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I've written a couple of books now, and the process is nothing at all like I expected it would be. I think misconceptions about how to write a book prevent many people from writing their books. Just imagine all of the unwritten books that are locked up inside of people around the world because of these misconceptions. So in this week's essay, I share what I wish I had known about writing a book. By the way, I have a "short read" about how to write a book. It's called How to Write a Book. It's on Kindle, paperback, and it's now on Audible! So if you enjoy this essay, check out that short read. It takes less than an hour to read so it won't get in the way of you writing your book. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office

Charlie Hoehn (@charliehoehn) was on top of the world. He was working with popular authors like Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi, and he was helping launch books to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. The problem was, Charlie was miserable. His need to succeed drove him to sacrifice sleep and abuse performance-enhancing drugs. His body was breaking down, and he became crippled with anxiety. Eventually, Charlie found a way out of anxiety, and a way into not just a healthy work/life balance, but a healthy work/life integration. Charlie's secret weapon: Play. If you're anything like me, your initial thought is: Huh? Play? I don't need to play, I'm an adult! Charlie is such an advocate of play that he's written two books about it: Play it Away and Play for a Living. In this playful conversation with Charlie, you'll find out: What does Charlie mean by "play?" I hadn't realized how central play was to my life and work until I had this conversation. How can play actually help you build skills? Being playful

I've talked on the show many times about how creative work gets paid for. The "free" mentality forces the hand of creators, and it's often not healthy for the people who read their words. Reading everything for free is like eating every meal at McDonald's. I talk more about my own journey of avoiding "factory-farmed" words, instead buying "free range" words, in this week's article. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://theprepared.com Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/free-range-word

Cy Wakeman (@cywakeman) is the founder of Reality Based Leadership. She wrote a book called No Ego. No Ego is a leadership book, which is an unusual read for me since I'm a solopreneur, but I couldn't put it down. You might hear me talk about ego from time to time. I think my conversation with Ryan Holiday back on episode 31 was the first time I was really thinking about ego. He wrote the book Ego is the Enemy. Since then I've come to realize that ego is the number one enemy that can hold you back from reaching your creative potential. Your ego will keep you from being accountable to yourself and what you want to accomplish. It will direct your attention outside of you, and cause you to blame others. It will cause you to make limiting excuses for yourself. But if you're able to bypass your own ego, something magical happens. You start to concentrate on what you can control. You start to see a connection between your actions and the results you get. This is what I loved so much about Cy's book, No Ego. It's a

Today's essay is about the power of taking your own advice. I've got an interview coming up next week with Cy Wakeman (@cywakeman). Cy is the founder of "Reality Based Leadership." She wrote a book called No Ego, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Today's essay is based upon a quote from that book. Love Your Work now an Alexa Skill! To add the Love Your Work skill to your Amazon Echo, say "Alexa, enable Love Your Work." It's very important, by the way to use the word "enable," and not "add." Also, you can search on the Alexa app, or visit kadavy.net/alexa New Short Read: How to Write a Book I just published a little "book." It's more of a pamphlet, really. It's a Kindle Short Read called "How to Write a Book." It will show you how to use self motivation to overcome writer's block and make your book real. Buy How to Write a Book at kadavy.net/wab. Again, that's kadavy.net/wab Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access t

I'm very glad to have my friend Maneesh Sethi back on the show. You first heard Maneesh way back on episode 13. Maneesh is the founder of Pavlok. Pavlok started out as a wearable device that shocks you out of breaking bad habits. You may have heard me talk about using [Pavlok] to break my Facebook habit. It's very effective, because being shocked is not pleasant. But what really excites me about what Maneesh is doing is he has a much larger mission. He says he wants Pavlok to "upgrade humanity." He wants to use technology to change behavior for the better. The broken economics of technology products The ill effects and broken economics of technology is a topic I've talked about often. I dreamt of a "behavioral revolution" wherein technology might change behavior for the better, back on episode 22. But, I lamented that the economics were broken, something I debated with Nir Eyal, who is author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products back on episode 21. Silicon Valley's ideas for how to fix technology

Big creative projects are daunting. It's hard to find the motivation to make them happen. I talk about a trick I use to make creative projects practically complete themselves. I call it cascading motivation, and it's the subject of this week's article. New Short Read: How to Write a Book I just published a little "book." It's more of a pamphlet, really. It's a Kindle Short Read called "How to Write a Book." It will show you how to use self motivation to overcome writer's block and make your book real. Buy How to Write a Book at kadavy.net/wab. Again, that's kadavy.net/wab Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog

John Ramey (@jpramey) found success as an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. He dropped out of college with only one semester left, moved to Silicon Valley, and built a successful startup. After he sold his startup, John traveled the world helping budding ecosystems promote entrepreneurship. He ended up setting up a program called Nomadic Mentors, which pairs experienced entrepreneurs with incubator and accelerator programs around the world in developing markets. By the way, I'm one of the mentors in Nomadic Mentors. I've done a trip to Greece and to Serbia where I spoke and helped entrepreneurs. After John traveled the world, he served as the Innovation Advisor to the Obama White House. He set up a program at The Pentagon for making government innovation happen in months, rather than decades. Now that John has had that success, has traveled the world, and has seen firsthand how governments work, including very intimately with the U.S. government, and a trip to North Korea that you're going to hear about, what

Getting writing done is a battle with your mind. If you're a perfectionist, it can be a very tough battle. But if you have phrases you can tell yourself, you can win that battle. I think of them as "mantras." They're little things you can say to yourself when you get stuck. They'll keep you moving. In today's article, I'll tell you eight mantras to overcome perfectionism and get writing done. Buy The Heart to Start on Amazon You have something to offer the world. Break through fear, self-doubt, and distractions to finally make it real. Buy The Heart to Start. Donate on Patreon Supporters are currently covering more than half of production costs for Love Your Work. Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/eight-

Joanna Penn (@thecreativepenn) is one of the leaders in helping self-published, or I should say "indie" authors, find their way. She has been self-publishing since 2009. She's written 27 books under 3 different pen names, and she earns a multi-six-figure income. She writes about writing and running an indie author business at thecreativepenn.com, and she has a podcast called The Creative Penn. Regular listeners know that I recently self-published for the first time. In the process of self-publishing, I've discovered a whole new world. I used to think that self-publishing would be a step down for me. After all, I had a traditional publisher for my first book. It was nice to have the vote of confidence, and the advance check, from the publisher. And it was nice to have the support on editing, design, and distribution. But it turns out there's more and more opportunity in self-publishing. You have full control over your writing, and you're going to be responsible for your most of your marketing anyway. You actua

As regular listeners know, I recently self-published for the first time. I traditionally-published my first book, Design for Hackers, and I had a good experience. I liked having the extra support for getting my book laid out and printed, and onto shelves around the world, and as a first-time author, I really needed the vote of confidence and accountability of a publishing contract. But this time around, with my new book The Heart to Start, I had a lot to learn. Fortunately, it turned out that I had already built many of the skills I needed to self-publish. I'm glad that I never stopped learning. Whether you dream of publishing a book, or of doing something else, today's article will help inspire you to keep learning. Buy The Heart to Start on Amazon You have something to offer the world. Break through fear, self-doubt, and distractions to finally make it real. Buy The Heart to Start. Donate on Patreon Love Your Work currently costs $260 a month to produce, and supporters are covering half of that! Support the

Jordan Harbinger (@jordanharbinger) started out as a lawyer, but made a big change. You heard about another lawyer who made a career change, Jodi Ettenberg, back on episode 23. Jodi became a food and travel writer. Jordan Harbinger did something different. He quit his job as a lawyer to become a podcaster. A very successful one at that. If you listen to podcasts, you've probably already heard The Art of Charm. (Jordan now hosts The Jordan Harbinger Show). Jordan examines relationship-building and networking to be more effective in business, and in life. The Art of Charm received a brief mention here on Love Your Work when Hollywood set designer JP Connelly shared his favorite podcasts on episode 91. In this episode, Jordan shares: Law is a prestigious profession with a rich history. Did Jordan hesitate to start podcasting instead? Jordan has interviewed folks such as Shaquille O'Neil, Larry King, and Robert Cialdini. How does he connect with influencers, and how can you do the same? When it comes to building

Something that has been on the top of my mind the past few years is how creators can make an honest living from their work. You heard me talk with Hooked author Nir Eyal back on episode 21 about how technology is fragmenting attention, for example. These economics incentivize creators to be outlandish or even dishonest. But, the blockchain and cryptocurrencies may change all of that. I've been earning money for my writing lately on the STEEM blockchain, on a social network called Steemit. You heard me talk to STEEM's CEO, Ned Scott back on episode 71. I recently cashed in over $1,000 in STEEM cryptocurrency. Today I'll be giving a basic introduction to making money on Steemit. You'll learn: Where does the money come from? I cash in the STEEM Tokens I earn, but why are they worth anything? What are the various forms of STEEM, and what are they for? I'll talk about STEEM, STEEM Power, and STEEM Dollars. Once you earn STEEM, how can you convert it to USD? I'll give you the gist in this episode, but for step-by

Join Audible and listen to The Heart to Start free at http://kadavy.net/audible Hey there, just wanted to let you know that the audiobook version of The Heart to Start is now available on Audible!   I know many of you have been anticipating this, as audio is such a convenient medium – it probably explains why many of you discovered my work through my podcast.   If you sign up over here as a first-time Audible customer, you will get a 30-day trial, in which you can pick The Heart to Start as your trial book.   By the way, signing up through my link helps support my work. I'll earn a $5 bounty if you sign up for the free trial, and if you choose HTS as your first book AND become a customer of Audible for at least 61 days, I'll earn another $50 bounty. Here's the link again.

Todd Henry (@toddhenry) has written a ton of books. My personal favorite is called Die Empty, and it's all about finding the urgency to pursue your creative destiny. His newest book is called Herding Tigers, and it's all about leading creative people so they can do their best work. He also has a great podcast called The Accidental Creative. In fact, he interviewed me on the show, and you can listen to it over here. In this episode, we'll talk about: The different kinds of work: What is making, mapping, and meshing? What's your style when it comes to executing your ideas? If you're weak on one kind of work, and strong on another, what's the result? And how do great creative leaders create an environment where their people can be creative and effective? The killer tip from this is that "great leaders have great rituals." Buy The Heart to Start on Amazon You have something to offer the world. Break through fear, self-doubt, and distractions to finally make it real. Buy The Heart to Start.     Show Notes: http

We're in only the second week of 2018. There's optimism in the air, and you have a fresh well of energy and motivation for making change in your life. Have you thought about starting something? Maybe you want to start writing, or you want to start a company. How can you make 2018 the year you finally get started? I'll share three easy ways in today's article. Buy The Heart to Start on Amazon You have something to offer the world. Break through fear, self-doubt, and distractions to finally make it real. Buy The Heart to Start. Donate on Patreon Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well as bonus masterclasses and office hours with me. Sign up at kadavy.net/donate. Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/2018-get-started/

BJ Fogg (@bjfogg) is a behavioral scientist at Stanford University. He specializes in "Behavior Design," which aims to influence people for the better through insights about human behavior. In this podcast episode, BJ breaks down how to build good habits. Why do we fail to build good habits? Most resolutions to build good habits fail for two reasons: We think too vaguely. We think things like "I want to eat healthier" or "I want to lose weight." If you want to make something a reality you have to break it down into actions. Specificity makes behavior easier to change. Our motivation changes. You might start off trying to build good habits and feel very motivated, but your motivation will wane. You may have felt very motivated by something – such as the New Year – but that will pass. Or, life gets in the way, and that causes your priorities to change. What are some of the hardest good habits to build? What is a good habit? Well, that's up to you. But some of the most common good habits that people want to bu

Many of you have checked out my new book The Heart to Start. I got tired of hearing the advice "just get started," and I wanted to break it down for people. It shows you how to bust through all of the mental distortions and distractions that stand in the way of you getting started. Today, I'm going to share another sample chapter. This is from Chapter 10 of The Heart to Start, and I'm going to tell you about when I got stuck trying to start writing my first book, Design for Hackers. Our friend Noah Kagan, who you've heard on this show, ended up showing me how I was standing in my own way. You can buy The Heart to Start on Amazon. There's now a paperback version, so if you picked it up on Kindle and want a physical copy, now you can do that. Also, I really truly appreciate all of the reviews that have been pouring in on Amazon. If you've read The Heart to Start, please click on a star rating on Amazon. It would be a HUGE help. Join Love Your Work Elite Support the show, get early access to episodes, as well a

David W. Galenson is an economics professor at The University of Chicago. He's also a visiting professor at other schools, such as MIT. David is an unusual economist in that he studies the economics of art. Have you ever noticed how some young geniuses have rapid success? Have you wondered when your work will finally get noticed? It turns out, there are two totally different approaches to making your art, and the approach that you take can drastically affect when you'll find success. I recently picked up David's book, Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity, and I found it so fascinating, I had to have him on the show. David's theory is that there are two totally different approaches to making one's art: You might be a conceptual innovator, in that you take a concept and run with it. Or, you might be an experimental innovator – you might be tweaking for a lifetime, trying to figure something out. You may have heard about Galenson's work on Malcolm Gladwell's podcast, Revisio

Today, I'm very happy to announce that I have a new book out. Have you ever heard the advice "just get started?" Have you ever been left wondering "yeah, but how?" This was me when I was first starting on my own. I knew that the best way to make progress toward my dreams was to just get started. But that seemed easier said than done. It seemed each time I tried to start, I'd run into a fear, or a self-doubt, or I'd find a way to procrastinate. My new book is called "The Heart to Start: Win the Inner War & Let Your Art Shine". It's available right now on Amazon at kadavy.net/heart. Please, please go get this book. It's the result of a lifetime of learning, and many months of work. It's short and to the point, and I really think it will help you reach your potential. Thank you to all of the early readers of the book. Many people provided feedback and edits, and I could not have made the book what it is without you. After you check out the book, I'd deeply appreciate an Amazon review. Especially those of you