Collective bargaining

Last weekend, Liverpool fans walked out of the fabled Anfield Stadium in northern England in the 77th minute of the match against Sunderland to protest the announced rise in ticket prices to 77 British pounds. En masse, over 10,0000 fans walked out to show their displeasure at ownership's approach to the economic future of the club.

As a fan of soccer and of sport in general, one of the obvious critiques is that we follow blindly. We rationalize any method that keeps the team profitable (public financing of stadiums, trading players that could help the team win for cash, higher ticket prices), and often times act as if we have no other option.

But we do.

As fans, as customers, as citizens, we vote with our wallets more than we vote at the ballot box. When Liverpool fans walked out of Anfield to protest ticket prices that keep the common fan on the outside looking in, they came together and showed their collective power.

Fenway Sports Group, the Boston-based (Red Sox owning) group that owns Liverpool Football Club subsequently announced a two-year freeze on ticket prices.

I guess we really can demand more from our businesses, leaders, & government...

But I think we're going to have to do it together.

If time eludes you, watch this

In looking for tools that might help take distractions off my plate, I came across this article & video, and thought you might get something out of it. So many people talk about how busy they are, not having enough time, feeling spread thin, scattered, or being generally overwhelmed by how much they need to get done in a single day.

Unfortunately, the way we work collaboratively, allows for tons of interruptions in our creative work. As a result, I'm on the hunt for some strategies or tools that we all might get something out of. It's an extension of operation 'time recovery', which is making me think more and more about distraction, potency, and creativity.

It was interesting to watch this video, because it mentions carving out half-days or even full days for projects, a strategy I've been honing in on as of late.

I'd be curious as to what your reaction is to this, and I'll get back to you once I find some things that can help us declutter, avoid our ADD, and find chunks of time to create the things we so desperately want to see come to life.

In addition to this video below, you can read up on one Google employees take on managing your time. It's a good one.

'Everybody else' (an energetic source)

Sometimes it can be easy to think that it's about us... but it shouldn't be. 'Everybody else' are powerful.

When we look around, it's clear that a lot of people doing bold things. Challenging norms, rethinking constructs, building systems, developing relationships, solving problems, organizing communities, offering value, connecting people, and together, building the reality of tomorrow.

Whether it's Levi developing his own card games & communities, Jonathan speaking to thousands of people weekly via his podcast, Sam making great beer, James doing every creative thing under the sun, Dustin launching a new business, Brian traveling the world doing incredible qualitative research, Chad & Leonard following their culinary dreams, Molly making art into her career, Lindsey making malas, Katherine putting container architecture to great use, Jeremy angling on strategy around sustainable reuse of cell phones, Aaron managing water treatment at a vineyard owned by a man named Coppola, Saya rethinking community building, or KC launching a new career through meditation & speaking...

'Everybody else' are an energetic source.

Here's to finding the everybody else's that make us feel like what we want to do is possible too.

Dad wisdom

I just published an article on Medium.com entitled, 13 Dads Offer Wisdom On Raising Tiny Humans. The reason that was an article I wanted to write, was because I'll be a dad this May. As a grown-up kid, it's been funny, amazing, and humbling to think about myself as a father.

While those thoughts sloshed around, I had the idea to ask some dad's I admire for a bit of perspective... so that's what I did.

A sincere THANK YOU to the dudes for their time & thoughtfulness.

Operation 'time recovery'

Over the last 6-9 months, I've been kind of obsessed with figuring out ways to work smarter. Whether segmenting my time in new ways or finding certain hacks that help streamline aspects of my work, doing things more efficiently creates time, and that concept of creating time by getting my shit together has become a huge motivator for me.

I've been thinking to myself, how can I create a better system? How can I enhance operation 'time recovery', and spend that earned time doing the creative or connective things I love?

I'm not saying I've achieved some singularity of mind that keeps me entirely organized, but I am saying that we're probably kidding ourselves if we think that the current way we're operating is improvement-proof.

For 2016, I'm trying to batch-method things more. I'll let you know how that attempt at improvement goes.

In the meantime, if you discover tools, resources, strategies, or ideas that help you in your own time recovery, definitely share those with me!

'The Good Bubble'

Lately I've been reminded that intent is everything. By forgiving positive intent gone awry, we create more spaces to truly communicate as opposed to react & defend. It's helpful to remind ourselves that to expect positive intent, we have to dish it out, and that in doing so, we intentionally build positive spaces all around us.

I like to call this, 'The Good Bubble'.

Any category we want

We can exist in any category we want. We can like things that society might not think would go together.

We can be a jock that also acts in plays. We can love art and math. We can love Hip Hop and Prog Rock.

While categories are about what subsection of life things fit into, they don't apply in the same way to humans as they do to facets of life.

We're not constrained by labels, genres, ideas, places, worldviews, ourselves...

Or at least, we shouldn't be.

Letting others be who they are is inextricably linked to having the freedom to be ourselves.

Here's to both sides of said coin & learning to do both things better.

From what to how

Increasingly, my thoughts are shifting from WHAT to HOW. My WHY is often clear, and it usually is for most of us. We're lit up by something and time stops when we immerse ourselves in that thing.

The issue is, time doesn't really stop.

While we've launched ourselves head first into the deep end of a concept, idea, or project, our excitement can obscure a rational analysis of how that inspiration should mature from initial idea to real thing.

My friend Levi and I often chat about the process of wrestling with inspiration and figuring out how it fits into the other things we're doing.

In thinking about the need for a system to help evaluate ideas and determine what energy we should give them, we began to think about the questions we'd need to answer to figure that out.

The fact is, our life-pie doesn't get bigger, the days don't get longer, and budgets don't increase on their own.

While time doesn't stop, there are always ways to work smarter, remind ourselves of strategy and be more calculated about the effort we give to the work we're so passionate about.

This thinking has resulted in the creation of a framework that will assist creatives, entrepreneurs, & business owners in taking ideas from gestation to implementation.

It's not quit ready yet, but it's exciting to think we might be on the brink of a project that could help us ask the all important question of HOW.

I'll keep you posted.

David Bowie

To me, the truly great thing about David Bowie was how fully he gave himself to the things he was compelled to create. He had advanced thoughts about art, music, fashion, technology, & business, among many other categories, because he could see the entirety of an idea from every angle, then build it.

He could fully envision how the band should play, what should be worn, how the lights should be set up, what the cover of the record would look like, what the stage design for the tour should be, & what persona would fit best, all the while maintaining an inherently intuitive creative approach that never lost the forest for the trees.

He consistently had cohesive ideas about how all the parts would fit together to service the whole.

What can I say, I admired that about him.

In thinking about how one can best create and implement projects, making things that work, inspire, and elevate involves similar creative visions. It requires a preeminent idea about the end product & how to get there.

Simply put, David Bowie embraced his weirdness and unlocked his genius.

He proved that our freak flags are OK... and made some really cool shit in the process.

P.s. This article I read on Medium.com pretty much sums up my sentiment. I also highly recommend Bowie's most recent record, Blackstar, which was released last week, just days before his passing.

Let's stay in touch

Hey, friends. You may have noticed that your emails often get categorized as either part of your primary inbox or as a promotion. Since I use Mailchimp to send out my newsletter, you are probably seeing my emails in your Promotions tab. The thing is, I'm not Groupon, an airline, a brick & mortar business offering a discount, or any other kind of typical promotional retailer.

While I do offer services & have art for sale, my newsletter has a lot more to do with unpacking ideas & questions that you might find value thinking about. As such, I'd love to make sure you get my emails, and there are two ways to make sure my emails show up in your primary tab:

1. You can add evanlaruffa@gmail.com to your contacts list, or
2. In Gmail, you can drag any one of my messages to the Primary inbox. This is the most effective way to teach Gmail to deliver my future messages to your Primary tab.

As an aside, it was great to get a solid response to my offer from a few emails ago, & I'm excited to jump on a call with the first 3 people that responded.

More and more every day, I think about strategy. As in, how am I going to do what I want to do?

The what is fantastic, but the how determines whether or not it will work. I'm stoked to help a few of you get tactical about your projects.

Here's to big things in 2016!

Incredibly intentional

I went and saw Quentin Tarantino's newest film, The Hateful Eight at The Music Box Theatre for the second time in two weeks this evening. The film was shot in 70mm, a super wide, high resolution format that's stunning. I'm a big Tarantino fan, mostly because I admire how exacting he is. I marvel at the clarity of his visions, the detail, the language, the contrast, the dynamics.

Clocking in at just about 3 hours, it doesn't feel long at all. Everything he included was needed and served the end product extremely well. It's clear that every single element in the film was incredibly intentional.

Every shot was skillful.

The sound design was impeccable.

The lighting was uncanny.

The costumes were precise.

He was thinking about every detail when he made that film. And rightly so. It had been 4 years since his last film, which means he took his time.

My question is... how can we slow down enough so that our vocational and creative contributions are that accepted, strategic & valuable? 

I think it might have something to do with patience.

Questions of measure

No matter what we make, some people will like it and some people won't. This applies to everything from art to public transportation. For me, it's been awesome to realize that when I'm both passionate about a project (creation) and am helping someone (service), I'm at my best.

The issue ends up being which questions are used to measure the results.

There are the creative questions...

Did I like making this? Am I happy with the end result? Did it turn out how I planned, and if not, is it cool anyway? Did I learn something or improve by doing more of that thing?

And then there are service questions...

How did it serve? Did people enjoy it, gain perspective from it, or feel supported by it? Did it help someone? Did it make a difference?

If the answer to the majority of those questions is YES, I tend to think we're in the right place.

A gift for you

When I work with clients to prioritize, strategize, and implement new approaches to meeting their business goals, I emphasize the need to zoom the lens out. With the fast pace of entrepreneurship and running a business, it can be hard to stop long enough to take a look at how to improve processes, policies, or strategies.

The urgent email needs to be responded to, the deadline for the event is coming up, or you wanted to launch months ago; there's always something that needs to get done, now!

I can definitely relate to the feeling, and have done a lot of work over the past few years to reduce inefficient motion when it comes to my companies & projects, as well as that of clients.

Budget considerations, ROI, efficiency of effort, as well as how much you're enjoying yourself are all ways to evaluate whether or not a strategy is a fit, but taking those things into full consideration, you always have to know how what you're doing in any one portion of your business fits into the overall strategy.

It has to be part of a plan.

Sure, you want to roll everything out right away, but putting together a plan helps you get it all done by aligning the moving parts.

You can always pivot, and I'd suggest planning time to set aside bi-weekly or monthly to revisit the current strategy and re-evaluate.

That said... What's going right with your business? How do you think it could improve? What is the name of the pink elephant in your business's room? 

Whether in business or in life, I'm learning more and more that taking the time to step back is essential.

With that in mind, I'm offering my newsletter subscribers a gift in the form of 1 (ONE) FREE 1-hr session to the first three people that email me. We'll spend a little time talking to about what's working in your business, what's not, and where you'd like to be by the end of 2016.

I'll provide an analysis and suggest some potential focus areas, as well as how we could work together to meet your goals with some great tools & strategies.

Be well & have an amazing 2016,

Evan

A potential we all have

I like taking photos. Spotting a great shot ahead of time is another way to remind myself to be perceptive, and I'm excited that some fun images have come out of that awareness.

I also like the idea of being in a certain place or point in time, and having the eyes to help us all see it. It's a potential we all have.

I place way more value in getting out there so I can be in those places and points in time than I do the technology, which is why most of the photos I've taken over the past few years have been with an iPhone 5.

That said, I'm excited to share my favorite shots from the past few years and have made affordable open editions available for purchase via Society 6. It's a great platform where artists can sell art prints and other products, and I look forward to trying it out.

If you like contrast, art, nature, texture, & travel, you might like my photos.

Vietnabike, Wires, To The East, and I See You, Buenos Aires are a few of my favorites.

Here's to the process of creating & enjoying it enough to get better.

(I hope one of these photos brings you joy.)

- - -

Society6.com/evanlaruffa

Break the right rules

I'm not a big fan of rules. Part of my personality is figuring things out for myself, trusting my own judgement, and charting my own path.

I think a lot of us can relate to that.

The thing is, rules can be helpful. They create a format, a road forward. And even though that's true, what I find most helpful about rules is that they are ready to be broken.

Buuuuuuuut.... breaking every rule clearly won't work out. There are reasons (some of the) rules are in place - they help achieve a viable result. My gripe is with the particular rules that are more about gatekeeping than producing better work.

The challenge becomes deciding which rule to break. Test the wrong one and you just make things harder on yourself. Test the right one and you venture into evolution. You create a new option.

That said, we have to be discerning.

We have to break the right rules.

- - -

P.s. If you're liking my newsletter, I'd love it if you spread the word. You can copy the following link ( http://www.evanlaruffa.com/subscribe/ ) and post it on any social media, or email it to friends.

Thanks in advance and have an awesome end of the year.

- Ev

I see you, Buenos Aires

It's been fun walking around Argentina the past few weeks. This country has so much cultural richness, it' astounding. I used to visit often as a kid, when my parents would bring us here to see my dad's family... but getting to know Buenos Aires as an adult has been eye opening.

A few ideas have come to mind.

1) It's amazing how much we are hung up on appearances in the US. Image is everything, and that's not necessarily a good thing. In Argentina, the lack of resources in certain areas creates an entirely different set of priorities. The result is a somewhat more practical, yet defeatist approach... and it's hard to blame them.

Not only should we be thankful for how great life is in the USA, but we should also think about how we might want to adjust our own priorities.

2) Not being in the loop for the political nonsense and awful instances of gun violence for a mere two weeks provides a new perspective as well. I think we've mistaken quantity for quality, again.

The 24 hour news cycle is insane, and the shock and awe approach undoubtedly keeps us reactive.

3) I prefer texture to cleanliness. Walking through the streets in BA, where graffiti and street art aren't controlled at all, the confluence of art, color, paper, grit, and greenery is a sight to behold.

For me, these three ideas are attached by a single thread...

Travel is a gift.

Hasta la proxima....

Respond or delete.

No more of this opening an email only to mark it as unread, which requires coming back to it later... I resolve to handle shit in the moment. No more making a single email consume more of my time than it needs to.

Respond or delete.

Maybe this applies to more than just email?

We are curators

If you know me, you know I'm expressive. For better or worse, I'm out loud. The thing is, I think so much still goes unsaid.

Both are reasons why I was so honored & excited to chat with my friend Kyle Wood for his podcast "I Love You Man" via Heartmen.net.

In Kyle's own words: "What I want to talk about is bringing your heart into every aspect of your life, so you can be your most fulfilled and most successful self (however you define those words)."

Kyle often focuses on how men deal with vulnerability, and I couldn't agree more that it's a topic requiring more discussion.

Among other things, in the podcast we talk about negative mind chatter, creating the space to do great work, the upside of vulnerability, the importance of learning new things as an adult, & how much I love my dad.

A sincere thank you to Kyle for including me in what I believe to be a really important project. For as fast as our world is these days, I value the deeper conversations that make us better, and I think this one could.

You can listen to the podcast here or on Itunes.

Never-ending upward trend

Our ability to learn, understand, and mature mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, always increases if we embrace new perspectives, expressions, ideas, experiences or truths. It's an upward trend. The other day I thought about the number of books written in the world (and then applied it to records, films, travel destinations, etc) and I was nearly winded by the enormity of it.

So much has been seen, said, thought, created, and advocated for.

I'll never get to it all, but the process of discovery encourages that intellectual & experiential trend to pick up momentum.

As in... life is the chance to learn & grow, constantly.

So what if we approached more situations with that at the forefront than defending our current opinion?

As in... maybe we should at least be open to changing our minds.

The upside is a never-ending upward trend.

Busy isn't better

How we do what we do, matters. In the last 6-9 months, I've really tried to map out my process.  I realize that if I continue to do so, I'll recover time while giving all my projects a higher probability of being great.

Everyone needs to unwind, so I'm not talking about non-stop strategy.

It's about structuring my work enough that I can get out of my own way.

I have a lot more to map out, but I've found that what I've done thus far for IPaintMyMind and my consulting clients has allowed me to work smarter, offer more value, & reduce wasted motion.

I guess I'm starting to realize that busy isn't better when effective is an option.