A Kick In The Pants From Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser – on the fear of failure. from Berghs' Exhibition '11 on Vimeo.

And is it just me, or is Mr. Glaser the original inspiration for Mr. Burns from the Simpsons?

Excellent...

That's Right,

HMK

Say What You Mean. Mean What You Say.

"That is the biggest problem with people who mean what they say. They expect others also to do the same..."
- Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

That's Right,

HMK

Ponder This

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

Charles Darwin

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HMK

Milton Glaser: Ten Things I Have Learned

This is part of an AIGA series called Talk In London from one of my personal design heros Mr. Milton Glaser from back in November 22, 2001.

#3 SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.

This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them.

Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished.

The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.

Done. Love it. Awesome words of wisdom - my other favorites are 1, 2 and 9 - go get inspired by all ten over at: Ten Things I Have Learned

That's Right,

HMK

Stick With What You Love

These are our awesome pups. They make me smile. Ringo's chilling out and Dazy is ready to go for another long walk...

Meanwhile... this also made me smile - check out these simple keys to surviving this thing we call life:

Stick With What You Love
Think Big and Noble
Be Expressive
Practice What You Preach
Keep an Open Door
Offer a Guiding Hand
Be Consistent
Stay Positive

Learn more about the 8 Ways to Inspire Others.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Another Company

Make It Happen

The good folks at Advertising Age have an awesome piece of advice for all the professionals out there:

Stop being hired by clients and start hiring them. Stop waiting to receive an RFP or mailing hundreds of clients four to six times a year to stay “top of mind.” Instead, pick the folks you really want to work with, regardless of how big they are or what agency they currently work with.

As Sophia Lucero aptly puts it "This is just another facet of what seems to be terribly wrong with business, which shapes our cynicism and despair over what we are getting paid to do. I hope that for you, it started out as a job you would have loved to do for free."

Bingo.

Don't Just Sit Around Waiting for Opportunity to Knock.

That's Right,

HMK

Muchas Gracias to Tom Martin at Ad Age and Sophia Lucero over at Wisdump and Lisa Yarost for the cool bingo shot.

Living The Good Life

Living the good life means different things to different people.

The good life is about appreciating all your time, not just your leisure time. Far too many people get caught up in the mad rush of a corporate lifestyle and grow completely numb to the little moments, the simple building blocks of time that make life magical. Time, after all, is the single greatest element of life.

Slow Down – Urgency and haste instantly diminish accuracy, awareness and happiness. There is a big difference between getting things done and getting things done effectively.

Appreciate Life’s Simple Pleasures – The best things in life are free. From a quiet lakeside sunset to sleeping in on a rainy day, life’s greatest simple pleasures can only be purchased with mindful awareness.

Foster and Nurture Relationships – A happy, fulfilling life is a life shared with family and friends.

Be Self Sufficient – Freedom is the greatest gift. Self sufficiency is the greatest freedom.

Learn About Different Things – In life, a jack of all trades is far more equipped than a master of only one. Combining the two is the key.

Concentrate on Your Passions – True wealth comes naturally to those who are passionate about their endeavors.

Talk to Strangers – Quite simply, this is how you will meet great people.

Exercise Your 5 Senses – Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Each provides a gateway to rewarding personal experiences.

Use What You Have – Success is not the byproduct of limitless resources. Success happens when you stretch the limits of the available resources.

Be Clear on Your Goals – You will never get where you want to go if you don’t know what you want.

Make a Decision – Indecision is the leading cause of missed opportunity and wasted time.

And my favorite: Assist Others – What goes around comes around.

Good stuff! These are just a few of my favorites, dig the full list via the smart folks over at: Marc & Angel Hack Life.

That's Right,

HMK

Enthusiasm is Better than Confidence

Dive in and become who you are!

We all want to be confident, don’t we? It’s a word that crops up fairly often in coaching sessions, even with people who are very talented and successful. We’re all human, and for most of us there are times, places, audiences and situations where we feel we’d like to be a little more confident. For creative professionals, these typically include high-pressure performance situations, such as presentations, pitches, interviews, auditions and stage shows.

Of course we want to perform at our best in these situations, but the Creative Coaches over at Wishful Thinking think the word ‘confidence’ creates more problems than it solves and usually advise clients to change the word to ‘enthusiasm’.

Read all 5 Reasons and see why.

As both a creative in the overly political and ego driven advertising game and as concept/designer/artist guy by nature it's always been quite obvious to me that in regard to the business side of things - image, structure, strategic positioning, technology, products or services, we're all pretty much replaceable and everything we do can be copied.

In a world of potentially abundant talent it all comes down to the human factors and finding the people with the right attitude, energy and enthusiasm in addition to the talent. Nobody want's to work with an asshole no matter how much talent they've got - it's simply no fun and life is just too short.

It really all about the energy, enthusiasm, and attitude of each individual person and whether or not you connect, respect and believe in each other enough to do the best job you can and not care about who gets the credit.

I've always believed that a simple, humble, happy and rewarding life is all about relationships and surrounding myself with people that I respect, admire and truly want to be with whether it's friendships, my work, side projects or whatever.

I've been lucky enough so far to be blessed with an awesome wife and kids, great friends and family (even though our time together is a fraction of what it once was) good health and always just enough money to taste some of the finer thing this life has to offer.

And like the headline I wrote in regard to the dress code for Venus de Milo in Boston a few years back:

"Know who you are and dress accordingly"

Cheers and Happy New Year to my true blue friends and family - That's Right - you know who you are!

Peace,

HMK