As previously mentioned, I had a great time at XOXO this year. I’ve been thinking about the ideas that were discussed and the people I met pretty much every day since.

Two of the talks really stuck out for me and I’ve been thinking about them a lot. And because XOXO is good at sharing, now you can watch them, too.

I really loved Erin McKean‘s concept of practicing “meaningless competence.” When you’re starting something new there is a lot of incompetence. And it does get exhausting. Doing something you enjoy and that only really matters to you is one way of taking care of yourself and reviving your creativity.  Pay special attention to the last 6 or 7 minutes of her talk as it’s especially relevant to negotiating.

I was kind of floored by Rachel Binx‘s talk (by “kind of,” I mean, of course, “completely”). She was willing to be incredibly honest with us about success and failure and creating new things, all the while knowing that the talk would eventually end up on YouTube. Since then, as I try new things I think about her talk and ask myself if I’m being honest about what I’m doing or if I’m trying to protect the project from failure. Usually, I find that I’m trying to avoid the vulnerability of possible failure and whatever I’m trying to do is the worse for it. And I remember that successes don’t always feel like successes while they’re happening. Her talk has been an affectionate kick in the pants I’m very thankful for.

XOXO is posting all the talks from this year on their YouTube channel. They’re all worthy of a listen. Fair warning: grab some tissues before watching Jonathan Mann’s talk.

Featured image is by Ian Linkletter via Flickr.com under a Creative Commons License.