The Beauty of Doing What You Can With What You Have

Some five hundred years ago, a 26 year old sculptor was given the task of turning a leftover slab of marble into a work of art. Other artists had tried to give life to the stone and had failed, but the young artist took on the contract, determined to shape the marble that others had discarded.

Early in the morning on September 13, 1501, the artist began to work in order to extract his vision from the piece of stone. He carved and carved until he set his dream free.

Later, artist Giorgio Vasari would describe the process as, “bringing back to life of one who was dead.”

In June 1504, the statue, a depiction of the Biblical character David of epic proportions, was installed at the entrance of the city’s town hall. The name of the artist? Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known best as Michelangelo.

This story serves as a reminder that we are often wrong in assuming that in order to become successful we need access to resources.

It is quite the contrary. It is not the resources at our disposal that determine our success, but rather our resourcefulness, our ability to be creative in spite of certain limitations and setbacks.

Continue reading

Eight Undeniable Truths That Are Going to Change Your Life

The truth does not change based on your ability to accept it.

I do my best to live life in a way that I am aware of what I do, while also trying not to chase things that are outside of my control.

Here are some of those truths that help me stay in control of my life.

Continue reading

Free Tutorial, Podcast, and Video Guide: Branding Your Blog

A 25-page free tutorial, a video guide, a podcast. Everything you need to build a fantastic brand for your blog. You know, so you can attract a lot more readers.

Do check it out.

The Art of Blogging

There’s a story about Michelangelo working on the Sistine Chapel that’s fascinated me for years.

One day, a friend of the Italian artist was watching him meticulously work on a small, hidden corner of the chapel’s ceiling.

Surprised by Michelangelo’s persistence to make that obscure corner as perfect as possible, this friend asked the artist who would ever know whether it was perfect or not.

View original post 1,213 more words

You’re Not Supposed to Love What You Do

Photo by lasse bergqvist on Unsplash

You are supposed to be so good they can’t ignore you

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me how lucky I was to be doing what I love…

Look, do what you love, love what you do, follow your passion, all of it is terrible advice. It just is.

We often struggle to figure out if we truly love doing something or we just love the idea of it or the rewards we imagine.

And that’s why it gets tricky.

Continue reading

Whether You Can or Can’t, You Can Always Try

Photo by Moritz Mentges on Unsplash

Do or do not, there is no try.

Yoda

This is one of those clever quotes that get passed around quite often.

When it’s do or die, most people tend to do.

But what if it’s not? What if you won’t die if you don’t write the blog post if you don’t send the e-mail?

Continue reading

Are You Addicted to Self-Help?

Photo by bongkarn thanyakij on Pexels.com

The obvious issue with self-help is this: its ultimate goal is to reach a point where you no longer need it.

Think about it: The whole goal of personal growth is to build yourself to be the person you’ve always wanted. The whole point of pursuing happiness is to reach a point where happiness no longer has to be pursued.

Continue reading

When It Hurts So Much You Can’t Even Turn It Into Words

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

I only ever experienced real writer’s block once in my life.

March 2014 was the worst month of my life. My grandfather died, my girlfriend broke up with me, my father decided to never speak with me again, and I had to struggle with quite a few serious health issues.

Not the end of the world, but the closest thing to my world ending I had ever experienced until then.

When it comes to writing, my mantra is, “Punch the damn keys.” I once wrote that, “if done right, tears turn into gold.”

Continue reading

Introducing: raconteur

This is crazy, in more ways than one.

I started this blog in April 2012 because I wanted people to read my fiction. I wanted to write books, sell books, and then make movies from those books.

That was the goal, and that was my plan ever since I wrote my first story fifteen years ago. Or was it sixteen years?

No matter.

And, even though I never shared this, any project I ever embark on is flavored by a bit of regret. I could spend the time, the money, and the energy writing stories, working on my novels, and so on and so forth.

I do not want to regret not sharing my stories with the world anymore.

That’s why I am launching raconteur.

It’s simple. A story every week. Just like Ray Bradbury used to do.

One story every single week, no matter what.

This is the first story:

Click here to read

You can also find the stories (and a bit of extra stuff, such as eBooks, exclusive behind the scenes, and an opportunity to spend some money and support me) both on patreon and on substack.

For as low as $4 a month you get access to every story I publish, and get to download every novel I ever published.

That’s about it.

I’ve got a few stories to write.

Cheers,

Cristian

This Is What Karma Is All About

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

C.G. Jung

Here’s a fun experiment for you to try: write down every single thing you do during an average day. In half-hour increments. But be honest with yourself. Can’t write down: “from 9 AM to 5 PM — work.”

Be brutally honest.

Continue reading

On Being Kind to Those Who Least Deserve It

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Destiny is not what happens to you, but how you react to what happens to you.

There’s this story about Winston Churchill who, after the Japanese bombed Hong Kong and Singapore, forcing Great Britain to declare war, he signed off with the following words, “I have the honour to be, with high consideration, Sir, Your obedient servant.”

Continue reading

A Speck of Dust in a Seemingly Infinite Universe

This is us. All of us.

On the 14th of February 1990, just as the Voyager 1 probe was leaving the Solar System, some 3.7 billion miles away from Earth, Carl Sagan asked NASA to turn it around to snap a photograph of our home.

The resulting photograph showed the Earth as a pale blue dot, less than a pixel in size. A speck of dust in a seemingly infinite universe.

Continue reading

How to Let Go of Limiting Beliefs

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

For most of my twenties, there were so many things I didn’t want to be true about myself, yet I somehow thought them to be facts.

I believed I was quite unlovable, which was my excuse for not trying to be worthy of love in any way. I believed I’d always struggle financially, so I made no serious effort to earn more, to save more, or to build multiple streams of income.

I believed that life was harsh, that people didn’t like me for being skinny, kind of ugly, and not nearly as charming as everyone else, so I lived in a state of perpetual fear — I somehow expected the world to decide that I wasn’t worthy of living on this planet anymore and send me off to spend the rest of my life on the dark side of the moon or something.

Continue reading