By Nathan Shedroff – July 1, 2014

In case you didn’t notice, we’re already halfway through 2014. It’s time to turn and face the future—and design the one we want.

David Brin, the noted science fiction writer (and one of my favorites) wrote an article for Bloomberg six months ago describing how a new century doesn’t get started until about year 14. Brin and I must be on the same wavelength. A year ago, I asked AIGA’s executive director Ric Grefé if I could program the next incarnation of the “Gain: AIGA Design and Business Conference,” the organization’s biennial event focused on design and business. I’ve been thinking about the future for a while and have become frustrated that “progress” has seemed slow and isolated. I even launched a new degree at CCA to train pragmatic futurists.
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By Adrian Granzella Larssen for The Muse – July 2, 2014

Like many of you, I’m busy. I rarely take a day completely off, weekends included. Occasionally, my mom has to text me, “Seriously, are you alive?” because multi-day periods will go by when I can’t return her calls. And I think long and hard before taking meetings, signing up for events, or adding anything else to my already jam-packed schedule.

So, to the executives who are tired of getting requests from younger contacts looking for mentorship and advice — and now charging for their time — I get it.
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By Erin Greenawald for The Muse – June 29, 2014

When you reach out to people you admire, asking them to chat about their careers, you probably think it’s an obvious decision for them to help you. After all, who doesn’t want to use their hard-won expertise to catapult other people to success?

Well, I’ve got some bad news for you: Agreeing to meet up with you is not an easy decision for these people. In fact, in many cases, they would much rather say no.

It’s not that they’re heartless and don’t want to help; it’s just that they get a lot of these asks. You’re not the only one who wants their advice. And, unfortunately, they only have so much time to give away. In fact, the New York Post reported this week that some experts are starting to feel so taxed by the asks for help, that they’ve started charging for it (and not just the price of the cup of coffee you’re offering to buy them).

So, what can you do if you really want some guidance from someone you admire? Follow the five-step process below for asking someone busy for help — without being annoying — and you’ll make it hard for him or her to say no.
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by Kelly Goto – March 10, 2011

When I look back on periods in my life where I struggled to prove myself, and reach the next rung on the ladder of my career, it’s amazing to me to discover how much of what I went through then, I am still going through today. Time isn’t as frivolous as it used to be-sleep is more important, as are family and friends. I now know the value of time, and strive to spend it wisely.

I have spent the bulk of my life paying my dues by doing what other people asked of me, and whatever I thought was needed to get the job done. My parents encouraged me to be true to my word. This became my trademark and identifying characteristic-if I said I was going to do something, I would do it, no matter what the consequences. I started hand-lettering in the seventh grade, and won my first client through a family referral. It was my first experience with hard deadlines and all-nighters, and in the process I learned how to estimate my time, and to deliver consistently with quality and few errors.
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I have to admit that I have been run through the wringer! I’ve survived my complete immersion—baptism-by-fire—into the world of WordPress. Where’s my tee-shirt?

I also have to admit that it was completely worth all the trials and tribulations. I stretched myself in ways I thought not possible. For a little background, I will tell you that I’m primarily a designer—web and print—who also hand codes HTML, and dabbles in enough JavaScript to be a bit dangerous. By no means am I a back-end programmer! And that’s the piece that led me to WordPress.
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