*Typing*

Dandelions are weeds. They're also food; they can be eaten in salads or sautéed with a bit of garlic, onion and butter. Dandelions are weeds. They're also an ancient diuretic, used to cleanse the body of toxins and excess fluid. Dandelions are weeds. They're also the beginnings of a delicious concoction called Dandelion Wine. Dandelions are weeds. They're also an invaluable source of nectar for bumblebees.

The Dandelion Principle is a beautiful reminder that brilliance is often hiding in the most unlikely of places. It's a gentle nudge to never write anyone off as being incapable or untalented but to instead search for their untapped capability and talent hiding directly in plain sight.

Boyle's Law says that when volume decreases, pressure increases. Fill a balloon with air, knot it off and then give it a squeeze. Eventually, the balloon with explode. That's Boyle's Law in action. Volume decreases. Pressure increases. Pop!

This truth stretches beyond the realms of physics and chemistry. It also can be applied to our work. If you want to increase the pressure surrounding a specific project, you must decrease the volume of time allotted for its completion.

On the contrary, if you want to decrease the pressure surrounding a specific project, you must increase the volume of time allotted for its completion.

Different projects call for different degrees of pressure. And so setting deadlines become something of a science.

Creativity is a practice in faith. You must believe in something that doesn't yet exist in the hopes that it one day will.

People are constantly working to shrink the world. Some do this shrinking consciously. But, most of us do it subconsciously. Shrinking provides us with a sense of comfort because it makes the world more manageable. We don't choose a country to inhabit but instead a neighborhood within a city within a country. We shrink this neighborhood even further by choosing a place to call home. Of the nearly 8 billion people on Earth, we choose 80 to call acquaintances and perhaps 8 to call close friends. We think we crave more. But, "more" often comes with a cost. We are experiencing this firsthand as the devices in our pockets are allowing us to touch every corner of the world with our fingertips. Yet, we are left feeling isolated and overwhelmed. What we are truly after is depth, value and quality. This is why we shrink.

Never be precious about your art. Be precious about it getting done. But, treat it like a job. Show up. Shut up. Put up. Then, get some rest and do it all again the next day. Leonard Cohen had a hell of a line. I was always working steady but I never called it art. I love art. I love both the word and what the word stands for. What I don't love is how folks treat it. Art is no different than a cabinet that needs building, a floor that needs laying, a wall that needs painting or a toilet that needs scrubbing. It's a job. A damn good job. But, a job nonetheless. If you can see your art as a job that needs to be done and if you can take this responsibility seriously, you can build a vocation for yourself that you yourself respect. Fuck the accolades. Fuck the applause. Fuck the audience. None of that shit matters. I know you think it matters because a lot of days I think it matters too. But, no amount of external validation will ever rival that feeling––that hallowed feeling––of having sacrificed a part of your life creating something that previously didn't exist. It's like sitting beside God in a pair of shitty lawn chairs, sharing a smoke, reaching in the cheap plastic cooler wedged between you, admiring the home you just built. It's like fucking the love of your life in a motel room as an invading army marches the streets. Art is the best job you will ever have. You just have to treat it as such.