5th Spear

So…

It’s been a while, and yes I feel like I say that constantly on here; because yes I’m flaky, and sometimes I don’t stick to a plan. Remind you of anybody?

It genuinely looks like my last post was around 13 months ago, which is sad and regret-able, but at the same time I’m not going to beat myself up about it. A lot has happened since then.

I got married to this lovely lady back in July and we…

Here’s a few tracks from albums I’ve been listening to this Spring so far… https://open.spotify.com/user/subgoeswoof/playlist/54PrqzkDc3mpOZGKytJoTA

Being an Independent Creative (4/4): It’s OK to Want a Break

Every so often we simply need a break. We need to take a step back and re-evaluate things. Sometimes this is a choice. We take ourselves on holiday and cut ourselves off from our everyday surroundings. Sometimes though this isn’t an option, we plummet downwards until eventually our brain subconsciously decides for us “STOP”, this is when too much is simply too much, and your body will take…

Being an Independent Creative (3/4): Self Motivation

So I’ve briefly mentioned the comparison between being an independent creative and an independently run cafe. One core comparison that I’d like to delve into is the self motivation needed in order to achieve both. If independently running a cafe is your means to live and support your livelihood then your creative independence should essentially be seen in the same light. Whatever you’re role,…

Being a Creative Independent (2/4): What it Means

I’d like to make an observational comparison. If you know me you know that most of my time is actually taken up by serving coffee/tea/food. It’s my day job and I enjoy it. It’s what keeps me afloat financially and I like to think I’m good at it. What this also means is that I like to visit other places that do the same thing, or rather I like to visit the people. This comparison is between…

Being an Independent Creative (1/4): It’s Tough

I’m not going to lie to you, it’s hard work. Being independent in any shape or form can be hard. it can be lonely. Even if you have people by your side in other aspects of your life being an independent creative can take it’s toll mentally and/or physically. It gets easier when you learn how to manage it and find what works for you, but even when you think you’ve got it nailed something around…

So I feel as if I’ve been relatively quiet recently. I’ve skipped a few weeks of posting about creativity (or rather forgotten/not done/been too busy/not been busy/procrastination is king), so I thought I’d write a little update on goings on; or rather what’s not going on. Reflecting on February I had a wonderful month away from a day job. This was the first time in around 10 years that I’d had…

Have faith yourself, recognise your achievements and succeed...

“Real success comes from those who have faith in themselves…” Faith is a very powerful thing. Having faith in yourself will encourage your own success. Having faith will also allow you to be more understanding of the speed of which you may become successful. By this I mean that success does not happen in a split second overnight. Overnight success comes and goes; like a one hit wonder in the pop…

Sometimes it's easy to make an excuse rather than a decision...

If you find yourself making excuses for not having achieved a goal, take the following into consideration… 1. The goal you set was unreasonable 2. You don’t care enough about the goal in order to achieve it If you you take statement 1, and have come to the terms that the goal you set was unreasonable, then all you need to do is simply rethink your goal. Take the goal and stretch the timeline to…

It's always best to just do something rather than sit around procrastinating...

You’ve probably seen this cliched and probably copy written term used over and over, but it’s core meaning could never be more true. In order to be successful we need to come terms with the fact that we need to mentally and/or physically do something in order to achieve the goals we have planned to be achieved, but often we can allow other things to get in the way of our own success. Personally I…

It's best not to set unreasonable goals if you hope to succeed...

“If we constantly increase our expectations we’ll never know when we’ve succeeded…” Success to each person can have different meanings. It’s important that when we first set out to be successful in our chosen field that we set a goal; otherwise we may not accept our own success. If we constantly increase our expectations we’ll never know when we’ve succeeded in achieving our goals, and to begin…

Week Four's thoughts on Creative Depression...

“Breaking through depression can be a very positive experience…” Depression covers many feelings that through my own experience I would never want anyone else to feel, but at the same time it’s these feelings that make us all human. Breaking through depression can be a very positive experience when taken on in the right manner, but you need to remember to ask for help. Depression is a very…

Week 3's thoughts on Creative Depression...

“Each time we create we create something beautiful…” At the end of the day, we are trying to dull a sense of failure. In order to do this, we have to understand what failure truly is. We also have to recognise that we are not failures in the common world. Each time we create we create something beautiful even though we may not see it through our own eyes; we have to learn to understand it in this…

I made a couple of playlists of Friends & Locals I've met through music...

Recently I’ve been feeling loved. It’s always wonderful to have supportive friends and family; something I’m extremely grateful for having. I’d like to share some music from musicians I’ve become acquainted with over the past couple of years. I haven’t intentionally left anyone off this playlist, if you’re not on there it may be that I couldn’t find your artist profile on Spotify or Soundcloud (I…

Week two's thoughts on Creative Depression...

“A sense of failure comes in all walks of life…” The people I most commonly meet on a day to day basis who suffer from depression are often creatives. Now this probably isn’t an original idea but something that crossed my mind significantly after multiple conversations, however there aren’t many people who aren’t creative in some shape or form. A sense of failure comes in all walks of life:…

This weeks playlist - Influenced by the time I first heard Nujabes

This week I discovered that it would have been the Birthday of Nujabes, and this month is the time of the year that he sadly passed away in a car crash. I discovered Nujabes at a young age having no idea of his influence on the worlds hip-hop scene; and indeed the scene of instrumental beat producers that I now admire. It wasn’t until I was introduced to J-Dilla in my early 20s (yes, it took that…

Some thoughts on Creative Depression...

“…a constant nagging sense of failure…” Creatives thrive on the need to create, and in order to create there has to be something to achieve that hasn’t already. The drive to create is a constant nagging sense of failure until you have achieved your goal, but once said goal is achieved, we constantly think of the next goal ahead; and until then the sense of failure kicks in again. A musician like…