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My first real job was when i was 16 at a local grocery store.  I applied, interviewed, landed the job and got the cool collared shirt uniform in ugly teal green and beige.  It was awesome and as far as i’m concerned i was the best bag boy and grocery cart fetcher in all of the state of Alabama.  My boss used to regularly yell at me from across the parking lot because i’d have some ridiculous amount of carts – like 32 of them – stacked up and rolling towards the door.  In-coming customers were backed up waiting for me to move my cart train out of their way so they could park their car.  I thought it was both hilarious and efficient. I think my boss thought so too, but i bet someone more important than him was telling him to keep me in line.

So eventually cart fetching and bagging got a little boring so during the slow times in the store i’d make my way back to the fruit and veggies section to hang with Fred the Fruit Guy.  Fred was the fruit manager and he drove a black Camaro that he parked in the very furthest parking spot to make sure no one touched his car.  He was there everyday cutting fruit trays, taking inventory, ordering more fruit, and mostly hanging out in a refrigerator in the back of the store far from the peering eyes of store managers.  So we hung out.  I’d eat all the watermelon i wanted, help him cut stuff up, help him restock, but mostly i’d just eat fruit.  It was the perfect way to pass the time on my shift.  Every few minutes or so i’d run outside and fetch all the carts. That was easy because i would just put all of them in one tremendously long train and take them all in at once.  My boss would yell at me, i’d laugh and show him how efficient i was being and he’d roll his eyes and go back inside.  Once the lot was clear i’d check the lines to make sure there weren’t customers in need of any grocery bagging and then i’d run to the back of the store for another handful of watermelon.  I learned a lot about being a fruit manager.  I’m pretty sure if Fred had decided to leave i could have easily taken over his job.  Not that his job was easy or that i’m brilliant, it’s just that i thought what he did was fun so i learned a lot about it rather quickly and as my interest grew, my performance cutting fruit and stocking fruit grew too.

So now that i’m a bit older and have had several jobs since then, i still think what i learned in the fruit fridge was a valuable lesson.  Enjoying what you do and finding your work to be fun eliminates the need for forcing employees to clock in and out or to be micromanaged.  They will crank out far more innovative, efficient, and productive work when given the freedom to find enjoyment in their work.  So love your work.  And for pete’s sake, if you’re the boss, let your people have some darn fun.

I think everybody hears great ideas from their friends and colleagues.  I don’t think it’s unusual that i seem to always find myself in a conversation about a new idea for a business or a great adventure.  I think maybe my ears are just a little more open to these ideas and i always listen and simultaneously process how we can make the idea  a reality.  There aren’t many things in this life that are as satisfying as seeing someone’s enormous idea or dream gain legs and skin and a heart and start running.  It’s a wonderful experience.  So when i hear new ideas i like to think we can make it happen.  Sure, sometimes it might cost some money, or we might need to get an introduction to some people who are more important than us.  But, i don’t see these barriers as barriers really, i see them as part of the fun.  Sometimes i think maybe people just need the hour or two that it takes to fully unload their idea onto me and then they feel better.  If that’s the case then i think that’s great.  Maybe part of the process of getting to the real dream is thinking up a lot of other ones and unloading them onto someone who will listen and be excited with you for that season.  I’ll listen happily and even offer a few of my thoughts.  And then, if you really want to go for it, i’ll gladly do what i can to help – if you want my help at all.  As someone who wakes up most days with a new idea, i can appreciate anyone who comes with an idea of their own or a vision or a dream that they want to accomplish.  It takes courage to unload a new idea onto others so take heart and let’s accomplish great things together.  I believe you can do whatever it is you want.  I actually really believe that.

I think curiosity is an amazing gift, especially in the age of Internet technology because many times you can satisfy that curiosity with a few clicks through Google.  It reminds me of whenever i’m at home in the States and my Dad always asks me questions about how to do stuff or whatever and i always just look at him and say, “Google it.”

Anyway, this isn’t a post about Google, it’s a post about curiosity.  I love being curious.  It’s healthy to have a list of topics that your curious about that have nothing to do with your current occupation, but are just fascinating.  It’s another way to keep learning, growing, and expanding.

What are you currently curious about?  Here’s a list of my current, yet constantly changing, curiosities:

• Out of Body Experiences & Near Death Experiences. I read a 24 page article the other day about this.  Fascinating stuff! Makes me much more curious about the intricacies of the human brain.
• Business jets.  China recently held a private aviation fair for businessmen to purchase private jets.  I was also recently looking at the amazing Boeing 747 Business Jet.  Crazy awesome.
• Interior Design.  My current home is not an example of this curiosity being lived out to its fullest potential, but i find myself very curious about the creativity and innovation that others have when it comes to interior design.
• Cities.  I’m so curious about what different cities around the globe are doing to encourage innovation, art, education, and business.  Today i was reading about community-wide art projects in Saõ Palo, Brazil

Stay curious, my friends.  It’s healthy.

I don’t attend very many conferences.  Like, maybe one a year.  But over the years i have been to a lot of conferences, especially before i moved to Beijing.  Perhaps i’d like to attend more because sometimes it’s fun to meet new people or see a lot of people in one place centered around one agenda.  But sometimes i hear speakers say things that make me want to punch conferences in the face.

I was at a conference about four months ago and heard one of those lines that made me want to throw my chair at the speaker.  Without further ado, here is my favorite line ever from a conference speaker:

It might seem like self-promotion to speak on a topic that i wrote a book on, but i’m okay with that because all the proceeds go to feed hungry children… MINE!

Here’s how it goes down: I bring Jeremy into a foreign country to shoot an idea i have for telling some of the remarkable stories of the people i get to work with.  We spend about 2 days shooting and shooting and shooting.  It seems the shooting will never end.  When it does end, Jeremy goes off to his hotel room and locks himself away for a day or three.  Then i get a text: “Get up here”, it says.  I drop whatever i’m doing and go to his room.  We huddle over his laptop and in his humble way he says, “This is just the rough cut, watch for things you want edited out.”  He hits play and within the first 30 seconds tears are filling my eyes and i know i’m watching another masterpiece.

I’ve been a part of that scenario multiple times with my dear friend, Jeremy Stanley.  He is one of the best filmmakers and photographers to work with.  His ultra-humble approach makes him fun to take anywhere in the world.  Last Summer we spent an entire month together in Asia sharing hotel rooms and working together all day everyday. When we finally parted ways at the airport in Washington D.C. it was truly a disappointment to see him go.

Not only is Jeremy humble, but his gift for making stories come to life in film and photography is outstanding.  If you read my blog regularly then you know i have a thing about doing everything with excellence.  Jeremy exudes excellence in everything he touches.  Sometimes it’s even to the point of driving me nuts because i just want the end product, but he wants to tweak one little color in that one second of footage that no one will ever notice but himself.

From Hollywood sets to Nashville music videos to the rural villages of Gansu, China, Jeremy’s done it all.  It’s an honor and privilege to work with him.

Jeremy just launched a new website (FINALLY) with his portfolio and blog.  I can’t wait for you to go to jeremstanley.tv and meet my friend.

I have some phenomenal friends whose level of talent and excellence continually blows me away.  I’m going to take a couple of blog posts to highlight a couple of these friends.

Today, i want to introduce you to my friends at GI.  GI stands for Grateful Inconvenience and their new blog at gi-brightidea.com is stunning.

These wonderful friends have finally developed a home for their full portfolio of projects that they’ve had the privilege of working on.  You’ll find everything there from the red carpets of Hollywood to the 3rd world villages of Africa and the beautiful cities of Asia.  Throughout the Print Photography and Portfolio pages you can find work that GI has helped me with in Asia.  I absolutely love their work and the professional, yet approachable attitude that they bring to every project.  It’s an honor and privilege for me to get to work with them.  I bring them to Asia every chance i get and i hope to do so for a long time.

Thanks, Nate, and the rest of your team.  You are good friends and brilliant creatives.

10 reasons to love living in the city:

• No car payment.
• No car insurance payment.
• Closer proximity to a diversity of people.
• A variety of restaurants to choose from.
• Entertainment at your fingertips. Watching television is no longer the only source of entertainment.
• People watching. There’s always an endless supply of interesting people to observe.
• Creative energy. You can always meet someone talking about a new idea.
• Public transportation. Not driving from place to place means you’re not trapped inside your metal cage and there’s more time for podcast listening, reading, emailing, and other fun things to do on the subway or in the back of a taxi.
• Fun photography. There’s always something to take a picture of.
• Ease of travel. Living in the city means you’re close to an international airport that quickly and easily links you with the rest of the world.

This isn’t a post about productivity or accomplishment, it’s about genius.  You can read any of the quadrillion blog posts on productivity if that’s your thing.  This is about that moment when you know you just had a brilliant idea to solve a problem that was buried deep in your brain.  I’m the furthest thing from being the authority on genius, but i do know what i need to do to trigger massive “AHA!” moments.  We all have problems to solve in life whether it’s something to do with a project at work or the complex decision making that goes into planning a date or a birthday party.  There’s always something to solve.  I achieve those brilliant, genius moments using one of two methods, or both when the problem seems insurmountable.

1. Go for a walk

Yes, go for a walk.  Go somewhere useful, don’t just walk around the block and expect the most creative solution ever known to man to pop into your head.  Go for a real walk, to do something.  I live in a city so i walk everywhere.  When it’s time to problem solve then it’s time to get a move on.  I walk to the grocery store, or to the cafe, or to the convenience store.  I get out and get moving.  And the trick is to not think about the problem.  Think about anything else other than the problem, or any other pressing problem in your work or personal life.  I like daydream so i daydream about the most random stuff.  I see an old lady coming up the escalator at the subway and suddenly i can paint her entire life story in my head.  Think about that kind of stuff.  Make up random scenarios based on your surroundings.  Where are all those people going? What jobs do they have? Why are they walking on the same sidewalk as you at the exact moment.  These are all random things i do to help trigger a daydream and get my mind off the problem at hand.  Your brain is smart enough to think of a solution to the problem while it’s running in the background.  Then, suddenly, the answer will come.  And you’ll know it’s the answer because your heart will race and you’ll start frantically searching for something to write on.  When that happens, go home or go to the nearest stopping point and write down the answer!  That’s important because trust me, you will forget.  You say, “i won’t forget!” And i’m telling you, you absolutely will forget.  Write down the answer.  (note: this whole blog post came to me while walking home from work. Genius? Well, you be the judge.)

2. Take a long hot shower

Over years i’ve had plenty of roommates complain about the long showers that i take.  Well, let it be known that i’m not some diva in there lathering up 6 times so i’m super clean.  On the contrary, i’m dreaming up solutions and allowing new ideas to take shape.  I read once that there’s scientific proof that the drops of water hitting the top of the head create brain activity that produces fresh insights.  Several years ago i used speak on occasion to groups of people for various reasons.  It was fun and something i enjoyed.  Several days before i had to speak i would go to Starbucks to plan out what i was going to say.  I’d sit for hours and hours and hours listening to music and doodling in my notepad.  Then, frustrated, i would go home and take a nice long hot shower.  During those 20 minutes in the shower the entire talk would come to me so all i had to do was jump out, dry off, and write it all down.  It was fantastic.

So, moments of genius often come at the most inopportune times like when you’re walking down a busy sidewalk or in the middle of a shower.  Don’t neglect these fabulous opportunities to let your mind wonder into a creative world of daydreams and make believe.  It’s in these places that brilliance strikes.

*Disclaimer: I make no assumptions that my ideas are always genius or that my talks after my showers were brilliant.  I’m just saying that in those moments a difficult problem on my plate was solved with a creative and exciting solution.  Okay, you’re right, i shouldn’t be so humble; i’m a genius. 

Living in a major urban center has plenty of ups and downs.  I’ve heard all the arguments you can imagine against living in a city.  I saw a tweet from a friend the other day that said he loved watching the snow fall, but would rather watch it fall on trees than on buildings.  He was subtly hinting at his desire to live more rural than urban.  There isn’t overcrowding in a rural area, there isn’t rush hour traffic, you won’t get ripped off by your taxi driver, and you won’t have to walk very much.  However, in a rural area you won’t have a large selection of concerts to attend, diverse restaurants to eat at, a never-ending flow of interesting and creative people to meet, nor will you have the energy and motion that comes with living at the core of a major urban center.

In Beijing, i can eat noodles at a street market for lunch and attend a world-class symphony at night.  I can see a blockbuster film at an IMAX theater and then go home to my house in the hutongs in the old city center.  I can meet business leaders, entrepreneurs, creative professionals, and brilliant professors at top ranked universities any day of the week.  There is such a diversity of options when living in a big city.  You don’t have to be a certain stereotype, you don’t have to fit in, and you don’t have to do the same thing day in and day out.  You can mix things up, meet new people, eat at all new restaurants, or stay at home for a quiet night.  But with everything that comes your way in a city, there’s even more to be had and there’s more to enjoy.  Cities are wonderful places, full of excitement and opportunity and creative energy.

Stay tuned for more of my thoughts on being a city dweller.

I love living in a city.  I know not everyone shares my same sentiment with the concrete jungle that we call a city, but i love it.  I love the energy, the tall buildings, the constant flow of creativity and newness, and the never-ending fun of exploring and learning new things with a mass of humanity.

I’m currently compiling a blog post or maybe a series of blog posts with information about what i love about the city and why i choose the city over rural and how i think that’s a healthy decision.

For now, i just wanted to write a quick teaser to that idea.  As i compile these thoughts and gain more and more excitement for the city i just wanted you to know where i’m going and what i’m thinking.

Tomorrow morning i have a meeting with a small group of people also living in this city.  Our hope is to discuss what it means to live in the city in a meaningful way.  I hope we talk about what it may look like to add value to the city and not just take take take.  If we’re not living intentionally among our neighbors, friends, and coworkers to make the city a better place then we are wasting the gift of being a city dweller.

I hope to give more insight on these thoughts later.