Hey guys,

This week’s notes are on Neil Gaiman’s commencement speech at Philadelphia's University of the Arts. Gaiman is an established author and his works include the comic book series The Sandman and the famous novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book.

Read on [[Roam Research]]

Takeaways

• If you don't know something is impossible, it becomes easier to do

• If you have an idea of what you want to make, just do it

• Imagine where you want to be as a far mountain, and make sure all your decisions bring you closer to the peak

• Learn that not every project will survive

• Problems of success

  • Imposter Syndrome

  • Learning how to say no

  • The world conspires to stop you from doing the things you did to become successful by drowning you with distractions

• Make interesting mistakes

• Through the good times and the bad times, make good art

• Do what only you do best

• There is no fun in making something you know is going to work

• To be a successful freelancer you only need two of these three things: do good work, be easy to get along with, and deliver on time

  • People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver on time

  • They will forgive the lateness of the work if its good and if they like you

  • And you don't have to be as god as the others if you're on time and it's always a pleasure to hear from you

• Enjoy the ride, because it takes you to remarkable and unexpected places

• The harder and wiser you work, the luckier you get

• The old rules have crumbled and nobody knows what the new rules are so make your own

• Be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, but if you don't know how, pretend to be someone who is, and just behave like they would

• Leave the world a more interesting place than you left it