This post is dedicated to The Game, he's been inspiring me for years with his art.

Thank You!

I'm going to keep being a gangster for as long as it takes. I don't know exactly what that means but I am going to get to the bottom of that idea. Okay, here goes... I have a thing that I do where I take words that mean one thing and then use them completely differently. In most situations it’s not too weird but occasionally people get confused and miscommunications happen. Hence, "I'm going to keep being gangster for as long as it takes". When I say gangster, I don't mean like a mobster from the days of prohibition... I also don't mean gangster like a gangster rapper, which are referred to as gangsta rappers.

I am doing a lot of different things and I need to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. I’ve got 2 gigs happening, one after work on Friday, and the other on Saturday and Sunday. The second one is going to web a pilot for a webseries. Whoopty Doo! OH SHIT I‘ve gotta go, brb! … Okay, I'm back, I had to leave / to take a break because I’m trying to get all of my bases covered for this weekend.

See? That is what i'm talking about right there. Okay, so what it is, is that I have to be really organized to be a professional artist. Crazy right? Maybe not for you but for me it is. See I'm one of those anal expulsive type personalities, I'm messy and am often late for things.

BEING GANGSTER MEANS NOT BEING MESSY AND LATE FOR THINGS!

That's what being "gangster," means to me. I want everything to be on lock so that I can be a "killer". Being a killer is just the same as being a gangster, it means that all your "t's" and crossed and your "i's" are dotted. That's what I think being successful is all about, taking care of all the small stuff. BOOM, there it is!

Being successful is literally being neat, organized, and having everything planned out and prepared. How hard is that really? I think I can do that. It's weird because if those are basically the biggest things I need to do in order to be a success then success is attainable and can be achieved.

BOOM SHAKALAKA!

Oh snap, it's going down, it's going to happen, I'm about to be a "G!"

HOLLA!... But let me reflect for a second here real quick. Okay, so my normal day should start out with me focusing on the stuff that. OH SHIT, PHONE RINGING!!! DAMN YOU SEE WHAT I’M DEALING WITH?

Sorry, I'm back. See what I'm talking about? That was my boss. I had to get my shift covered, and I was making all these phone calls to get everything squared away and it's all good now, but damn sometimes you just barely scrape by, just by the skin of your teeth you know? That's all part of being successful, making those calls, etc. It's really about being proactive. No, not like the pimple-cream-skin-company, I'm talking about taking the initiative. You've gotta be on-the-ball like a cat on a laser pointer, or a better analogy than whatever I just said.

Yes, you start off your day with the things that make you most successful. Which for me involves being neat, organized, and having everything planned, and prepared.

I sent out a tweet once that said, "I'm focusing on time management, organization, goal setting, and follow through," and a friend replied, "Oh, those are all the things I'm terrible at". Hilarious, simply hilarious. Glad to know I'm not the only one who sucks at the administrative aspects of LIFE.

First things first. You do all the dirty work early, like 6-6:30 am, get as much done as you can before lunch. If you get all your bullshit done early it makes the rest of the day so much easier. Prioritizing helps create more headspace in your brain. You need headspace for your creativity but more importantly for your sanity.

You have to plan time to plan. Yes, it is weird isn't it? It's like digging for dirt. Reminds me of this pop-up I saw yesterday for an e-book about how to sell e-books. But seriously whatever you call it; setting aside the time for, making time for, locking yourself in the studio in a Tim Burton costume... you have to make time to create the plans. It's unbelievable how overlooked it is! Imagine building your dream house but only spending 5 minutes making the blueprints. What type of moron would do that? Everyone! SO MANY PEOPLE ARE WINGING LIFE! Seriously... WTF ARE PEOPLE DOING?

Next thing you have to do is you have to have a goal. If you don't have a destination then how will you know you're going in the right direction? The goal is what you structure all other things around to help support its completion. You do things which serve your goal. when you do things that serve your goal you will be amazed at what happens.

Follow through for me involves consistently checking in on recent progress towards the overall goal. Are we moving forward effectively. Could we be doing things differently? What could be better. Follow through is finishing tasks. I like to break things down into lists and then cross things off of my list. Crossing things off my to-do list is so incredibly satisfying. I love finishing everything on my to-do list in one day, it's one of the best feelings that you can have everyday (for free). When I don't follow through and I see people who have followed through, I feel less worthy of the material things I see them enjoying. If I see a guy who is in shape and well dressed, and my diet is fucked up and I'm dressed like a bum I feel worse about myself because that guy is reminding me of my slacker-tude, and he doesn't even know it! You feel that way because your emotional intelligence is telling you you're not doing the work that you know is important to you, it's a Physio-Emotional call to action. Not following through feels like your shoes are untied, or your shirts not tucked in, or your hair has bedhead.

I hope you've learned as I have today.

Stay gangster my friends.

-Tim