I was talking to a friend the other day who has the desire to speak publicly. He’s an amazing graphic designer, and people actually ask him to speak from time to time at their conferences. He enjoys it, but he also feels like he’s going to throw up before and after he speaks. He’s terrified.…
We’ve begun receiving feedback on Echo Conference via our response forms. We asked what people liked about Echo and what we could improve for next year. The first one I read was so harsh, it was almost comical. And it was harsh toward me. I actually burst out laughing it was so horrible. But it…
Echo Conference is only a week away. Typing that sentence made me want to throw up just now. This year, our team has over 1,000 church creatives converging on Dallas for three days. They’re expecting amazing teaching, a really good time, great laughs, inspiration, and a bunch of stuff I feel completely under-qualified to deliver…
Last week, one of our Echo team members sent an email to every attendee. Unfortunately, she added all the email addresses in the “To” field instead of the “BCC” field. Very contra email etiquette. As soon as she hit “send”, she walked into my office with her face drooping to the floor. She felt horrible.…
You’re treading water. You’re in the deep. You’re swimming, but just barely. Then you see it. You see a massive wave rolling your way. You know you’re about to be overwhelmed. The wave is a massive project, an unanticipated problem, a huge to do list. And it’s coming your way. You can do one of…
There are two types of fear when it comes to the creative process: healthy and unhealthy. Yes, there’s a healthy fear. This is the fear that you’ll lose some money or crash and burn your company or organization. This type of healthy fear helps you avoid obvious mistakes and very dumb risks. And there are…
Every week or so I deal with a new fear. It’s some new insecurity that I can either let cripple me or propel me forward. This week’s was: “What if I’m not providing as much value to the company as my bosses thought I would?” They hired me almost six months ago to take on…
I’ve begun scheduling a specific item into my schedule each day. I call it the Don Draper moment (think Mad Men, ad executive). I grab my favorite beverage and stare out the window for a few minutes. I look at the city. I look at the cars. I let my mind wander. I do this a…
My to do list possesses magical abilities. Yes, the things I get done seem completely unrelated to the length of my to do list. Some days I have 20 items on my list. Some days I have 10. Yet, as long as my head’s in the game I’m able to get both lists done under…
Each month I approach a threshold. It’s a threshold of fear. I have thirteen article each month (for Sunday| Mag) that need to be both written and designed for. That means I contact at least twenty-six people to volunteer their time for my project. Twenty-six very busy and talented people. And crossing that threshold means…