Good Design makes us feel confident.

It makes us excited to try out a new product or feature.

Good design validates our ideas. It makes our ideas feel more tangible and real. An idea in the head is invisible. But a quick mock-up or sketch, or a well-crafted logo makes the idea come alive.

Good design also gives business owners and employees something to be proud to stand behind and the confidence to go the extra mile (to live up to their brand). And it gives customers confidence that they can trust the brand and be inspired by their values.

In other words, good design is a cycle of improvement—where looking good makes us feel good makes us act well.

And inspires others to step up their game too.

Every time I look at something I design a while ago, I cringe a little at how amateurish it was. We do this all the time—not just with design, but with anything we create. We look at our old work and cringe. Ugh—how embarrassing. But wait, is it? Isn’t the fact that we see our old work as amateur-hour, a sign that we’ve improved since then?

Old work that makes you cringe is a sign of your progression.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1413

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

What is art without someone to share it with?

I love creating things because I love the process, not because I’m seeking validation or a financial outcome. I write because I love to write. I come up with songs because I can’t not do it. Even if I was stranded on a desert island (and happened to have crash-landed with my creative tools unscathed), I’d still pick up my guitar and strum, and I’d sketch the ocean and draw palm trees. I’d come up with dozens of business ideas

As creatives, our natural state is creative motion.

Drummers are always twitching their hands and moving their feet.

When I’m doing nothing, I start humming a tune. It’s like in the face of boredom or stillness, creativity jumps out of us.

A big part of creativity is sharing what you make. Our art isn’t rendered “less than” if we don’t share it, but when shared it is elevated to something new.

Sharing takes this one idea and makes it our idea.

1 + 1 = 3

Sharing your art is love. It’s loving the craft. It’s loving others. It’s loving yourself. It takes love to put yourself out there—at the chance of embarrassment or failure—and express your ideas. It’s being ignored (and being okay with that while at the same time always trying new things and solving problems).

We create for ourselves—to scratch an itch, to build something novel and/or new, to learn and improve—but in so doing, our work helps and enables others to create too

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1412

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”

Benjamin Franklin

Big ideas start with small, focused actions.

It’s great to go after system-level problems and dream about doing big things, but don’t get lost in the dream of the idea and forget to start moving forward.

Small actions only look and feel small on a day-to-day micro level. But in reality, the value is there at each action step. Each action builds up to something bigger.

This is true for habits, technology, business, etc.

Change is continuous—it just might be currently too small to see it yet.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1411

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

“Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a person has thrown up their hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out—so it comes clear in.” — Elbert Hubbard

Success is often about making good decisions at the right time (or finding a little luck). Yet, sometimes all we need is just a little bit more effort. Forward motion.

The difference between someone who fails and someone who succeeds is perseverance. Because what is success, but continuous effort towards a goal and the willingness to continue after you fail again and again. Success is about progressing. We fail to succeed when we fail to progress.

That being said, it’s worth looking to what we are trying to succeed at. Just because we can succeed at something doesn’t mean we should. Succeeding at something that doesn’t mean much to us isn’t worth the countless hours we sweat to make it happen.

“A little more effort, a little more patience” towards the right things.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1410 (draft #2)

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

There’s a lot of… gunk that we accumulate in our lives. Day to day, it’s like we are building up plaque in our mind, body, and spirit.

Work comes first. Other people come first. Todo list and doings often crowd out our own well-being.

We are always going, always striving, always push towards something.

When was the last time you did something for yourself? When was the last time you did absolutely nothing—no work, no tv, no books, no agenda—just time with yourself.

How many things from our past are we still holding on to? Regrets, possessions, unfinished projects, outdated dreams , etc.

I think every now and then we need to shut down our human OS and reboot ourselves.

Hold down the power button, so to speak, and do a hard reset.

It doesn’t have to be much. A little can go a long way.

Go to bed a little earlier.

Sleep a little longer.

Get outside.

Move a little more.

Eat something healthier today.

Do nothing.

Tap a nap.

Breathe.

Do something that matters to you.

Try something fun.

Try a new hobby.

Reflect. Reassess. Remind yourself what’s important.

Nourish what you’ve been neglecting.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1409 (draft #2)

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

Make a decision.

Stick to it.

If the outcome turns out bad or not the way you wanted, pause, reflect, re-prioritize—

and then make another decision and commit.

Don’t look back. Don’t look around. Just forward.

Regrets of the past are regrets of the future too unless you put them down and move past them. It’s not easy, but it’s more rewarding than letting past mistakes control your current decisions.

If you want better memories, then make better decisions today.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1408 (draft #2)

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

Getting your head right is the first step towards achievement.

It’s impossible to succeed if you don’t believe that you can.

Study the mind. Study yourself. Learn what you want out of this life, and don’t let yourself hold you back from it.

Happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, and success are all a state of mind.

Not to say all you need is yourself, but without trust, self-love, kindness, and belief in yourself, how do you expect to help others?

Belief unlocks the door.

So watch how you talk to yourself. Pay close attention to the words you use.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1407 (draft #2)

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

You don’t know what you don’t know.

That’s why we have to seek it out.

What fuels your actions?

Fame? Curiosity? Desperation?

Different fuels burn cleaner and burn longer.

A person pursuing a passion, say opera singing, will go much further faster if she is fueled by curiosity rather than acclaim.

The fuels that burn with smoke—anger, jealousy, or fear may get you where you want to go, but what remains of yourself (and your life) once you get there?

Also, where is that fuel taking you? Are you making meaningful decisions or are you defaulting to the choices in front of you?

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1406

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

Failure is inevitable.

But that doesn’t mean failure is assured. Knowing that failure is a possibility is much different than thinking you will likely fail.

I find it helpful to think of failure in percentages. There’s a 10% chance of failure (or flipped—there’s a 90% chance of success.

There’s an 80% chance this isn’t going to work because of X Y Z reasons.

This is a much easier problem to solve than the normal ”pass/fail“ mindset of failure or success. When we can identify the possible factors why we might fail, we can then go about canceling those variables from the equation.

Accuracy isn’t the point here, the key is to guess the likelihood of failure and narrowing that gap by addressing the potential obstacles beforehand.

It’s choosing where you want to go, eliminating potential roadblocks you see and preparing for what you are going to do if other obstacles block your path.

Because even a 1% more likelihood of success is better than 0% more.

How can you stack the deck (ethically anyway) in your favor so that the likelihood* of success is inevitable?

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1405

*plus a sprinkle of Chance and Fortune.

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify

Energy creates energy.

Work creates more work.

But if you’re overworked, slowing down is how you can start to feel good again. Sometimes it feels like you have to work yourself out of a situation, digging yourself further in before you can get out. But really we just need to set out of the hole and get a clearer perspective.

If you’re overworked, more work won’t cure you. Especially if you’re saying yes to things that don’t bring you joy or energy.

If you must work, then work differently. Doing the same thing over and over without break or maintenance would dull any blade.

Slow things down.

Find the path forward that you want to take, versus the path you think you must take.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1404

Join the Renaissance:

Newsletters: Considerations | Practices | Bookaholics

Subscribe: Renaissance Life on Apple Podcast| Renaissance Life on Spotify