HOW TO CREATE MASTERPIECES 9 Principles to elevate everything to an art form
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I NTRODUCTION The inventor, Nicolas Tesla, saw himself as “an artist of technology”. Steve Jobs was an entrepreneurial artist who gave emotions, life and meaning to his company’s creations, much like Picasso did to his paintings. This e-book will help you create masterpieces in your life, and in your work. Together, we will now look at 9 principles to elevate anything you do into an art form. If you apply these principles diligently, patiently and persistently, you will create masterpieces. What you will learn here has worked for entrepreneurs, business owners, TED speakers, university professors, film directors, and artists. You may find that you enjoy the journey.
THE THINGS THAT ARE LEAST IMPORTANT TO OUR SURVIVAL ARE THE VERY THINGS THAT MAKE US HUMAN - SAVAS DIMOPOULOS, THEORETICAL PHYSICIST STANFORD UNIVERSITY
WELCOME TO YOUR ADVENTURE CHAPTER 1 - EVERYONE H AS M ASTERPIECES WAITING CHAPTER 2 - A GAME
AND THE
TO
B E C REATED
P RIZE YOU C AN WIN
CHAPTER 3 - YOU ’ RE C REATING M ASTERPIECES CHAPTER 4 - QUESTIONS & A NSWERS CHAPTER 5 - THE 9 TH S TEP
E VERYONE
HAS MASTERPIECES
WAITING TO BE CREATED . When I was a kid, my dad told me about a lot of books. There’s one that I have never forgot ten, even though I never read it because it made me dream. I now live the life I dreamed of as a child: I help entrepreneurs, business owners, artists and creators from all over the world, from my home in the trees in Costa Rica. It took me 10 years to create this masterpiece. Through this journey, I've engaged with over 25,000 people from 40 nationalities through training, coaching and speaking, and my work will be featured in “The Coaching Movie”. When I started as a trainer and coach in Poland, I was taking groups of 50 to 150 people for five day retreats during which we had a long and intense time together. Since then, it has been “impossible” because nobody has time. I moved from Poland to London, where I tried to create an online platform to teach anyone how to go from the dream to reality. I failed. I then moved to New York City, and a girl contacted me.
She lived in London, had spent 10 years going to therapists and psychologists, but was still miserable. She was told I could help, but I refused because I believed that coaching couldn’t be done online. She was persistent and convinced me to give it a try. The results from online coaching were remarkable, so when others asked for help, I offered the same. It turns out that you can learn how to turn your dreams into reality and create masterpieces online. Everyone has masterpieces just waiting to be created. Given the right tools, anyone can create something extraordinary. It won't happen on its own, but if you're willing to invest in time, resourcefulness and persistency, you are bound to succeed. One of my clients now has the 30th most viewed TED talk of all time, and another raised $500,000 in just 8 weeks. What they both have in common is a willingness to make themselves uncomfortable, in order to take extraordinary actions. In this guide you will find 16 actions which you can take now. If you complete all of these actions, I can guarantee that you will see results.
1.WHEN YOU INVEST TIME, EFFORT, AND RESOURCES, YOU GIVE MEANING TO WHAT YOU DO.
G IVE M EANING TO WHAT
YOU
DO
I once went to Morocco to test a new camera, and I wondered what it would look like if I made a time-lapse. Little did I know that I would end up spending over 48 hours to create this 30 second video. The result is terrible compared to what I’ve created since, but at the time it felt amazing. I was excited to have achieved something I didn’t know I could do. I showed it to the friends I was staying with, and they were also in awe. They enjoyed it so much they wanted to share it with their friends. Unexpectedly my time-lapse started to become meaningful. Most of us get it wrong because we think that we put time, effort and resources into something because it’s meaningful, while the reality is that things are meaningful to us because we put time, effort and resources into it. If you want to create masterpieces in any field (not just in the arts), you have to do something which is meaningful to you. For something to be meaningful to you, you have to invest time, effort and resources.
ACTION 1 - SELF REFLECTION What do you want to elevate into an art form? Make a list of everything you want to elevate into an art form, and rank them from the most important to least. IDEAS - The way you make money / The way you perform at work / The way you relate to your partner / The way you lead your team / The way you speak with your kids / The way you eat / The way you look / The way you feel / The way you have sex / The way you sleep / The way you live
ACTION 2 - SELF
REFLECTION
For each item on your list, write how much time, effort and resources you want to put in this month.
2. YOUR ART COMES TO LIFE BECAUSE IT AFFECTS
PEOPLE
C REATE S OMETHING
AND
SHARE IT
After I shared the time-lapse with my friends, I posted it on social media and received direct feedback. People watched, commented, liked, ignored and gave advice. The feedback I received made me realize that the timelapse was now affecting other people. They were experiencing real emotions and thoughts while watching it. What you do comes to life when it affects others. As my time-lapse became significant, I decided to make another, because the more I watched it, the more faults and improvements I could see. I wanted to see how much better I could make it. Seth Godin talks about the importance of “shipping”. What you do is finished when you either run out of time or resources. Whatever you have when you run out of one is the final project. You release it and you move to the next project. My mum used to say “better is the enemy of good”. When you ship on time and on budget, even if not perfect, you give life to creations that will grow into masterpieces.
ACTION 3 - SELF
REFLECTION
For each of the top 3 things you want to elevate to an art form, what masterpieces do you want to create? Describe each masterpiece with as much detail as possible. Describe each masterpiece from the point at which you would consider it a success. Based on how much time you want to invest in each masterpiece, what would you want to create or achieve in 30 days?
ACTION 4 - TAKE A CTION Make the commitment to (1) invest the time you have decided to and (2) create or achieve what you said you would within the next 30 days. Write this on 5 post-it notes and put them around your home.
3. NOTICE
THE DIFFERENCES
AND EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE
WRITE D OWN YOUR OBSERVATIONS After creating a few time-lapses, I was approached by a company promoting YouTube artists, which lead me to create even more time-lapses. A few months later I was in Brussels with a friend, and said “the clouds are dramatic and I like the glow from the sun. The colors are quite pretty but there’s not enough wind to get the best sunset.” My friend laughed and said “you’re a meteorologist now?” I thought about it, and it’s true that before making time-lapses, I had never looked at the sky for hours with such intensity. I had obviously seen the sky every day of my life, and I even spent time looking at the clouds or the stars when I was in the scouts…but I had never spent time really noticing the difference between one sky and another. The more time lapses I processed, the more different emotions I created, because each one was unique. That’s when I was forced to discover the third lesson I learned from making time lapses. Your creations gain emotion and feeling because you have focused your attention on the differences. When you do something over and over, you start noticing the differences that change everything because each one creates different emotions.
ACTION 5 - TAKE A CTION Become used to noticing the difference between seemingly small and insignificant things. For the next 7 days, notice the following: > > > > > >
How How How How How How
do you walk? do you speak to different people? do you brush your teeth? do you eat? do you sleep? does your body feel?
Get a pocket size notebook or a note-taking app on your mobile, so that you can write down what you notice as it is happening. For example, when you walk ask yourself the question “how do I walk?”, and describe the way you walk as accurately as possible. At the end of the week, review the differences between the ways you did things from one day to the other.
4. YOU ARE ALREADY AN
ARTIST
Y OU A LREADY CREATE ALL
THE T IME
When you think, you imagine concepts and create thoughts. When you speak, you imagine words and create sounds. When you run a business, you imagine a product or service, and you create a company. Art is the expression of imagination and creativity. So everything we do is art, because first we have to imagine doing it. Because I have taken so many time-lapses, I now see the sky as a piece of art. The final lesson I learned from time-lapses is this:
ACTION 6- SELF R EFLECTION If the way you live your life is an expression of who you are, what does it say about you? If you lived the life that reflects who you really are, what would your life be like?
You become an artist in any field when you give emotions, life and meaning to what you do. You can become an artist in any field if you are ready to invest enough time, effort and resources.
ACTION 7 - TAKE A CTION
You become a life artist when you invest time, effort and resources into creating the life you want. The way you live is an expression of who you are.
What will you do differently during the next 7 days that is an expression of who you really are?
Think about it: how could anything you do not be an expression of who you are?
y a w a g n i h t y r e v e
w o r h (5) T s s e l r a e f e (6) B
E MBRACE
DESTRUCTION
In my opinion, Louis CK and George Carlin are 2 of the best stand-up comedians. They have two habits that have led them to be as amazing as they are. Every year, they throw everything away to start from scratch. They are practice being fearless in what they do. When you throw away everything, you're left with nothing. And that’s why one of the best gifts you can give yourself is to throw something away, because it frees you.
The deeper you dig, the more you discover, especially things you didn't even know you already had. Passions you buried long ago, resources you ignored, contacts you didn’t tap into, and ideas you didn’t have the courage to pursue. What has made Louis CK and George Carlin so successful is that they do what they really want to do, despite the fear.
When you give up something you've spent your whole life building, it's scary and forces you to dig deep. This is often a painful process. This process is necessary to creating masterpieces. You can’t create a masterpiece without changing something.
I left Belgium to study in the UK, then I moved to Poland to start my first business. I left everything I built for an opportunity in London, and then again a few years later to go to New York City. Every time it felt like I was throwing everything away, and giving up everything I had built and was attached to. People thought I was crazy until they realized that I now run a global coaching practice from my home in Costa Rica, 4 minutes from the beach. I live what is my dream life.
When you stop doing the things you believe you should do, have to do, or need to do, you can start doing what you really want to do.
Every time you let go of something it is scary, because you don’t know what’s waiting for you on the other side. It is when you face your fears that you become free.
BE YOU FEARLESSLY ACTION 8 - SELF REFLECTION
ACTION 10 - SELF R EFLECTION
What is everything you should, have or need to do?
If you did everything you want to do, what difference would it make?
ACTION 9 - SELF REFLECTION
ACTION 11 - TAKE A CTION
Listen to why you shouldn't do anything and you can chose to do anything!).
1. Pick how many things from you list of should, have, or need, that you won’t do.
For each item from your list, if you had no fears, no worries, what would you want to do?
2. Commit to doing what you want to do instead and note the result.
7. Everything is a REMIX
USE
EXISTING BUILDING BLOCKS
Nothing is new: everything we build comes from existing pieces. We can only build something new out of parts that already exist. Nobody starts original, and all of the greatest copied someone else before they became original. “Bad artist copy, great artists steal” - Pablo Picasso. You want to copy other’s work to the point that you can transform and combine it into something new. Learn from others and build on top.
ACTION 12 - TAKE A CTION 1. Watch this video about the idea of a Flash of Genius: http://bit.ly/1JF7PTf 2. Watch this video about the concept “Everything is a Remix”: http://bit.ly/1F50Ptk
ACTION 13 - SELF R EFLECTION What or who do you want to copy? What or how will you try to transform? What will you try to combine?
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulder of giants” - Isaac Newton. You want to find people who inspire you within your field and out of it. You will gain many years by learning about others’ journeys, their ups and downs, their mistakes and how they eventually succeeded.
ACTION 14 - TAKE A CTION Make a commitment based on the list above: what will you copy, transform and combine?
8. IT’S SMARTER TO BE LUCKY THAN IT’S LUCKY TO BE SMART
“T HE HARDER I WORK, THE LUCKIER I GET ” - T HOMAS J EFFERSON I drives me crazy when people say, "you're so lucky to work from the beach Costa Rica,” because the truth is that I worked bloody hard to make it possible. Everyone who has succeeded says the same thing: the only thing that differentiates those who achieve something remarkable from others is how much work they’re ready to put it. It takes sweat, blood and tears to create masterpieces. If it was a walk in the park, everyone would be doing it all the time. I struggled so much, I can't remember all the moments I wanted to cry and give up. I remember eating rice with butter for weeks because I couldn't afford anything else. I've been homeless at least 5 times over the last decade, and had a roof only because of friends and strangers who'd host me.
I can't count the number of calls, emails and meeting I've had with clients who said "no". I've stuck through all of it because I couldn't give up. I've worked long streaks of 12-hour days, and 7-day weeks for many years. I've learned to shut up and listen. I’ve learned to accept my mistakes, and to fold my ego so that it is small enough to fit in my back pocket. I've learned to say sorry when I am wrong, and I've worked hard to change the way I behave and what I believe, over and over. Every time you fall, you stand back up and try again. If you really believed your success depends on luck then you wouldn’t do anything, because you just have to wait to be lucky. But you’re not just waiting, so you know that luck is not the answer. Remove luck and lucky from your vocabulary, because it discourages you to put in the hard work that you need to get a break through. Using the word luck or lucky focuses your attention on what you can't control.
ACTION 15 - SELF REFLECTION How many additional hours of work do you want to invest in being lucky? What can you do to work smart, more effectively, or more efficiently? Who could you ask for help?
ACTION 16 - TAKE A CTION Create a poster you will put in a place you walk by every day and cannot miss. On this poster, you will make a grid containing the next 30 days, and write at the top the commitments you’re making. Every day, fulfil your commitments and tick off the day.
Questions & Answers
Q UESTION 1 “H OW DO YOU KNOW IF IT ' S ACTUALLY GOING TO ADD VALUE TO PEOPLE ?” You don’t. You will not know whether something works until it works. From experience, I have come to believe that if you focus your attention on creating something that is an expression of who you are, you will be of value to people. If you’ve created the masterpieces you really want, you would be a happier human being, and that alone adds value to everyone who will meet you. To create masterpieces, you will have to overcome your fears, and when you do you will unconsciously give others permission to do the same. Don’t rely on my words alone: do your own research and experiment. Ask people around you how you might add value to them. Put everything people said into one document and read it out loud.
Q UESTION 2 “W HAT MASTERPIECE ?”
IS NOT A
I believe that everything is a masterpiece, the moment we choose to look at it as a masterpiece. When a child makes his or her first drawing, it is a masterpiece. It may be insignificant at a national or historical level, but at a personal level it may be life changing. As everything can be considered a masterpiece, I narrow my interest down to masterpieces that are or were the “next level up” for you. “It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be.” - Paul Arden. The more remarkable and extraordinary you want your masterpiece to be, the more work you have to put in. If you’re ready to put in enough time, resourcefulness and energy, you can achieve anything. Then the question really is “how good do you want your life’s masterpiece to be?”
Q UESTION 3 “H OW
DO YOU GET PEOPLE
TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT YOU HAVE IS A MASTERPIECE ?” By understanding it yourself. Nobody other than you should think it’s a masterpiece. The fact that others also think it’s a masterpiece is a sign that your masterpiece resonates with others, that’s all it says. Some of the world’s most extraordinary masterpieces weren’t understood For instance, Copernicus was burnt alive and Van Gogh died not having sold a single painting. For me, other people understanding that what I have is a masterpiece is a measure of success rather than a goal. When people get it, I know that I really get it. That’s one of the reasons I started working with an art coach: I understand my art internally but I can’t express it in a way that makes sense to anyone else, because I don’t understand it well enough. With the help of my art coach, I explore questions that help me understand my masterpieces better. The more I do, the better my creations get and the more masterpieces I create.
Q UESTION 4 “I F NOT W HEN !?!?”
NOW , THEN
Whenever the right time is. My mother says that “opportunities are like buses, if you miss one, there’ll always be another one coming”. The real question is “why are you not doing what you think you want to do?” and “why do you think you want to do X?” Real problem happens when we think “if I do X then I can do Y”, because if someone said “I want an apple so I’ll buy an orange”, you would think they’re crazy. It turns out that when you do something order to get something else, you’re being crazy, too. The only compass which knows what you really want to do is yourself. When you take time off in nature and away from people, or when a guide takes you through a deep internal journey, it becomes easier to be honest with yourself and say what you really want to do. The fears will come up, such as “what if this or that happens?”, and that’s normal. The next step is to take small nonthreatening actions that will give you a taste of what you want. Then you will know whether it’s a HELL YES or a HELL NO.
Q UESTION 5 “D O MASTERPIECES HAVE DAYS TOO ? A ND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM ?”
BAD
The cloud over your head doesn’t mean that you’re not heading in the right direction. Going through bad days is definitely one of the components of creating masterpieces. If it was a walk in the park, you would have no need for reading this guide. The problem is not having a bad day, but the thoughts you have around having a bad day. You may feel that having unproductive days or hitting roadblocks are proof that you’re not fit for success, but it’s not the case. All the best people have bad days. What makes them extraordinary at doing what they do, is that they don’t let the bad days define them. My judo teacher says “it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, what matters is what you do when you stand back up.” “Laughter is like windshield wipers: they don’t stop the rain but they let you continue to move forward.” - Gerard Juniot Bad days are a full part of the lifecycle of a masterpiece. To create a masterpiece you have to go through certain stages which include the “honeymoon” at the beginning, when
you're all excited and everything is magical, the “playground” after the honeymoon, when you try all sorts of new ideas and everything is new and fun, and “hibernation”, when we hit the tough part of the journey, during which we have to retreat, slow down and heal. “Bad days” are another part of that journey, and are impossible to avoid completely. You can reduce the probability of bad days and their impact on your life and performances by keeping a number of healthy routines, like meditating, sleeping full nights, eating food that works well with your body, etc. When you have a bad day, write down all your negative thoughts on a piece of paper and what you want to do on another. Make a ball from the piece of paper with negative thoughts and throw it in the bin. Then read the piece of paper which details what you want to do, and do ONE task at a time. Another method is to write down the thought making you feel bad, angry, frustrated, annoyed, sad, etc. (eg. “I am angry because I have to do my taxes”). Then write the answer to the question “why am I thinking this thought?” (eg. “Because I don’t like doing my taxes”). Read the answer out loud and reply again to the question “why am I thinking this thought?” (eg. “Because it’s a waste of time”). Repeat the process until your negative thoughts have melted away.
9.DEEPEN YOUR LEARNING
THE BEST DAY TO PLANT A TREE WAS 40 YEARS AGO. THE SECOND BEST DAY IS TODAY.
THE I NITIATION The Initiation is a self directed online coaching program that helps you go deeper into your masterpiece. Through an exploration of 10 chapters, you will discover more about your identities, allies, enemies, strengths, weaknesses, map and actions. As a result, you will gain clarity and take steps towards the creation of your next masterpiece. All you need is an internet connection, a timer and pen / paper to write your answers. This program cost $0. Visit www.artofamagicallife.com/ prologuetheinitiation to start the adventure.
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The way you see the world is not actually how the world is. Perception is not reality. The more you understand that, the more choices you have on how to deal with different situations and what happens to you and your company. Companies like Kodak and Leman Brothers have gone bankrupt while Apple and Facebook thrive because of the decisions made. To understand the business decisions you make, first you want to understand how perception affects decisions. When you understand the business beliefs drive you, you will understand better your mistakes and your successes. When you understand how each member of your executive board individually takes decisions, you will know what is missing in your team. Compendium is a tool for business leaders, executive coach and strategy consultants to understand better the business believes that drive the company you want to improve. Foreword by Richard Cullen, ex-General Manager of VISA Europe who explains how VISA grew from $1 billion turnover to $7.5 trillion. Get your copy here: www.bit.ly/sopcompendium
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