I get pretty much a free rein to write what I like (…) And that’s the bloody problem.

I have been trained, Pavlovian dog-style, to respond to a brief. I know how to take a brief, apply a little lateral thinking and create a serviceable, if not always groundbreaking, piece of communication.

We all dream about how wonderful things would be without the constraints of a brief. Oh, how wonderful it would be to have creative freedom, real creative freedom. Well, I’m telling you there is a reason that most real artists end up destroying themselves and/or those around them. When you remove the brief, you end up in one hell of a scary place.

I’d argue that it’s a tiny minority of people the ones that can work with real freedom. They don’t create to solve a need. They just create. If that creation ends up unleashing a need, that’s a different issue. Although I’m tempted to connect this “talent” with entrepreneurship, I quickly realize that I’m way off. Like in any other profession, most entrepreneurs create only after they had recognized a pain. On the other end, there’s people in a wide range of professions that create their best work only when they aren’t answering to anyone or anything.

Although we all dream of working without a brief, working with a brief gives us something to measure ourselves against. It gives us a nice, wide set of goal posts and a nice comfortable set of crutches. Clients give us the money and time, and all the excuses we will ever need.

When you aren’t free, you can rationalize any results. Even worse:  you can rationalize your intentions.

I have therefore learned to love the brief like it is my own comfy little cell. It’s more than comfy; in fact, it’s like one of those cells that drug barons get to stay in. You know, the ones where they can pretty much live the life they want to so long as they don’t walk out the front gate. It is a cell, but it’s a very nice cell.

To hell with creative freedom… what about just freedom? The one we claim to enjoy, seek, fight for, miss, or whatever relationship you may have with it. What are we doing with it?

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment. We don’t want pure freedom.

We just want some wiggle room.

(By the way, if you are in Perth, or visit Western Australia often and want to hit me up, please do! You can reach me at carlos@owlsparks.com).

- Cultural challenge:

I know my country too much. I can walk down the busiest part of Buenos Aires while listening to music and reading a book (with fantastic comprehension), and I can assure you I won’t trip, bump into somebody else or cross a red light even once. I may be able to do this as well in Perth, but I won’t want to because I care about what’s out there. New things to see and listen to.

- Personal challenge:

I’m a challenge-junkie. The good thing is that I aim high. The bad thing is that I get bored easily. This is why I always say that you don’t need have to settle. But you should know when and how to do it.

On a related note, this is why I’m starting to embrace the entrepreneur in me: the challenge usually lasts much longer.

- Early corporate pinnacle:

I was working as the youngest employee in the highest profile sector of one of Argentina’s top 5 companies. I got that job by the time I was 21, and I was working with people no less than 10 years older than me. With everyone promising me a bright corporate future and comfort, I realized that I could just turn on the autopilot and my work life would be pretty much solved, since the work experience in that company would open up doors for me in any other company, and I could always stay at that job and keep climbing the ladder.

Depending on who you are, this may be the best or worst discovery that you can have at a young age. For me, it was the latter.

- Education in Argentina:

I studied for 4 years in Argentina, the first 2 in the best public school (politic science), and the other 2 in the best private school of marketing. The first time I didn’t like the degree, but both times I had too much criticism towards the system. In Perth I’ll either try a new system, or realize that the education worldwide shares the same flaws. Whatever the case, it’s worth checking out.

- False notion of requirement of traditional education in modern fields of study. I got the dream job without having a university degree. In other words, I got the job that my degree was supposed to take me to. It’s hard not to question the value of mainstream education after that.

Important clarification: Traditional degrees will always be necessary. You need to study medicine if you want to be a doctor. But modern degrees have become nothing but inflated products of these companies known as schools. After all, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson didn’t study marketing…

- Less known mediocrity:

Mediocrity is everywhere, but new mediocrity will still be fascinating. Always choose the less known mediocrity.

- Network and language improvement:

I want to perfection my English and expand my network. Moving to a new country is the best way to do this, and fast.

- Currency and cost:

Australia is one of the cheapest English speaking countries with top class education.

- Australia’s economical situation:

Thanks to their mining industry and the growth of Perth in particular, Australia has been one of the countries that better handled the crisis. I’m planning to graduate here, and have a valuable and big network by the time Australia is back on the top of the expansion wave, hopefully in 2 or 3 years.

- My bet on Perth:

The previous point applies particularly to Perth. Perth is ridiculously rich on minerals, and it has been focusing intensively on that industry in the last years. If you also consider its geographical location (nearest Australian city to India and China), you understand why it has been growing over 40% a year. It has played a major role in the expansion of those two countries of the BRIC, and I’m hoping to be here when the pessimism is over.

- Big dip, big payoff:

Perth is the most isolated city in the world. It took me 32 hours in total to get here from Buenos Aires. Few people would choose it as a destination, especially from South America. And that’s why I came here. The bigger the risk, the bigger the possible payoff.

- Weird background:

I already have a pretty unusual background of experience, hobbies and networks for my age and nationality (I haven’t met one Argentinian since I got here). Add Perth to the mix (with all that it implies), and I’ll be unique. I don’t know if for the good or bad, but unique for sure. I hear that being remarkable is kind of a big deal.

- Education as a way in:

To accomplish what I want, I need to spend a long time here. Coming here to study was the best way to do it because of all the visa limitations that countries like Argentina have. In all honesty, my decision to study here is just a mean to achieve my other goals. The academic education is a distant second. Or fourteenth.

- A girl:

Some time ago, one girl made me want to become the best possible version of myself. She started this snowball.

This is the kind of motivation that I like.

You don’t tell a kid he can be the best just because it’s easier for you to give a positive message, you don’t let him win.

You challenge him. You humiliate him. You make him understand that you are between him and greatness.

This is how you weed out the people that aren’t hungry enough from the people that will remember that humiliation and work harder to get back at you.

Let’s stop the undeserved praise, let’s raise the bar. Massive assumptions of potential only create complacency.

I really like Kobe’s attitude. That 14 y/old kid will either be great, or he is going to be no one. But a “Will-Smith-Pursuit-of-Happiness-motivation” wouldn’t have changed that.

***************************************************

PS: I’m not replying anymore to comments that mention how my posts are “passive agressive” attacks to some blogger. Not wasting my time with stupid arguments.

In the imaginary small town of Jante there is an informal, oppressive law that forbids anyone from standing out from the crowd:

The Law of Jante

1. Thou shalt not believe thou art something.
2. Thou shalt not believe thou art as good as we.
3. Thou shalt not believe thou art more wise than we.
4. Thou shalt not fancy thyself better than we.
5. Thou shalt not believe thou knowest more than we.
6. Thou shalt not believe thou art greater than we.
7. Thou shalt not believe thou amountest to anything.
8. Thou shalt not laugh at us.
9. Thou shalt not believe that anyone is concerned with thee.
10. Thou shalt not believe thou canst teach us anything.

We are now living in Jante.

Better has died.

There are many reasons behind this, such as the need for empowered individuals that can consume stuff and an exaggerated fascination with democracy, to name a few. However, I want to focus on the fear of violence.

The horror of wars and recent dictatorships have made us afraid of the consequences that fighting for an idea may have. We worry that trying to impose objectivity will inevitably lead to some sort of authoritarianism and physical retaliation. Past (and still fresh) violence has left a bad reputation in people’s ability to handle disagreements. We prefer to say “to each its own” because we believe that a new Hitler can be just around the corner.

Terrorists prove everyday that this possibility is very real. Their blind and retarded belief in a “better scenario” lets them justify any atrocity to humanity. And this is why we need to learn from the past, not ignore it. We need to embrace the intensity of a war and apply it exclusively in an intellectual setting. It’s the year 2010, we have to be able to separate our ideas from our bodies.

Everyone should live with their needs covered in a peaceful society that respects every individual, I’m all for equality in every aspect of life. We can’t let any kind of moral debate overrun human rights.

But when it comes to debating, let’s beat the shit out of each other. We can’t keep putting our emotional fragility before intellectual objectivity either. Let’s stop respecting each others’ feelings so much.

Like Philip Pullman says, no one has the right not to be offended (h/t to Tyler for sharing):

In a world where feelings are a priority, quality of life, ideas and morals drop.

In a world where feelings are a priority, conflict and improvement become taboo.

In a world where feelings are a priority, mediocrity rules.

Here’s to a world that values rationality, logic, quality and growth before fear, feelings and ignorance.

Here’s to the end of Jante.

This priceless collectible will permit you to be surrounded by hobby-less assholes whose entire life is dictated by billing by the hour and being anal dickheads. Additionally, this piece of paper has the amazing ability to keep you from doing what you really want to do in life, all in the name of purported prestige and financial success. Finally, girls in the Marina will swoon with retarded thoughts of sugar daddy when they hear you went to XXX prestigious law school and are a lawyer.

It’s a tragedy when remarkable people realize they are remarkable too late.

This case proves the sad reality that has struck me recently:

Context trumps individuality.

The reason an out-of-the-box thinker and ambitious person may follow a traditional and less fulfilling path is because either a) the societal pressure is too strong to avoid, or b) the context lacks the tools, means and support to exploit that capacity.

The reason I relate to this lawyer, is that we both realized too late that with a different context and more support for our ambitions, we would have gotten further. I will always wonder where I would be if I would have been born in the US, or at least, in another first world country that had similar intellectual opportunities.

For example, when I think of Colin Wright or Ben Casnocha, friends that have achieved much more than I did so far, I feel that I lost the race. Not the race with them (although I am competitive), but the race with myself had I had their context.

The obvious response is that things couldn’t have happened in any other way and that I wouldn’t have realized this if I hadn’t been through what I did. While true, the possibilities that escaped me since day one (and still do) are too many to be ignored in a flat world.

Another harsh realization of late awareness is the need to lower my expectations. While others were taking advantage of the entrepreneurial culture and taking unconventional paths, I spent most of my life realizing that there was such a thing as an entrepreneurial culture and an unconventional path.

While others were doing, I was catching up. I’m way behind on the path that society considers successful.

And there are real barriers, such as language, visa requirements and currency exchange, to name a few. While not impossible to overcome, they are permanent weights that slow down anyone that has to deal with them.

The hardest truth is this: The world doesn’t give a crap about what I’ve done so far. The world wants start-ups, Fortune 500 corporate experience and world traveling knowledge. It doesn’t care about self-realizations and unconventional personal philosophies, however hard it was to reach them.

This is not a regret. It’s coming to terms with reality. It’s what every ambitious person who lacks a supportive context has to understand:

My definition of success has to be unique and personal, because it will never match the world’s.

He compiled 30 young and promising bloggers’ definition of success and their way to achieve it, and created a very inspiring and quick to read ebook that will make you work hard to reach your success, whatever it means to you.

Download the free ebook here.

Here are my expanded responses:

What is success?

Success is living in your own terms, without regrets and regardless of societal achievements.

You can’t win such an ambiguous game without coming up with your own set of rules. Those rules will be your guide if you take the time and put the work to be serious about them.

Regrets of what you did and went wrong are life lessons. Regrets of what you didn’t do are poisonous nostalgia. When in doubt, always say yes. To keep moving, to keep acting, to keep risking is the only way to create an unbreakable and successful mindset.

Society will try to impose your goals. In most people’s case, it succeeds. You should ignore it consciously. Tell to yourself and others that your life belongs to you and not to history and its customs.

How do you achieve it?

You get there after questioning and realizing what matters to you, and by taking the required steps to make it real.

People’s values are either found by themselves, or supplied by the world. Avoid the latter. Take your time to question everything and create your own collage of relevancy. And believe me, it takes time. That’s why most people only have society’s printed copy.

Thinking hard is only half of the solution. Working hard comes next. Like Dr. Kelso once said: “Nothing in this world that’s worth having comes easy.” Now go out there and start doing the work.

They are the pinnacle of easy entitlement.

Another example of the celebration of averageness that democracy and consumerism have created.

One more way to weaken our tolerance of failure and to stop bettering ourselves.

Believing that potential, hard work and ambition are given by the decade you were born, is the same as believing that potential, hard work and ambition are given by your constellation.

Let’s keep making everyone think they are great.

After all, the next generations will have to pay for our “greatness.”

How will some of us be the world changers that we dream of being, if we are going to silently accept everything everyone does?

It’s one thing to let everyone enjoy their time here the way they want to, but it’s a whole different story to let everyone dictate the rules the way they want to. The fact that you enjoy surfing or hiking does not affect the world. The fact that you are a democrat or republican does.

How long would you shut up and let others tell you what you should do? After all, Hitler was trying to do his own thing convinced that it was the best path for the world.

Look, if you think something’s wrong, you try to fix it. Why should other people’s actions and opinions be any different?

Yes, conflict will arise. The moment we start avoiding it, we become average. No significant event throughout history would have occurred if it weren’t for conflict. Caesar, Alexander, Gandhi, Obama. They didn’t let others call the shots. They did it themselves. To have any sort of impact during your time here, you have to be confident enough to “destroy” other people’s visions of what should be done.

Every time the world has had a problem, we have had conflict. Not with the problem, but between ourselves. It has always been a matter of one vision trumping the rest. Conflict is what brings a solution.

The problem is that nowadays we all want to “get along.” That sounds beautiful, but it’s impossible. Democracy is expanding throughout the world, so it’s only logical to have MORE conflict now that individuals have been empowered, not less. This democratic way of solving conflict has caused a very harmful effect: ignorance now has a voice.

Ignorance now can decide.

This is why marketing is so important, and also why our world is not the best possible version of itself (and never will be). Because for your solution to prevail you have to communicate it better than anyone else, not have the best one.

In the end, I need to trust my vision, and you should trust yours. We need to clash, someone should triumph and the other one should keep his own thing to himself. Otherwise the most mediocre and damaging ideas will also become real. I won’t let that happen.

People, if we can’t accept this, if we are going to keep trying to avoid conflict and get along, then we have become too weak to see any real change happen.

It’s not the time to be soft, it’s time for civilized conflict.

Fight for any idea that you believe in, even if that hurts someone else’s, and let the best one win.

As you’ll see on the video, my English is not that good when I have to actually speak it.

I wanted to thank all the readers of this humble blog, every spark is a blast thanks to the amazing debate and criticism. Again, thank you.

Random goals for 2010:

1) Move to Perth, Australia in June. Contact me if you’re going to be there!

2) Build a location independent income to support every expense.

3) Keep smiling my way through life.

4) Maintain and strengthen my existing relationships online. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for them.

5) Be a great example of the “Untemplate” lifestyle. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Stay tuned, you’ll understand soon!

What a great year it has been. And what great year it will be.

Why? Because it’s always a matter of perspective.

You can’t lose with the right perspective.

The series is called “Spread The Wealth For Artists”, and my post “Why Artists Are Having Trouble Making Money” is up.

Read my guest post here.

You can subscribe to Art and Avarice here, and follow Milena on Twitter here.

Let me say that this was one of the most interesting topics I’ve ever written about, and I want to thank Milena for letting me be a part of the series.

Enjoy.