What People Say

I get many interesting comments from those who stand around me while I draw at events. Some can be downright insulting but one must develop thick skin if one is to draw in public. However, in all fairness, most comments are favorable and very positive.

 

The Tomato Technique

 

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980's. As a university student in Italy, Cirillo used a kitchen timer, in the shape of a tomato, to study for 25 minutes, afterwards taking a 5 minute break, then resuming work for another 25 minutes and after 4 rounds he took a longer 30 minute break. He found it a productive way to work and because the timer Cirillo used was in the shape of a tomato, he dubbed the method the Pomodoro Technique, pomodoro being the Italian word for tomato.

In my youth, my grandmother would frequently comment on the price she would need to pay for tomatoes. The state of the world at the time was indicated to her by what she paid for tomatoes. If tomatoes were too high then things were bad. Reasonably priced tomatoes was a good sign. The tomato was her standard.

As the years progressed, I've noticed most people have something to which they look which indicates to them the state of their world and outlook in much the same way my grandmother considered the tomato. Maybe it's the price of homes, inflation or maybe something that has little to do with economy like the weather. It could be who's president, the day of the week it is or what they have for dinner.

I came across the Pomodoro Method while I was writing my book Shut Up and Draw and have found it useful in a number of other projects which gives special meaning to my tomato analogy and begs the question, "what's your tomato?".  

Necessity, My Mother

I was listening to a recent podcast by Hal Elrod who was interviewing a guest by the name of Gino Whitman, entrepreneur. author, speaker who gives yet another ambiguous list of "requirements" one must possess in order the be an entrepreneur. By his definition of the word, a person is "hard wired" (his words) from birth to be a success or be better off as someone's employee. He listed six specific traits an entrepreneur must possess.

In my experience as a small business owner of not one but two businesses, I must admit I should not be  so because I don't possess all those arbitrary traits. However, giving Mr. Whitman due credit, because success has such subjective meanings, there are areas of weakness I need to improve upon to go to the subsequent levels of success. Having said that, I became a small business owner not out of passion or vision nor for a desire to change the world with a driven personality. It was out of necessity. Being under employed and in jeopardy of being homeless and divorced I made the decision to do something to maintain a dignified existence. Necessity is the mother of invention.

With respect to Mr. Whitman, business owners' experiences are as diverse as the entrepreneur himself or herself. 

 

It's All In My Head

Motivation, mindset, positive mental attitude, it's called many things, but my best real life lesson for it's definition was in the Marine Corps. They have a philosophy, particularly in boot camp, where it was drilled into our psyche, which is all about the mentality of the fighting man. All the best weapons in the world can be at our disposal and we can have the best training which is of paramount importance, but victory or defeat is between the ears of a Marine. Of all the intense physical challenges I encountered as a Marine, and there were plenty we had together, the most important was our personal belief system. 

It's a lesson I still call upon today in my endeavors to succeed as an entrepreneur in the sense that no matter how skilled I am, no matter how much experience I have or expensive and state of the art are my tools or how many people I know, non of it matters if my mindset is bad. I recall how as a young Marine, my thought life could allow me to do the impossible and it's a trait I must call on today.

 

Fear of Success

My lovely wife has a way of seeing things in me before I do and not long ago she mentioned how I sometimes reach a certain point in a project, then just quit, move on to something else and don't follow up on my previous project.

I brought up this condition to my mastermind group a short time later and a number of the men mentioned they also are afflicted with this poor habit. One insightful member suggested it was because of an innate fear of success, which sparked my interest, so upon the conclusion of the meeting I researched the subject. 

It appears there are a number of signs and causes for the fear of success which I won't get into much here for the sake of brevity but to mention a couple of highlights:

Signs of a fear of success:

• Giving up just at the point of succeeding. Isn't it ironic that this makes the list since it was this comment made by my wife that started this whole conversation? 
• Procrastination which is a method of avoiding discomfort or conflict which might arise in the pursuit of success. Procrastination is also a symptom for the fear of the unknown.

Other results from the fear of success:

• Being in the spotlight. Is it realistic to believe that one can avoid the spotlight and still be a success, especially in my particular line of work?
• Being anxious about additional responsibilities that come with success. This is related to comfort levels. It might interrupt our TV time.
• Being afraid of what others will think of us. Pursuit of success might not be compatible with the image our friends have of us or it might shift the balance of power in the relationship. This may be one obstacle to success but a possible solution is to either find new friends or conduct business completely apart from your friends.
• The imposter syndrome. This is a factor with me personally and it is related to being afraid of what others think of us. There are always going to be those with different styles or skill levels than I but that doesn't negate my abilities.