Category: Email Archive

Defending the dread of distant retirement

September 17th, 2023

Yesterday, I was mean to Gen Z.

Let me make it up to them real quick.

A recent trend has involved poking fun at Zoomers. Some of them are freaking out and having crises from entering the workplace.

They’re six months into a crushing office job and seeing another 50 years of this ahead of them.

The typical reaction is to point and laugh. Look at the lazy, delusional young people!

I can’t join in on that. After all, the Zoomers are right to worry. I’m 36, so I’ve been in the workforce for a while. Even so, I have vivid memories of doing the same thing as the Zoomers. My first year in the office was tedious, stressful, demoralising and exhausting. And that was just one year – the first of many.

I couldn’t see a way out either – just an endless expanse of monotony from them until when I was old and grey. The only difference is I wasn’t dumb enough to blab about it on social media.

Now, yeah, I mock anyone who’s lazy or thinking they’re entitled to a life free of work. Griping about having to work at all is childish and weak. Griping over spending half a century of drudgery isn’t great, exactly, but it’s a more reasonable concern. Mocking them for it isn’t great.

If you’re a Zoomer, I have good news: things get better.

Part of that is just getting used to the work environment. Only part of it, though. It’s not like you’re going completely numb to the horror and pasting an ignorant smile on your face here. That only partly why it gets better.

Because a real game changer is the nature of your work improves over time. As you gather experience, you do less mindless drudgery and more interesting tasks.

You also get a feel for what you enjoy. If you’re capable, you can pursue more of that.

Another way it gets easier?

The more experienced you become, the more options open up. I know the dream of many young folks is to work for themselves, designed around an ideal lifestyle. That’s possible. It’s even more possible with a few years under your belt, especially if you learn well and focus on what you want.

With experience, you can move into jobs and even industries that aren’t open to newcomers.

There are better jobs out there than yours – especially if you make it yourself.

Of course, all of this is easier with coaching.

Whether you want to outgrow the tedious tasks, start your own business or find new options, coaching can clarify your vision, unlock your resources and overcome your internal resistance.

That last point, more than anything, will help.

So if you want to escape the soul-sucking horror of the workplace then, no matter your age, you should look into coaching:

Note: this offer is only available to email subscribers.
Gen Z: emotional intelligence or emotional cowardice?

September 16th, 2023

I follow a gaming blog run by Zoomers.

(Yes, young folks still write blogs. The written word isn’t dead yet.)

I got into this blog because they have quirky takes on things. You know me – I like quirky.

Still, it’s cringe AF to read – no cap, fr fr.

No, okay, they don’t pepper it with new slang like that. And only some of the writers have short attention spans, burping up a couple of short paragraphs and calling that a post, or going on wild, irrelevant tangents out of nowhere.

My issue is with the endless emotional handholding.

There’s a series talking about a violent video game. It has violence in the title. Is adding a trigger warning for violence at the start of the series politeness? Maybe, but I sure wouldn’t. You’re an adult on the internet – a detailed exploration of Blooddeath 2: The Disembowelment will likely contain talk of violence. You should know that through your own reasoning.

But, okay, maybe a quick note at the start of the series is good manners these days.

Starting every entry in the series with a trigger warning, though…?

At least that’s just an easily skippable paragraph. It gets rough when the social commentary shows up in the article. The game alludes to slavery, so of course we need to spend seven paragraphs talking about how slavery is wrong and how it hurt people in subtle ways and how we need to balance explorations of the topic in fiction with nuance, respect and realism.

Oh, okay, your take is slavery is bad, got it.

Honestly, it must be exhausting to traumatise yourself over and over like this. Every little thing needs to be extracted from its context and analysed for its real-world problematic microaggressions.

Urgh, spare me.

If you feel the need to explore this – and I do say if – then a simple paragraph once in the series will do:

“This game depicts some dark practices from our own history. Many characters in the game see these things as good or at least normal. This can be challenging to a modern audience – but the fact it’s challenging is promising because it means we don’t still believe this. Now, back to the video game…”

That one paragraph covers every –ism, every –phobia and every historical practice we’ve long-since banished.

Done. We’ve paid due respect to those who’ve suffered, given we’re talking about a piece of escapist fiction. Can we move on?

Hmm?

Oh, we can’t move on? Because since the trauma still persists in modern generations, we need to point out how traumatic it is every time – just so no one is confused how miserable they should feel?

The question in the subject line was a leading one. This isn’t emotional intelligence, sensitivity or respect – it’s emotional cowardice. It’s people pretending to face ongoing issues, but doing this isn’t facing anything. It’s a refusal to grapple with it.

“I acknowledge and respect your pain.” That’s better than disrespecting it, but less useful than helping folks heal from it. Wallowing in it isn’t healing. Exploring the pain is useful, but only when you return to normalcy on the regular.

You don’t ignore a wound, but you don’t pick at it either. You clean it, bandage it and then get back to your life as best you can.

I say all this to deter – nay, piss off – a certain sort of person.

If you enjoy wallowing in pain – yours or others’ – while playing the victim Olympics, then my coaching won’t help you.

I assume you have a goal, you have at least some drive but you’re stuck. We’ve all been there. In fact, the more ambitious you are, the more you come against your own limits.

If that describes you, then you’ll get a lot out of my coaching program – whether you’re a Zoomer or not. In fact, one of my coaches is from Gen Z, so you can’t accuse me of ageism here. Besides, it’s not as if plenty of people across the generations haven’t loved to make excuses and retreat from their dreams.

If all this sickens you, then you might find coaching useful.

In that case, here’s how you sign up:

Note: this offer is only available to email subscribers.
Is therapy addictive?

September 15th, 2023

A few content creators I follow have talked about therapy recently.

They weren’t exactly flattering. They described it as a flawed undertaking where the therapist – knowingly or by accident – makes the client feel both empowered and a victim.

How do you do both at once? Easier than you might think. “Your friends and family are narcissists, throttling your growth because they’re too intimidated by your potential!”

It’s an addictive cocktail. There’s the rush of feeling so proud and powerful, followed by a need for more therapy after you blow up every relationship in your life.

Other therapists (they say) move glacially, spending months to maybe resolve a simple issue.

Are these criticisms right?

I don’t know. Honestly, I’ve only done therapy a few times and, yeah, I was less than impressed. That’s probably not everyone’s experience – I’m sure thousands of folks found therapy life-changing.

So I can’t really comment on therapy as an entire industry.

Except that, even from the outside, it’s easy to spot a wonky business model.

Why do therapists move so slowly? Why do they try to get you dependent on them? When you charge by the hour, there’s a real incentive there. Even if a therapist has pure intentions, they should want a business model that aligns with those intentions.

Therapy doesn’t.

Now, I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t see a therapist. I’m not qualified to offer any advice like that.

All I can say is my coaching programs work differently.

Each program lasts for four weeks. You come to me with a specific challenge you want to overcome, then we work together to resolve it.

The incentive to me is to overdeliver. I want you to walk away happy and changed. If I decide your issue needs six weeks to resolve it rather than four, then you’ve already paid for the program so I’m paying for those extra weeks out of my time.

That probably won’t happen. I like speed. I want to smash your problems to pieces and build you armour out of them. Then you can go until you come back with a new problem for us to conquer.

(That last step only happens after I do well with the first challenge.)

My coaching programs live and die based on their results. I can’t keep you on the hook for months, years, even decades in some cases. I don’t want to – that would drive me mad from boredom.

If you’re doing fine but want to crush it, then you need a performance coach.

And if you want to crush it fast, then you need a coach who craves speed.

Register for my lightning coaching here:

Note: this offer is only available to email subscribers.
Learn creativity with Every Creative Way

September 14th, 2023

You’re already creative.

And you can learn to be even more creative.

Both of those things are true, defying a lot of the limitations folks place on themselves. It’s a skill, which means you can learn it.

And there are many ways to do it, so you can bring your own style.

But forget all that and focus on these points:

You can learn to come up with more original ideas.

You can learn to make things that are more popular.

And – and this is key – you can learn to get things done, taking your ideas out of your head and sending them out into the world.

That hobby, passion or dream of yours? The one you long to do but struggle to begin?

Well, you can begin sooner than you think.

Those problems you face at work and at home?

There’s probably just a few good ideas that’ll fix those right up.

That’s why I wrote Every Creative Way – because learning how to be more creative will help you live a richer life.

And that’s why I reckon you’d get a lot from reading it.

Feel free to prove me wrong:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw
My favourite creative thinking style

September 14th, 2023

Out of the six styles of creative thinking I cover in Every Creative Way, one is my clear favourite.

It’s not the one I do the most. No, the one that comes easiest to me is my second favourite.

My favourite puts you among the absolute gods of creative thinking. I’m talking Disney, Jobs and Musk here. These folks don’t merely innovate – they break the world and then do something fun with the pieces.

Disney changed cinema forever.

Jobs did the same with personal electronics, computers and cinema too.

As for Musk? Well, his part in the story isn’t over yet. Even so, he’s changed everything from online shopping to space travel.

You might not like these men. You wouldn’t be alone – all three tend to best be admired from afar, unless you have an intense work ethic and a strong ego. They could/can be a bit rough to work with.

Now, it doesn’t hurt that they’re all geniuses. Again, love them or leave them, but you’d have to admit that repeated success in impossible industries means they have something going on between their ears.

That means that, even if you adopt the same style of creativity as them, you probably won’t achieve the same results.

Is that a problem, though?

Or is getting just a hint of this radical and potent style enough to shake everything up for you?

Talk about a leading question, huh?

Anyway, that’s why it’s my favourite. A little bit of this can lead to spectacular results.

Even better?

You can learn how you already use this style… and how to cultivate more of it.

It probably won’t turn you into an industry-defining titan.

But it might just show you what you’re truly capable of.

Find it – and the five other creative thinking styles – in Every Creative Way:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw
Alternatives to the starving martyr artist

September 13th, 2023

It’s ironic, really.

The more an artist demands originality from others, the more likely they are to be a living cliché.

Starving – and proud of it – as they pour themselves into their work with little return.

Or if they’re a successful auteur, they wallow in their suffering. They hype up their anxiety, depression, addictions and eccentricity, believing this makes them better artists.

Maybe they’re right.

But I wouldn’t want anyone I care about to choose that path.

It’s possible to create meaningful and fulfilling things – from books to recipes to paintings to courses to workplace procedures – that require a creative spark, without it extinguishing your health and happiness.

In fact, five out of the six styles in Every Creative Way use their creativity without it consuming them.

As for the sixth?

They can learn to channel their pain and torment into something beautiful, true or useful… but in a healthier way. Sure, you might lose some of the prestige that comes from saying you bawled and screamed from start to finish – that it took years off your life to make this – but, hey, you’ll just have to live with that.

And live you likely will.

Either way, you can create more, be more original, influence more and enjoy the process more by reading and following along with Every Creative Way:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw
How to (legally and ethically) take credit for other folks’ ideas

September 13th, 2023

I’m a solo operator. I like to do my own thing on my own terms.

It’s great – very freeing.

Right up until I want to create something with mass market appeal. So far, that hasn’t happened yet. I’m happy being my own little weirdo in my own special niche.

But then again, no one has entrusted me with millions of dollars while expecting a healthy return on that.

If I needed to, I’d tap into my inner Gardener. It’s one of the creativity styles I talk about in Every Creative Way.

It’s great for finding what will work with a larger audience.

Obviously, there are no guarantees.

And taking this too far can actually harm the final product – but that’s true of all the styles. As in many things, balance is useful.

Still, a clever Gardener can take an idea from unusable to a major hit.

Even better?

Part of this approach involves legally and ethically taking the ideas of others and weaving them into the project. They won’t be mad. In fact, they’re more likely to thank you at the end of it.

This won’t work with every person and every idea. If you’re expecting, say, to take credit for The Lord of the Rings, then you’re delusional.

But you’d be amazed how many great ideas there are out there, ripe for the harvesting.

Interested in learning more?

Then pick up a copy of Every Creative Way at this link:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw
The productivity secrets of scatterbrains

September 12th, 2023

Writing a novel or painting a landscape requires discipline. Or at least resilience.

These are long-term projects, requiring daily work for years.

Sometimes, that is. I’ve written the equivalent of a novel – hundreds of thousands of words on the one topic – in less time and with less effort.

That wasn’t hard for me. I didn’t even realise I’d written so much until I checked my stats out of curiosity.

Now, I could write a novel. I’ve written plenty of books before – non-fiction, sure, and all the length of novellas. Stick a few of those together and you get a novel’s worth.

Or take all the emails and sales letters I’ve written. So far, in a little over two months, I’ve published about 50,000 words on antipater.page. I wrote every one – zero outsourcing, zero AI, zero borrowing from the public domain. And that doesn’t include the products I’ve published through the site – those are just the words on the publicly accessible pages.

My point is that I create a lot. Creation is like breathing for me.

Which is weird, given how unproductive my brain would be if I let it.

I’m a scatterbrain. Even before global social media addiction made it normal, I like to multiscreen my way through life. I sometimes like to unwind with a video game on one monitor, a TV show on another and my phone nearby.

My desktop is full of projects I started and then abandoned.

What can I say? I grow bored easily, especially with creative projects.

So how have I been able to write so much – easily publishing hundreds of words a day, every day?

Part of it is from leaning into my strengths. Being so scattered can be a superpower. I can get an idea, whip up a draft while the enthusiasm burns hot and be ready for my next project with lightning speed.

Emails are perfect for this – nice and short. But I can do it with longer projects too.

Another part of it is offsetting my weaknesses. Sure, I might struggle to focus on boring tasks for long but – and my fellow scatterbrains can relate – it’s easy to focus for hours on something fun, like a great video game or TV show.

Or just a hike through nature.

That comes from offsetting our weaknesses – compensating for areas of underdevelopment.

Well, one of the creative styles in Every Creative Way is called the Gymnast. They’re fast, agile and flexible – and the style that comes most habitually to me.

That’s how I know how to play to its strengths and grow its weaknesses.

And that’s how I’m able to be so prolific because of – not in spite of – being so easily distracted.

You can learn this too.

And how to leverage the strengths and offset the weaknesses, easier than you think, with your own creative styles.

But only if you read and follow the lessons in Every Creative Way.

Buy it here:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw
Why folks are just so proud of “their” AI “art”

September 12th, 2023

Folks are complaining that online spaces for artists – image galleries, forums and the like – are filling up with AI-generated imagery.

A lot of it is bad. Whenever it’s good, that’s more down to the algorithm than the person using the program.

“Hey, I had to get good with prompt design!”

You can learn good prompt design from an expert in five minutes. You can’t learn digital art from an expert in five days. That’s because one is an art form and the other isn’t.

I’m not saying these AI images not creative. But it’s not the end user who’s expressing themselves. No, that’s down to the training images and the algorithm itself. Typing someone’s name into DuckDuckGo doesn’t make you a private investigator.

Even so, plenty of folks are proud of “their” AI creations.

Some even charge for them, which is like paying me to do your DuckDuckGo searches for you. You could just cut out the middleman there.

But why?

Why would anyone be proud of something they commissioned, in a sense, rather than created?

(Nuance check: obviously I’m not talking about artists who take an AI image, and then spent hours and talent making it better. That’s different.)

Well, in yesterday’s email, I talked about having a creative urge but not having a creative outlet.

I talked about how obsessed I became years ago with ambigrams – the first artistic thing where I wasn’t terrible at it. It felt so intoxicating being able to express my creativity, bringing into the world something that only existed in my head before.

Now, sure, plenty of folks are just using AI to mass produce manure and sell it for a quick buck.

But not everyone in this space is making a profit from it – or even trying to break even.

Some do it because of the likes and the kudos and the raw electric thrill of sharing something of yours in the world.

If you have a creative urge but no real outlet for it, then I can see how AI might appeal.

I just hope you’re okay with everyone laughing at you.

Because everyone with a brain and working eyes can see your art is fake. They can tell you pushed a button and didn’t even clean it up in GIMP afterwards. Seeing you pass this off as some modest achievement, worthy of admiration, is pathetic.

The only folks liking and commenting on “your” “art” are pathetic losers. You’re not even king of a dung heap – because there are better AI users than you, you’re more like a duke.

Well done. I hope it was worth it.

Maybe, instead, you should learn how to express your creativity.

See, you don’t have to write well to be a writer. If you write consistently and in an unique style – even a bad style – then you’ll find your audience in time. You don’t have to draw well to be an artist. The most popular webcomics of all time are rarely famous for the beautiful imagery.

xkcd is an obvious example, although folks underestimate the talent needed to convey emotion and personality through only stick figures. Another great example is Basic Instructions – the author took photos of himself and his friends, traced over them and uses the traces as stock imagery for his webcomic.

You don’t need talent.

You need to get to work.

“But how…?”

Some styles of creativity are unstoppable. They’re dynamos, capable of hustling hard and sticking with a project until it’s done.

You have this style inside of you.

You just need to cultivate it.

How?

By reading and doing the simple exercises in Every Creative Way, available here:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw
How to create, not just daydream

September 11th, 2023

I’ve had a creative urge for as long as I can remember.

A creative ability, though…?

I remember first discovering ambigrams – words that have rotational symmetry (they look the same when you flip the page upside-down), popularised in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. I became obsessed with creating them, mostly because they were quick enough and simple enough for me to make them without getting bored, but complex enough for it to be impressive.

No, I don’t have any samples to share with you. This was a while ago. They were probably terrible anyway.

But I made dozens of these things because, finally, my raw, raging creativity had an outlet.

My point?

I know what it’s like to have the urge to be creative but without any way to express it.

It should be obvious that’s no longer the case. This email is a creative expression – an artistic link between a story I have and a goal, shared through the art of written text.

And emails are just one thing out of many that I create.

My goal is to convince you that it’s possible to learn how to be creative in a productive way. If you’re satisfied with only daydreaming rich, vivid characters, stories, business ideas, marketing plans, video series and movies, then that’s fine. That’s barely creative though. The real art lies in the intersection between your vision and practical reality.

If you’d like to get whatever’s in your head out into the world so you can share it – or even just admire it in private – then there’s good news.

Every Creative Way outlines a few different approaches to creative thinking.

Some are dramatic and intensely original.

Others are more likely to be popular with a wide audience than others.

And some are simply good at getting the job done.

If you’re good at daydreaming but you struggle to create, then you probably need more of the latter.

Good news! You can learn these styles with a few simple exercises that I outline in Every Creative Way:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw