Find micro moments to rest your eyes, fill your ears with nice audio, and recharge your batteries. It doesn’t have to look like how anyone else does it, either!
Audience of One
Your “audience” starts with you. Make the thing you wanna see first. In my latest episode of LATER, I talk about how your creative endeavors need to satisfy that audience of one; YOU. No clicks, or likes, or whatever. But you have to be stoked when doing it.
I did Skull Toaster for seven years and quit it because it wasn’t serving the audience of one anymore. Never-mind that it built up a $200/mo Patreon / Memberful support network, or that 30+ people a day replied to metal trivia, and a solid nightly email newsletter that I produced and sent every night.
Wasn’t enough. The audience of one – me – wasn’t loving it anymore. Shut it down.
But also, life and work and relationships and all that – guess what? You’re still the audience, and last I checked you get to walk out of bad movies.
That doesn’t mean you just tell your boss off, or leave your family, or burn down the farm. No, it was tiny decisions made over decades that landed us where we are. Now it takes a series of tiny decisions over the next decade or two to course correct.
It’s not black and white. It doesn’t go from misery to utopia in a day.
Seek to entertain that audience of one in all that you do.
Weekly Recap for March 11th
Listening: Venom Prison’s new album, ‘Samsara.’ [Bandcamp]
Watching: This ‘Let’s Talk About ABLEISM ft. IMANI BARBARIN’ from the Mars & Blair Show [YouTube]
Thinking: “Stop trying to figure yourself out. You’re not a problem that needs to be solved. You might go through you’re whole life never fully understanding it and guess what? That’s ok. You’re ok.” [BunnyMichael, on Twitter]
These links and more go out every weekend to my email list, so if you like this, consider signing up.
Listen to Vanessa Kingori on the Unsubscribe Podcast
Came across this podcast from the @podcastdotco Twitter feed, a fantastic interview with Vanessa Kingori, the publishing director of British Vogue, “the first black female to ever be in this role.”
Great ideas and thoughts on work / wife balance, toxic masculinity, relationships, and so much more. Excellent production and tone throughout! It’s just the first episode, but I’m subscribed to Unsubscribe.
I Once Took a Lot of Buses
This post was originally written on April 10, 2012
In a recent two day stretch I spent 14 hours on a Greyhound bus. The first leg was from Cincinnati, OH to Pittsburgh, PA. Then the next day, another bus from Pittsburgh, PA to Philadelphia, PA. In the past year and a half, I’ve taken buses from Youngstown, OH to Austin, TX, and plenty of stops in between.
In this two day span, I saw people laying on the ground, yelling at one another, kids crying, and lone parents dropping their stuff all over the place.
It’s said that “it’s not the destination, but the journey.” Let me tell you, it’s not just the journey, it’s the journey.
It’s the rush to the bus station to make sure you get your ticket at will-call in time.
It’s standing in line with people who can’t control their kids.
It’s riding next to people who’ve been on the bus for 18 hours.
It’s stopping at a quick-mart, seeing two police cruisers and wondering if they’re going to search the bus.
On the bus to Pittsburgh, PA, I got talking to a kid who was heading to Connecticut. He had 19 more hours to go. And was coming from Arkansas. When I travelled down south to New Orleans, LA, I spoke with people who were riding the bus from Michigan.
You want to talk “horror stories” from the airport?
Those of us who endure overnight bus rides are warriors. We’re woken up every 2 1/2 hours to de-board at a bus station in a small town you’ve never heard of. We get off the bus and see women in pajamas, sleeping on suitcases with crying babies in their arms. Out front is the smokers lounge, and they’re all covered with bad tattoos and missing teeth. And then there’s the people asking for money.
When does that happen at LAX?
This goes on every single night across America. This happens to the warriors who can’t afford airfare, or don’t own a car. This is America, folks. Land of the broke, home of the grave. Go buy yourself a ticket to a city five hours away and you’ll see what I’ve seen.
I don’t write this to call for change. I don’t even want this cleaned up. I don’t want more security or better customer service.
Most of these photos were taken with an iPhone 4 or a Canon PowerShot S95.