Good Life Project - Adam J. Kurtz | Art, Life & Backhanded Optimism

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

Adam J. Kurtz (whose artist’s identity is Adam JK, is a designer, artist, and speaker whose work is rooted in emotional honesty, humor and even a little bit of darkness, but always with the intention of connection, honoring the reality of any given moment, and being honest. He’s been making and sharing on the internet since age creating his first fan website at twelve years old, eventually went to school for graphic design and learned to express, in his words “slightly too much." Adam’s work embraces the world with a certain "backhanded optimism" and a dark sense of humor or what he describes as "positivity adjacent." And he speaks frankly about channeling human emotion into art, and generally just trying to be more okay with whatever we've got and wherever we are in life. This comes out, often, in the form of hand-lettered aphorisms and illustrations that you’ll find all over the internet and social platforms, as well as in books, merch, prints, stationary and brand-focused gifts under his ADAMJK® brand. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages and his offbeat, fun and irreverent creative work has been featured everywhere from NYLON and Adweek to Vice, The New Yorker, and more. In his newest book, You Are Here (For Now): A Guide to Finding Your Way, Adam steps more fully into his writer side, sharing longer-form stories, insights, and ideas. We dive into all of this, how his lens and work have been shaped by an othrodox religious upbringing, what led him down the path of zagging when everyone else was zigging, how his move from New York to Hawaii has changed him and so much more.You can find Adam at: Website | InstagramIf you LOVED this episode:You’ll also love the conversations we had with Morgan Harper Nichols about art and life.My new book Sparked-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I went from someone who was always thinking, okay, soon, soon, everything's going to be okay soon. I'm going to change soon. If I just say yes to this, then I'll get to that. And then I said, let's just get to that now. Let me take the stairs two at a time because I might only get three more minutes. Hey, so my guest today, Adam J. Kurz, whose artist identity is Adam JK. He's a designer, artist, and speaker whose work is really rooted in emotional honesty and humor, and even a little bit of darkness, but always with the intention of connection and really honoring the reality of any given moment and being honest about it. He has been making and sharing on the internet since creating his first fan website at 12 years old, eventually went to school for graphic design, and learned to express, in his words, slightly too much. he describes as positivity adjacent. And he speaks frankly about channeling human emotions into art

and generally just trying to be more okay with whatever we've got and wherever we are in life. And this comes out often in the form of hand-lettered aphorisms and illustrations that you'll find all over the internet and social platforms, as well as in his books and merch and prints and stationery and brand-focused gifts under his Adam JK brand. And his books have been translated into over a dozen languages. His offbeat, fond, irreverent work has been featured everywhere from Nylon and Adweek to Vice, The New Yorker, and a lot of other places. And in his newest book, You Are Here For Now, Adam steps more fully into his writer side, sharing longer form stories and insights and ideas. It's a more expansive look at who he is and what's really in his heart and mind. So we dive into

all of this, how his lens on work and life have been shaped by an orthodox religious upbringing, what led him down the path of zagging when pretty much everyone else was zigging, and how his recent move from New York to Hawaii has really changed him and so much more. So excited to share this conversation with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series X is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist,

whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary.

Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference

between me and you is? You're gonna die. Don't shoot him, we need him them y'all need a pilot flight risk so you and i have actually been in the same room together oh you didn't know it because i was probably in one of the higher up rows and creative mornings a couple years back uh tina's an old friend of mine and um i had been exposed to your work before, but not sort of like you in front of a room on fire and dancing around. And basically, this was like a party that was so much fun. You know, I remember that morning because it was the day before I was getting eye surgery. And I remember thinking, I'm probably fine, but what if this was the last thing I see ever?

And I wanted to, you know, I'm very dramatic that way. So I made it an important moment for me. I made it like, I'm seeing my friends, I'm seeing all the people I want to see, I'm seeing these beautiful croissants and I'm going to commit this to memory. I'm actually curious about that now. I mean, did you go further down the road of contemplating like literally like what if this is, I mean, being so visually oriented, like what if I woke up the next day and that was gone? Yeah. I mean, I definitely, I thought about the risks of, you know, I had a very normal eye surgery so that I could stop wearing glasses and it's totally fine. It was painless and very effective, but I did think about it. I'm always

thinking about what if I wake up and something has changed or what if there's an accident? What if the stove explodes? We have an electric stove now. So that's one fear I can cross off my list. Huge relief. But that's kind of my whole deal is that I'm an anxious person and I worry a lot. And so then all the art I'm making, all the work that I do is really in response to that. It's just like trying to stay sane. No, I completely hear that. It's funny.

I think sometimes we make art, especially if there's any kind of underlying anxiety on the one hand, it's an expression of something that's true to ourselves. But on the other hand, you know, I wonder how much is expression of inner truth versus coping mechanism, or it's just like an ungeaven moment. Could you even tell? I think my inner truth is the coping mechanism, right? It's one and the same. My truth is that I'm always trying to cope in one way or another. I've had so many people since the pandemic began have said things to the effect of like, your work was really helpful or this thing that you wrote was so perfect for this time. How did you know? And I was like, I didn't need there to be a global pandemic.

I'm already always worrying about stuff. I'm already trying to like navigate, you know, space in my brain and body. I'm already stuck inside. You know, there are some people who had to adapt to being at home. I'm like, well, I've been stuck in home inside my skull since day one. So I don't know. I'm always like hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. And it shakes out to a person who was sort of cautiously optimistic about everything. Yeah. It is funny that it tilts towards optimism, even when there's a bit of irreverence there. I'm curious, as a kid, was this a part of your life also? And if so, was it more just about you or was there almost like a family culture around anxiety? I mean, I'm Jewish, so family culture around anxiety, spot on. But I also come from the only member of our family to make it out of World War II. And so there was absolutely from young childhood, we talk about that.

We talked about the family that we came from. There was a whole wall of framed photos on the wall of people who were dead. And so death was present. Darkness was present. You know, we learned about evil early on. And so then it becomes a thing of like, well, how do we celebrate joy in response to that? This is a terrible thing that happened that really changed our family. But here we are. Here we are years and years later, the family comes together and does normal family things and those

framed photos were like on the opposite wall of like a big display case of beanie babies so it was right there it was like the nazis murdered these people and mom got the super rare princess diana bear and we can have both yeah it's sort of living in a dualistic world, all wrapped up in one everyday experience. Also, we were kind of sold a lie about that Princess Diana beanie baby because it was so rare. And yet every person had one. Every person who talks about beanie babies now is like, I had the Princess Diana one. And I'm like, they really flooded the market with that purple bear.

That's too funny. So you brought up in a Jewish family. Was faith a part of your upbringing or was it more traditional? It's funny. I'm also Jewish, raised in and outside of New York City. And I once heard A.J. Jacobs say, yeah, I'm Jewish the way Olive Garden is Italian. But I'm curious because there's, I think not just with Judaism, but with most traditions, there's the tradition side, there's the ritual, and then there's the faith there, the teachings there's beyond that. Where did you all fall in that spectrum? You know, I think the word all is doing a lot of labor in that question. So my family is Orthodox Jewish. I grew up Orthodox. So really, I mean, studied the religion, went to private schools, like strict religious upbringing.

I didn't eat shrimp until I was like 17. Now it's more cultural where I really embrace the humor, the dark humor. I embrace the food, the storytelling, certain songs that I grew up with that are just trapped in my brain forever. But as far as that very fervent faith and faith that's formed around very specific tasks and obligations and restrictions, that I don't necessarily subscribe to anymore. But I have seen firsthand how those things really help many people navigate life because life can be so random and so cruel sometimes and so hard sometimes. So, you know, I see people, I know people for whom that is really important and foundational and I have so much respect for it. But yeah,

definitely not me anymore. Yeah. It was interesting. I remember a number of years ago reading a study that looked at people of faith across almost a wide range of traditions and people who are either agnostic or atheists and looking to try and figure out, well, who's sort of more persistently happy? And it was almost like there was a sliding scale. And the more devout you are, the more likely you were to say that you were happy. And a lot of it seemed to have to do with the fact that you were living by a set of rules that pretty much told you what to do in any given moment and any given circumstance. And you were also surrounded by community. And I wonder whether that is a huge part of what both draws people to any faith-based or spiritual tradition.

And also, as so many people are moving away from it these days, I feel like a lot of people also are probably moving away from the community, the sense of belonging that exists in those communities. And I wonder how that affects us as well. Yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot to it, quite frankly. I think that humans need structure and we can all find it. We can create structure for ourselves. That's a big part of what I do in my creative practice and with my guided journals and my weekly planners.

I'm all about using art and creativity as a structure. But for many people, the structure of religion is so graspable. It's so understandable, partly because, you know, they grew up with it. So it's second nature and that can really carry you through. And then, I don't know, so many young people, you graduate from college and suddenly you don't have structure and it's terrifying. And I definitely experienced that too. So I think the structure, built-in community, just knowing, okay, it's the Jewish month of this. And so that means we're going to cook this food and we're going to share it with this person. And, you know, that's really a nice thing. And I do, I miss some of the traditions. It's actually, it's the holiday of Sukkot right now. And I forgot until my mom didn't text me back for two days. I was like, wait, is it a holiday? But growing up, we would, you know, one of the traditions is you built this, you built like a little outdoor hut and you decorate it. It's like being inside of a Christmas tree or one of those Indian restaurants in the East Village with all the lights. You fill it with colorful tinsel and you eat your meals in there. And how fun is that? I didn't feel restricted when I was stapling confetti to the walls with my bubby. But yeah, I think I'm

actually entering this period of my life where I am in a state of transition and really rethinking my identity as a person. And part of that has to do with sort of re-emerging through COVID. Part of it is leaving New York City after a decade and having to detach my identity from that of a New Yorker. And it is causing me to look inward and look backward. And so I'm really parsing through, okay, well, what parts of Judaism were fun? Or, you know, how much of this was upbringing versus, you know, that was forced on me versus upbringing that I loved and embrace that still feels relevant. And it's also just being in my early 30s, being in this time of, okay, I'm not a kid, but I'm not an adult. Who do I want to be? And how does that all sort of come together into a series of steps or

directions I can take? Yeah. I mean, I'm really curious what's coming up with you around that, not just around faith, but just more generally. So many people have had these profound disruptions on all different levels in the last 18 months, two years. We're both people who were in New York. You end up moving out of the continental US into Hawaii. I'm out in Colorado right now. And it definitely, the change in physical geography, I found really just, it forces you to re-examine everything. Even just the fact that I can walk out my door and be walking on a trail in the foothills, in the front range of the Rockies, and then look up and just see this stunning landscape. It changes something in me and it makes me think differently and feel differently and ask different questions. I'm wondering if you being where you are is doing the same.

I think the change of place, you know, no matter where you go next always changes everything. And there is a Yiddish aphorism about when you change your place, you change your luck. And I love that, right? You shift a major variable. Of course, the smaller variables are going to realign. For me, just to see the ocean from my bathroom, I can sit on the toilet and I can see the ocean. That's insane, for lack of a better word. I mean, it's incomprehensible to me, someone from such a vastly different place, but it is beautiful and it is special to rethink who you are in a new space

and to also feel the possibility of change. I wear shorts now. I never wore shorts. Everyone who knows me is like, you what? I'm like, yeah, I wear shorts. I own multiple pairs of shorts. So that is a profound change in your identity right there. I've got a suntan line from my socks that has never happened before in my life. And if you've known me for a long time, that is stunning. Like you would, if you had told me that two years ago, I would think you were kidding. That's too funny. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga

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Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg.

You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him, we need him. Y'all need a pilot? Flight Risk. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever,

making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-nest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X, available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary. So before you leave, as you said, you spent a decade in New York City. You grew up in Toronto, eventually mid-teens, you end up going down to DC, I think because your mom's family is there. Then you end up in boarding school in Wisconsin and then back in design school in Baltimore. But it sounds like also when the family

left Canada, it sounds like there was a certain departure for you where it's almost like you left the community or the friends behind and turned to a certain extent to the internet to sort of find, like it almost feels like your physical geography was moving around on such a regular basis, but the internet became this one stable location where you could plant yourself and create connections and share. From the outside looking in, that's what it seemed. I'm curious whether that jives with what your actual experience was. No, I think you nailed it. First of all, I'm stunned because I'm like, shit, he did his homework and knows everything about me and there's no more secrets. But yeah, I built homes on the internet,

not just because geographically I was in different places, but because in terms of who I was becoming as a person, I was in different places. So I'm living in this religious community, you know, in this very sort of secluded, intentionally separate way. And then I'm coming to terms with queer identity. I'm coming to terms with secular identity and finding these sort of online homes and communities for new ways of thought and being. And on a sillier level, I'm also just coming together with fans of pop musician, Michelle Branch on her message board and nerding out about that, which is still important to me and still feels like part of my identity as a Michelle Branch

number one fan. So the internet was really a safe place to grow and explore. And timing wise, that was really just the very beginnings of social media. And so it's a little bit more overwhelming. Now you sort of show up on day one and there's already like the cool kids table and the seniors, like the internet feels fully formed in a way that it didn't back then. At that time, you really could make your personal homepage and put your little name or your icon or whatever there. And it taught me how to create something from nothing and how creating that something could then attract others and lead to connections. And that is a skill that I think I honed at that time that helped me get from one place to another and that I continue

to utilize in my art, in my career, in my profession. And so it never felt like, oh, I'm going to do this to make money or I'm going to do this to achieve some level of career success. It always felt like necessary for growth and to an extent felt like self-preservation. And it still feels like that. It still feels like the keys extent felt like self-preservation. And it still feels like that. It still feels like the keys to growth and self-preservation and parsing through my identity and figuring out what I want to say and how I want to say it. Yeah. It's funny. I want to say it was maybe a month or two, a couple months back on your Instagram feed, there's one of the things you post. You're like, hey, listen, I'm getting off social for a while. I've got these really cool, new, important projects to work on.

I got to go all in on them. And then it's like, then you finished off. It was like, just kidding. I'll be here tomorrow because I need the validation as much as anything else. Yep. That's it. That's just it. I love when people post like, hey, everyone, I'm going to be taking a break. It's like, just take the break. You don't have to tell us. But I love that the internet has now trained us that we need to alert everyone of everything. Social media has really taught a certain type of person to be a brand, to brand themselves, and then made us feel an obligation to keep updating those platforms. And it's genius, right? Because they sell ads in between our personal updates. Very smart. We've been trained well. Yeah. So part of this for you is community,

part of it is sharing, but also it's a bit of an early indoctrination into the online world, into the world of social. Like Tumblr, I think was a place where pretty much everyone was going in the early days and MySpace back then also, if you were into music and you end up building your own sites, teaching yourself HTML. I guess eventually when you're at a school, follow a friend up to New York where you're hanging out developing WordPress sites. And that goes away and you start selling just rapid fire, like designing a novelty t-shirt, which I guess there were a bunch, but there was one novelty t-shirt, which sounds like literally kind of kept you alive for a little while that you just put up almost as a joke. But that sounds like it looks like that

was actually a pretty substantial turning point in a lot of ways. You know, I don't know that I would call it a turning point, but really an example of how things that I would refer to as dumb luck are actually the product of hard work and connection building and things that I didn't consider work at the time that I was developing them. And so, yeah, this particular t-shirt is a parody of the Joy Division album art that has that graph that's become sort of shorthand for just, I'm cool. And I did come up with a silly idea and posted it on Tumblr as a meme. And so many people saw it so quickly and asked to buy it that I used my resources that I had. I knew how to order t-shirts and sell t-shirts because I was doing that in a more normal way and just quickly launched that shirt and earned thousands of dollars that I desperately

needed. I was in deep credit card debt. I was unemployed for months and I was probably one month away from I don't know what, from having to leave New York probably as a 23-year-old. And just really thinking like, okay, you gave it a good shot, time to go. And then that t-shirt turned it around for me and helped carry me through another two months until landing my first sort of big, big office job in New York. Yeah. I remember having a remarkably similar conversation a couple of years back with Rebecca Minkoff, who's now a big, well-known designer in the fashion world. But the entire thing was launched from a single t-shirt that she put together really, really

quickly and put out into the world. And it's just like, everyone was like, ooh, that, more, more, more, more, more. And then it was just rapid iteration around that. For you, that kind of tells you something. And then you end up in Barton Graff for about a year and a half in New York. And then BuzzFeed, which is, I think everybody knows BuzzFeed, which is, you know, I think everybody knows BuzzFeed, but the experience there from people that I've known over the years is, you know, there, there's kind of no beginning or end to anything. You're sort of like, you basically live and breathe and it's not just

limited to them. It's sort of like the, the entire tech world in general. I'm curious what your experience was there. You know, I think that for me, the no beginning and end was at Barton F. Graff, which was a very untraditional ad agency, but an ad agency. A New York ad agency means long hours. It means weekend work. It means the client says jump and you jump. And when I got to BuzzFeed, it felt like such a breath of fresh air because I would get there, you know, at 1030, I would get there late and I would leave right at six. And I just lucked into a very unique job there where I was on an experimental team that was just formed and didn't have clear goals. It didn't have clear

management. And I kind of just did a lot of nothing, like just making fun stuff for social media and hoping people liked it. And if they did, it's probably because BuzzFeed just had a big audience. And if they didn't, it's probably because they didn't see it that day. And even from the way I'm talking about it, you can tell I was fired.

I was not a great employee. I did not, I just didn't care. I don't think. I think I cared at first and then I quickly learned what I couldn't and couldn't care about. So I was at BuzzFeed for six months. It was very quick. Yeah. I wish I had more good things to say about that job, but I just don't. I will say that I made some great friends and that to me is the best reason to have a day job at all is to meet creative people who just get what you're about and are passionate about things and that you can bounce ideas around.

And yeah, that's what I miss about working in an office is the potential for new friends from walks of life that you would not otherwise know or meet. Yeah. And I think so many people are feeling that now also. People, you know, all used to be in offices and now are all working from home. I would give anything to small talk by the coffee machine. I really would. I think that's one of the big things that so many people are missing these days

is that they didn't realize that that was one of the big reasons that they showed up to this place they called work every day. That it wasn't just to do the job. It was to be around a certain person or a group of people where they resonated with them. And now they're kind of like, huh, there's something in me that's aching for that. And they're one of the best parts of it all is just that connection. Because how else do you make friends as an adult? It's really hard. end of every summer for four days, we would take over this kid's sleepaway camp an hour and a half north of New York City, 100 acre camp. And we'd have this adult summer camp for, it ended up being about 450 people, literally come from, people were coming from across the world. They were coming from Asia, from Australia, from Europe, from Africa, from South America. And we were like, why would so many people travel to do this?

And it's exactly what you're saying. And so once we become grownups, you kind of check out on that, just hanging out like instant friend, like train. And it becomes so much harder. And when somebody else does the bringing together and then creates a container that's safe and feels good, and you know that people are showing up, we're going gonna be at least moderately like-minded. It's such an unusual experience. It was an amazing thing. But I had another curiosity. Tell me if I have the timing right.

At the same time, you're writing a column for a design sponge. That column over the years, at some point there's enough there where you look at that and you're like, wait a minute. I have literally created enough stuff for this to be a book. And that in fact becomes, eventually seeds your first book.

And I sometimes wonder, when you're writing really honest stuff, which you were doing, which eventually forms this book, and I don't know if this is a conscious thought process, but I'm curious about it. Does the fact that you have a day job that you're showing up at that takes care of you, pays your rent, it gives you whatever illusion of security we all yearn for, give you the freedom to go and just be absolutely honest in this other thing and then put it out into the world without editing or censoring it in a way where if you didn't have that main gig, you might kind of say, well, maybe this isn't what people are going to want. So let me try and tailor it or tweak it or sense

it a little bit because I need this to succeed. Yeah. I mean, I think anytime that there's financial pressure attached to your creative work, it's an impossible lens to shake because you're thinking about mass digestion, you're thinking about sellability, you're thinking about palatability. And yeah, there's always going to be a layer of that. I refer to that as the cat's pizza Beyonce, which is if you need to sell a greeting card, you just do a pun about cat's pizza or Beyonce. And we love those things. And you're going to sell some cards.

And I always strive to not do cat's pizza Beyonce. I am always striving to do something that I just like because I like it. And I hope other people like it too. And sometimes they like it. And I hope other people like it too. And sometimes they love it. Like my balloons that say, sorry, I'm such an asshole that have been selling for a decade. And sometimes they don't like it. And I've got, you know, a thousand of a particular key chain sitting in the corner of my bedroom, you know, so you don't always get it right, but starting that column while having a day job really helped.

And just to clarify, I did one post while I still had that job. And that's something that people don't talk about enough with media jobs is that in general, when you work for these media companies, unless you've negotiated very well and are sort of a power player, they want to control your creative output. Most of them don't allow you to write freelance for other publications. And this is true of journalists and writers across all sorts of media properties. And it's this weird thing of like, most people are not being paid enough to live from that gig, from that day job, but then they can't take side gigs. And it really does a great disservice to

writers. I think in particular, writers are a type of artist that are consistently underpaid and overworked because writing is about so much more than the writing. It's about the reading. It's about the research. It's about the interview. It's about the transcription. There's so much that goes into it. And then you're, if you're lucky, being paid by word of the final output. And it's just so ignorant of the work that goes into it. And I live with a writer. I'm married to a traditional writer and journalist. So I see that firsthand. And then I see him chasing invoices for three to six months, which as a graphic designer doesn't happen the same way. So if you're a writer out there, let me just say,

congratulations and Godspeed because you're doing important work and I know it's hard. Yeah, that is a universal experience. If you're at a point in life when you're ready to lead with purpose, we can get you there. The University of Victoria's MBA in Sustainable Innovation is not like other MBA programs. It's for true changemakers who want to think differently and solve the world's most pressing challenges. From healthcare and the environment to energy, government, and technology, it's your path to meaningful leadership in all sectors.

For details, visit uvic.ca slash future MBA. That's uvic.ca slash future MBA. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg.

You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him! We need him! Y'all need a pilot? Flight Risk. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever,

making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone Xs are later required.

Charge time and actual results will vary. When this first book actually becomes a book and it goes out into the world and does nicely, you get offered the opportunity to then step into a second book, which seems like it opens a door for you to then start to say yes to more of that kind of work and step out into your professional life in a different way. You know, I had the benefit of two guided journal books that came out earlier. And that really set the stage for me with my publisher at Penguin, because it told them, okay, here's this guy, people like what he's doing. We've made enough money. We've recouped our investment. So when I go to them with my first sort of capital B book, where I take this written column and I say, Hey, this could be a book. It takes a little bit of the pressure off because

they can market it as, Hey, it's by the guy that did that creative journal. Here's some more thoughts from him. What I didn't expect was that that book would be as popular as it's been. And I think it's because it is pocket-sized and has a rainbow cover and it's just really friendly and accessible, which was always a goal with that kind of writing for me as someone who was kind of an outsider to writing. But I kind of nailed it, which it's weird to be confident for a person like me, but I kind of nailed it, which it's weird to be confident for a person like me, but I kind of nailed it. And then it set the stage for this new book project that I've just completed called You Are Here For Now, where, hey, maybe I can write even longer. Maybe I can use even more words. Maybe there are people who really do connect with the way that I say things, the way that I vocalize

my inner monologue, the way that I'm trying to stay happy and sane in this sort of complicated life. And so I fell into it, but I'm so grateful that I fell into it. I'm so grateful that a door opened a little bit, just enough that I could squeeze through. And I decided to squeeze through. Yeah. And also that you saw that and kept saying yes to it. You know, there's a lot of talk of saying yes, but you can't say yes unless you say no. I think a lot of us are told that we need to become more yes people. And that advice really assumes that you, the listener,

you, the advice receiver, are someone who is already saying no. But what was happening with me is I was a person who was saying yes a lot. And in fact, I was saying yes so often that I didn't have really the time or bandwidth to do a good job on certain things. And so a big part of saying yes, for example, to writing this new book was saying no to, no, I don't want it to be so similar to what I just did. No, I don't want it to be palatable in this way. No, I'm not going to take on this other kind of freelance that detracts from the type of art I want to be doing. And there are really a lot of no's that go into a one big yes, that different yes, that yes to something that is new. It requires saying no to a lot of the sort of same old, same old that you feel secure in, but maybe you to do that. I mean, is it reaching a certain point in your career where you have a certain amount of confidence in what you're doing? Is it building enough of your own engine of where economically outside of these other things, you feel like you'd now have,

have more choice because you're going to be okay. No matter what, I'm curious what for you makes you say like, okay, now I'm getting on the no train and you've got to earn the yes. I laughed when you said I'm going to be okay regardless because I'm like, am I? Wow. Imagine feeling that. I never feel like I'm just going to be okay. That's the one thing I can't guarantee. But I think what happened in particular with this new book is that I was on track to make a book that was relatively similar to the one before it. And that would have been totally good and people would have liked it. And it still would have been a little bit of a creative evolution. And I wasn't not excited, but this moment happened. And I'll admit that the pandemic hitting helped in that moment because I was working on the

book before lockdown started. And actually, the first draft was due April 2020. And I just had this moment of like, life is short. And you really are here for now, you know, and maybe not as long as you think. You might not have as much time as you think. Everything does change. Life is surprising. If I have grander aspirations to say something different, to make my work more impactful, to really wield this power that I've come into, now's the time. And whereas I had been saying, okay, this book will leapfrog me to the next book.

I said, no, why leapfrog? Like, let's just make this the thing. Now is the time. And so I really, I went from someone who was always thinking, okay, soon, soon, everything's going to be okay soon. I'm going to change soon. If I just say yes to this, then I'll get to that. And then I said, fuck it. Let's just get to that now. Let me take the stairs two at a time because I might only get three more minutes. And that was big for me because I was someone who was so afraid. You know, I'm always so nervous. And I think I just had to tell myself, no, no, no, no, no.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, I think that's one of the things that anxiety does to us, or I think fundamentally that is what anxiety is, right? It's almost an inability to be present in the moment. You're perpetually living in the future or the past. You know, like if it's the future, you're fretting about what might come to pass. If it's the past, you're obsessing about like

how we screwed up and how like it's gonna come back to haunt us, we keep reliving it, right? But that ability to sort of say, okay, so I'm gonna be in this moment as much as I can. But for you, it's interesting, because you use the metaphor, like I'm gonna take two steps at a time. Whereas that to me says it wasn't so much about being present in the moment. It was about getting

to wherever that place is faster, but that's not what it sounds like your intention was. Right. I think if anything, what I was doing was out of fear, acting more slowly than my thoughts. I actually knew what I wanted and I was afraid to go for it. I knew that I was outgrowing the version of myself that I was. And I even had the awareness of like, okay, well, here are the steps that you should take to come into the self that you really are in your heart of hearts. And I was waiting and waiting and waiting to take those steps until finally I was like, just take them, you know? And I think that's where I've been in my life in the last few years is having the awareness to know what's not working,

but still holding on to this, like, let me just wait. Maybe life will fix this for me. Maybe someone's going to come and save me. You know, I know what I need, but I'm just going to wait and wait. And hopefully like it'll just solve itself and I won't have to try so hard. And in this sort of moment in my life, this you are here for now call to action was me telling myself, like, no one's coming to save you but yourself. And you need to be the one to do the thing that you know you want. Because if you want it, you got to go for it. And if you're not going for it, then maybe you don't want it as much as you think. And to some people, this maybe sounds really obvious.

But I think to a certain type of person who is used to taking things extra slow just in case something goes wrong or someone who is used to not trusting themselves because maybe my brain is playing a trick on me, this moment and helped me create the transformational change was working on this book about change. Because that's something I know how to control is my art and my work. And so what I am always doing in my art is making the tools that help me and then sharing them with others. And in order to change my life, I had to turn it into art first because I know how to create. I know how to create in that space. I know how to create change in my work, in my art. I don't know how to create change necessarily in my life. And so by melding the two, I tricked myself in doing it. And you know, sometimes we got to trick our brains. Sometimes our brains are too smart for their own good. And yeah, I had to pull a fast one and so far I haven't figured it out. So good for me. awful. I'm terrible. I'm a horrible person. You're like, oh, that didn't work. Let's try something else next time. Whereas that frame, so few of us bring that level of just openness and

understanding and forgiveness to the way that we step into our lives, the conversations we have, like the little things that we do all day, every day. It's like, oh, that didn't work. Let's try something else. But if you frame it as art, it's like, huh, okay. So if my life is one giant perpetual art project, and that's just the way that art is, there's a lot of forgiveness built into that. Yeah, absolutely. I think that I really do give myself a lot of leeway to fuck up because I just have so many times and it has ultimately been okay, right? If anything, that's almost like what I was trying to describe before where I let myself mess up

because I just, you know, something will change. It'll be okay. It'll work out. Maybe that's what it is. I was leaning in really hard on it'll work out because it does. And then this two steps at a time moment was like, okay, what if you want it to work out sooner?

Then what can we do to proactively make sure it works out to get to the next step? But I give myself a lot of leeway because I'm just so different than I ever expected. I grew up an Orthodox Jewish kid in Toronto, Canada. And now I am like a published author living with my gay husband in Honolulu, Hawaii. And it's like, how the fuck did I get here in 32 years? And if this is where I've gotten in that amount of time, imagine where I'll be in another 32. You know, as soon as I take a step back and I see the wild, unpredictable change, and then the tiny pathways that I actually did take that were there, it gives me a lot of hope and excitement for what comes next. And it makes it clear to me that you have to allow yourself to wander.

You have to allow yourself to get it wrong because that's the only way to get to where you need to go. I love that. As you're sitting here sharing that idea, what I can see and what our listeners can see is you're actually wearing a hat with the iHeartNY logo on it, which is really poignant in the context of what you're saying right now also because the person who created that logo, Milton Glaser, I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with six years ago. And he shared this story, which is resonant of what you were just sharing, which is that when he was in New York City, kid, he grew up in New York and he had the opportunity to either, you have to take the test to go to the big, really good prestigious schools in the city

school system. And he was supposed to take the test to go to Bronx Science, but he kind of made a left turn and took the test to go to art. And he came back the next day to his guidance counselor thinking he was gonna, and his guidance counselor was like calling him in. He's like, Milton, we need to talk. And he thought, you know, this was gonna be a bad thing.

It was gonna be a tough conversation. How could you do that? And instead the guy takes out a box of these, you of these beautiful pastels and hands them to him and says, make good art. I love that so much. You know, and it's sort of like there are these moments where just everything turns and you're not the person maybe you expected, or you're not taking the path that you expected. And maybe all these other people had different expectations for you, but it's that willingness to sort of like continue to step into your own self and not other people's expectations. That's where all the magic happens as hard as it can sometimes be.

Yeah. I think particularly when the path has diverged so wildly, it just becomes obvious that that was meant to be, you know, to, I come from a long, come from a very long lineage of Orthodox Jewish rabbis. And so as soon as it was clear, I wasn't going to be a rabbi. It was like, well, then what could I be? You know, when, when the difference is so obvious, you know, I love that Milton Glaser turn from science to art because thank God he did. He gave us so much over his career. And when you look back, the path is there. You can never see it ahead of you. But knowing that there's a path and that I've been on it all along makes walking into the unknown more manageable. Because I know that one day day I'll figure out that it was exactly what needed to happen. And so I'm not necessarily as lost as I thought. Yeah. You actually write

in your recent work, keep asking the questions. Am I placing my happiness entirely in external circumstances? Am I seeking happiness and material things or experiences or attention from others? Am I unable to source it from within at all? Am I allowing myself to sit in negative emotions for longer than is helpful? Am I avoiding the hard work, which is so relevant to what we're talking about right now? Yeah, I think writing that chapter about happiness

being sort of a choice pushed me to change my meds where I had this moment of like, Adam, you are really struggling with happiness in a way that is actually about brain chemistry. And you know this, you're smart enough to know this. You have addressed this previously. Is it possible that your body and brain have changed as you've grown up? And is it time to readjust? And I think when I talk about making my life into art and my art into life, I sometimes need to in order to analyze what's actually going on with me. So yeah, that chapter in this book also led me to change my med management. And I'm a much happier person than I was

in the last few years. And how it's almost sad to think that I put it off for so long for no good reason. Well, for the reason of mental health care in America is a huge pain in the ass. And it's very hard to find anything and get coverage and to get a new patient appointment anywhere. And they make it so hard. And how could someone who's already struggling navigate that system? But eventually I did. And I'm a much happier person for it.

And the book is not me telling everyone to take their medicine. My book is not just like 500 pages of go to therapy, go to therapy, but there's a lot of things woven in there that are rooted in truths from my life and the lives of people I care about. And it's not necessarily prescriptive, but if you read between the lines, it's all right there. And I think that that is something that I think very consciously about is how can I create artwork, whether it's a book or a t-shirt or a key chain that says what it needs to say to different people at different times.

And so sometimes a fridge magnet is just like a corny aphorism. And then other times a fridge magnet is the thing that keeps you from completely melting down. And there's so much power in simple aphorisms. There's so much power in just a nice thing that makes you happy. And it is my ultimate dream to fill the world with these sort of tchotchkes that become magical and can sort of save the day in an off moment. I love the idea of magical tchotchkes. But it is so funny, right? Because so many people would think, well, it's just one thing. It's this one phrase. It's these three words. It's this one image. It's this one character. How could that

really make a difference? And yet so often, I think it's not even the thing. It's that it triggers something inside of us that we remember about ourselves or about what we're capable of or who we really are. And it's like a gateway to, it unlocks. It's not the thing itself very often. It's what it triggers in us that reconnects us to something deeper inside of ourselves that reeks of value rather than the opposite, rather than just the maniacal spin of lack of self-worth and all the other stuff that we can spin about so easily. And it's funny because I think sometimes we have to go really deep and write these big tomes.

And often it's those little things. It's the glimpse of something that you walk by on a street where you're brought to your knees or just brought to tears because it brings you to something that's always been in there. It brings you back to it. I think about my books that way where, you know, sure, I'm writing a book and I would love for you to read it, but also books are objects. And as a graphic designer, I think about books as objects.

As an artist, I think about book titles as aphorisms that I put into the world. And so you might read my book once or you might receive it as a gift. And maybe you haven't opened it for a year, but you walk by your bookshelf and you see the title, You Are Here For Now. And it's just that quick little gut punch of, all right, this sucks today, but everything changes. I'll be okay tomorrow. I'm only here for now. And it's just that quick little gut punch of, all right, this sucks today, but everything changes. I'll be okay tomorrow. I'm only here for now. You know, it's the title, Things Are What You Make Of Them from the last book. I'm sure there are many people who read that book once. It's a quick read. And now it just sits on their shelf for four years. And it's just something that

can float in and out of your consciousness. and you can have it when you want it. All my books are one page at a time is a recovery slogan. That's not a mistake. You know, sure. It's a daily journal and I hope you love it. And it has sold a half million copies worldwide, but you don't need to even open that book to take the message of one page at a time. So I am really just trying to fill the world with these aphorisms and

messages and reminders. And they come back to me and they help me when I need them through a tagged Instagram post or my own postcard on the fridge. I'm floating these reminders out into the world for when I start to spiral out, for when I lose my marbles. I love lose my marbles as a turn of phrase, how accurate. And God, words help, art helps. If I could sing, if I could play music, I would be a musician because it's the same thing. It's the pop song that just gets you. And you're right. It's not necessarily about the thing. It's about everything that it triggers and brings up. And God, there's just so much power in it. Yeah. I wonder sometimes also if part of what's really happening too is that we are so possessed by pace these days that something like that, it just hits you.

And for a second, you just stop. You're like, okay, whatever was forcing me to run a thousand miles an hour doing a thousand different things, this just hit me in a way where it just stopped me in my tracks. And I'm pausing for a heartbeat. And maybe I'm remembering that I have a heartbeat and maybe I'm remembering that it actually feels good not to be living in that place. I mean, this is part of what you write about also is the notion of busyness. What's the actual phrase that you use in the book? Being busy is so over. And I've seen you post on Instagram. You're like, being busy is not a personality. And I know you have strong feelings about the sort of like the cult of busyness. I do. I think, you know, this is, it's not

exclusive to New York, but I knew so many people in New York for whom being busy was their whole deal. I'm running from here to here and I've got my bag full of this because I have to go to there and I'm going to run home and change and then go to this. And it's just like, at a certain point, is that what you want from your life? And if you do, okay, that's wonderful, but I didn't want it. And I wanted to fully unplug, not that I was even so there, but I needed to pull back. I think this podcast is probably that for a lot of people too. It's to go back to what you were saying. I think this is the moment to stop and slow down. And sure, you might be driving or maybe you're going for a walk, but while you're focusing here, you're slowing your mind on other

things or you're taking some version of me time. And I think that is really special and important because we are not robots. We're not machines designed to work 24-7. And it's just so easy for me to almost become that robot that I need to remind myself, yeah, busyness is not a personality. It's not something that I really want. It's not something I should aspire to. I shouldn't beat myself up for not wanting it. And that's what that reminder is about. No, I love that. I think busyness also, one of the things that it pulls us away from is other people. Yes.

Not just our own expression, but other people. I love this. You write, every connection, whether it's romantic, business, or friendship is all about us. Meeting at particular moments in our lives when we're ready, open, and have had enough of the various experiences we needed to have previously in order to bring us to this one at this point in time together and have it stick. We can't do that when we're flying around, not paying attention to the people around us. No, we really can't. And I think that there is a magic that comes with travel

where we are pulled out of those routines and we are unbusy. And that's when you are strolling down a street of shops or you're browsing a bookstore and your heart is most open. And that's when you meet people, right? I think we've all met a perfect stranger on a vacation or something like that. And it's like, you could have that at home too. You just have to let yourself have it. It's not magic that only comes from, you know, a $2,000 flight to another continent. It's just that intentional slowing down. And I'm sure that many listeners are like, yeah, no shit. No shit, Adam, you little, you know, 32-year-old punk.

But for me, I have lacked so much of this awareness. And so, some of these things that are basic to you are not basic to me and not basic to others. And so, having these sort of blunt reminders, maybe worded in a particular way, can just be so helpful. And I can really pinpoint those moments of time where the alignment was right and my awareness was open and their awareness was open and it led to transformational change for both of us. It's how I met my husband. You have to be really ready and open and willing and aware for those connections to happen. And when they do, yeah, it just, it feels, it feels like magic. Feels like a good place for us to come full circle as well.

So hanging out here in this container of good life project, if I offer up the phrase to live a good life, what comes up? I just want to be happy. I think that's my hardest challenge. And so I will spend my life doing the work to get there. Thank you. had with Morgan Harper Nichols about art and life. You'll find a link to Morgan's episode in the show notes. Even if you don't listen now, be sure to click and download it so it's ready to play when you're on the go. And of course, if you haven't already done so, go ahead and follow Good Life

Project in your favorite listening app. And if you appreciate the work that we've been doing here on Good Life Project, go check out my new book, Sparked. It'll reveal some incredibly eye-opening things about maybe one of your favorite subjects, you, and then show you how to tap these insights to reimagine and reinvent work as a source of meaning, purpose, and joy. You'll find a link in the show notes, or you can also find it at your favorite bookseller now.

Until next time, I'm Jonathan Fields, signing off for Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch Series X is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes.

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