I don’t know when exactly I first came across the work of Aaron Draplin, but he has become one of my favorite people to follow and I have come to love his work and outlook on life. He is raw, honest, and speaks from the heart (and references crying a lot in his talks). Draplin started his career in the snowboarding industry, and moved on to work for a wide range of clients (including the U.S. Government) and created the best memo book available, Field Notes.
Recently, he did a Creative Mornings talk (a great series of talks taking place around the world started by the brilliant Tina Roth Eisenberg aka SwissMiss) entitled the “The DDC 50 Point Plan To Ruin Yer Career”. It’s recorded as a 50-minute video, and was one of the best lectures I’ve ever watched. If you don’t have the time to watch it, I jotted down his 50 point plan and transcribed it below (Warning: Lots of foul language below, deal with it). Many won’t make sense without watching the video, but there are certainly some great points in the list below.
The DDC 50 Point Plan To Ruin Yer Career
1. Enjoy the goddamned moment
2. Love where you are from
4. Frequent eateries that use decimal points in their menus
5. Know Your Fucking Condiments
6. Get out there and get dirty
7. And then, share what you find
9. Know yer tools and be thankful they exist
10. Go wherever they’ll send you
11. Shed any goddamned sense of entitlement
12. Provide proof of bonafide graphic art existence using multimedia
13. Fight for the long dogs
15. Exhibit a little humility
16. Quit spending yer money on bullshit
17. Be wary of certain business professionals
18. Pay of those fucking school loans already
20. Turn yer back on organized sports
23. Take color theory seriously
24. Make room for some magic
27. Be ready for when they call you up to the big leagues
31. Know what really matters in the end
32. Buy things made in America
33. Question stuff constantly
34. Know who’s got the power
36. Grab yer social media by the throat
37. Savor the little stuff
38. Support yer local rock bands
39. Know all the shades of being “professional”
40. Don’t worry about awards
41. Quit saying the word, “dude”
45. Treat the UPS guy, mail lady and printing pressman like they are gold
47. And don’t forget about the things you hate
48. Learn to roll with the good, bad and the ugly.
49. Work hard and love this shit
50. Be thankful for everything
If you enjoyed this list and video, check out these other great videos “Why America is f*cked [graphically at least]”, Interview for YoBeat.com Part 1, Part 2, Insights 2012 Lecture.
Follow Draplin’s individually numbered Tweets and check out the rest of his work.
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