Ways to stay consistent that fuel me, instead of depleting me.
• The simple creative habits I want to nurture, and how to keep expectations ridiculously low.

The work I do with writers is inherently about connection. A magical thing happens when someone reads your book, your essay, or experiences what you create. This is about depth, not breadth.

When it comes to considering creative work and sharing it with others, there is a tempting belief that “things were easier back in the day.” That things were simpler back in 1990 or 1980 or 1970 or 1960, in terms of creating, finding your place within well established systems that help you develop and distribute that work, and building a career and an audience for what you create. But I don’t think it was.

The other day, someone posted a series of photos on Facebook from the early 1980s. This is Shawn Murenbeeld in his basement, creating scratch-built replicas of Star Wars vehicles, and then shooting his own movies with a Super 8 camera:

What you are seeing in this image is a model of the probe droid he created, which was seen in the beginning of the movie The Empire Strikes Back. (To be clear: his models are copies, built as a hobbyist. He didn’t work on these films.) Why did this resonate with me? Because I can clearly see his passion for this work. In the background are posters that inspired him, and a shelf full of models he has created. Back then especially, this is time-consuming work that clearly requires a lot of creative energy.

What I also see in this photo is what is missing: any viable way for him to have his film distributed, seen, or celebrated by others. Even beyond issues about rights and intellectual property, there was no YouTube, no internet, no Patreon, no Substack, no social media, no Meetup.com, no way for him to share this work easily. Yet, he created. And it was enough to devote himself to developing his craft, and showing up for his creative vision. When I look up Shawn, I see how these experiments in his basement lead to a 30+ year career in art and design.

As I was writing this, Ellie Robins shared something in her own newsletter that I feel will resonate with many writers:

“This Substack’s subscribers are steadily growing, and the emails I get with growing frequency saying that people are enjoying the work—they really do mean the world. And yet as we close the year, my predominant feeling around this Substack is a sense of failure. I wish I were more organized; that I were able to follow a publishing schedule; that I were better at creating a network on here without feeling overwhelmed; that I wasn’t so often scrambling to put a piece together at the last minute; that I could stick with ideas for longer, especially the ones that seem to light people up, instead of bouncing around between ideas in ways I worry make my work hard to penetrate or follow.”

Yet, Ellie published 40 essays this year. I mean, that is just awesome!

For whatever you shared this year, I encourage you to celebrate it. Thank you for showing up this year. Thank you for what you have created. Thank you for what you have shared.

I’m seeing a lot of gift guides this year. What I’m encouraging you to do is this: give yourself the gift of recognition. That:

• You are unique.
• You have a powerful voice.
• You have created.
• You have gained wisdom.
• You have capabilities.

And that the world is a better place because of your voice and your work.
Please let me know in the comments below: what did you create this year, what did you learn, and/or what are you proud of! Say it out loud, I would love to hear it.

Thanks!
-Dan

My days are spent talking with writers and creators, and I often hear about the challenges they face when they consider sharing their work. This year, I’ve watched writers change their strategy in how they reach readers, focusing less on social media and more on Substack and email newsletters. But when they consider sharing on these platforms, they tell me about their concerns. Perhaps some of these feel familiar to you:

• “What do I talk about?”
• “I don’t think anyone really cares.”
• “I’m worried I will run out of things to say.”
• “I don’t have the time for anything new!”
• “How do I stay consistent?”
• “I worry about how I should come across, and then procrastinate because I need to get it right.”

These writers are so passionate about their writing, but face challenges when considering how to share that work regularly via Substack, newsletters, and social media. The result? They miss opportunities to develop their audience of ideal readers — those who will love what they write.

I’m excited to announce my next workshop, meant to address these challenges that writers face. The workshop is called “Find Your Voice and Get Into Your Groove on Substack (and Beyond)” and it will take place on Friday December 15, 2023, at 12:30pm ET. Of course, a full recording will be sent to all who register, so if you can’t make it that day, please consider registering anyway. The cost is $49, and it’s packed with practical solutions, including:

• How to confidently know what to share that reflects what you write and why.
• How to identify the themes you want to write about consistently in a newsletter (or social media), so that everything you share feels authentic and cohesive.
• How to clearly define your identity on Substack and beyond, including the branding and design elements you use.
• My process for never running out of ideas for what to share, regardless of how often you want to share.
• How to create simple repeatable system to ensure you share consistently, using up less of your creative energy or time.

All of this is about you sharing what you create with authenticity. Fellow introverts: this is definitely for you! I have spent years developing this system for replacing fear and overwhelm with a clear path to sharing that actually feels good!

You can register for the workshop here.

What you create matters, and what you share matters. Developing the habit of creating and sharing is about honoring your voice, developing your readership, and filling your days with moments that matter.

Attending to this work is a craft. Sharing is a craft that takes time to develop. I encourage you to invest in that craft. Learn how to express what you write about consistently, and fill your life with meaningful moments with readers and other writers.

This year I have been focusing on simplifying. Like so many writers and creators I speak with, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by all of the responsibilities and opportunities we face each day. As I considered this, I kept having a single image in my head — a bakery I remember walking past many times. When I looked it up, I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was still there on Prince Street in New York City:

Why this image? As a writer and creator, it is so easy to constantly feel pressure to focus on growth. We worry that we need to do more, that we aren’t doing enough, or that we aren’t doing the correct thing.

But when I consider my creative work akin to the ethos of a small bakery that has endured for more than a century, it encourages me to:

• Focus on what I truly love doing.
• Do less, but with a heightened sense of craft and detail.
• Embrace limits as a way of honoring my creative vision, and the experiences
• I hope to have with readers and writers.
• Be satisfied with the work I do, instead of being distracted by trends, what others are doing, or succumbing to the ‘fear of missing out.’

These are all themes communicated in one of my favorite movies — the documentary film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi. It tells the story of a tiny sushi shop with only ten seats at the counter and a few small booths, which has thrived for more than 50 years. Today, Jiro Ono is 98 years old and still runs the restaurant:

He and his staff focus on honing their craft and sharing it as an experience with their customers. They aren’t just making a product — they’re considering the best ways that someone can experience their work. How they share what they create is a critical part of this process.

Now, I am never opening a bakery or restaurant. But these inspirations make me consider: how can I best express my creative vision? How can I attend to the craft of sharing what I create? How can this be measured not in hollow numbers, but in moments that truly matter: when our ideas inspire others, help others, and create conversations and relationships that make life feel meaningful.

If you want to attend to this work for yourself in how you approach Substack, email newsletters, or anywhere you share online, please register for my upcoming workshop here.

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan