American Dreaming Magazine

Getting Better vs Being Good

Kris Johnson — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:24:27 +0000

Everybody likes to do stuff they’re good at. When we’re doing the types of tasks and projects we’ve already mastered, we feel in control and confident. But settling into our sweet spots – and avoiding new experiences that require us to “stretch” – comes with consequences.

Let’s try a quick self-assessment:

Do you feel hesitant to learn new skills, especially with others?
Do you feel uncomfortable working on new types of projects or with new clients?
Do you only apply for jobs when you are 100% confident that you can already handle all of the responsibilities?
Do you avoid going to places where you don’t know most people?
Do you dread showing others your work in progress?

If you answered, “Yes,” to any of these questions, you may be limiting your creative potential by focusing on “be-good” goals versus “get-better” goals.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, PhD, explains this concept (and backs it up with lots of research studies) in her excellent e-book “9 Things Successful People Do Differently,” and I wanted to share with you how this small mental shift could produce massive creative gains.

To start, let’s define the two types of goals:

Be-good Goals: Put the emphasis on proving you have ability and showing you know how to do something.

Get-better Goals: Put the emphasis on developing ability and learning to master a new skill.

Although on the surface be-good goals may seem like they would scare you into completing your best work, they in fact make you anxious about stretching yourself and make it difficult to adapt well to change. Halvorson’s studies show that when you feel you must complete flawless work—no matter how challenging the task—you tend to make MORE mistakes.

Ironically, the negative impact of be-good goals can actually increase as you become more skilled. Once you’ve developed a certain status in your field or expertise in an area, you can shy away from doing anything where you can’t guarantee your initial performance will meet your exceedingly high standards. Learning becomes “embarrassing” instead of “energizing.”

Get-better goals, meanwhile, push you outside of your comfort zone so you can focus less on perfection and more on learning and growing. Here are a few of the benefits:

The freedom to open yourself up to new opportunities. Almost every career advancement requires that you say to yourself, “I don’t know exactly how to do this yet, but I’m willing to learn and grow to make this happen.” Plus, with the rapid changes that are now par for the course in technology and business, this openness is becoming a necessity. We all need to be adapting and learning new skills all the time just to keep up.
The ability to get more of your ideas out of your head and into action. Many creative professionals struggle to move forward on projects because they feel immensely frustrated when their early, real-world executions of their ideas don’t perfectly match the ideal images in their heads. By seeing your work as a “draft” or “mock up” that you can refine, you can dramatically lower the barrier to external manifestation of your internal musings.
The courage to ask for help. When you worry that you have something to prove, you can feel ashamed to ask for assistance or direction—even when you desperately need it. Reminding yourself that asking questions and getting input is not a sign of weakness but of confidence can help you gain valuable insight earlier in the process. It can also save time and lead to a better end results.

One final tip to get you to a place of answering, “No,” to all of those questions at the beginning of this post: You will not only want to make “get-better goals” but also evaluate your progress based on “get-better assessments.”

If a toddler compared her first shaky steps to the expert strides of an Olympic marathon runner, she’d end up feeling hopeless that she would ever learn to walk, let alone run. But with steady acknowledgement of her improvements as measured against her own past attempts, she’ll be tearing around the playground in no time.

In the same way, you’ll want to celebrate incremental progress from your own past achievements instead of immediately measuring yourself against the top in the field.

–

Over to You…

Do you make be-good or get-better goals?

by:Elizabeth Grace Saunders – 99%

Want To Open for Drake on his Club Paradise Tour?

Kris Johnson — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:30:59 +0000

Drake is giving a great opportunity for up-and-coming artists as he offers them to join French Montana, 2 Chainz, Meek Mill, J. Cole, and Waka Flocka Flame as an opener on the summer edition of his Club Paradise tour. Drizzy teamed up with OurStage, and Real Hip Hop Network for this contest. Entries can be submitted at OurStage until May 11, followed by a voting by fans will take place through May 15 to “assist in choosing the winner.” The winner will be chosen by Drake, Real Hip Hop, and OurStage from the 100 artists who garner the most votes and will appear on 20 dates of the tour. Good luck.

via: Hypetrak

Tony Hawk Explains How To Sell Out Without Being A Sellout

Kris Johnson — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:43:55 +0000

Simon Sinek: If You Don’t Understand People, You Don’t Understand Business

Kris Johnson — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:30:30 +0000

www.startwithwhy.com
@simonsinek

Time To Design – New Talent Award 2012

Kris Johnson — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:58:03 +0000

Time to Design – New Talent Award, a design prize aimed at young design talents in the beginning of their career, is now open for submissions.

What do you need in the beginning of your career as a designer? Professional facilities in well equipped workshops, qualified guidance? What about possibility to show the public and potential manufacturers the design objects you have created? And of course time and room for your work. Time to design – new talent award offers you this.

The concept behind the award is to give an opportunity for young designers to develop talent and skills under the best possible conditions.

It is up to your self to decide whether you want to apply with a design proposal or if you need to modify a more finished project. The criteria are that you will be in need of the facilities at the Danish Art Workshops. In other words: the actual design project for the exhibition is to be carried out and produced at the workshops.

An application can only include one project, but it is possible to send in more than one application, and if want you can apply together with a partner. The copyright of your design project belongs only to you. And if you are granted the award, the copyright still belongs to you.

There is no entry fee. Sign up Here

Eligibility

Any designer from all over the world in the beginning of his/her career or student.

Prize

The award includes a three months residency at The Danish Art Workshops, 50.000 DKK (approx. 8,800 USD) sponsored by TA, the Danish Association of Wood and Furniture Industries to cover material costs, individual career coaching by OeO, and two weeks exhibition in the Normann Copenhagen Flagship Store.

One Condoms Design Contest 2012

Kris Johnson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:05:52 +0000

Do you have what it takes to be a condom wrapper designer?

One Condoms feature more than 200 different designs, with many created or voted on by customers like you. Since the first One Condoms Design Contest in 2004, innovative designers have helped push the One brand in exciting new directions, and inspired people to think about condoms in new ways.

One is counting on you to put your talents to work to help them create the next generation of One Condoms. So express yourself. Push the envelope. Show what you’ve got!

Create a striking design for a condom wrapper. Your original image can be a drawing, photo, design or other art. Be bold. Be creative.

The One Condoms Design Contest has two divisions for entries:

• Professional Division: You must be a design professional to participate in this division, and you must submit a link to an online portfolio to verify your status.

• Open Division: Anyone who is not a design professional may enter this division – including art students and talented art enthusiasts who design in their spare time.

To be included in the contest, each design must:

• Be appropriate for all audiences. Designs that are offensive or X-Rated will not be included. One Condoms appreciates all forms of art, but remember these products will be sold in drugstores and supermarkets.

• Be original. Designs that violate copyrights or trademarks will not be included.

There is no entry fee. Sign up here

Eligibility

Professional and amateur designers from all countries are invited to submit designs.

Prize

The following prizes will be awarded per division:

• Professional Division Grand Prize: $1,000 Cash, Your design produced on One Condom wrappers, Year’s supply of One Condoms (365), A profile page, showcasing your artwork on OneCondoms.com, 5,000 condoms donated to a health organization in your name and a Plaque featuring your design.

• Open Division Grand Prize: $500 Cash, Your design produced on One condom wrappers, Year’s supply of One Condoms (365), 5,000 condoms donated to a health organization in your name and a Plaque featuring your design.

Sign up here

How Mark Cuban Does Business [VIDEO]

Kris Johnson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:42:50 +0000

Are You Too Comfortable?

Kris Johnson — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:19:29 +0000

What do you do mindlessly? Are there activities or routines that you jump into without thinking?

We are creatures of habit. It’s easy to gravitate toward activities and environments that reinforce our expectations or existing beliefs. In other words, it’s easy to stay in our comfort zone.

The love of comfort is frequently the enemy of greatness. – The Accidental Creative

But hovering around our comfort zone can be a creative death sentence. We can easily slip into repetitious patterns that cause us to miss potential opportunities and brilliant ideas. Here are a few methods for staying out of your comfort zone:

Know your comfort zone and work hard to stay out of it. – riCardo Crespo, 20th Century Fox

Develop a new skill. It is incredibly uncomfortable to try new things. We feel like a failure at first, and perhaps even a little embarrassed. But stretching ourselves and trying something new allows us to expand our platform for expression. It doesn’t have to be directly related to your job. It can be anything. Skill development will push you to expand how to interact with the world. When was the last time you learned a new skill?

Make a new friend. OK, introverts – I carry your flag. I’m perfectly happy on my own curled up in a chair with a good book. But I’ve noticed that this introverted tendency sometimes prevents me from forging new relationships and collaborating with others. While it’s uncomfortable for me to pick up the phone and set a time to get together with a friend, I’ve come to realize that it’s essential for my growth.

I’ve used each of these methods at various times to disrupt my love of comfort and my thoughtless habits. They’ve helped me get out of “the grooves” and explore new opportunities.

by: Todd Henry

You gotta slow down to speed up

Kris Johnson — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:30:27 +0000

Sometimes you have to slow down in order to truly speed up.

The irony of going far is that it’s not done by going fast, not necessarily.

Speed and consistency are two separate things, and one more often than not is indicative of success. To be successful, you have show up.

And sometimes, you need to rest.

Sometimes you gotta slow down to speed up.

It’s not about going fast.

Think about in sports, or running training. Your actual time spent running isn’t the bulk of your training. Equally important is your recovery time, how you fuel yourself, stretching, preparing, mental work, etc.

You don’t prepare for a marathon by running non-stop for two weeks and then racing.

Preparation takes time, consistency, and adequate and ample rest. Without rest, recovery, and repair, we drive our muscles into damage and injury.

Take that analogy to your project, your brain, your work. Do you get enough rest?

We need rest to go fast.
We need time off between our work sessions.
We need to recover.

How to get into a Film Festival – Advice from a Festival Director

Kris Johnson — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:20:13 +0000