Get ready to be inspired! 🙂
*Okay, that may have been too big of a promise. Haha.*
I’ve been wanting to do a compilation of my favorite talks, speeches and interviews of all time. When I work on my projects, so many thoughts fill my head and I have to battle with each one of them. Number one is self-doubt in so many forms:
“You won’t be able to finish this.”
“It’s too hard. You’ll give up anyway.”
“Your (drawing) lines are too simple.”
“How come you haven’t improved after all these years?”
“Of course, you can’t do that.”
“Don’t finish it. Give up. Throw it away already.”
Then, there’s distraction: chat messages and the temptation of social media and the thoughts and endless links that follow after each click! *OMG*
Instead of drowning in numerous questions and scenarios, I listen to talks, speeches & interviews. I mean, I do as soon as Riley is asleep and we’re done playing Wheels on the Bus and Incy Wincy Spider on Spotify and it’s time to go work double time. 😀 Hehe.
I just realized that all the personalities I listen to tend to mention another person (and as soon as they do, I hurriedly type the keywords on Google). I’m happy they’re grateful enough to recognize whoever helped or inspired them. Now, I’m hoping to pay it forward by sharing with you a lot of insights that have fueled me in my busiest (and even darkest) days! 🙂
May these be of help as you create! 🙂
1. Quieting the Lizard Brain by Seth Godin – Listen to this when you feel like quitting before working on a project or even just before thinking about skipping that workout again! *Yep, that’s me talking to myself.* Seth has many good interviews allover the web and I can go on and on about him and his insights but go click the link and as he would say “ship it”! 😀
2. How Great Leaders Inspire Action by Simon Sinek – I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to this guy. I sound like his sales person already. Then again, he always offers a new twist to things we think we already know. He always talks about leadership but his insights can always be applied to practically anything: workplace, parenting, marketing, relationships and the like! My friends are already like “Okay fine. What did Simon say again?” as I always tend to share stuff I learned from him. Haha.
3. Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman – Just imagine if this was the actual commencement speech at your graduation! Okay. Stop imagining. Start listening. I just always love it when people like Neil try to recall their early days and they’re still as sincere and genuine–they seem unchanged even after the enormous success of their work.
4. Yeonmi Park: My escape from North Korea – Don’t listen to this if you don’t want to cry. I’m still very grateful for people like her who tell their story boldly and selflessly. Also, after listening to this (after wiping my tears somewhere between 2 and 3 am), I realized, I don’t ever have the right to complain about my life ever again. *Ever, ever, ever.* 🙁
5. Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address – Listen to this when you’re attempting to make sense of where you are and where you’d like to go. This is where one of my favorite quotes came from:
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future
Try recalling all the odd jobs you ever signed up in the past. By odd, I mean, either:
(a) totally not related to your course in college
(b) totally off compared to what society is expecting of you
(c) something off-tangent compared to any of the things you imagined your career path to be like
They may not make any sense now but they will in the future! Did you know that Steve Jobs actually took up calligraphy classes? 🙂
6. Your Elusive Creative Genius by Elizabeth Gilbert – Listen to this when you feel uncomfortable about how you’re supposed to feel about the things you create. We always expect authors, singers and actors to come up with a hit after another hit in a linear manner thinking that the slope of their careers is constant. (You’re right! I was thinking of y = mx + b!) *Sorry* Going back, I like how Elizabeth Gilbert has presented the idea of genius this way. 🙂 Even Simon (see guy #2) said this has helped him a lot in having to deal with the success of his first book. 🙂
7. Creative Pep Talk with Ghostshrimp by Andy J. Miller – I’ve been listening to several creative Pep Talks by Andy J. Miller thanks to one episode that Abbey linked to me. This is one of my favorites though. Ghostshrimp is an Adventure Time background designer. Okay. To be honest, I haven’t watched an episode of Adventure Time (Is this my cue to duck?) However, I do remember where I was and the day I was listening to this. I was in the middle of a project (i.e. what they call dark period). My mind won’t cooperate and I can’t seem to do a lay-out properly. Of course, magic didn’t just arrive helped me finish my work. However, inch by inch, I was able to slowwwwly but surely change my perspective about my job and my direction. 🙂
I really am grateful to people like Andy who continues to share insights and pep talks to keep me going when I’m trying to battle it out with my thoughts. 😀 I’ve been binge-listening to his Pep talks on Soundcloud & Peppy talks on Patreon while stuck in traffic.
8. Inside the Mind of a Procrastinator by Tim Urban – This is such a light-hearted speech that saved me and helped me understand and end my panic attacks. I didn’t realize the amount of workload I have to deal with early this year and there were weeks and weeks when I had to deal with my heart racing and finding myself staring into space and getting overly guilty about the things I have yet to submit–in short, panicking which was counter-productive altogether!
9. The Unheard Story of David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell – He is one of my favorite authors. I don’t know how he is able to unearth such a massive amount of historical events and stories and thread them altogether in a piece full of insights. Anyway, if you can’t get enough of his talks, you can still read his books. My favorites are: The Tipping Point, The Outliers and What the Dog Saw. 🙂
10. Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model. | Cameron Russell – I listened to this years ago and even tweeted Cameron after being enlightened by her talk! I’m just putting this out there to any teen or anyone who feels unhappy with his / her body. 🙂
Ahhh…I could go on and on but I don’t want to get you confused with all the links. 😀 If you have favorites, please share them with me too! 🙂 I would also love to hear your insights about these talks. I mean, I’m already sooooo tempted to give away the meat of each talk. Then again, I don’t want to pre empt what you’re about to discover!
Hey, hey, hey! I haven’t done this in a while. I mean, blogging starting with words and ending up with nothing but words. Okay, now I have to look for a proper image for this post. (Update 2 weeks later: I finally have an image for this post. 😀 Haha.) This takes me back to how I blogged in 2007 during my Multiply days.
Anyway, you gotta thank the blogging platforms too! It has changed several times but it still truly allows us to share how we feel and what makes us happy!
Good night.
I have to sleep now!
*OMG. I hope I get to wake up just in time for my workout.*
XOXO,
Riley’s Mom
🙂
P.S. Speaking of inspiration, I always get inspired when I meet people at workshops. Just seeing people putting themselves out of their comfort zones and their willingness to learn something new refreshes me. I’m putting this here so I can thank anyone in the future and that myself, x years from now, will remember that gratefulness is key.
Meanwhile, we’ve got more workshops for ya! 🙂
May 13 (Sat) – Free Brush Lettering Workshop for Moms, B Hotel Quezon City, 10am-12nn. Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2oZVxRC
May 19 (Fri) – Free Workshop with Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils, Fully Booked Greenbelt 5, 5:30-7:30pm. Registration is at 3pm on the day at the venue itself. 40 slots only. Fully Booked Greenbelt 5 is located at the basement across Healthy Options. (Check out our mini tour here.)
May 21 (Sun) – Watercolor Doodles Workshop with Rustan’s Supermarket Cagayan de Oro. Sign up at the branch itself. The workshop is open to all Rustan’s Fresh Card Holders for only Php 299. See you there!
May 27 (Sat) – Letters & Colors Iloilo with Abbey Sy. (8:30am-4:30pm) Sign up here: bit.ly/GGxABCiloilo