Christopher Cant

I'm interested; what is the purpose behind this? What is it that defines a bad habit, and a good one?

Hi Pere, I cant say I know anything about fame or even making a living, but I've been practising digital painting for 7 years now, and I have ideas about where I want I want to go with it. Something you may not have considered is taking a look at twitch.tv/creative and seeing what various artists get up to there. Patreon and Kickstarter have also provided opportunities for many artists to find a small amount of compensation, and a few to flourish. I think the digital scene is currently shifting slowly away from studio employment and freelance, into crowd-funded, self published products.

@Spacious Also in Bristol, UK

In the end, you'll have read all that you need to, so don't worry about how you start.

I've taken a lot from RSDFreetour on youtube for social confidence. Warning, its geared towards helping young single guys get laid, but if you can filter out what you don't resonate with, there's some really great information in there about building an inner foundation of confidence.

@Life with joe thanks for starting the conversation

I started very small and just tried to develop my technical art skills. From there I taught myself about nutrition and weightlifting, and now the ball keeps rolling and the things I am learning about are becoming higher and higher concept, with bigger and bigger vision. So that would be my advice from my own personal journey; start small, in a field that doesn't intimidate you too much, and learn how to learn. The rest can come later.

Wow@Life with joe , you've certainly seen some dark places. I'm glad you've done well. My own father commit suicide when I was 21. This reduced me to a very low point; I felt worthless, and as an example, I didn't have sex or get any employment for the following 5 years. I hid in solitude. However, through that I have grown into a very skilled painter, and can create art that I would never have dreamed for myself. The last couple of years I have been tackling a lot of my neuroses, and growing in many other areas. My vision has awakened, so to speak. I am pursuing financial independence, in a way that feeds my vision, and that I believe in. I'm undoubtedly the happiest I've ever been. I've begun to see the low points in life as beautiful opportunity, to grow.

Name: Christopher Cant Age: 28 Gender: Male Location: Bristol, UK Occupation: Self-/Unemployed Artist Marital Status: Single Kids: No Hobbies: Painting/World-Building (not exactly a hobby at this point), Livestreaming, Cycling, Weight lifting, Personal Development I started writing what I felt like was the full story, but it ended up being too long, so I'll make a new thread for that. I'll just say that I found Actualized.org and RSD in the last year, but I have been teaching myself how to improve at specific skillsets for the last 7 years, and I have felt a huge amount of personal success. However, the vision I have for myself has exploded into something massive, and I am going to keep working and building myself bigger and bigger. I feel I have to create something huge and inspiring, and leave a giant footprint on the world. Also, I currently live off the benefits system, but I don't feel too much shame any more; it has been a huge part of my journey. I am actively pursuing financial independence. Personal challenges I've overcome: Built my technical skill as an artist to a crazy degree when I really consider it. Mostly beat my crippling issues with self-image and confidence Learnt a lot about weightlifting, bodybuilding and paleo nutrition Mostly beat my doubt, guilt, embarrassment, shame, for being within the benefit system. What I'm working on now: Eliminating Perfectionism Building myself an income Expanding my vision Minimising procrastination habits Something I find myself calling 'becoming socially powerful' Resuming a healthy relationship with exercise and weightlifting What I hope to tackle in the future Social Dynamics / Pick-up Educating other creatives on how to self-actualize