What I Wish I Knew: Navigating the geography of a creative life requires a compass not a mapGood people are better than talented people + the 24-hour rule (Issue #300)Published inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now--Welcome to day two of Wish I Wish I Knew week, where were sharing everything wed tell our past selves if we could go back in time. Today, weve got a brief but worthwhile addition to yesterdays topic (career wisdom) from a slightly different angle: Srinivas Rao list of 40 things he wishes hed known about building a career as a creative person. Rao is the host and founder of the Unmistakable Creative podcast. Hes interviewed over 1,000 creative people actors, recording artists, novelists, cartoonists, and more about how they built weird, wonderful careers that dont follow established tracks.The lessons he shares on Medium dont just apply to a career, they apply to all creative pursuits (career or otherwise).One lesson Rao wishes hed known when he was struggling to create something that would matter to people? Great work always begins with an audience of one. Try to make something you actually love, which takes a willingness to be honest with yourself (and lived experience about how it feels when youve made something youre obsessed with vs. not).Also, and I really appreciated this one: How you measure success can radically change how you feel. If youre using an external benchmark (especially a quantified one, i.e. number of fans, likes, or shares) youll always be unsatisfied (Rao calls these resume values). If youre instead trying to live up to eulogy values (i.e., having an impact on peoples lives in ways that are deeply felt and cant be quantified), youll probably feel much more fulfilled.Thats just the beginning you can read more from Rao here. Harris Sockel What you wish youd known*Robert Roy Britt, editor of Wise & Well on Medium, lists everything he wishes hed known before taking a corporate job. For example: Good people are better than talented people.Karen McLaughlin pens a letter to her 44-year-old self, wishing that someone had given that person a wakeup call about what midlife had in store and urged her to keep up with the prehab exercises, the core work, the stability and mobility drills. (Humans tend to age most dramatically in our mid-40s and early 60s.)High-school counselor Carol Caruso advises her past self to enact the 24-hour rule when possible because most things arent as urgent as they seem.*If you have a list of wisdom to share for your past self, publish on Medium and use the tag What I Wish I Knew. Well feature more of these later in the week! A dose of practical wisdomBeing good at something is not about being right the first time. Its often about being confident enough to let go of ego and be receptive to other peoples contributions. Ben Nolan, What improv comedy has taught me about content design