"Hope in the Desert." 16x20 inches. Oil on canvas.Original and prints available. When Kim and I started this adventure, we were optimistic. Very. When we decided to abandon my career as a freelance illustrator and designer, we felt very strongly that my comic strip Kim & Jason was going to hit the big time. We planned to live on Kim’s kindergarten teaching salary, which we knew would require sacrifice, but we were fairly certain that within a year, Kim & Jason would take the world by storm and we’d be exchanging phone calls with Oprah and her people. We had no idea it would take five years before we’d be able to earn a living with our business. And by earning a living, I mean simply replacing the Kim’s robust $23,000 teaching salary. It didn’t take long for the optimism that launched our big dream to fade. For much of those five years, it felt like we were living in the desert. Any encouraging email from a reader, or an order on our store that …
Don’t Stop Believin’
"Don't Stop Believin'" by Jason Kotecki. Oil on canvas.Original SOLD. Prints available here. My family went to Mexico to see whales. That’s not the only reason we went to Cabo, but then again, the whales weren’t in Mexico because they were hoping to be seen. The tour company guaranteed we'd see them or our next ride was free, but we were told that we had a one in five shot of actually seeing one breach. It was recommended that we improve our odds by booking several excursions. Our itinerary and budget forced us to take our chances. As we skipped across the waves on our small vessel, my little family prayed to St. Francis, the patron saint of animals, and we invoked St. Anthony with the words, “Tony, Tony, look around, there is something to be found.” I had faith that our little excursion was in the right twentieth percentile. Maybe our prayers were answered, maybe it just turned out to be our lucky day, but we saw this guy (or gal, I forgot to check) do this several …
How Old Were You When…
I remember one day when my son Ben signed a piece of his art with a big number 5, informing me it was “so you’ll know how old I was.” I chuckled at the time, imagining myself adding a “40” next to my signature on each of my paintings. But I actually think it's a good idea. Maybe if we saw a drawing from a five-year-old Leonardo da Vinci, we’d be surprised to see that it wasn’t very good. But it wouldn’t surprise us that a drawing from when he was nine showed considerable improvement, and perhaps even contain a spark of his genius. And maybe if we lined up all of his paintings by age, we’d more clearly see the journey he took in his career and clearly observe the process of one thing leading to another, with new discoveries opening up new areas to explore. And maybe in the work he made as an old man, we’d see ghosts of his five-year-old self, reminding us that we really are all the ages we’ve ever been. I spend too much time focusing on how I don’t measure up, rather …
Shine On: Looking for Light During Dark Times
Kim and I were invited by American Family Insurance's DreamBank to share our story about when we returned home from vacation with our three kids to find something we were not expecting. It led to an emotional roller coaster of fear, anger, and grief, but eventually evolved into an inspiring story of hope and the power of community. In this vulnerable but uplifting program, we share our journey from darkness into light. We also touch on themes from Jason’s newly released book, "A Chance of Awesome: How Changing the Way You See Changes Everything," giving tips and insight for finding the silver linings amidst the dark clouds that roll into our lives. …
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No Joke: The Life-Changing Lesson I Learned From Joker
So I saw Joker. Normally, I avoid sad movies that I know will have sad endings. (I still haven’t seen Schindler’s List or any 9-11 movies for this reason.) I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think it’s fairly obvious that the titular character doesn’t opt for a career spreading joy and goodwill entertaining children at birthday parties. Still, I do love a good backstory and was drawn in by the superhero movie vibe. Of course, Joker is no superhero movie and is not suitable for children. It is disturbing and intense. I have also come to see it as beautifully-crafted documentary on the mental health crisis, brilliantly disguised as a mainstream movie about the origins of a pop culture supervillan. My hope is that the hype and success of this movie will start new dialogues around the mental health issues that have bubbled up in our country. Between the increase of mass shootings in schools and public places, to the homelessness epidemic invading our large cities, something …
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Did You Notice the Rainbow Today?
I had the good fortune of getting invited to speak at a big conference in Hawaii, and the even better fortune of being able to bring along my family. The event was in Honolulu, and we were booked in a hotel on Waikiki Beach. Three minutes after checking in, we walked out onto our balcony and were treated to THIS view. (This is not a postcard, and I did not airbrush the rainbow in!) Trust me, in a speaking career that has spanned fifteen years, and after many, many views of ugly, rusty air conditioning units, this is NOT the norm. We had spent a week in Oahu at this point, and this was already our third rainbow sighting. The next day, on our walk to dinner downtown, we saw another one. As we stopped to savor the free gift, I noticed we were in the minority. None of the obvious locals seemed to care. I haughtily climbed upon my majestic high horse, scoffing at the cynical people who were missing out on something pretty special. How jaded! How ungrateful! How …
Why You Should Only Make Decisions While Wearing 3D Glasses
“3D Panda” by Jason Kotecki. 40″ x 40″. Oil on canvas.Original is SOLD. Prints available here. Too often, we look at our plans and big dreams with rose-colored glasses. We only see the upside, the pros, the best case scenarios. But if our dream – whatever it is – actually comes true, there will be downsides as well. As author and entrepreneur Mark Manson has pointed out, everything sucks, some of the time. Every dream – no matter how wonderful or glamorous it first appears – comes with some flavor of what he calls a shit sandwich, a lousy side effect that you have to deal with.That’s not to say we shouldn’t dream. We just need to do it with 3D glasses. When we look at something with 3D glasses, we see it from all sides: the good, sexy, photogenic slide, and the ugly, unfavorable, hideously-lit side. This allows us to behold a more realistic appraisal of the situation. In the early days of our business, I dreamed of creating a giant online retail store that …
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How to Tell When Your Dream is Not Really Your Dream
“Angry Eagle” by Jason Kotecki. 16″ x 20″. Oil on canvas.Original is SOLD. Prints available here. I spent nearly seven years writing and drawing a comic strip that wasn’t successful. Well, that’s not entirely true. People enjoyed it. It had fans. And it made a little bit of money. But it never got syndicated and didn’t generate a big enough audience or enough revenue to earn a living. And so I had to stop. It was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do, especially after pouring so much time, energy and money into that endeavor. Seven years of developing the discipline to sit down and write, even on days when no ideas come. Seven years spent drawing comic strips in a humid apartment with no air conditioning. Seven years learning the basics of business, of profit margins and net income and balance sheets. Seven years of sinking deeper into debt as we tried one idea after another in the quest to make a profit. It was a hard dream to let go of. I was …
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Giving Up Is Easy. Staying Focused is Hard
“Angry Owl” by Jason Kotecki. 16″ x 20″. Oil on canvas.Original is SOLD. Prints available here. I’ve always thought owls looked angry. That perception inspired this painting, as I decided to give him something to be angry about. But now I wonder if maybe they’re just focused. After all, perpetually being on the lookout for your next meal kind of requires your undivided attention. Likewise, in order to achieve a dream or accomplish anything worthwhile, you have to be incredibly focused. You can’t let distractions knock you off your game. One of the biggest reasons people are not as successful as they’d like to be – regardless of their definition of success – is due to a lack of focus. They keep chasing shiny objects and fail to follow through on any one initiative. As Steven Pressfield writes brilliantly in his book The War of Art, “The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” Understanding …
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How an Improv Rule Can Improve Your Life
My brother used to be in an improv group, participating in a series of unscripted games for the entertainment of an audience. He was pretty good. The ones who weren’t seem to have the same thing in common. It wasn’t a lack of talent or that they were missing a funny bone. It was their refusal to adhere to the “yes, and…" rule. It’s the difference between success and failure in an improv skit. If a fellow performer suggests that your shoes are made of marshmallows, and you say, “No they aren't. What are you talking about? These are normal shoes,” the skit dies a hard, painful, and unfunny death. Instead, you need to accept the premise, and add to it. "YES, my shoes are made of marshmallows, AND they enable me to jump over cars!” What is vital to the success of an improv skit is also the key to a successful business or a happier, more fulfilling life. It’s possible to become more resilient while positively responding to challenges with grace and effectiveness, and we …
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