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Time is Art, and You’re Fucking It Up
I’ve been around creative people my entire life. Hell, I am one. And as much as I love us—our eccentricities, our vision, our ability to craft beauty out of chaos—I’ve also seen us torpedo ourselves time and time again for one simple reason: so many of us don’t respect time.
Now, I’m not coming at this from some high horse. I’ve botched schedules myself. Missed emails. Double-booked meetings. Jesus, I’ve had. an uncomfortable number of double-bookings just this past month and I’m looking at myself, thinking, “fuck, dude, what’s messing you up? You can’t do that.”
So I get it. Time slips away, and sometimes you just get caught in the whirlwind of your own making. But I try to catch it when I do. I make up for it, and I course-correct. Because here’s the thing: those mistakes, while forgivable, can’t become a way of life.
And yet, for so many creatives, they are precisely that: how they live. I know folks who could be doing incredible, world-changing work if they’d only respond to a message within a week or show up 5 minutes early, who can’t grasp the rhythm of their commitments because they’re too busy marching to their own beat. And sure, in some cases, that’s part of their charm. “That’s just how they operate,” we say, as if excusing their inability to count the beats to the symphony of life is doing anyone a favor.
Being Creative Isn’t an Excuse
Let me say it plainly: this isn’t something we should applaud, and it sure as hell isn’t something we should normalize. Being an artist, a dreamer, or a “free spirit” isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card for being unreliable. Creativity isn’t some divine excuse to disrespect other people’s time.
You can be eccentric without being flaky. You can march to your own drum and still keep step with the world around you. It’s possible—dare I say, necessary—to honor both your own process and the commitments you make to others. Because when you don’t? It’s not just you who suffers. It’s the people who believe in you, who depend on you, who are rooting for you to succeed.
And here’s the kicker: when you don’t respect time, people stop respecting you. It doesn’t matter how brilliant you are, how visionary your ideas might be. If you’re the person who always cancels last-minute, who never replies, who can’t manage a calendar, eventually people stop calling. They stop trusting you. And then, all that brilliance? It sits alone in a room, unheard and unseen.
I straight up refuse to work with people who can’t keep their shit within some semblance of organization, or if I am working with them and it dawns on me they they are chaotic, I immediately cut ties. And I’m sure that there are many more who do the same.
A Call to Step Up
This isn’t about being perfect. It’s not about clocking in and out like some 9-to-5 drone. It’s about looking out for each other, plain and simple. Because when you respect time—your own, and everyone else’s—you’re saying, “I care. I value you. I’m here for this.” And isn’t that what creativity is supposed to be about? Connection? Shared experience? Showing up for each other in ways that matter?
So if you’re reading this and you’re nodding along, thinking of the people in your life who can’t seem to get it together—maybe it’s time to say something. Encourage them. Support them. Help them find tools that work for them, whether it’s a simple calendar app, a habit tracker, or just someone to remind them that being late to your own party isn’t cute, it’s a problem.
And if you’re reading this and thinking, “Yeah, that sounds like me”—well, here’s your nudge. Step it up. Not because you have to, but because you owe it to yourself, your work, and the people who believe in you. Mistakes happen. Life is messy. But the symphony of life? It needs every one of us to play our part, on time and in harmony.
Time is Art
Time isn’t some rigid, corporate construct. It’s a canvas. And when you respect it, you can paint something extraordinary. So, let’s stop smudging the edges. Let’s stop hiding behind our quirks. Let’s show up, for ourselves and for each other, and create something that lasts.
Noteworthy Developments
I’m starting to not keep track of my wins. Which isn’t, like, to say that I’ve got soooo many to report on, but that I’ve just got my head down doing stuff most of the time it doesn’t occur to me.
I feel like some might say, “yes, that is the correct way of doing things.” And I’d sort of agree with that. I’m also habitually trying to be humble, and so chiming in to announce your successes can also rub my subconscious the wrong way.
But you know what? Fuck that. I won. That’s cool. Possibly inspiring. So yeah, I want to scream that into the void, to prove it wrong. And you should too.
The Delphi Network Explores Hachijojima
I’ve been advising The Delphi Network for over a year now, and am more convinced than ever that it is the executive network in Japan that has the correct approach to business community development. Top-tier intelligence, highly curated membership, and a distinct focus on value for cost, its activities and leadership embody the efficient and efficacious business practices I often strive for.
While there are many exciting developments I’d like to gush about regarding TDN, without a doubt the one I am most excited by is our upcoming exploratory trip to Hachijojima (one of Tokyo’s remote tropical islands). This year, we began hosting weekend retreats for members outside of the major metro area as a reprieve from the stresses of the city and highly controlled schedules of Tokyo’s foreign executives. A place to access a different headspace without much of an agenda with similarly positioned peers, where novel ideas could be explored.
With Hachijojima, we’re leaning further into that theme. The intent with this trip is to determine if a remote tropical island just 50 minutes by plane from Haneda Airport is an appropriate place to develop new experiences for our members.
My hunch, and my hope, is that it definitely is.
Surf & Turf in Makinohara
I was recently put in touch with Jon Omori of Webull Securities who also works with the city of Makinohara, Shizuoka on their promotional initiatives. Coming up next month, they’ve got a private surfing and cuisine experience for 15 select guests, and I’m glad to say they extended an invitation to me due to my work with rural communities and non-standard real estate.
I’m excited for a few reasons about this, but mayyyyybe the biggest reason is that I’ll finally get to surf this year and it’s on a business trip!
New Photos from Michael Holmes
I’ve been working with Michael Holmes Photography for probably 12 years now, and I definitely consider him my personal photographer. I’m a huge proponent of keeping your own visual brand rather up to date, and so I consider him an invaluable resource.
Worship Pain Website
For years, nay, decades at this point, I’ve both lamented and raged against independent artists’ severe allergy to actually representing themselves online. Bands in Japan’s underground in particular are historically awful at representing themselves - they would, after all, be more visible if they were any good at promotion.
So I was pretty gung-ho about getting my own band, Worship Pain, online, and here’s the current version of my work on that.
And if you know any artists that are digitally shooting their own foot off by stubbornly refraining from participating in online branding and commerce, show them this and point ‘em my way ;)
Kombucha Bonanza
I mentioned that I started making kombucha, which has been an excellent experience from the start, but I was keeping it at the first phase of fermentation, which is the creation of the raw stuff. There’s a second phase where you introduce flavoring - usually via fruit or aromatics - and bottle it, which I finally got around to doing and that’s taken the production process to an even better phase.
But! That stuff can get wildly carbonated! The first one I opened completely exploded out of the bottle, literally emptied the entire batch in a fountain of bubbles. Cool, but also not something you want to happen in your kitchen. So the next one I decided to take outside.
A Really Great Date
This one’s kinda private so no details, but hey while I’m talking about wins I might as well give myself a major high five for a real magical date with a real magnetic woman. Can’t wait for the next one.
There’s More To Come
Once again, I had way more items than I could possibly list efficiently in the newsworthy section, so that’s not all and, as ever, there’s much more to come.