Sometimes Constraints are a Creative's Best Friend

Don’t fall for the myth that creativity thrives without boundaries.

I recently interviewed a candidate for a design role. I asked one of my go-to questions, which is how do you take on the task of working with a brand that already has an established identity.

His response was as solid as I could’ve hoped for: I think I’m most creative when I’m trying to work within a set of guidelines.

When you work creatively, there’s sometimes a false perception that you would be at your creative peak if you could only do work you had full control over. The dream would be to have some wealthy Renaissance family from Europe be patrons of your work, paying you lavishly to work freely without prompt or constraint.

While the steady income is enticing, I wouldn’t expect your best work to come out of that scenario.

I recently heard a podcast interview with a pretty hardcore choreographer who works with Cirque du Soleil. He mentioned somebody meeting him and saying with envy, “I wish I could make art without all these constraints the way you can!” The Cirque du Soleil guy laughed and said, “if you only knew the constraints we work under every day. But you know what? That’s when we’re at our best!”

When creative boundaries exist for the right reasons they can provide so much more direction and inspiration along the way.

It’s all a matter of perspective. They aren’t meant to restrict your creativity but to focus it in the most meaningful way.

A game without rules isn’t much of a game

When I think of how rules can inspire new levels of creativity, I think right away of Improv. Seeing actors craft a scene as they go shows what a creative brain firing on all cylinders might look like.

But just because a scene can go in any direction doesn’t mean that it should. Some of the most important parts of an improv scene are the rules- the shared understanding by the actors of how the scene must unfold, and the conversation with the audience just before the scene that determines what goes in it.

One way to think of creative work, improv theatre or otherwise, is to think of it as a game with an object and with rules. The goal, as always, is to make your audience do, think, or feel something. The rules determine how you’ll do that.

Without rules, creative work is like a board game without rules. You open up the box and find curious pieces and items, but you don’t quite have any idea of how to use them or what it takes to win.

The balance between your objective and your boundaries is what brings you creativity to life. Seeing a chef face the challenge of making any delicious meal is less interesting than seeing a chef face the challenge of making a meal that includes duck leg and pomegranate in under an hour.

Don’t get restless for a work environment where your creativity has no boundaries. One doesn’t really exist. If one does, it won’t be good for your creativity.

Every brand has rules. Make the most of yours.

Of course, it can be frustrating for a creative to have ideas shot down constantly or to feel like they have no creative input. These experiences are the ones that make us see greener pastures where there are fewer boundaries.

But every brand has boundaries. At least the ones that know what they’re doing. Pixar has 22 rules of storytelling anyone can easily look up online. The nonprofit organization The Freedom Story has a set of ethical storytelling principles it adheres to. Not only do these boundaries help everybody on those teams stay on brand, they’re so revered other people look them up to learn from.

So if you have been feeling limited by creative constraints lately, here’s how you can make the most of the ones right in front of you:

1. Understand why they exist. Brand guidelines aren’t chosen haphazardly. Lots of thought goes into them, but this thought isn’t always widely communicated. It’s a lot harder to appreciate creative guidelines when you don’t really know why they matter.

2. If you do find yourself disagreeing with the reason why one creative boundary exists, ask yourself if you are the right person to challenge it. You won’t always be, and there’s a time to simply work with what’s in front of you, but those conversations are how brands are built collaboratively. It’s the reason why the best ones are bigger than any one individual person.

3. Think of it as a challenge, a game, or something fun that reminds you that this process is meant to draw further creativity out of you. You’re no longer just staring at a full fridge wondering what to make for lunch. You’re on Chopped, and an octopus, dark chocolate, Andean corn, and merlot is what you have to work with.

Colombia After Conflict

About a month ago, I took a trip to Colombia with my friend and teammate at Plant With Purpose, Milmer. While Colombia is not an active Plant With Purpose program, the trip was a valuable learning opportunity. I learned a lot about Colombia, how to use storytelling to bridge towards the future, and how environmental restoration intersects with peace building. This is a bit of a break from my usual sort of content here, but there’s still a powerful example of using storytelling to drive reconciliation, and it’s a reminder of why I do what I do.

“Eight years ago, you wouldn’t be able to come this way at night,” Milmer tells me. “Guerilla would have stopped you and forced you to pay.”

I’m surprised when he tells me the amount they would’ve demanded. Far more than I expected- or than I would be able to come up with. I’m also surprised, because eight years doesn’t seem that long ago, and thus far the evening’s drive has been really nice.

I pointed out that some plant in the surrounding brush smelled a lot like curry. Milmer laughs, being familiar with the smell but having never connected it to curry. We continue onwards towards the municipality of Viotá. The area, 80 kilometers outside of Bogotá was very recently a hotbed for FARC- the antigovernment insurgency that kept Colombia in a state of internal conflict for decades. In the early 2000’s the violence was at its worst, and horror stories were far too common.

Now we’re on our way to meet some people who were at the center of it. Former combatants.

“The people we’ll be talking to tomorrow have killed, sometimes brutally,” Milmer reminds me. “But you’ll see how much things have changed.”

The former combatants now meet alongside one another. Alongside their victims. Alongside the families of their victims. It’s all part of the very difficult process of reconciliation, and I was going to see what that meant in Colombia.

Seeking reconciliation is no easy task

Really, how do you sit next to somebody who took your brother’s life? How do you listen to their story and prepare yourself to receive them back into your community?

I immediately recall the words of an old pastor of mine who once said that your vision should be so big that you couldn’t accomplish it without God. I think this is what that looks like. Ever since then, I’ve been helplessly attracted to missions that seem almost impossible. Reversing climate change. Ending poverty. Making peace between enemies.

Just to remove any illusions that it’s an easy process, we drive by a marker on the road, signifying the site where guerilla ambushed and killed 22 paramilitary members in retaliation for a government crackdown. Just a half mile down the road was an elementary school.

When the time came for us to start interviewing the former combatants, it was a surprise to me that they were already in the group we had been walking with. Their appearances seemed so- ordinary. In hindsight, I suppose it’s actually unfair to have expected anything else. Those involved in conflict are simply, human, caught up in something horrible.

One of them, Leandro, introduces himself as a perpetrator and a victim as well. There’s something very nuanced about hearing it said that way that makes me think of how connecting with our own brokenness is key to healing with others.

Javier plants the seeds for a better future

“I was sixteen, and working in a plastics lab,” Javier explained “when the group came and took me.”

Javier’s family came to try and negotiate his release, only to be told they no longer had a son.

“For two years, I took my time. I saw others try to escape and get killed in the process. So, I studied everything I could observe. I worked to earn their trust. Day after day, I tried to do tasks to help, usually cooking but sometimes other things.”

I infer from his tone that the ‘other things’ were way more difficult to talk about.

“Then I made my escape.”

Javier left Viotá for years, not returning until the conflict had significantly abated.

After his story, Javier and his wife Josefa treated us to a fantastic lunch and a tour of their farm. They mostly grow coffee, though they have other crops, and we walked by the most impressive yuca plant we’d ever seen

Javier and Leandro and countless others expressed that the conflict emerged out of desperation. Out of wanting the local situation to be different and never seeing any positive change. Out of feeling ignored. Today, efforts to heal the community leave many of these same people more empowered to actually improve lives around them.

Now that the conflict has receded, there is a growing concern that greater human presence may threaten the surrounding forestry. The present moment is a critical one. But local actors are aware of this and are starting to take action and increase awareness of how to work together to protect the land. Few things unite people like a common goal, and protecting the earth is a great one.

It’s hard not to feel somber and discouraged when you hear firsthand accounts of the recent past in Colombia. But having seen what I’ve seen, it’s impossible for me not to feel a sense of hope. The impossible is in progress.

As if to drive home the point, on the way out, we stop at the same elementary school we passed by on the way in. The classroom is packed. The teacher introduces us to the students and they eagerly tell us everything that they do to care for the environment.

Not wasting water.

Throwing away trash in the right place.

Not tossing your gum in the streets.

The future can be so much better.

This piece originally appeared on the Plant With Purpose website.

Introducing the GrassRoots Podcast!

I’m launching a podcast this month!

I’ve got some exciting news this week from my own corner of the nonprofit marketing world: I’ll be launching a podcast with Plant With Purpose!

The show will be called GrassRoots and we’ll be focused on the way our current environmental crisis serves as a root cause for so many other urgent challenges around the globe, from education to human trafficking to spiritual health.

This will be a bit of a documentary style podcast. Through a blend of interviews, storytelling, conversations and raw recording, this show is all about looking at the climate crisis from a ground level, by hearing from those who are most impacted by it and those who are working to help. I’ll be cohosting the show with my Plant With Purpose teammate, Christi Renaud.

The first episode, The Roots of Everything goes live this week. This episode focuses on our origin stories that led us to Plant With Purpose. I share how human trafficking was one of the first injustices that caught my concern, and we talk with somebody from a leading anti-trafficking organization about what the environment has to do with it. I also talk to a Mozambican biologist about how the environment influences how it will recover from the recent cyclones.

We’re aiming for quality over quantity with these episodes, so we’ll be sending out six episodes this summer before recharging for what’s next. But I can’t wait to bring you these six!

We’re going to the front lines of the climate crisis

So much of the conversation around environmental issues happen at a high level. They’re typically focused on scientists and their projections, policy makers, and corporate action.

Unfortunately, guess who that leaves out of the conversation? The people who are most affected by the climate crisis.

Those would be the world’s poor. Especially in rural areas. Especially in exploited countries.

The vast majority of the world’s poor rely on subsistence agriculture to survive. The effects of climate change and environmental deterioration are already felt in their inability to grow enough.

For this podcast, we’re hoping to put the narrative of environmental action back in their hands. We’re going to explore how the vulnerability of not being able to produce food leads to desperation, exploitation, migration, and even conflict.

We’ll also be exploring how solutions will come from the bottom up. We look at people who are solving their own community’s problems, through GrassRoots action, sustainable practices, and empowering villages.

That’s why we went well out of our way to include these voices. Believe me, it wasn’t easy to figure out how to record a call with some friends in DR Congo or Haiti, but it was worth it.

Let’s dig in

Hosting a podcast like this wasn’t easy. There was a big learning curve with figuring out how to conduct a good interview, how to figure out all the tech equipment, and how to plan episodes for what’s still a pretty young medium.

This became a labor of love, however, and I learned a ton. I got to learn from really exciting guests, like Matthew Sleeth, Phileena Heurtz, Shane Claiborne, Kent Annan and others.

Even though I spend most of my time working on environmental issues, this show helped me realize how much more there was for me to know. I learned about park ranger dynamics in Africa, mountaintop removal in West Virginia, and rhino conservation efforts around the world.

I hope you’ll find listening to this podcast as enlightening as making it was for me. And I hope it gives you something you can apply to your mission.

GrassRoots is available for download on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. New episodes release biweekly.

If you’re not doing the impossible… you should be!

Does the change you’re trying to make in the world seem impossible?

If not, you should aim a little higher.

An old pastor of mine once suggested that your vision should be so big that it would be impossible to complete without God.

Wherever your spiritual inclinations happen to land, I think that level of belief and ambition is one we should be aiming for.

In the process of trying to fundraise, seek grants, or introduce your project to strangers, it can be easy to pick up the habit of watering down your vision.

Suddenly your goal becomes to provide 15,000 meals instead of the bigger target of ending hunger in Los Angeles. Even an ambitious metric like starting 500,000 rural schools isn’t the same as saying that you want to make sure every child in the world has a chance to get an education.

There are times when it’s appropriate to be realistic and even conservative about what you think you’ll be able to do in a given time-frame. Budgeting is perhaps the most relevant example. But when it comes to the big picture, you need to keep your ambitions just one notch below impossible.

People don’t buy-in when your vision is easily attainable

Think about Pixar for a second. They might not be a nonprofit or social enterprise, but as storytellers, they also face the critical task of making people care. In just about every Pixar film, the main character’s ambition is often so lofty and unlikely, that it’s almost impossible.

A rat wants to be a Michelin chef. A trash compactor on a desolate planet wants to fall in love. An elderly guy wants to fly to Venezuela in the comfort of his own home using balloons.

It’s because of the loftiness of these goals- and the belief of these characters- that we as an audience buy into the story. We’re there for the ride.

If the characters’ ambitions were far more attainable, we wouldn’t be invested in the story at all. Think about it: how interesting is a story about a guy who wants to reply to 15 emails before lunch?

In fact, the only way you make a story like that interesting is if you throw a ridiculous amount of obstacles in between the character and the mundane goal that it then feels impossible. See Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle or Planes, Trains, and Automobiles for a couple of examples.

This dynamic doesn’t just apply to movies. If you lead an organization with an attainable, unchallenging vision, people’s interest will be lukewarm. If you raise the stakes, you’ll likely get more naysayers, but you’ll also find a good amount of people wanting to jump in and join.

Your belief in the almost-impossible is contagious

When people see somebody passionately pursuing a nearly impossible ambition, they get curious. They start paying attention. Then it happens. You get the first follower. Then a second. You find a few people who agree with you- your dream isn’t that impossible and there’s a way to get there. Then the crowd starts to form.

As more and more people believe in the impossible, it serves as a self fulfilling prophecy. The impossible becomes possible. This is the trajectory of every great movement, from suffrage to Civil Rights to LGBT+ equality.

The phrase “it always seems impossible until it’s done” famously belongs to Nelson Mandela, and he seems like the right person to have said it. During his early years, the idea of a post-apartheid South Africa would’ve seemed absolutely impossible. Many in the late 80’s and early 90’s thought a Civil War was inevitable.

Don’t shy away from expressing high hopes and visions that seem nearly impossible. You need to be bold in painting mental images of a better future that others can buy into.

When you do, you’ll see beautiful things happen. You’ll discover that you aren’t the only person with that same dream and that it isn’t so impossible.

Case Study: Solly Baby Wraps

A great example of brand inclusivity

Last week I announced that my wife Deanna and I are expecting our first baby in November. We’re extremely thankful for all the congratulations and well wishes that have been sent our way since.

When we learned that we were expecting, it took a little while to sink in. Although we’ve always wanted to have kids, when it finally happened it didn’t feel real. Not for a while. But as we’ve progressed along in this pregnancy, we’re getting to the exciting part of planning for the kid’s arrival.

That includes the part of turning our spare bedroom into a nursery and stocking up and registering for baby supplies. And asking all our friends for their recommendations.

In the process of doing so, I’ve discovered a brand I’ve gotten excited about. Solly Baby Wraps.

Quick note– we have yet to actually make any purchases. So I don’t have much to say about the product itself. I’m sure you can find reviews and stuff elsewhere online. But as a branding guy, I can’t help but note all the good things their brand is doing right.

Solly makes wraps for baby wearing that are light and seem almost inspired by the cloth wraps that have been traditionally used for baby wearing all over the world. Their brand conveys style, tranquility, and light.

Here’s what I love about this brand: representation

One of the best ways to get a taste for what Solly’s brand has to offer is to scan through their Instagram page @sollybaby.

Here’s what I notice: light, neutral colors. Definitely a lot of images of parents and their babies wearing these wraps. Fonts and accents that evoke a feeling of gentleness. Here’s what else I notice: Diverse parents. Different skin tones. Interracial families. Adopted kids. Dads wearing the wraps. Dads of color wearing the wraps.

As a brown-skinned dad who looks forward to the bonding process, it makes me extremely glad to find people analogous to myself represented on an Instagram feed of a baby brand.

Historically, these products would be exclusively advertised to women. For most of my life, advertisers saw women as the main decision-makers to influence when it came to infant care products. And while this is statistically likely, remaining inclusive creates the opportunity for others to see themselves in a place that they don’t normally see themselves. That starts to feel like an invitation.

When you are intentional about representation, it gets noticed

You’ll notice that Solly doesn’t make a big deal about their inclusive social media feed. I have yet to see them post a photo of a mixed family with tags like #yayadoption. I have yet to see them flaunt their inclusivity. Their pictures are strong enough to speak for themselves.

When you’re part of a group that is normally excluded from a certain world, it becomes easy for you to notice the few exceptions. The women in politics. The Asians in Hollywood. And when people see themselves represented in an ethical, dignifying way, it’s significant.

It’s a similar dynamic to why Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians were such successful movies. Our assumptions of our “prototype audience” often leave out important groups. It’s so easy to do this unintentionally. But when you become intentionally inclusive, people can’t help but notice.

Unfortunately, there are always excluded groups from every industry. But good things happen when you make room for those who are usually excluded. Think of clothing brands like Aerie who try to celebrate all body types. Think of nonprofit organizations that understand young people can be generous too, and speak to Gen-Z.

It’s enough for me to think that behind-the-scenes somewhere at Solly, somebody is thinking through their social media strategy, planning upcoming posts and curating their photo library, with an eye open for diversity and inclusion of all different types of families. Something that matters to me matters enough to somebody there.

Here’s one little action step that can give your branding a boost: What processes do you have in place to make sure that your brand provides representation for people who are usually excluded? Develop one and make sure to stick with it.

The Power of Proper Nouns

Kamala Harris! The Toronto Raptors! Blockbuster! Brett Michaels! Ecuador! Flight of the Conchords! Fortnite!

What am I doing? Beyond abusing the crap out of my exclamation point key, I’m showing off the power of the proper noun.

I’m sure you remember that grade school lesson on the distinction between common and proper nouns. Proper nouns refer to specific examples of things. It the difference between Oreos and cookies, Atlanta and a city, or Tupac and a rapper.

But there’s more to know about proper nouns than they might’ve taught you. They’re actually power nouns.

These names create an effect. They go places their common noun counterparts can’t go. They breathe life into the story you’re telling and that’s why they’re so valuable.

Proper nouns bring a story to life

The first power that these proper nouns hold is their ability to enhance the aesthetic of the story you’re telling.

Allow me to demonstrate with a passage from Matt Haug’s novel, How To Stop Time.

“I have a friend request on Facebook. It is her. Camille Guerin. I accept the request. Then- as Hendrich keeps talking - I find myself looking at her wall. She updates in a mixture of French and English and emoji. She quotes Maya Angelou and Françoise Sagan and Michelle Obama and JFK and Michel Foucalt. She has a friend in France who is raising money for Alzheimer’s and she links to his donation page.”

Compare this to the same passage stripped of its proper nouns:

“I have a friend request online. It is her. My old friend. I accept the request. Then- as he keeps talking - I find myself looking at her wall. She updates in a mixture of languages. She quotes poets and dignitaries and philosophers. She has a friend abroad who is raising money for a cure and she links to his donation page.”

Notice how the latter version feels way more detached? Specific references plant our writing in space and time.

Proper nouns can be used strategically to evoke emotion

Recall that random string of proper nouns I started this post with?

Maybe some of those words made you picture things in your mind. Those throwback purple Raptors jerseys or the shape of Ecuador on a map. Maybe Blockbuster evokes a sense of nostalgia while Kamala Harris’ name comes with a bit of stress associated with the next election season.

So much of our brain’s activity is connected to making associations with things we’re familiar with. If you mention Martin Luther King, your audience will be more ready for you to make a point about morality and justice. Mention Nickelodeon, and your audience is primed for something more playful. You can use these associations to help build an emotional arc in your storytelling, writing, and speaking.

Proper nouns help you bond with your audience

While it was on the air, Psych was one of my favorite shows. Every episode of the detective comedy was packed full of pop culture references, and you were lucky if you understood a third of them. They name dropped characters from John Hughes movies, forgotten baseball players from the mid-nineties, junk food you haven’t thought about for a decade, and beyond.

Their references were deep and specific; and of course that means a good chunk of the audience won’t get it. They made up for it by dropping so many of them. And the payoff was that there was always a surge of excitement when you did get it.

When your favorite show mentions in passing your favorite childhood baseball player who retired a long time ago, it triggers a sense of recognition and the positive feelings associated with familiarity. It also sends a significant message: this show is for you.

You don’t have to be a show to use proper nouns to create a more intimate rapport with your audience. You don’t even need to be lighthearted to do this. While pop culture references might seem inappropriate for an organization that does serious work in preventing child abuse, there may be quotes by Fred Rogers or stories from Malala Yousefzai that work in your favor.

So here’s the action step: make proper noun use part of your editing process. When reviewing a piece of copy, ask if any of the nouns could be replaced by something more concrete. That might just add a lot more strength to your story.

Can marketing be more fun?

I recently had a chance to collaborate with an illustrator. He’s somebody I had a lot of fun working with, and one of the big reasons why I wanted to work with him is because his artwork uses a playful, whimsical feel to start challenging and complex conversations.

The longer we worked together, the more I came to appreciate his creative process. As we sat down in front of a computer to sketch out concepts, I saw him enter a mode where he was his most creative self while having the most fun. The more he enjoyed his work, the better it got.

There’s nothing so unusual about that. Sports fans might notice that some athletes perform better when they’re loose and comfortable, remembering that they play for a living. As a general trend, we tend to do better at things as we enjoy them.

That dynamic expands into the realm of nonprofit work, startup operations, and marketing as well.

Think about the sorts of activities you truly enjoy. The ones that make you lose track of time. Is it lettering? Networking with people? Web design? Because there’s a strong likelihood that you have the ability to do that thing well and it can probably be applied to marketing a cause driven brand.

In professional business culture, there tends to be skepticism towards the idea of enjoying your work too much. There’s an expectation that work and play are two different activities, and the latter is reserved for weekends and off hours.

The truth is that if we don’t at least take a shot at trying to apply an activity we genuinely enjoy to our organizational goals, then we run the risk of missing out on our best work. If my illustrator friend felt guilty every time he had fun on the job, his best pieces would have never come into existence.

I’m not suggesting to exclusively do the things you enjoy as your workload. Every job, even the dreamiest dream job, will consist of things you get to do and things you have to do. But I am advising you to be more open to exploring your passions and interests and seeing where those can be relevant to your organization’s needs.

The fun part about the world of marketing and branding is that it constantly evolves. There are so many different types of activities that apply to the overall goal of increasing brand awareness that you have lots of opportunities to try different things. One season of growth might be doubling down on social media. Another time might call for you to show up at a bunch of conferences. Another might call you to take a step back and look at strategy.

So how do you decide what to focus on next?

There are a few different ways. Look at numbers, marketing analytics, and see what they suggest. Look at your strategic plan and think of what will get you closer to your short term goals.

And then also consider what seems fun and ripe for you to dive into.

Because your organization needs you to be the most creative, innovative, energized version of yourself, and that’s also true for each member of your team. And one of the best ways to do that is to find ways to use the activities that you are naturally drawn to to help the organization in some way.

With that said, here’s a suggested process for figuring out how to make work and marketing more fun.

1) Check in with yourself.

Ask what sorts of activities seem legitimately fun. And be open to writing everything down. Aim for a pretty long list. Maybe 20-30 things. What activities could you totally lose yourself in right now?

2) Think about the organization.

What are it’s biggest needs right now? What things does it need to accomplish in the next three months to get where it wants to be in a year? What about in five years? Again, make a list of important short term objectives. Maybe five or six of these.

3) Now you get to connect the dots!

Which of the things on your list seem to go hand in hand with the organization’s needs? Because with the two lists you just made there will most likely be a few things that connect.

If you can make some of your work consist of the type of thing that you can’t help but do, get ready for some exciting results.

Case Study: Dwayne Wade x Budweiser

I remember when Dwayne Wade first broke through in the NBA. I loved his style of play, even though I didn’t care much for the Miami Heat. A lot of time has gone by since his early career. Last month, Dwayne Wade retired.

Throughout the course of his final season, Wade would trade his jersey with other star players throughout the league at the end of each game. He swapped jerseys with LeBron, with Steph Curry, and others. I imagine that collection will be a fun one to show off to his grandkids someday.

Then, during the last week of his career, Budweiser came through and released a video to celebrate Dwayne Wade, by featuring him doing some more “jersey swapping.” Only this time it wasn’t with other players. A student who he helped support through his scholarship program gave him a cap and gown. A young girl gave him a pair of sneakers that belonged to her brother who was killed in the Parkland school shooting. Wade was an outspoken supporter of the school after the event. He even got a jacket from his own mom, who was motivated by Wade to turn her life around after some mistakes landed her in prison.

If you haven’t seen that ad yet, then go. Now. Check it out. It’s in a rare class of moving videos, and you can appreciate it even if you aren’t an NBA fan or if you happen to think Budweiser tastes like grass water.

Here’s what I love about the video:

It’s aspirational and attainable. It gives its audience something to aspire to, while feeling like it’s possible. The video reminded that our legacy isn’t built by our hero moments, but the small bits of good we do in between.

Most of us might look to big career wins to define success. Just like you’d expect a successful NBA career to consist of a handful of 40 point games, a championship buzzer beater, and a few All Star nods or an MVP award. We often strive for a legacy built on job titles, publications, and other hero moments.

The Dwayne Wade video reminds us that we’ll really be remembered for the lives we impacted along the way. How did we show up for the people in our community? Our supporters? Our family? Our teammates? It was a lesson that I felt applied to my own life, and it was a challenge that I felt I could take on.

In other words, the video was aspirational and actionable, and as distant as I feel from Dwayne Wade and Budweiser, suddenly it felt like they had something relevant to my own day to day experience.

The video was aspirational because it’s a pretty rare occasion when we get to come face to face with all the lives we will impact for better or worse throughout our life. A lot of us simply hope that in that situation we’d be able to see that our acts of kindness and generosity made a real impact.

That gives us something to aspire to. Something that won’t come easy, but that offers hope for a moment in the future where lives are changed because of the way we spent our days.

Purpose driven branding does this well. It reminds us of the best versions of ourselves.

At the same time, giving somebody something to aspire to doesn’t work if you don’t keep it attainable. Show a scenario that people can imagine themselves in.

A similar ad campaign might have focused on some of Dwayne’s great basketball feats, showing clips from his performance in the 2006 NBA Finals, or that one time he hit a game winning three in overtime against the Bulls. But that ad wouldn’t have resonated as well.

I’m never going to play in the NBA and I’ve accepted that. Most people won’t play in the league. A highlight reel might’ve been impressive, but nowhere near relatable. A viewer probably wouldn’t be able to see himself or herself in those clips.

Here’s the lesson for anyone trying to put together materials for other people- tell a story that’s aspirational but attainable. One that inspires people to be the best version of themselves, in a setting they can relate to.

Maybe you work in a country where most of your audience will never go. Maybe you work on an issue that is widely unfamiliar to most people. But maybe you can find a component of your work that still connects with them. Look for a simple truth that remains true across contexts.

Like the fact that whether you’re on the court or off, on the job or off, your legacy is built through small moments that last.

Creativity is a MUST for Changemakers

Have you ever watched a commercial for shampoo or insurance or beer and thought about how much effort went into a thirty second ad?

Every line of dialogue, every frame of video, every element of design was painstakingly thought about. Probably debated about by a large team for a long time. All for those thirty seconds.

Our world doesn’t lack people with the creative skills that it takes to move people. What our world lacks is a better sense of priorities when it comes to applying their skills.

Nicholas Kristoff writes that toothpaste is marketed with more sophistication than the life saving efforts of aid groups.

Our world doesn’t need toothpaste. I take that back. We do need toothpaste and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without it.

But I mean to say that our world isn’t in as desperate need of toothpaste the way it’s in need of clean water. Or trees. Or racial justice. Or education. Or women’s equality. You get the point.

Every nonprofit, foundation, or cause centered brand could make an even bigger impact if they went all-in on creative storytelling.

See, if your aim is to create lasting change in the world, you can’t do it alone. You’re going to need other people to join you. You’ll need partners of all sorts. Funding partners. Program participants. Cheerleaders to help get the word out. Donors and volunteers.

In other words, you’re going to need to create a movement. And the only way to do that? You need to move people. You need to transport them from the routines of their daily life to the front lines of the problems you’re trying to solve.

And how do you move people?

That’s where creativity comes into play.

You need media assets that bring your issue to life. You need photos, videos, and stories that make things real for the person seeing them.

You need a voice and visuals that lets your audience know that your mission is theirs too. Fonts, color palettes, aesthetics, and other elements all send signals of who a message is for.

You need to master the art of storytelling, so that the story somebody tells about themself overlaps with the change you wish to see in the world.

You need a strategy for how to get all of this in front of people. Because in a world where technology rewrites these rules every couple years, we always need to relearn the art of showing up.

All of the nonprofits I get the most excited about, from IJM to Preemptive Love Coalition and many others, have invested heavily in the way they tell their story. They have strategic brand guidelines. They know that every message matters.

Throughout history, figures like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela applied creativity to invite people into a new story about their country and their relationship with each other.

And now it’s your turn. If there’s a change you want to see in the world, and I’m sure there is, how will you double down on creativity?

When Life Asks Its Most Urgent Question

When did you know you were meant to live for more?

I remember the lights going off in the theatre, the shaky handheld footage, and the audience being completely captivated. I will never forget the way I felt by the end of the film.

I was in high school watching a documentary about the conflict in Darfur. More specifically, the film highlighted the way children were being forced to fight as soldiers in the war, being forced through some unimaginably traumatic experiences.

This was the first time I had ever seen anything like this. I was astounded at how horrific some things in this world could be. But the film also highlighted the efforts of a few people who were working to end this crisis and to build justice in Central Africa.

At the time, I had actually been going through a pretty rough patch of depression. Life felt a little empty and I questioned if there was anything that made my time on Earth really worthwhile. After that moment in the theatre, I felt like I had an awakening. Life wasn’t about seeking my own pleasures, it was about serving something bigger. I felt like I finally understood what Martin Luther King meant when he said that life’s most urgent question is “What are you doing for others?”

What was that moment for you?

Think of a time in your life when you realized the old way of things wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Think of a time when comfort started to feel uncomfortable, when you realized that we were meant for much, much more.

Maybe you took a trip somewhere that completely blew up your perspective. Maybe you met somebody who was a walking example of what a beautiful life looked like. Maybe you experienced a life changing incident that gave you no option to go back to being who you were.

Sometimes this moment isn’t even a moment. Sometimes it’s a string of incidents that seem to awaken some other sort of awareness in you. A conversation with a friend. An article that came across your newsfeed that you couldn’t stop thinking about. A thought provoking book.

No matter what your call-to-action was like, it left you with a desire to do something that mattered. You could no longer be satisfied just living for your own enjoyment or comfort. You needed to go beyond. You suddenly realized your need for purpose.

It isn’t about knowing all the next steps

After the credits of the documentary had rolled, I realized the impact that a well told story had on me. The film was both eye opening, and artistically bold. I had always been a little bit interested in doing something creative in the future. Now I started to think it would be much more fulfilling to use those creative interests to direct people’s attention towards important issues that weren’t getting enough focus.

I now work as the main creative person at an international humanitarian organization.

The path that connects these two points, however, is far from linear. My moment in the theatre didn’t tell me what I should study in school. It didn’t reveal to me whether or not I should eventually do grad school. It didn’t point directly to any of the internships I ended up taking or any of the time I spent abroad. All that came later.

Instead, it simply showed me that the old way wasn’t working. It showed me that I needed to find something bigger than myself to live for. It didn’t show me all the next steps that would lead to my purpose. It would simply show me the direction I should start walking.

Remind yourself often of why you began

I often let myself flashback to that moment in the theatre. I get the chance to share my story a lot and that’s a pretty pivotal scene. It set into motion the things I now do every day.

I think it’s important for anyone who does important work to frequently remind themselves of why they began. When you’re working to make an impact, it isn’t all mountain-top experiences. In fact, some of the most important work being done around the world consists of a bunch of small actions taken day after day.

If that describes you, then it can be a little too easy to lose sight of why the things you do every day matter. It’s easy to let the daily grind obscure the bigger vision. Reminding yourself of why you got started can help breathe life back into those daily activities.

And if you feel like you’ve just set off on your journey- it sometimes takes a while before your moment of awakening turns into everyday life. Don’t rush the process, because it’s a beautiful one. But if you ever feel stuck working an odd job while saving up for the next step, if you ever feel like finding the right opportunity is taking too long, or if you ever start to consider taking the safer route you know deep down isn’t for you, simply do this:

Remember why you started, when life asked you its most urgent question.

2018's Most Memorable Meals

Bao Bei (Vancouver, British Columbia)

During our time in Vancouver, I knew a good meal in Chinatown was a must. All signs pointed to Bao Bei as the spot to go for dim sum and small but nicer plates.

I was so happy with that choice. We ordered a wide mix of things, from pieces of bao to sautéed broccoli rabe. There wasn’t a bad thing in the mix, and afterwards? We went to Juke Fried Chicken next door for a bonus meal.

Rye Bread Ice Cream at Café Loki (Reykjavik, Iceland)

Café Loki was the restaurant in Reykjavik right across from the cathedral offering Icelandic Platters. Given how much a meal costs in Iceland, this wasn’t a bad way to try a bunch of their more famous items, like dark rye, salmon cuts, and fermented shark in small bits.

When we were finished, however, we added one order of dessert since we heard the rye bread ice cream was quite good. It was! I don’t know how to explain how perfectly they got the crumbly rye bread texture to blend so well with the creamy ice cream, but it almost created a new item all together. Soft but airy, sweet but with the deeper taste of rye. And it was drizzled with rhubarb honey. If only I knew of any other place to get this than downtown Reykjavik.

Bresola e Arugula Pizza from Pizzeria Magnifica (Rome, Italy)

When we were in Italy, we tried to track down the best pizza I ever had at a pizzeria that was tough to identify. We succeeded at this, but also, it may have been dethroned.

On our first night in Rome, our host recommended Pizzeria Magnifica. We went in so late that we were the only ones there and we thought they were closed. They served us and it was everything great about an Italian pizza. Fresh cuts of bresola. The spike of arugula. Generous olive oil and a crispy but airy crust.

Hattie B’s & Prince’s Hot Chicken (Nashville, Tennessee)

Hot Chicken was a must in Nashville and thankfully I had enough time in town to eat at both iconic spots. Check out the Ugly Delicious Chicken episode to dig into the history and debates surrounding these two places.

Nashville Hot Chicken continues to creep up my list of favorite guilty pleasures. My verdict between these two spots? I preferred the chicken at Prince’s but I was more partial to the sides and everything else at Hattie B’s. Sorry if that’s an overly diplomatic conclusion, but that’s how I roll.

Madame Paulette’s Cornmeal Jambalaya (Fonds Verrettes, Haiti)

Of all the meals on this list, this would be hardest to recreate. After a long day of filming, Madame Paulette served us a meal that looked a bit like a platter full of polenta, topped with chicken and some veg.

The meal was clearly made from corn, but I took one bite and knew I’d recognize the flavor anywhere. Jambalaya. And given the creole connection between Haiti and Louisiana this shouldn’t have been a surprise. But it was and it was a tasty surprise at that.

Szechuan Lamb Noodles at Kettner Exchange (San Diego, California)

We went for dinner in Little Italy for Deanna’s birthday and the way this sounded on the menu was too good to pass up: Szechuan noodles in a shiitake sauce, with ground lamb, black pepper, and chili oil.

This dish lived up to my expectations and hit it out of the park. The mushroom based sauce and the heartiness of the lamb made it a smooth offering. The chili oil brought just enough heat to liven it up. So glad that at least one thing on this list is pretty local.

Guisados (Los Angeles, California)

We went to the one smack in the middle of Downtown LA. I loved it. When it comes to tacos, I often think simpler is better and street tacos are my favorite expression of that.

What Guisados absolutely nails is braising their meat just right. It’s easy enough to go to town by trying to order one of everything on the menu, which is almost what I did.

Basil Gelato from Stalin Gelateria (Vernazza, Italy)

Eating a ton of gelato is inevitable when you’re in Italy. After a while, you start to get used to the same flavors all over the place. Nothing wrong with that! But there’s little mystery about what each gelato shop will offer- fragole, limone, melone, tiramisu, hazelnut, etc.

But, in Vernazza, there’s Gelateria Stalin. (Dunno why it’s called that!) It’s right at the end of the three hour hiking trail that would’ve brought you over from Monterosso and at that point you’d likely have worked up the appetite for gelato. And you see it on the menu- basil. And it is surprising and refreshing and wonderful all in one.

Breakfast at Monell’s (Nashville, Tennessee)

This place came highly recommended to us while we were in Nashville, so we went to the spot in Germantown for breakfast. This place encourages family style meals, meaning you’ll share long tables with strangers, be made to keep you phone out of sight, and fed like a champ.

The breakfast spread included pancakes, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a whole bucket of fried chicken. Plus we befriended a nice couple from Connecticut and a family from Houston.

Pici at Enoteca Bacchus (Montalcino, Italy)

Pici is the signature dish of Siena and the surrounding area. I’m not the biggest fan of spaghetti, but it’s almost like somebody took the concept of spaghetti and reworked it into something I would really like.

Thick hand rolled noodles are the main feature. They’re usually then topped with a wild boar ragu, but another common sauce is cacio e pepe. This place in Montalcino made a completely masterful version of the former. Perfect with Chianti.

A Working Definition of Purpose

The path you must walk appears strange

This is one of my favorite quotes:

All of us are called to a place we have not been. Our lives were always intended to be journeys into the unknown. The invitation is both personal and mystical. No one else may fully understand what you are being called to. You may not even fully understand. The path you must walk may appear to others as strange or unreasonable, but you know there’s more going on than meets the eye.

I frequently remind myself of this blurb. Every few months I pick up my copy of Erwin McManus’ Soul Cravings to try and hunt for the page where this quote comes from. Just to get it right.

McManus captures what living with purpose is like. You know you’re living for something much bigger than yourself- something so big you can’t get your mind around it. It’s not an easy path, but it feels like what you were put on the earth to do.

Ikigai

In short, purpose means reason. The reason you were put on this Earth. Raison d’etre in French.

There’s also a Japanese concept called Ikigai, and I mostly like the way it maps out purpose.

Purpose is the crossroads of your passion, your mission, your vocation, and your profession. It’s what you find when you find what you love to do, what you do well, what you can get paid to do, and what the world needs.

Like I said, I think this is a pretty good idea, but let me round it out a bit further with some of my own markers of purpose.

Purpose happens when we become part of something bigger than ourselves

A big part of having a purposeful life comes when you realize it isn’t about you. Many people get to a point in their life when they realize that living for their own enjoyment is kind of a dead end. Meanwhile, people who are driven by something bigger than themselves can endure all sorts of hardship along the way.

I believe I was made to create things that help people create change, and I believe that this isn’t just a job or a hobby but a spiritual thing. I believe that compassion reflects God and brings us closer to him. For me, my faith helps connect my day-to-day actions with something bigger than the things I can see or understand.

Things like beauty, love, community, healing, and justice also go far beyond the confines of our own lives. I think we were all born with a soul that craves these things.

Purpose happens when we connect to other people in our world

Purpose and connection go hand in hand. If you’ve ever gone through a season of loneliness or heartbreak, you’ll easily recognize how unfulfilling life is when it’s lived in isolation. On the other hand, if you’ve ever felt like you’ve found a group of people you truly belong with, you understand how important our connection to each other really is.

It’s hard to say it any better than the Xhosa concept of ubuntu- a person is a person because of other people. Part of our purpose comes from being connected to each other. My grandma never had a professional career, spent most of her 98 years at home, and lived a fairly quiet life. But at the end of her life, she was incredibly fulfilled because of her strong personal relationships.

That said, I think we do ourselves a huge favor when we realize how connected we are to people as far as the other side of the globe, or to people we seem to have nothing in common with. I’ve seen so many of my friends come to life by committing themselves to a cause. Some of the things that fill me with the most awe are sharing a moment of joy with somebody on the complete opposite side of the world.

Purpose happens when we get to apply the passions and gifts inside of us

Ikigai does a pretty solid job at recognizing that we are born with the seeds of passions and talents. When we tend to them, they grow up with us, and that leads to the desire to excel at them and to use them to help others.

There’s also the plain fact that we also need to survive- and generally these passions and talents lead us in the direction of doing something that pays the bills! In the ideal scenario, what we’re good at, what we’re doing, and what we can get paid to do all overlap. In the real world, though, that doesn’t always happen. That’s why purpose is a pursuit!

Pursuing Purpose

Being able to pursue purpose is a gift, but it also takes work! A life lived purposefully is a beautiful thing. Beautiful things are hardly ever convenient.

Amazingly, I have a job and a life that serves something bigger than myself, that keeps me traveling around the world, and that makes use of my creative inclinations. And it’s also my goal to help other people do something similar. To find purpose through doing work full of wonder, connection, and joy.

Every week I share one key idea that’s helped me pursue purpose and make an impact. Whether you’re at the start of your journey or just trying to make the pieces fit together a little bit better, my goal is to help you get there. Click below to sign up for this journey.

EVERY POST EVER

Nomad life in the Heartland

Norway: Rediscovering nuance in Scandinavia

Notes from a return to Siena: Accepting all the changes eight years can bring

Notes from New Cuyama: Rural placemaking

Notes from Plywood Presents

Notes from Reykjavik: Prioritizing Beauty

Occupy Philippe

PDX to SAN

Project 365

Questions for digging deeper

Recipe for a good day

Salvation Mountain: God is Love- words that challenge us with simplicity

So how was Haiti?

Swaziland: That time I was offered a child

Tell the story that you need to hear

That countdown to thirty

The geography of grief

The hardest parts are often unknown

The Heartland Nomads

The myth of a political fix

The sadness of Sufjan Stevens

The top ten countries I've been to, ranked by food

The world’s poorest communities dispel a big myth about the environment

There's a lot going on

Three years after South Africa: Why coming back matters

Time-Stopping Feels: What storytellers can learn from Matt Haig's newest book

To enjoy the passing of time

To Haiti, with Hope

Toscana: Stepping into life

Travel’s gotten easier. Is travel ruined?

Turkey: The Marble Fair and what we remember

Victoria Falls: Why we need a sense of wonder

Voting across six different countries

Want to move people? Make sure your message is as clear as possible

Welcome to Hillbrow

What I love about Vancouver

When a nonprofit falls apart

When people shoot people

Why sleep is a spiritual discipline

Wonderland: A STORY 2018 Recap

You have a beautiful house

5 people in Thailand who taught me what sustainability means

28 things I didn't know so well at 27

A flight to Port Au Prince

Almost dying on a Thursday night

Bariloche: Belief and beauty

Being Mr. Laz

Chasing Wakanda: What artists and activists can learn from the world of Black Panther

Cinque Terre – There’s more to discover!

Closer to me than I am to myself

Deliciously Ugly: What storytellers can learn from David Chang’s bingeworthy feast

Doing good in an age of anger

Don't overlook the way fired up young people can make change

Faith and the feelings

For Lent I gave up trying to be a superhuman... but not right away

Go where the love is

Hope is many things

How Nelson Mandela accomplished the impossible

How to not be this barbie

I am hope

I read 52 books last year. These were the best ones.

If Not For Second Chances, an excerpt

It cannot be ignored

Is change coming to the Korean Peninsula? A case for cautious optimism.

Kickback Church

Le Pier: Our engagement story

Liberty in North Korea

Mae Sot: Visiting a Karen refugee camp

Meanwhile in North Korea

Morocco: If you solve enough problems, you get to go home

Mr. Rogers, beta fish, and some bold what-ifs

My 2018 List

My last days at 5Cees

New England: One week, two countries, four states, six hundred bucks

HANDS OPEN: FRAMING 2019

2018 really wasn’t my year.

My New Years’ celebration was on the quiet side. Normally I’d think that the lack of festivities would feel like a big downer, but I was mostly just excited to turn the page on to a new year.

Last year wasn’t a good one for me, overall. There were some nice moments, but there were also times where it felt like I was being hit by a wave of bad news, and times where I felt completely stuck. Without running up a massive word count to explain how rough it was, I’ll just say that at its worst it made me wonder if my best days were all in the past.

I’m glad I chose to stay hopeful, in spite of all that, but it wasn’t the easiest thing to do. I’m ready for the restart that comes with changing the calendar.

Picking a theme word for the year doesn’t work for me.

You know that thing people do where they pick a theme word for the new year?

Yeah, that usually doesn’t work for me.

I remember I tried it one year. I think the word I picked was generosity. I tried to practice it, but I don’t think there was anything different about that year that made it more of a “Year of Generosity” than any other.

I learned some other valuable stuff instead. I learned that life can be full, rich, and beautiful, even when difficult and tragic things happen right alongside the good times. I learned to seek fullness and not just happiness.

It was a year of fullness. Generosity? Ehhhh.

Here’s how I’m framing 2019:

I’ve found it a little more helpful to think about how I’m framing the upcoming year. I want to leave enough room for surprises and unpredictability, but to still approach the year with purpose.

If starting a new year was a bit like starting a new season of a TV show, then what plot points would be the important ones from the get go? What would be the initial motivation of your main character? What themes, settings, or challenges would you tease in the trailer?

Things don’t often go the way you expect them to. The best shows deliberately throw you curveballs. But thinking in trailer-mode helps to get stuff off the ground.

Starting with a pair of open hands.

This year, I’m trying to keep my hands and my heart a little bit more open, which is part of the reason why I’m approaching my goal-setting and planning a little more loosely.

Overall, I think that intentionality is a good thing, but it’s also possible to start over-planning. Last year, I really struggled with things not going according to expectations, and I know I want some more room for curiosity and wonder.

I love the image of open hands. Holding things loosely. Ready to freely give or to freely receive. 

Receiving, rather than managing, life.

Speaking of receiving, Richard Rohr says that “We tend to manage life more than just live it… we are trained to be managers, to organize life, to make things happen. That is what built our culture. It is not all bad, but if you transfer that to the spiritual life, it is pure heresy.”

“We can’t manage, maneuver or manipulate spiritual energy,” he states. “It is a matter of letting go and receiving what is being given freely.”

Managing gives me a sense of importance that isn’t always good for me. Receiving fills me with wonder. I’m aiming to do more of the latter this year.

Celebrating a decade of photos every day.

2019 will be my 10th year of taking photos every single day.

It’s crazy to think that my Project 365 will be turning ten years old now. I’ve become a much better photographer over the course of a decade, but that project was never really about the photos.

It was a physical activity that paralleled what happened in my spiritual life at the same time. I decided to fully engage. I surprised myself, that year, by finding out how much wonder and adventure life had to offer. I went from like I was missing out, to feeling like I had an abundance of life.

I still have no idea how long I’ll keep going. The ten year mark might be my most opportune window to end this project in a punctuated way, but we’ll see.

Getting ready for 30.

As a perk of being born on a ‘zero’ year, the 2010s will always be synonymous with my twenties. When I look back, it’s been a really good decade.

2010 began with a decision to fully commit to my faith and to treat life like a gift. In the years between then and now, I’ve made lifelong friends, I graduated, I studied in Italy and Argentina, and I lived out of a van. Then I spent time living in South Africa and Oregon, visited almost 40 more countries, worked for a bit as a teacher, finished grad school, got married, and moved to San Diego to start my dream job.

That’s a lot, but I still can’t believe the decade is nearly over. I’m hoping to end it well.

Making this place our home.

One way I would love to end the decade would be to finally feel at home where I live.

I haven’t stayed in the same city for three years at all since I was a teenager. I’ve loved getting a good mix of experiences and meeting people, but in some ways that constant movement has taken its toll. I really miss feeling connected to the people around me and the place where I live. I miss having a rich sense of community, and I haven’t felt like I’ve had that in about five years.

I hoped to do that last year, but I also didn’t make that easy on myself. I think I traveled too much. I’m hoping to do more of something that is out of my comfort zone: staying put a little bit more, especially early in the year.

Balancing home and away.

While I hope to balance being home more with my love for travel, I still hope to take a few trips this year and to have them be good and meaningful ones.

We’ll be doing a family trip to Wyoming in June, to see the Tetons and Jackson Hole. That’s one of three states I haven’t been to yet. I’ll also be headed to Charleston, South Carolina for the High Water Festival. Afterwards, I’m going to look into driving to West Virginia, to get another of those three states.

If that goes well, then I might as well hit state #50 with Alaska!

I’ll likely have one work trip out of the country, and I might hope to see one more new country, since I have a streak of seeing a new country every year for the past nine. But I’ll probably be looking for a cheaper/easier one in the Caribbean or Central America.

Getting outside more.

I’d hope that any other time I spend away from home is spent outdoors. I realized last year that my love of camping has really been stifled over the past two years. I’d hope to set that straight by going on a few more frequent camping or hiking or outdoor-oriented trips.

I know some friends have me already looking at Lake Tahoe next month and Yosemite later on. I wouldn’t mind rounding those out with some other campsites closer to us. Joshua Tree, the Central Coast, and even the desert sound appealing.

Making meaningful things.

Last year was a good year in terms of creative growth. I put the time into learning some new skills and programs, I figured out how to better integrate my own creative interests with my professional life, and I met a lot of people I look up to who helped me see that I was on a good track. Not every creative pursuit last year worked out the way I liked, but I learned a lot.

I’ve got one creative project in particular for this year that I can’t wait to get started on. I’ll share more about that soon enough!

Moving forward.

Honestly, the bar is set pretty low in order for this year to be better than last year. Nevertheless, I’m excited for it. For the fresh starts, the second chances, and the new beginnings.

Last year taught me that hope isn’t a good feeling. Hope is a choice.

I’m choosing to invest myself in making a home, putting down roots, living open-handed, loving those around me, celebrating nature, being creative, and living a year that’ll still make me smile a decade from now.

Happy 2019.

HOPE IS MANY THINGS

It’s December. It’s been a disappointing year.

I wonder how many people in this world feel like they’ve arrived and have nothing more to want. There’s probably a small few, but for most of us, there’s a bit more we’re in pursuit of.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing necessarily. It doesn’t have to mean we’re ungrateful for what we already have. It just means there’s more to aspire to. There are hopes we have for the future. Even if we have everything we could ever want, there are probably some hopes we have for other people. Hopes we have for our world to become a better place for all.

There are lots of hopes that haven’t yet been fulfilled.

There’s a gap in between where we are and where we want to be. This was the year I expected that gap to close a little bit more.

Looking back, that didn’t happen.

It’s January. We have the pleasure of hosting a good friend from Korea. We ironically tried to go out for Korean food, but instead wound up getting tacos. You can always count on tacos.

The year ahead looks bright. I think this is the year I might finally plant down some roots and regain a sense of connection that’s been missing for a few years. I think this would be the year of building things that last.

People— at least the people of the online worlds where I spend too much time, often pick a “word of the year,” a theme to guide a new chapter of their life.

I toy around with the idea of choosing the word “build.” I want this to be a year of making things, building a community, of new growth.

I’m about to be reminded why I usually choose a theme word at the end of the year instead. Expectations and reality often differ. Like Kierkegaard says, you’ve gotta live life forwards, but to understand it, you need to look at it backwards.

It’s October. Over the past ten months, the year has tailspun into becoming a big disappointment.

It started out promising enough. Many of the things I hoped to start went absolutely nowhere. I started to feel more isolated than I’ve felt in a really long time. Then I ran into a stretch of a few weeks of getting one piece of bad news after another.

I’m anxious and angry, but most of all, just sad that my world feels so empty.

I get breakfast with an old friend. I haven’t seen her a whole lot since she moved to pursue a dream full-time. She introduces us to Southern style doughnuts and a local coffee roaster. I’ve been impressed by her skill as an artist and all the progress she’s made in that pursuit. She tells me that she’s recently had to confront the real question of what life looks like if her dream doesn’t come true.

It’s not an easy question, and I felt like I was in a similar place. There are few things more discouraging than doing the same thing over and over, without seeing much change. You start to feel trapped by your circumstances. You start catastrophizing.

It feels like the path I’ve been on for years has been good to me. It’s taken me on adventures, towards people. But lately, it feels like it led me right into a dead-end.

Back to December. I know what my word will be for the year that has passed. It seems strange to say this after such a disappointing year, but that word will be hope.

I thought I already knew all there was to know about hope, but some things you can only learn through experience.

Right now, more than ever, I believe that hope and optimism aren’t the same thing.

I’ve never really had a hard time being optimistic, to be honest. Sometimes, that’s my method of dealing with hard stuff. I believe there’s a way for things to work out, and a good chunk of the time, I’m right. I tend to believe the best about the world, and the best about people.

But hope is something else entirely.

Hope is many things.

Hope is action. It looks like going where the love is.

Hope is faithfulness. It looks like staying on that path, even when it seems to have led to a dead end. It looks like sticking with the things you’ve said ‘yes’ to, because you still believe in them.

Hope is freedom. You realize that you aren’t in control, but and when you’re willing to let go of that illusion and to let God take the reins.

Hope is imagination. Hope is seeing things that don’t exist, and doing your part to bring them to life.

It’s August, and I’m in Haiti for work. I’m walking through a pretty lush, green forest. A decade ago, I’m told, these hillsides were barren. Most of Haiti still looks that way.

The people I meet turned out to be my greatest teachers. Every single one of them could point to a time in their life, roughly ten years ago, and could tell me of how hopeless things seemed.

“My brother died and I couldn’t stop drinking,” one man tells me.

“In this country,” a woman tells me, “you wouldn’t get to reap what you sowed.”

“My hair was turning gray while I went from one relief agency to the next, looking for some help,” says her neighbor.

Their lives today are joyful. They all talked about the incredible transformation their area had seen. How it went from barren to green. How people went from desperate to invigorated- mobilized to start farming projects, to build cisterns, to start agricultural experiments.

What propels them forward wasn’t optimism. They didn’t have much of that. It was hope. Hope allowed them to wake up for another day with the slightest possibility that things could be different. Hope allowed them to still do whatever was in their power to make their land and lives better.

I feel the nudge from God. Take note.

Hope was something I really needed in my own life. The reminders to keep showing up in spite of discouragement. The notion that the pure and good things of this life are still worth pursuing, even when they seem out of reach.

Hope is also something our world needs pretty badly these days. There are so many people fighting for justice and equality. Progress isn’t linear, and setbacks seem frequent. But hope reminds us that its worth it to be on the right side, even if it doesn’t win every battle. Even if things seem to be getting worse.

“Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure”

– Rumi

After all, I believe that our lives are the work of a master storyteller, and what good story doesn’t have some scenes where it looks like everything’s just gonna fall apart? Sometimes, the bleaker things look, the more satisfying the story becomes in the end.

Hope is something I really need in my own life. The reminders to keep showing up in spite of discouragement. The notion that the pure and good things of this life are still worth pursuing, even when they seem out of reach.

Hope is also something our world needs pretty badly these days. There are so many people fighting for justice and equality. Progress isn’t linear, and setbacks seem frequent. But hope reminds us that its worth it to be on the right side, even if it doesn’t win every battle. Even if things seem to be getting worse.

It’s September, and I can’t stop listening to the War and Treaty’s new album. I buy a vinyl copy and read all the liner notes. I discover something written by Michael Trotter.

“When natural disasters or the pains of social injustice or brutalities of any kind threaten your own peace of mind and civility, remember this one thing: it’s not over yet. You still have time to not only see change but to be part of the change.”

There’s still time.

That’s something I often have a hard time believing. As somebody who feels the shortness of life, I’m driven to make the most out of every minute. But I choose to believe that there is still time. That God doesn’t waste time. That the long swaths of time that seem to amount to nothing are just as saturated in purpose as those whirlwinds of change.

And in the meantime, I choose not to still appreciate the little bits of good that came my way in the past year. Even though it didn’t go the way I thought it would, there were still many sparks of joy that helped keep things afloat.

It’s March, and I’ve ran my second half marathon.

It’s April, and I’ve gotten to go back to Italy for the first time since I studied there as a college student.

It’s September, and I’m at a conference where I get to meet some of my favorite creative heroes.

It’s June, and we’re riding bikes in Vancouver.

It’s August, and I’ve made a new friend over coffee.

It’s February, and Moviepass exists.

It’s September, and I miss Moviepass.

It’s May, and I’ve found the sweetest campsite out in the middle of nowhere.

It’s March, and I finally get to fulfill my lifelong dream of visiting Iceland.

This hasn’t been the year I had anticipated. Looking back right now, it’s hard not to think of it as a disappointing one. But I do wonder how I might look back on it with more perspective. I wonder how I might look at it ten years down the road.

It’s very possible that such a dry season might have been necessary to set up the things to come. It’s also possible that things can get worse before that happens. But hope always plays the long game.

In the meantime, I choose hope. Hope is a choice.

Hope is many things.

My 2018 List

Ranking stuff is one of my favorite parts of December. That and Christmas, you know? I’m a total sucker for just about any list that counts down the best movies, the best songs— I’ll even entertain a lis of the best GIFs of the year. I guess I get pretty curious about people’s tastes.

Of course I like playing along too, so for another consecutive year, here’s my list of favorites from 2018! And I toss albums, movies, books, and other things all on the same list, since to me, they all count as storytelling, just in different forms.

TWENTYFIVE

Akimbo

I’ve found Seth Godwin’s insights consistently helpful. Akimbo is a podcast that gives him a chance to indulge a variety of topics, but he frequently lands in the realm of marketing, work, and creativity. The show lately has gone hand in hand with his recent book This Is Marketing, which I haven’t read yet. If his podcast is any indicator, though, it’ll be a great one to learn from.

TWENTYFOUR

On The Other Side Of Freedom by Deray McKesson

Caveat: I’m not that far into the book, and yet it makes this list. My confidence is that high based on what I’ve seen and heard so far. Deray’s appearances on several podcasts definitely hammered home my interest in his book. Deray is an activist whose work has been a driving force of the Black Lives Matter movement. Despite all the opposition and hardship he’s experienced directly in the past few years, this book is fiercely hopeful.

TWENTYTHREE

Ben Howard, Noonday Dream

This isn’t my favorite Ben Howard album. It’s a more somber and moody one and takes a little while to get into. Once it sinks in, though, it’s a real solid album. Ben Howard is a master at using sound to communicate feeling, even when the meaning of the song is kept pretty enigmatic

TWENTYTWO

Boca Juniors Confidencial

Well this was a fairly upsetting year to be a Boca Juniors fan, with the Superclasico loss and the attack on the team bus a couple weeks prior. This insider series, though, serves as a pretty good consolation prize. The Netflix series follows the Argentine futbol team and offers pretty honest and vibrant look into the country’s extremely lively (sometimes too lively) fan culture.

TWENTYONE

The Daily Creative

I heard Todd Henry speak at a conference and instantly became a pretty big fan of his work. His podcast- still a pretty new project, offers one creative insight each day. The episodes are always 2-4 minutes in length, making it extremely easy to digest, but the bit of wisdom they carry is almost always really valuable. The daily release schedule is both admirable and the perfect rhythm for consuming these nuggets.

TWENTY

Kamasi Washington, Heaven and Earth

I love music that wrecks your concept of what a genre is, and Kamasi Washington does that really well, taking the roots of jazz into all sorts of creative directions. Heaven and Earth is bolder than his earlier albums, with more complicated harmonies and bolder textures. There are also hints of international influences all over this album, which I love.

NINETEEN

Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour

High Horse was possibly the most addictive song of the summer- tongue in cheek lyrics and a playful sound to boot. The rest of the album around that hit wasn’t a let down. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy an album with so much country influence as much as I enjoyed this one, but I absolutely did and here it is on my list.

EIGHTEEN

Villains

Shea Serrano gained a whole lot of unprecedented attention after his fun, basketball-culture musings in Basketball and Other Things landed on Barack Obama’s summer reading list. What’s next? A podcast in which he analyzes the notoriety of villains from Hannibal Lecter to Regina George? Why not? It’s a wildcard concept, but he pulls it off well.

SEVENTEEN

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

An American Marriage is a book about a young, thriving couple being torn apart by wrongful incarceration. Lives are ruined, and it’s that simple. While the story’s plot is a simple unfolding of terrible events, the well-written characters turn it into a journey of empathy. I’ve seen it on a number of Best of ’18 lists and it is well deserving of that spot.

SIXTEEN

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

I’ll be honest- even though Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat gained a ton of buzz very shortly after it arrived on Netflix, I was slower to embrace it. Mostly because I wanted to remember the title as one of the most practical and empowering cookbooks ever written, and I didn’t think it could translate into a mini-series that well. (Really, though, how do you adapt a cookbook?) It turns out that this journey to California, Japan, Italy, and Mexico is exactly how you do it.

FIFTEEN

The 1975, a brief inquiry into online relationships

For a long time, I’ve liked but haven’t loved The 1975’s music. It was good enough, but perhaps too strangely melancholic for me. Then suddenly they release a brief inquiry into online relationships, and it’s absolutely making an impression on me.

FOURTEEN

Leon Bridges, A Good Thing

Leon Bridges somehow just keeps getting better. This just might have been my most listened-to album all year, thanks especially to the tracks “Mrs.” and “Beyond.” I’m still dreaming of the chance to see Leon live someday.

THIRTEEN

Searching

If this film wasn’t good, the idea of telling a story entirely through screenshots of phones and computers would have gone down as a gimmick. Instead, it’s an innovative way to unfold a plot without taking over from the heart of the story. John Cho turns in a really great performance, but nobody thought he’d do anything else.

TWELVE

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

Another read that I haven’t totally finished but feel totally comfortable ranking it and ranking it high. Austin Channing Brown’s book is a must-read in my mind. Read this with an open mind, a willingness to be challenged, and a desire to be a better neighbor to those living in different skins.

ELEVEN

We Came To Win

It’s a World Cup year, which merits a second futbol related entry on this list. Gimlet releases some of my favorite podcast series, and We Came To Win was no exception, digging deep into some of the most exciting World Cup storylines from the past few decades. From the US Women’s Team’s fight for equality to the political conundrum the Congolese team landed in during the 1970’s, to Diego Maradonna’s journey from hero to villain to redemption, this podcast reminded me of why I love soccer.

TEN

Kim’s Convenience

Kim’s Convenience probably belongs on this list with a couple of asterisks, since it didn’t really debut this year. It’s currently in its third season on the Canadian Broadcasting Company, but it only became easily accessible to US audiences this past summer when it landed on Netflix. It’s a simple but smart sitcom that features a Korean-Canadian family without having to overexplain and exploit every cultural element. Appa is goals.

NINE

America Is Not The Heart by Elaine Castillo

This was the first Filipino-American novel I’ve gotten to enjoy and it was a good one. The story follows a student-activist in the late 80’s who ran into odds with the Marcos regime, who relocates to the United States in order to start a new life. Elaine Castillo’s debut as a novelist was a strong one and I look forward to where she goes from here as a writer.

EIGHT

Crazy Rich Asians

It’s hard to say something about Crazy Rich Asians and its importance that hasn’t already been stated. The triumphant feeling it gave audiences. The justice it served its characters. The heart filled performances by the cast and everyone involved. At the end of the day, it’s a well-told story built around the different ways to see a scenario.

SEVEN

Won’t You Be My Neighbor

This was one of the most moving things I’ve seen all year. Never underestimate the power of gentleness. In an era of anger, Fred Rogers’ legacy seems to be striking an especially important chord. Morgan Neville’s documentary does an especially incredible job of showing us how simple but important his message of being a good neighbor really is. 

SIX

Anderson.Paak, Oxnard

It’s been a while since I’ve loved a hip hop album as much as Oxnard. Anderson.Paak is a really talented dude on a number of different levels, and his skills as a lyricist, rapper, and singer are all on display here. Plus I detect some traces of OutKast inspired sounds and that always makes me happy.

FIVE

Factfulness: Ten Reasons Why We’re Wrong About The World and Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling

I strongly believe that in spite of all the bad news you here, the world is overwhelmingly full of good things and ordinary people working hard to make life better for each other. In Factfulness, Hans Rosling literally dedicates his last days to proving this with data. (He literally wrapped this up on the ambulance ride to the hospital he would never leave.) It’s some of the most masterful storytelling I’ve seen done with data.

FOUR

The War and Treaty, Healing Tide

This album is all heart. Reading the liner notes informed me that this album was a cry for justice and healing and loving like there’s no tomorrow. As soon as the needle hits, all that is proved immediately true. Playing Love Like There’s No Tomorrow at full volume doesn’t get any less stirring after doing so for months on end like I’ve been doing.

THREE

Black Panther

I’m sure you know why Black Panther is on this list. High on this list. That film was a triumph. Culturally rich. Visually stunning. Well performed. And Kendrick. Kudos to Ryan Coogler and Co. for capturing the world’s imagination.

TWO

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

This book resonated with me on such a deep level. If you’ve ever found the passage of time to be a cruel thing, scary fast, or more sad than enjoyable, I think you’ll connect with this one too. And the plot is a fascinating one, featuring a secret society of folks who live a millennium and have to work as assasins to keep their identity a secret.

ONE

Ugly Delicious

David Chang certainly had himself a good year. He climbed to the top of the culinary world by one of the hardest working and most talented chefs, as well as a great storyteller. Anyone who knows how to use food as a medium to tell great stories naturally draws my liking. A couple standouts from his Netflix series were the pizza episode (where he calls out celeb chefs for thumbing their nose at Dominos, then at a Dominos delivery man for inauthentically claiming that their pizza was the best period) and the chicken episode (where he connects fried chicken to race, then switches up the context in Japan.)

OLDER LISTS

GIVING TUESDAY 2018

Giving Tuesday is becoming one of my favorite days of the year. Designing a campaign to help Plant With Purpose raise enough funds to help 250 families out of poverty has been a blast, and I look forward to rolling it out just after Thanksgiving.

Plant With Purpose’s program works really well at a family level. Every day, I get to hear stories of families who are eating an extra meal each day, moving out of mud homes and into secure structures, and putting their sons and daughters through school. These are families who have spent years thinking that sort of thing would always be out of their reach.

It costs about $122 for Plant With Purpose to start a partnership with a new family, but any amount given goes towards that. For Giving Tuesday, a generous donor has offered to match all donations up to $17,000- meaning that we’ll be able to help an incredible amount of people around the world.

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PROMO BLOG POST

Here’s what families hope for in Tanzania

35,958.

That is the amount of families currently working directly with Plant With Purpose across eight countries. As we seek to grow and expand, its important to look at what families experience on an individual level.

A typical family in Tanzania is a good representation of the hopes and worries of the rural, developing world that makes up 85% of global poverty. Tanzania has been affected by poverty and environmental issues quite severely, with much of its rural population being below the poverty line.