Hemeon's Pocket Guide of Making A list of ideas I've gathered over the last 10 years of making and selling art. Can be applied to anyone who makes things for a living. (images: How it started, 2013 vs. How it's going, 2023) Please expand this tweet to read the gu) 1. Individuality Trust what you have to say, not what you think the market wants. 2. Starve Resistance Show up everyday and fight like hell to beat resistance. Resistance never goes away. Resistance is real - bad luck, adversity, rationalization, injustice - all valid reasons why you should stop. But dont stop. Dont avoid the work. Keep going at all costs, even when you feel miserable. Master your craft without attachment of whether its good or bad. Accept payment and outcomes and move on. (Thank you Steven Pressfield) 3. Become What You Fear Bigger than fear of failure is the fear of success. If we succeed then things will change, you will lose friends, be treated different, kicked out of our tribe. The ego wants to keep things as is, comfortable. Becoming successful means confronting the ego and embracing the higher self. 4. The Muse is You Look within, not outside. don’t wait for a sudden burst of ah-ha inspiration, you will be waiting a long time. Instead, turn within, reflect on your life and your history and pull from your experiences to create honest and true work. 5. Positive Self-Delusion Believe in yourself and dont feed self-doubt. Not to be confused with the false self-confidence used by hacks and counterfeits. This is the quiet faith in yourself and knowing you are good enough. 6. Accept Self-Doubt Self-doubt means you’re on the right track. The greater the self-doubt the greater the dream. everyone has self-doubt, comes with being a human. Acknowledge it and use the energy to create. 7. Makers Make The library of assets (tangible and intangible) are the magnet that draws new opportunities to you. This archive is also how you become better. 8. Grow Self, Grow Career You are the biggest asset to your career and the biggest liability. Take care of your mental, physical and emotional health. 9. Contempt for Failure Own when things go wrong, learn and move on. Don’t feed your failures, they are not worthy of attention. 10. Get Out of Your Own Way This is flow state. Let go of outcome and prevent self-sabotage or limiting beliefs from destroying your work. You will do your best work this way. 11. Start Don't wait to be ready, just go. We are never ready. Find a way in and begin the work. 12. Make Everyday Keep going, Create something everyday. The magic happens over a long period of time of consistent work. Try this for 30 days - its very difficult. 13. The Energy of Love Creative work requires love. If you don’t love it, you wont make it. Like all love affairs there are ups and downs, heartbreak and euphoria. Neglect the love and it will eat you alive. You have the right to work on what you love with people you love. 14. Routine Build a schedule and follow it everyday. You wont feel like working some days and thats ok. Build your schedule to include personal time, hygeine time, play time, driving etc. get honest how you spend your minutes. If it's not scheduled, then you wont do it. 15. Boredom first, creativity later Being bored is a skill of removing distraction. no phones, no stimulus. you, alone with your thoughts. Schedule boredom. 16. Know Yourself Find out who you are and become it. What are your true motivations? understand your strengths and be honest about your weaknesses. 17. Abundance = Abundance Whatever you believe about the universe is true. If you believe there is scarcity then there will be. If you believe there is abundance then there will be. I don't know why this works this way. But it does. Thank you for reading, if you found this helpful, please retweet and leave a comment below about what principles you follow to do your best work - I look forward to hearing from you.