Mars Dorian's motto in life is, "When you’re not trying to fit in, you’re free to stand out."
Mars is an illustrator, designer, blogger, and consultant focused on helping you and your business stand out. He's edgy and embraces authenticity even to the point where his work can be quite controversial -- but he's also got brilliant insights and excellent artisanship.
To promote his recent GiveGetWin deal where you can get a copy of his illustrated guide to branding and standing out, Mars sat down with Sebastian Marshall and opened up about reaching the highest levels of creative potential, owning where you're at, and becoming truly exceptional at your craft. Enjoy --
"How To Break Through With Your Work" by Mars Dorian, as told to Sebastian Marshall
I start my day with 2-3 hours of learning. After breakfast and before I do any work, I start learning and dissecting something related to my craft.
When you're actively afraid, you know it. You can feel the fear pressing against you. Maybe you work through it and conquer it this time, or maybe you don't. But if you succeed, you know you worked through the fear. And you know if you fail, the fear beat you.
This is the type of fear you feel when you're about to do public speaking, make a cold call, ask for a raise at work, or do a difficult ski run.
And maybe sometimes you back down from whatever it is you were afraid of. It happens, and it's not the end of the world when it does. Fear winds up beating most people at least sometimes, in some domain.
Passive fear, on the other hand, is far more insidious. It's what Pressfield called "The Resistance" in The War of Art. It's a form of fear, but not one that shows itself. It's sneaky. You find the need to do some lower importance activity instead of doing your work.
Excuses abound, the important things don't get done.
