The Graffiti Machine

The law of rhythm reveals that life's cycles—whether good or bad—are part of a natural, repeating flow. With this perspective, we can find comfort in the lows, knowing they'll rise, and prepare in the highs, knowing they'll shift. It's a tool for staying steady, patient, and focused through every phase.

Think it was easier when you were younger? Yeah, maybe. But here's the shift: it's never going to be easier than it is right now. Whether you're 20, 51, or somewhere in between, today is your best shot to make a move. In this episode, I dig into a perspective that hit me recently and has kept me motivated—whatever it is you're aiming for, don't wait around. Start building those habits, set the fou...

I've been thinking about big goals. They often take a long time and you can work day in and day out, but it takes time to see results. It can be discouraging. Say you want to lose 20 lbs, you may not start seeing results for weeks.   One way to stay on track is to make the work the goal. Deep down, we usually know what we need to do to get there. Instead of focusing on the end goal, it might be he...

It can easy to get overwhelmed with the details of a situation and find ourselves a bit stuck. Sometimes we have a very narrow view when focusing on specifics that we fail to see the big picture. One of the lessons I've learned from Jocko Willink is to take a minute to detach from the details and take a wider view. This will often reveal things that you weren't seeing and help you find a way forwa...

Jocko Willink has this thing where he says "good" when presented with any issue. It's about finding the good in every situation. It can seem nearly impossible at times, especially when the situation is really bad. However, it's often possible to find some kind of positive outcome in most things. At the very least, you can find growth in adversity. I find that when I'm extra stressed out, taking a...

It may sound negative to think about things being temporary, but I find it makes me appreciate things much more. If our pets, loved ones, belongings, our lives were not temporary, it would be easy to be complacent. Let's get the most out of the time we have.   You can also check out this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/O5LC97BZNwU

In the age of social media and endless highlight reels we have access to, it's easy to think, "I wish I had that" or "I wish I could do that," etc. From a lecture by Jim Rohn, he asked a very powerful question, "Why not you?"   Think about it. Why can't you have those things? Why can't you do those things? If someone else was able to achieve it, you might be able to as well. You have the capacity...

This episode dives into the concept of doing the work for its own sake, drawing inspiration from Steven Pressfield's The War of Art . It emphasizes the importance of showing up every day and committing fully to the task at hand, regardless of the outcome. Whether it's sweeping floors, building a business, or pursuing personal growth, the focus is on consistent effort and mindfulness. By detaching...

I got the guy's name wrong in the video, it's Jim Rohn. I saw a clip of his video that talked about resolve defined as keeping the promise to yourself to never quit. It got me thinking about a bunch of different things along these lines.

Running a graffiti supply business, I frequently get asked for free products in exchange for exposure. The problem? 99.9% of the time, the person asking hasn't put in the work to make the exchange mutually beneficial. They haven't built a following substantial enough to make a real impact.   The lesson here is clear: opportunities like this exist, but they require effort before the deal makes sens...

If hearing about other people's wins makes us feel bad about our own position, it could be a sign of a scarcity mindset. There seems to be something in us that, when we see others winning, we feel like it may take away from us.   This mindset may be a remnant from early human days when resources were harder to come by. Nowadays, there's enough to go around, and someone else's win doesn't mean we'r...

Most have probably seen that illustration of the guy walking away from digging, with diamonds just inches away. He gave up just before hitting it big. The idea of pushing forward versus quitting can be complicated. "Never give up" is not a be-all-end-all.   There could easily be another version of this illustration showing miles of rock with no diamonds at all. He could dig for the rest of his lif...

Sometimes, it may feel like the way we feel at any given time defines who we are. Statements like "I'm an anxious person" or "I'm a stressed-out guy" do not capture our whole reality. Instead of thinking of ourselves as these things, we should realize that they are just moments. We are not inherently anxious or stressed-out people; we experience anxiety and stress, as well as other low-frequency s...

Sometimes it takes just one more effort for everything to change. Many people have experienced struggles, only to have one moment, meeting, phone call, or social media post transform their lives. With this in mind, the more attempts you make, the greater your chances for success. It might be the thousandth try that succeeds, but it took the 999 failures or misses to get there. These episodes along...

I've been super stressed out over the last month or so. Business is weird and there are a great deal more complexities than I'm used to. This started to lead to a bit of paralysis on my part. I was working all day, but not really getting much done.   There are certain things I've known I need to be doing, but haven't been doing them due to overthinking. Today, I just started taking aggressive acti...

I've been thinking about how our thought patterns can become addicting. Just like a thermostat keeps your house at a set temperature, your brain can maintain a baseline of negative thoughts if that's what it's used to. Can we reprogram our brains for positive thinking? I believe so. Negative thoughts release chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol, which can be addicting. So why not create the habi...

An interesting section of the book How to Win Friends and Influence People discusses the value of being comfortable with the possibility of being wrong. Even if you 'know' you're right, starting a sentence with "I may be wrong, but this is how I see it" seems to be a much better way to have a conversation.   I put 'know' in quotes because even if you feel very strongly about being right, it's hard...

I'm going to start doing interviews with graffiti writers and have a question for you. Would you like to see/hear this kind of content on this show, or would you prefer it just stays the way it is? Right now, what I'm thinking is, I'll start releasing two episodes per week. One personal development style like we've been doing, and one graffiti interview style episode.   Would love your feedback. F...

There's a part of your brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). It acts as a sort of filter. If you think about something a lot, the RAS will show you more of it. For example, if you want to buy a certain car, you might start seeing that car everywhere.   If you regularly think negative thoughts, your RAS may reveal more negativity that you might not have noticed otherwise. On the other...

It's easy to put so much pressure on ourselves when trying to get something perfect. Sometimes the desire to get something exactly right can lead to not finishing at all. Sometimes striving for finished is better than striving for perfection. Don't half-ass it, but get it done.

If we want things to get better, whether that is in our community, family, or even the world, it starts with improving ourselves. It may not seem like making ourselves better will help anything, but you never know who's watching.   No matter who you are, it's likely that you improving yourself will influence another to do the same. That person improving can influence others. Who knows what kind of...

How to you treat the mundane tasks in your life? It's often easy to half-ass the basic tasks that seem meaningless, but how does that look to those around you? How does it look to your own subconscious?   There are lots of phrases that talk about this kind of thing. How you do one thing is how you do everything comes to mind. If we half-ass one thing because we think it isn't important, we're prob...

Something I've been trying to change about my mindset is when I hear about someone else's success when it's greater than what I've accomplished, I often allow that to make me feel bad about my own success. On the flip side, when I hear about someone failing, I often feel better about my situation.   Both of these feel wrong and unproductive. If I'm not happy to see other people winning, am I progr...

On my way to the shop yesterday, I was thinking about the 'good old days'. It was sparked when I did a style of graffiti that I hadn't done in close to 30 years. The 70+ comments on the piece on Instagram got me thinking about things like nostalgia and hanging onto the past.   Then a famous and profound quote came to mind: "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've l...

I wanted to share a quote from the book Thick Face Black Heart on page 141. This chapter talks about if we had the ability to remove all negative experiences from our lives, it would not make us stress free or happy. "The absence of negative experiences in our life does not alone contribute to the quality of our life. As humans we need challenges in order to develop fully and bring forth all the p...