Previously on Pygmy Nuthatch (say that out loud in a gritty voiceover voice), I talked about the importance of persistence in the quest for realizing creative potential—powerfully illustrated in the story of Ray Kroc as portrayed by Michael Keaton in The Founder.

But that brings up an equally important question: how do you know what to persist in? How do you discern the difference between valiantly charging forth to pursue your passion and just banging your head against a wall?

Here are five methods I use for finding and persisting in the work that you’ve been called to do.

1: You’re already good at it

This sounds like a blinding flash of the obvious, but I think it’s very easy to get sidetracked by pie-in-the-sky ideas of what you want to do next and lose sight of what skills you already possess. If you’ve already been recognized for being good at X, and especially if you’ve made money doing X, then it’s a strong sign you have a solid future in that role. Even if it’s not really want you want to be doing ultimately, it could serve as an important springboard into that job description.

For example, if you’re a programmer who really wants to be doing UX design, focus on transitioning your programming work to front-end projects where you can work closely with top UX designers. Learn from them, build up a solid UX-focused portfolio, and then start to market yourself as a UX designer with strong programming chops to execute those designs.

2: You keep coming back to it

One of the best ways to find out if you really love doing something is to stop doing it. Take a break. Put it on the back burner. Give up.

I think it’s healthy to allow your life to breathe…to let seasons come and go naturally. For example, I spent a lot of time last year on a live setup for my electronic music act, but this year I moved and am currently without a music studio (home-based or otherwise).

But I’m not freaking out about it, because it’s a different season of life now. I’m focusing on Pygmy Nuthatch and a few other projects instead. If electronic music is really my jam, it’ll bubble back up to the surface when the time is right.

3: You find yourself intensely studying similar work by others

This is how I discovered I really wanted to master creating online video content. I’m a big fan of YouTube and regularly watch a bunch of shows on that platform (mostly focused around movies, TV, and geek culture). What I found is that as I was watching stuff on YouTube, I began to get a taste for what sorts of format or production styles I liked, which in turn fueled a desire in me to experiment and try out some of those ideas.

If you find yourself just naturally soaking up creative energy from folks you admire in a particular field, then it’s likely you’re supposed to head in that direction.

4: Opportunity knocks

It’s important to stay open to what comes your way. Ten years ago I got a job working in downtown San Francisco. Sounds dreamy, right? I _hated_it—at first. It didn’t fit my “life plan” at all at the time I got the offer, but once I got used to the long bus commute out of Sonoma County and found my bearings working in a fast-paced urban landscape, I discovered…that I really liked working in The City!

Today I work out of a fun cowork office in downtown Portland, and I can thank that out-of-the-blue opportunity ten years ago for setting me on this path.

5: You’ll never know if an apple is ripe ‘til you bite it

As the song goes, you’ll never know if a fire is gonna burn ‘til you light it. Perhaps you haven’t found your real passion in life simply because you haven’t tried it yet! That’s why I think it’s a big mistake for young people barely out of their teen years to jump right into a college major or some set-in-stone profession. My belief is it take years or even decades to uncover what you’re really good at and what you love doing. You might be in your 30s or 40s before you get there.

So try lots of different things. Try different industries, different crafts, different locales on Planet Earth! Don’t listen to the haters (or the voices in your head) saying you’re a flake and a looser because you can’t hold down a typical job for 5 straight years. You weren’t born in this day and age just to fill a role somebody else thinks you should be filling. Live a life that’s true to your own nature.

The only direction in life that matters is forward. Never backwards. –Henry “Pop” Hunter

As the hero’s journey of Luke Cage teaches us, persistence sometimes requires that you to flex your faith muscle. You can read that as a spiritual directive or in a more prosaic sense, but the fact is there’s immense value in taking that one more step forward towards your dreams, even if you see no circumstantial evidence that you’re on the right track.

Take a step forward, and then another, and then another. Write that next blog post. Post that next video. Send that next job proposal. Move to that next city. Your true calling in life will never materialize if you simply stay where you are and do nothing.

Creativity flourishes in movement.

Thankfully, I’ve never had a client utter those exact words, but I’ve definitely been on the receiving end of some very unpleasant communiqués.

What do you do when you’ve been hustling your tail off to get product out the door, only to be met with disdain?

Or worse yet, what do you do when you agree that the quality of your work is lacking and you need a real do-over?

This is one of the hardest issues to deal with as a freelancer, but I’m happy to report there are some concrete steps you can take to turn things around.

Own the problem. While the customer isn’t always right, the customer always has the right to feel upset about what’s happening. Instead of immediately getting defensive, try listening and helping them feel like you acknowledge their frustration.

Brainstorm solutions. A yes is always better than a no. Even if you feel like your client is being unreasonable, try to look for ways to say Yes to new solutions and creative possibilities, rather than dwell on the negatives.

Learn for the future. Every difficult encounter you have with customers and partners is a valuable learning experience. It’s OK if you feel like tearing your hair out sometimes, but at least make an attempt to find the educational component to what you’re going through. Today’s headache is tomorrow’s revised business policy!

I’ve had a few clients over the years that were a challenge to deal with from Day 1, but with the wisdom of hindsight, I appreciate those learning experiences and how they’ve made me a better business person and human being.

Persevere, my dear free agents!

Another Tuesday, another highly produced video!

Doing meaningful work. It’s what we all strive for as independent creatives. But somehow in the gap between leaving corporate America behind and making it as a free agent, everything can get blurred and we lose sight of what drew us to this lifestyle in the first place.

In this video, I will show you how to reinvigorate your career by:

1. Leaning into your craft
2. Discovering your preferred niche
3. Embracing minimalism

Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more actionable ways to supercharge your freelance career!

Digging through some old internet archives, I found this blog post I wrote the day before the iPad was first announced in January 2010. We’re coming up on the eighth anniversary of the Apple tablet that reinvented the tablet computer and ushered in the age of iOS (even though iPad initially ran what was called iPhone OS until it was rebranded iOS in June 2010).

Reading my original post and remembering the incredible excitement I felt back then about how it could Change Everything, today I have mixed feelings about the iPad’s legacy. On the one hand, the iPad has been a hugely influential and generally successful product. Recent advancements made to iPad in the form of the Pro line and iOS 11 have reinvigorated sales, and more computer users of all stripes are utilizing their iPads every day for both professional and personal use. Unlike for the iPhone, tablet competitors to the iPad never really took off, and it remains a product category unto itself and an important part of Apple’s overall ecosystem.

On the other hand, the iPad arguably did not have much effect on web or software design. Efforts to launch media and apps solely for the iPad have either failed (Newsstand, The Magazine, etc.) or been relegated to relatively niche status. Web design was affected far more by the need to revamp for mobile touchscreens on iPhone and Android devices. At the mainstream level, the iPhone became a cultural phenomenon the likes of which we’ve never seen. The iPad never became that. “There’s an app for that” transformed our lives through the delivery mechanism of the smartphone, not the tablet.

As a happy and enthusiastic user of an iPad Pro, however, I remain—like Tim Cook—bullish on the future of the iPad. I still believe that the tablet form factor is the de facto computer of tomorrow. Holding a large screen in your hands and manipulating objects on it directly with your fingers is simply the most natural way to interact with digital technology. There will always be a place for laptops and desktops, but the iPad is indeed the purest expression of the future of personal computing.

Let’s talk about the kind of work you display to potential customers. It’s reasonable to assume that in order to fill up your pipeline with as much work as you can handle, your portfolio should be as broad and flexible as possible.

The downside to that philosophy is that the best clients aren’t looking for broad and flexible. They’re looking for a high-value partner who has the exact expertise and track record they need to solve their specific business case. Think about it. If I’m a commercial real estate broker looking to hire a new copy writer, and I view two portfolios—one of which contains articles about dogs, traveling through Asia, and Bitcoin, and the other has press releases about commercial real estate—which writer do you think I will hire?

If you’re just starting out as a freelancer, then it makes sense to cast a wide net as you probably don’t know yet what your sweet spot is and which industries you find appealing. However, as you grow in your skills and your value proposition, you will need to narrow your focus down to a small number of key selling points that resonate with your top client demographic.

I chose the word curate for the title of this post not to be trendy, but because you should treat your body of work as a museum curator treats the selection that the museum presents. Certainly you’ll want to show off your best work, but you’ll also want to show off the work that most appeals to the target market you want as future customers.