You say: “Christian, thank God your back!”

I say: “Oh thanks, you’re too kind.”

I got myself a new tool for my blog.. it’s called a notebook. I prefer the good old vertical red and the horizontal blue lines to this glaring white screen.

So many things to write, how do I tell you but bluntly.. The purpose of this blog is about to change. My original purpose with this blog was to teach what I had learned and share goals and dreams with you the invisible internet person. Soon after a started the blog, I found teams of people who had collective blogs that were awesome. You can check them out at Behance and Creative and Live.

Does the fact that other people are doing something better mean you shouldn’t do something? NO. I just realized that writing is only one of many interests and once I felt the pressure to make every post an awesome inspiring thing, it doesn’t work too well.

Now I’m in Southern Pines and I will be starting school sometime this year… more on that later. I am engaged to my beautiful girlfriend and my family has moved away. Right now I need a personal site about me and what Im doing here. I want to share the big and small things ways I am being productive and creative.

Now I need a creative sandbox, not a strict writing schedule. So needless to say there will be changes to productive-creative.com. You’ll see.

-Cheers.

You might have heard that man has the ability to either create or destroy. I would say that it is our ability to create or create a state of destruction. Even with the statement “I am not creative” you are creating. You are creating a destructive mindset that limits like a cage. You are also creating a lie to someone else that you are not creative.

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Yesterday I went to art group. A couple of friends and I hire a model to sit for us and spend a couple hours drawing. I enjoy it so much, because it is in line with my passion to become a working artist.

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Check it out

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This latest one is right in my area of interest but I don’t have to add anything to what he said…. for tonight. I’m still thinking about what he said.

“Your own creativity is the very mechanism by which you’ll achieve everything else you could possibly want.”

Check out the audio during your lunch break.

As a side note if you don’t have a list you should definitely make one.

You might say “Well, I would have to go back to school to do what I want to do.” or “I’m too old now to do what I want to do” I would ask you why you are making excuses to not follow your dreams.

But, I also want to share this with you…

“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe”. ~Abraham Lincoln

By studying about what you want to do, you aren’t losing time on doing what you want to do. If you want to be a writer, study writing. If you want to be a web designer, study coding and design. If you want to be an artist, study art. Find the masters and make exact copies of what they did. Will you be able to show this work to anyone? No. But, you will be able to make something new from what you have learned.

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Or if you have more time. Check out the entire lecture.

Plan for life like you will live forever. Live life as if you will die tomorrow.

Today’s video is “Daft Hands” by FrEckleStudios

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I was on the phone with my girlfriend this morning and she reminded me that every day is a new day. She was right. Everyday is a gift we get to unwrap and make at the same time. I hope you haven’t come to seeing each day as just another thing to get through… waiting for the weekend. In this life we aren’t promised the weekend. Each day when we wake up we are just promised today. No more than that and no less.

Yesterday is given much more weight than it deserves. We all have our pasts. They may have been full of great experiences or bad experiences or a mix of both.You can use that past as an excuse or as a crutch or you can use it as a jumping off point. At the very least you can say, I have been that low so it’s nowhere but up from here. And do your best.

Tomorrow is fiction until it happens. The future is useful only for when it motivates you to make tomorrow better than today. It is good for planning, but it is not a place to put your actions.

Today is the only day we can take an action.

I read an excellent book on this subject called “The Present“. It has a very simple
premise based on living in the present moment. It’s a very short
and simple book. It’s definitely worth picking up.

There are many times I have heard “I will pursue that goal when…” . After that “when”, you can insert a million different things.

…when I graduate
…when I have my bills paid off
…when things settle down
…when I get married
…when the kids are grown
…when I retire

I am sure you could think of one you could say right now. The problem with any of these statements is that we are being naive in thinking that someday will be better than today. There will always be things to keep us busy, or at least keeping us thinking that now is not a good time to pursue our dreams. (more…)