Neil Gaiman Commencement Speech: Make Great Things. Learn From Failure.

"Someone asked me recently how to do something she thought was going to be difficult ... and I suggested she pretend that she was someone who could do it. Not pretend to do it, but pretend she was someone who could."

A trait of pretty much all the people I know who society would view as "very successful" is they seem to do this automatically all the time. Their confidence gets them into higher profile situations where there is opportunity to succeed and once there their mindset maximizes their chances of doing so.

A trait of the few people I know who I'd describe as "exceptionally bright" is they don't do this because they are too aware of their limitations.

People who fit into both groups I think are rare ... and quite something.

"People keep working, in a freelance world, and more and more of today's world is freelance, because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don't even need all three. Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. They'll forgive the lateness of the work if it's good, and if they like you. And you don't have to be as good as the others if you're on time and it's always a pleasure to hear from you."

One of my favorite gems. I really appreciated how much of his talking about art, creation and freelancing was so incredibly applicable in this day and age of technological creation. What a great speech.

link to the speech in comic form http://zenpencils.com/comic/50-neil-gaiman-make-good-art/

That was cool. Never hear of the guy, but gave some good life advice. I've just figured out what I love so I'm about to start a programming/IT degree and I plan to 'make good art'.

Thank you for this, it really resonated with me.