Today I want to talk about your next act. Maybe it is a second act, or a third, or even a fourth. What I mean by this is how you will sustain who you are as a writer or artist, and how your creative work will continue. That could be a reinvention as well, a new chance to experience who you are and what you are capable of creating after you have already lived one version of your life.
My Substack is called “The Creative Shift” for this reason.
I work with writers and creators, and my days are immersed in not just creating our work, but creating who we are. It is filled with invention and reinvention.
So often, our lives are first defined by other roles that we may have, such as our career, relationships, families, health, and other responsibilities. These identities can feel all-encompassing and, at times, suffocating. As if a part of you that has a specific creative vision can’t find light or air to grow. The result is that your creative side grows quiet.
I have heard many writers express a fear of showing up, especially online. They fear that if they say or do the wrong thing, even in the slightest way, that their reputation may not only be tarnished, but decimated completely. They’re afraid that they will not just embarrass themselves or make a faux pas, but become stigmatized and an outcast. They may conclude, “Maybe I just shouldn’t show up at all.” And in that process, their creative vision dims.
But I feel something special happens when you do show up to create and share. When what you create connects with someone who desperately needs it. You — and you alone — can become a bright spot in someone’s day, inspiring them, giving them hope, educating them, and making them feel seen and a part of something.
You are unique in this world, and the world needs your voice. Today I want to explore your next act and how you can make your creative work sustainable over time.
Your Next Act Can Be Your Best
But there is this one video of him that I always go back to. The context here matters. In 1985 he was kicked out of Apple, an embarrassing and humbling move for him. Over the course of the decade that followed, he was largely out of the limelight he had previously enjoyed. He started a new computer company (called NeXT) and financially supported a small group of digital animators in a little known company at the time called The Graphics Group. (More on them in a bit…)
Steve seemed to change a lot in that decade, and there is a single moment when you can see this. In 1997 Apple was struggling, in danger of bankruptcy, having long since lost the personal computer battle to others. From Wikipedia: “Apple’s market share declined precipitously from 9.4% in 1993 to 3.1% in 1997.” Yikes.
Tentatively, Apple brought Steve back in as an advisor. I followed this closely at the time, and remember how skeptical people were that Steve was just a marketing charlatan who would bring drama, not a solid business growth strategy.
At one of their big conferences for developers, Steve took the stage and did a Q&A session. An audience member asked Steve a difficult — and insulting — question:
“Mr. Jobs, you are a bright and influential man. It’s sad and clear that on several counts you’ve discussed, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I would like for you to express in clear terms how, say, Java in any of its incarnations addresses the ideas embodied in Open Doc. And when you are finished with that, perhaps you can tell us what you personally have been doing for the last seven years.”
Now, you don’t need to know what “Java” or “Open Doc” is. Here is Steve being verbally attacked in front of hundreds of the most important people in Apple’s community, his very intellect and leadership ability being questioned, just as he is re-emerging in the company he desperately wants to lead again.
This is what happened next…
Steve sits down in silence. He has a passive demeanor, which is surprising when considering his reputation for confrontation with others.
He takes a big drink of water. Clearly, this buys him some time, but it also prepares for a lengthy answer. He looks down, contemplating, his shoulders slumped. Again, what I see here is passivity and relaxation as he considers this. Before he says a word, 10 seconds elapse. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you have ever been on stage in front of a large audience, you know that 10 seconds of silence can feel like an hour.
Steve casually says, “You know, you can please some of the people, some of the time…” To me he is still buying time as he considers his response. He is now looking down at his water bottle, and a total of 25 seconds elapses before he begins to respond. That is a huge amount of time on stage. Imagine if I asked you to wait 25 seconds before you read the next sentence. Now imagine hundreds of people watching you as you wait. It’s a lot of pressure.
He finally replies, “One of the hardest things when you are trying to affect change is that, people like this gentleman, are RIGHT! In some areas.” He validates the person asking the question, which is a counterintuitive response.
He sets down his water bottle, and becomes animated. He’s calm, he calls the questioner a gentleman, and he starts by focusing on his mission, which he defines as “affecting change.”
Steve never disagrees with the person, he never gets defensive. Instead, he goes further to say there is a lot he doesn’t know and will get wrong, and he brings the audience into his vision and his process.
He stands up and begins walking around the stage — now in his element. “How does that fit into to a cohesive larger vision?” He asks about that specific technology in question.
Steve then charts a path through where they all want to go: to have Apple return to success. Along the way, he poses challenges they will face, saying, “I’ve made this mistake probably more than anyone else in this room.”
Then instead of debating, he focuses on the journey, saying, “As we have tried to come up with a strategy and a vision for Apple…”
Steve is not just answering the question, he is presenting an ethos to a skeptical audience who is tired of seeing Apple flailing, and whose careers depend on Apple’s success. They are concerned about Steve coming back and being the final nail in the coffin. I mean, this is the expression of the audience Steve is looking out on:
The irony of how the person who ended his question with “Perhaps you can tell us what you personally have been doing for the last seven years?” is that it was a slow buildup to dramatic success.
That small animation company Steve funded changed its name to Pixar. It never would have survived to release its first movie or any movie beyond that without his support. For years, he kept pouring money into it, even when it had little hope of success.
His computer startup, NeXT, was soon purchased by Apple and fully integrated its technology into its computers and became the foundation for their new operating system.
Steve described the years after this moment on stage as the most creative and productive period of his life. It was also one of the biggest string of successes of any company ever, where Apple released the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and so much else to become the most valuable company in the world.
Of course, you may have mixed feelings about Steve, or Apple, or the impact of their products. But I think of that moment when someone was trying to create their next act, and was challenged. And they responded with a vision instead of a debate.
What are lessons that you can pull from this as you try to find sustainability for what you create? As you consider your next act? A few things to consider:
- Slow down. Change the pace of the moment, even if that is uncomfortable at first. So often, we feel pressure to match the pacing of others, but that often works against your own goals. Take the time you need to consider and respond in a way that honors your intentions. This has the benefit of changing the air in the room, and finding opportunities for connection.
- Have empathy for others. Steve didn’t demonize the person asking the question, and he easily could have from his perch on the stage. Instead, he called him a “gentleman,” agreed with him, and even apologized in his answer. But he didn’t waiver from his goal. You can be humble and empathetic, while also staying on your path.
- Focus on core principles first. Instead of focusing on the specifics of the technology, rewind to the deeper ethos and goals driving you. Explain this again, because so often we assume everyone is on the same page when they aren’t. This gives you a shared starting point where people become more open minded to understand your viewpoint and process.
- Own up to your own blind spots, failures, ignorance, and bad decisions. It’s fascinating how often Steve did this in his response, yet at no point did it feel like he was defensive or “weak.” You can 100% own up to these things, just don’t make them the end of the conversation.
- Take people through the shared journey you are on. Explain what you are hoping to achieve and why, and how that informs the exact process you are encouraging.
Steve did this in phrases such as, “We have tried to come up with a strategy and a vision for Apple…” and “I think that is the right path to take.” He framed this as a path, something they are exploring, not a stark decision where one option is “right” and the other is “wrong.” And certainly not, “I’m right, and you are wrong.” He even says, “Some mistakes will be made along the way,” indicating the distinct nature of a journey rather than a decision. - Highlight the people in the process. During his answer, Steve highlighted members of the team by name, and talked about how incredibly hard they were working. He asks the audience to support his team, even if they are skeptical of Steve himself.
- Ignore that which takes you off course. Steve ignored the final part of the person’s question, never addressing what he had been doing for the past 7 years. Instead, he stayed focused on why he and everyone else was in that room: to chart a good path for Apple and each of their own goals as developers.
I know you are busy. You want your creativity to feel sustainable, and to be able to share your work with readers in a meaningful way. So on a practical everyday level here are a couple things I recommend you focus on for your next act:
Do Less.
Do one thing really well. Be the person most passionate or curious about that topic or theme. You don’t need fancy credentials — in fact, your “credential” is how well you explore this theme.
Stop stretching yourself so thin trying to do it all. Focus on what matters most to you, and double down on that. Not only will you feel better, you will be able to find more energy and time to devote to it, instead of spreading that out across so many other places.
Now, I absolutely know that the amount of resources we are talking about here is a sliver of your total energy and time. Likely 95% of your week is focused on other responsibilities — family, career, health, etc. But for that other 5% that could include what you create and how you share, how can you make it really count? My advice: do less. Use all of that 5% on one thing that really matters in creating and ensuring it connects with someone.
Own Your Channels.
Invest in channels that you have more ownership in. What I tend to recommend most is an email newsletter. I happen to prefer Substack, but I’ve worked with many services over the years.
Social media can give you “easy” likes and help you feel as though you are part of the crowd. But the moment you leave that one social network, your connection to them is gone. Everything you created there is gone as well. It’s not uncommon for me to hear from a writer or artist who found themselves locked out a social media account they spent years developing, with no recourse to get it back.
With a newsletter, you can keep your access to your subscribers across platforms.
A Final Act
Five months before Steve died at age 56, he showed up at a city council meeting in the city Apple is based. While he didn’t have to, he wanted to personally share the plans that he had been working on to create a new campus for Apple employees.
Steve is incredibly thin, and he has undergone cancer treatments for years. Yet here he is, in the same black mock turtleneck, pitching one last creative vision he feels passionate about.
This is another video I have watched many times as I consider why we create and why sharing that with others really matters.
Please let me know in the comments: how would you define your next act? What goals would you have, or what changes would you like to make to ensure your creative work feels sustainable?
For my paid subscribers this week I shared a video on how AI is changing the creative process. You can see a preview here.
Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan