We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joshua Diliberto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joshua, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I think purpose can come from a variety of sources: service to others, balance, quality, and truth are the ones that brought me the most fulfillment in life. As young humans, we often reflect “what do I want to do with my life?” I really think this is not the most important question to ask. It’s a lonely question. If our main focus is on “I,” then we isolate ourselves. I think a better question is “what is the world lacking?” Self love/care is healthy too, but I think most people are too focused on the self and that’s where balance comes in. I’ve found balance to be strangely important in life. It’s needed in almost all situations; thinking about yourself vs others, career vs family, work vs play, thinking vs doing, doing vs being, safety vs risk, etc. As an artist, I’m extreme in many avenues of my life. I’m always pushing the boundary; discovering in the unknown. While that’s important, we have to return sometimes to order, structure, and the predictable to recharge. Spending too much time in the unknown will blow up your life and if you’re dead, you can’t create.
Money is a major issue for artists. Selling art can often feel dirty and running a business is the opposite of what most artists want to do. When I first started selling my art, I couldn’t imagine being able to make a living at it because I hated the money part. I just wanted to make cool stuff, so I did. It turned out that did not make me very happy; I fell into a small depression. Now, I balance what I want with what the customer wants and it’s helped tremendously. I’ve been a professional artist for 15 years now and I have great happiness and purpose in my life.
Focus on quality is a great way to add purpose to your life. Pushing toward betterment in all aspects of life will help drive you toward ultimate good (or for the religious “God.”). For the secular, ultimate good is subjective/undefined, but we all intuitively aim toward what is better. We can be wrong from time to time, but the overall effect is that our lives get better and our civilizations get better over time. I have no idea toward what end we are all bettering, but all I can tell you is that life would be horrible without it.
Truth is similar to quality. It’s one of few things in life that doesn’t balance with it’s opposite. We don’t strive toward balancing truth with lies for example. We aim toward truth, we aim toward quality. We will never reach them. There is no end to the journey. There is no perfection for life, but we struggle onward anyway. Struggling toward truth and quality is one way toward purpose. Alternatively, acceptance is the path to peace.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Professionally, I call myself an artist, but that is a broad term. Realistically, I’m a manufacturer, engineer, teacher, writer, photographer, sales person, website designer, vendor, kit maker, drawer, painter, system designer, researcher, mathematician, business owner, and more. My favorite part about what I do is discovering new chainmaille weaves.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I would say my best qualities are conscientiousness, creativity, and openness to new ideas. These things are mostly innate, but everyone is born with talents in come areas. Persistence is my best advice. No matter what you feel on the inside keep trying, do what you think is right, and make the world a better place. Exercise your free will or it will decay.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I think we all rely on someone at sometime to help us. My ex-wife was most helpful to me when I was first starting my career as an artist. She worked and paid the bills while I did my art and tried to sell it at shows. I’ve always been very grateful to her for this. It took about 8 years for me to be able to make enough money to survive on my own. My advice would be to do what you can to help out and always return the favor when someone else needs help.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.joshuadiliberto.com/JD_newWebPages/index.php
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshua.diliberto.3/
