The best podcast I listened to this week was Episode 202 of Magic Lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert. In fact, this particular podcast episode is probably my favorite in a long time. Friend, you have to listen to this episode as soon as possible. It was that good.
The Magic Lessons podcast is an extension of Elizabeth Gilbert’s phenomenal book, Big Magic, which I reviewed HERE. I also declared it one of my favorite books of 2015.
In each Magic Lessons episode, Liz Gilbert has a one-on-one phone call with a person who is struggling with a creative pursuit. After diving into the person’s history and more details, Liz then reaches out to a successful creative in that field to help give this person advice & homework. The episode closes out with Liz checking back in to see how things are working out for the struggling creative.
On this particular episode, Liz talks to Anne, a photographer in Pennsylvania. Anne is struggling to decide whether she should pursue a personal and painful photo project. It’s a subject she has been photographing for years (her brother). She is unsure as to where to go next with it. Liz and Anne quickly come to the conclusion that Anne is lacking the confidence to continue this project.
After speaking to Anne, Liz calls Brandon Stanton for insight that might help Anne push through her barriers. This is where it gets GOOD. Real good. Brandon Stanton is the creator of the life-affirming, mind-opening experiment called Humans of New York (HONY). Among a sea of content on the internet, HONY continues to make me stop in my tracks every single day. Seeing him speak at the University of Florida last December was one of the highlights of my year. As you might imagine, my ears perked up big-time when one of my favorite authors calls one of my biggest heroes.
Brandon’s words of wisdom for Anne did not disappoint. If you are not interested in hearing about Anne’s journey, you can fast forward to the 25:00 minute mark of the episode to jump right into his advice. Which, in case you were wondering, is 100% applicable to everyone, not just Anne.
Magic Lessons from Brandon Stanton:
Confidence is a learned skill. Brandon starts out by pointing out that people feel like confidence is something that you either have or you don’t. That you need to have confidence before you can do something brave. But that’s not the right mindset. Brandon shares, “The way to learn confidence is to be afraid of something. And do it anyway…You have to begin before you are ready.” It’s by doing the hard things that you gain the confidence you seek.
Time is the most important commodity we have. Brandon uses his own life as a perfect example for this point. He always knew he wanted to do something where he would use his creativity. But he thought he needed to get a “real” job and make money first. Then, once he had enough money, he could pursue what he really wanted to do. He spent two years stressed out and trading bonds in this pursuit. And then he lost his job. He had zero money to show for it, and had lost two years of his life. That was the moment when he decided to pick up his camera and make just enough money to control his own time moving forward.
Make plans that you can control. If you are in pursuit of a creative project or path, the key is to focus on what you can control. Not what is out of your control. If your goal is to make X amount of dollars, get a certain number of followers, etc., then you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, Brandon recommends taking your HUGE dreams and narrowing them down into bite-size attainable actions. In Anne’s case, that was spending one hour a day on her project. Could she do that? Yes. Once you are accomplishing what you set out to do, the final product will start to be dictated by the work. Genius.
I honestly thought my head would explode listening to this episode. Brandon’s advice is so spot-on. If you have any inclination to do any creative work (not necessarily professionally), do yourself a huge favor and listen to this episode. If you are a parent, I would also recommend listening to it to help giving you perspective on encouraging your children.
Listen to this episode HERE. To see more favorite podcast episode recommendations HERE.
