*Typing*

Keep going. Day after day, keep going. When you get kicked in the teeth, keep going. When the muse looks the other way, keep going. When you don't get the applause you deserve, keep going. When the hacks speed by in their wax cars peddling an easier way, keep going. When the clowns fatten their wallets dancing for the algorithm, keep going. When the critics spew venom from the safety of the stands, keep going. When the books you write go unread, keep going. When the albums you cut fall on deaf ears, keep going. When life takes you out at the knees, keep going. When depression descends like lucifer, keep going. When misfortune strikes like a knife in the dark, keep going. When you rub your fingers raw searching for a light on the wall, keep going. Remember you are a flame. Remember you are a bolt of lightning. Remember you are a jar full of fireflies dancing atop a tree stump. Keep going. When you find greys in your beard let it remind you of wolves, keep going. When the sins and shortcomings of your past haunt you like Nosferatu, fetch an iron stake and keep going. When the worries of your future envelop you like a parade of fog marching at dawn, go slowly but keep going. When the possibility of quitting is as tempting as pair of lips pressed against your ear, recall those words by Joan Didion. You have to pick the places you don't walk away from. Keep going. When you have gone as far as you can go and you fear your can go no further, recite those lines by Robert Frost. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. Keep going. If not for any other reason than to have the privilege to say at the foot of your grave that all your life you never let up, keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Please, keep going.

When you’re happy, you’re focusing on what you have. When you’re sad, you’re focusing on what you don’t. When you’re collected, you’re focusing on what you can control. When you’re anxious, you’re focusing on what you can’t. Your emotional state is reflective of your focus so be very aware of what you’re choosing to focus on.

I make sauces good enough for the rich man that the poor man can still afford. David Tran said that. If you’ve never heard of him, you’ve certainly heard of his product: Sriracha. Tran was a Chinese-Vietnamese refugee that fled Vietnam after the war. He and his family settled in Los Angeles where Tran soon noticed that while there was a plethora of hot sauces, there were non with the bold Asian flavors he was used to.

So, what did Tran do? He started making his own hot sauce packaged in recycled glass jars, which he sold mostly to other Asian immigrants. Before long, there was enough demand for Sriracha that Tran opened a little warehouse in Chinatown, where he made and packaged his Sriracha by hand. Investors began knocking on Tran’s door but kept turning them down. He had no interest in rapid growth nor giving up any control of his business. Anytime Tran needed to expand, he patiently saved up his money and only bought what he needed.

In the four decades that Sriracha has been in business, Tran has never raised his prices. He has never advertised. And, when he has experienced shortages on ingredients, he has simply made less Sriracha rather than deviated from his recipe. If you look closely at a bottle of Sriracha—just under the rooster’s feet—you will find the name of Tran’s company…Huy Fong Foods Inc. When Tran and his family immigrated to America, they traveled on a Taiwanese freighter named “Huy Fong”.

All creatives should spend a short stint working in an agency setting. This isn’t because agency creatives are any more talented than non-agency creatives. It’s because at an agency, creatives are expected to produce a lot of work in a fairly short amount of time. This benefits the burgeoning creative in the obvious ways. It fattens their portfolio and it allows for hundreds of repetitions that compound into mastery. However, there is another lesser-known benefit that’s often overlooked. With time, the creative realizes that extraordinary work is the byproduct of quantity. It’s not because of luck. It’s not because of God-given talent. It’s not because of some fleeting moment of inspiration. It’s because the creative makes the ongoing decision to produce a lot of good, bad and mediocre work so they can eventually land on something extraordinary. If taken seriously, this lesson will serve the creative for the rest of their life.

If you can—when you can—focus on the process rather than the outcome. Not so much where you’re going but how you’re getting there. Romanticize every aspect of the process: the silent struggle and later, the tremendous break through. If you learn to fall in love with the process, the outcome becomes secondary and eventually, unnecessary. I was listening to an interview just the other day of a Jai Alai player who has played the sport for decades. Today, he plays in front of crowds of just a dozen people. He says, “I play as if 15,000 people are watching.” This is a craftsman in the purest sense, an obsessive athelete mastering a dying sport somewhere in Miami. Professionals focus on the process. Amateurs focus on the outcome.