Work sucks when it’s harder than it has to be.
It’s even worse when we’re the ones making it harder.
As creatives, we resist structure. It’s confining. It’s corporate. It’s boring.
It will also blow up your career in the best way possible.
Just ask Dan Nelken, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.
Dan is a best selling author, has over 40,000 LinkedIn followers and has created courses, talks and workshops that have impacted nearly every corner of our industry.
If you told 5-years-ago Dan that he would be doing all of this right now, he’d probably laugh at you. But today Dan is doing what he’s doing because he did a whole bunch of research and learned these life-changing lessons:
🐱 Structure isn’t “cheating.” It’s freeing. It allows you to focus on the work vs. how you do the work
🐱 Structure provides confidence, giving you multiple starting points to fill up the dreaded blank page, fast
🐱 Structure is used by almost all top creatives, including Jason Bagley, who rose to ECD at a little shop called Wieden + Kennedy and now runs The Audacious School of Astonishing Pursuits helping other ad folks learn the magical power of process
During the show, we also dive into the need for better leadership and more professional development opportunities in advertising. We talk about the importance of having your own personal creative projects. And we explore some of Dan’s favorite headline techniques like The List & Twist, The Smile and The Mullet.
If you’re nice, I’ll share some pics of my own mullet from back in high school. It was pretty epic.
Dan’s pretty epic himself. Let’s take a listen.
You can follow Dan on LinkedIn. And check out his site, where you can learn about his courses, his speaking offerings and his amazing book—A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters. Which is really a self-help guide for people who like to think.
I like to think my site and my Substack newsletter are pretty nifty too. I’m on a mission to make work suck less and I’d love for you to join me. Want to make that desuckification happen ASAP? Let’s set up a free half hour strategy session.
If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider starting a booty short company called DesuckifyTwerk and creating a co-branding opportunity where we put our logo on one cheek and yours on the other.
Bye, everyone!
#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #executivecoaching #advertising #adagencies #copywriting #structureandcreativity #creativeprocess
To watch the video of the episode click here.
Episode 52: Embracing structure in creativity with Dan Nelken