For years, I've been connecting with interesting people and documenting insights that might help my clients and myself. What was once private is now (mostly) public.

People often ask: "How do you know all these people?" and "How do you connect these (re: random) ideas?" The answer is simple: consistent relationship cultivation and thoughtful note taking. My north star is trusting my instincts, my maps are the constellations in these reflections.

Find my Personal Archive on CultishCreative.com, watch me build a better Personal Network on the Cultish Creative YouTube channel, and follow me on social media (LinkedIn and X).

This approach has helped dozens of clients strengthen their networks and unlock new opportunities. You can:

- Steal these ideas directly 
- Hire me to implement them with you
- Create your own combination that works for you

I can't promise you'll learn from me, but you'll definitely learn something with me. Let's go. Count it off: 1-2-3-4…

Do You Know Keith Morris?

Do you know Keith Morris? He's the legendary frontman who helped birth LA punk rock as the original singer of Black Flag and founder of the Circle Jerks and Off!, plus he’s the author of "My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor" - not to mention, he's still performing at 69 years old(!).

If not, allow me to introduce you. Keith was there at ground zero when punk exploded in Los Angeles venues like The Masque, trading band names with Jeffrey Lee Pierce and playing legendary shows with lineups that included Spinal Tap, Slayer, and The Blasters for three dollars. I wanted to connect with him because he embodies something I value deeply: the relentless pursuit of artistic integrity across five decades, proving that age is no barrier to making uncompromising art.

Our conversation is LIVE now on the Just Press Record YouTube channel (and this Cultish Creative Playlist). Listen and you'll hear stories from The Masque's underground chaos, the economics of punk touring through the decades, and why being good people is the ultimate form of resistance.

THREE KEY LESSONS

In the meantime, I wanted to pull THREE KEY LESSONS from my time with Keith Morris to share with you (and drop into my Personal Archive).

Read on and you'll find a quote with a lesson and a reflection you can Take to work with you, Bring home with you, and Leave behind with your legacy.

WORK: Pay Your Dues In Every Size Room

Key Concept: Keith emphasizes that regardless of your field, there's no substitute for the experience gained from performing your craft in front of real people in real situations. Whether you're playing to 16 kids outside a bar in Mobile, Alabama or 5,000 people at the Olympic Auditorium, each experience teaches you something essential about handling pressure, reading an audience, and delivering under various conditions. The modern economy rewards those who can perform consistently across different environments.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: In Keith’s book, he talks about how he always wanted to play sports but - he was just a little dude. There’s a wild story about him going out for the football team but they didn’t even have pads or a helmet small enough to fit him so him trying out was a failure before he even got onto the field. He wanted to be a part of that community, but that community didn’t have a way make him a part of it.

But music - that was a different story for Keith. It didn’t take anything but some friends to get a song going. Sure, it was a while before there were stages and shows for what would become Black Flag, but there was nobody to say no and only other band and scene kids to push each other forward.

The act of paying your dues, of loving something and then taking it from inception to first gigs to wherever it goes, that’s what makes an artist, and that’s what forges and enduring career. Note I didn’t say star. That’s because this can just as easily make a journeyman out of an artist, if not more likely, and that’s a really important detail here.

There is no cheat code to the end. You have to pay your dues. You have to get your reps in. And, if you pay the right dues (Black Flag > Football, at least sometimes), you’ll earn the right to pay even more of them in bigger and broader settings. If the learning never stops, then neither will the love of the game.

Work question for you: What's your equivalent of Keith's small venue shows, and how are you treating those "16 kids on the sidewalk" moments as essential training rather than disappointments?

LIFE: Find Your Zone and Stay Present

Key Concept: Keith describes the transcendent state that comes from total immersion in your craft. This isn't about external validation or audience size - it's about accessing that flow state where you're completely present and operating at your highest level. At 69, Keith still experiences this "intoxication" of being fully engaged in what he does best, proving that this state of presence remains available regardless of age.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: Follow your passion is partly crap advice. Follow your talent is much better(h/t Scott Galloway). Talent is something you are good at, that others notice you’re good at, and that magical match of self and social acceptance translates into goodwill we can actually get somewhere in life with.

What passion misses and talent only partially captures, however, is the gritty reality of how working hard on something you love that others admire you can pull off, does kind of get you intoxicated. Or, wasted. (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

You have to balance the grit of getting great with the intoxication of “this is FUN for me!”

Every person I meet who has their own interview show or podcast or whatever, when I tell them I get two people to book the same time without knowing who the other person is and then come on with no pre-vetted agenda or questions, they think I’m nuts. I know I’m nuts. But this high wire act is intoxicating to me. I’ll let you decide if I’m talented at it - but if guests like Keith keep agreeing to come on, I’m calling a good enough mix of talent and passion for me to keep going.

Life Question For You: When was the last time you experienced that "intoxication" of being completely in your zone, and what conditions do you need to create to access that state more regularly?

LEGACY: Be Good People and Rise Above

Key Concept: Keith's philosophy for navigating difficult times centers on maintaining personal integrity and continuing your work regardless of external chaos. Rather than getting pulled into negativity or stopping your creative output, the resistance comes through consistency - being good people, making good art, and trusting that goodwill compounds over time. This isn't passive; it's an active choice to "rise above" and be better than those who would drag you down.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: It was on an early episode of Just Press Record, with Paul Millerd (Pathless Path) and my now-colleague (at Perscient) Ben Hunt, where Ben laid out this heartbreaker of an idea.

Ben pointed out that everywhere you go in the world, you can find good people doing good things. Then, if you ask them if it matters, those same good people doing their good things, will tell you it doesn’t matter. Ouch.

The world wants us to think that we what do in service to a corporation, or a political party, or a social structure of whatever title - is the stuff that matters. But that’s a lie. What matters is our individual acts, and our individual intents.

Ben’s answer is to make, protect, and teach. I think Keith’s would be pretty close too. At the end of our conversation with Ned, Keith got into what’s going on his neighborhood in California. The protests are being talked about on the national news in one way, and experienced on his block in a totally different way.

Keith was very aware how certain political and social structures wanted to co-opt what was really happening to serve their larger purposes. But here was Keith Morris, punk rock as ever, saying, “No,” and urging us to be good people and spread goodwill, and do our best to ignore how the larger institutions are trying to corral our thinking and tell us that our individuality doesn’t matter.

Be a big deal in your small space. Over and over. Make things for your people, protect your people, and teach the next generation - because that’s what will get humanity through.

Legacy question for you: How are you using your daily work and choices to "rise above" current challenges while staying true to your values and spreading goodwill?

BEFORE YOU GO: Be sure to…

• Connect with Keith Morris on Facebook for regular updates and insights

• Check out his book "My Damage" co-written with Jim Ruland

• Listen to more Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!

• Celebrate some scene histories at the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas where Keith does events and occasionally runs tours

• Take a moment to reflect on all these ideas!

You have a Personal Network and a Personal Archive just waiting for you to build them up stronger. Look at your work, look at your life, and look at your legacy - and then, start small in each category. Today it's one person and one reflection. Tomorrow? Who knows what connections you'll create.

Last thing: Don't forget to click reply/here and tell me who you're adding to your network and why! Plus, if you already have your own Personal Archive too, let me know, I'm creating a database.