Make the list right now. Every dream. I want to be a bestselling author. I want to reduce my material needs. I want to have freedom from many of the worries that I have succumbed to all my life. I want to be healthy. I want to help all of the people around me or the people who come into my life. I want everything I do to be a source of help to people. I want to only be around people I love, people who love me. I want to have time for myself.

THESE ARE NOT GOALS. These are themes. Every day, what do I need to do to practice those themes?”

James Altucher

Making the list of goals is hard. Or maybe it’s too easy and my mind immediately goes to all this unhelpful shit like directing a movie or being an NYT bestseller or whatever.

I love the way James turns that in this quote. “You want to direct a movie? Every day, what do you need to do to get closer to that?”

I can make that list. I can start that habit.

Of particular color and value here are the thoughts of Merlin on resolutions which you can find in this fabulous podcast episode. (Fast forward to about 41 min).

Write the list, then throw it away and start the tiny habit.

You can’t make money without selling something real. You can’t make something real without […] imagination […]. You can’t have imagination without surrendering yourself to an idea that you want to create something of value to other human beings.”

James Altucher

In the blog world (where many of my clients and friends live) it’s easy to setup a site and dole out advice on things like life, success, happiness, etc. There’s no required certification. For better or worse.

The blog world is inundated with these kinds of properties. It can be greasy, but my experiences with these kinds of bloggers has typically been positive.

My other world, the tech & startup world, is much different. It’s not a simple thing to get into (or at least it feels that way). When there’s real money, real stakes, there needs to be real value, real worth.

Recently I’m seeing these two worlds combine. Bloggers thinking more about real value, startuppers thinking more about lifestyle and happiness.

These two worlds are much more alike than I used to think. Though blogging is easy to start, creating true value (a question the typical blogger starts thinking about a year or more after starting) is hard. And that’s hard everywhere — be it a blog, an app, an HVAC company, or anything else.

And maybe I should rephrase that. It’s not that it’s hard to create real value, it’s that creating real value is the real work.

My two worlds are discovering they share the same ecosystem: creating value, making things someone wants.

“If you’re present at the time when things are being created, then what you’re seeing is always going to look like a mistake.”

Dan Harmon

“…trying to be big is different from trying to make art. Big isn’t a useful goal. Making a living at it might not even be a useful goal. Engaging in the art, making change, embracing it… that’s a useful goal.”

Seth Godin

“‘We’re artists, not producers.’ Then make some art! ‘No one will buy it.’ Are you insane? The point isn’t the money yet, it is the drive. Go to the Whole Foods and ask if you can hang it for free, and if they say no, hang it anyway. […] The natural human instinct is to create things, beginning with the toddler who is amazed that he was able to create such a fascinating product out of his butt, the difference is most toddlers grow up and sublimate that drive and create other things. You have not gotten past the poop, strike that, you have regressed to the oral stage, hence the emphasis on organic foods. Yes, the anal stage comes after the oral stage.”

The Last Psychiatrist

Doing “something you love” for work is all the rage these days. And I’m all for it.

But before you try businessifying your passion, try out being a real artist — believe in a story so much you’ll give away your art for free. And if you don’t have the story yet, start looking.