We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paul Lukes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Paul below.
Paul , sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
First off let me state that I know some people may differ in opinion, but I think addiction is a mental health issue. I am a recovering addict (11.5 years clean now in 2024) and making it through the throes of addiction and the deep levels of despair and suffering that come along with it is something that I’ll never stop being proud of. That being said, I know getting clean is not curing cancer and I don’t think it’s really worthy of a nobel prize or anything. But I sure am glad I made it out alive when a lot of my peers and friends haven’t.
To overcome the challenges of addiction the first and most important thing was for me to open myself up to help and ask for it. Then I had to get honest, with others and with myself most of all. Then I had to open my mind up to new ways of living and finally I had to be willing to do the work. And this model of growing through recovery has really served me well in my life in general. It’s taught me that no matter how much I think I know, there’s always room for growth and room for me to be wrong and learn new lessons. It’s taught me to allow my belief system to be malleable and to not cling too hard to my own self image. It also taught me that when I’m faced with any struggles or turmoil in life to always look inward first and see what my role is in things. Usually it’s within my power to affect my own sanity or serenity and this was a crucial realization for me.
I also learned to practice acceptance and surrender when things are outside of my control. Practicing active gratitude with gratitude lists, daily meditation and journaling practices are also a fundamental part of me maintaining my recovery and my sanity. It’s a daily maintenance sort of thing and every day I learn more and add to and adjust my rituals.
In addition, I am really lucky to have an amazingly supportive partner who not only is my rock through it all, but is also willing to call me on my b.s when I need a reality check. So having a partner who truly has your best interest at heart is also really important.
Life is not perfect, but I can get through anything it throws at me with the proper support and tools at my disposal. The key is to cultivate all of these things long before a crisis comes along and you really need them. Building habits when things are good so that they’re second nature when things get tough.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Right now I am primarily focused on design and creative direction for musicians/artists as well as businesses making the world a better place. I help clients bring a unique aesthetic to their brand and I think what makes my approach unique is my ability to create in a style that is appropriate to each client, ranging from something really corporate, clean and minimal to something more expressive and wild. In addition to our stylistic versatility, really digging in with research to determine our client’s problems so that we can best ascribe solutions that will deliver for them is another big value we bring to the table. We have ways of researching their brand, their competition and distilling down the messaging and values in a way that helps their brands speak to their audience in a concise, focused and compelling fashion.
If anyone wants to know more about our process, we offer one hour consultations to start.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’ve been told I am “unflappable” which I think means I don’t let things get to me easily. I think having a really thick skin and being able to hear “no” a lot and still stay super persistent with your efforts is key to being successful. Piggy backing off of that, I think being able to hear feedback and take it in a constructive way and apply it to what you do is also important. Like if you don’t succeed right away, figure out what you can do better, ask for input and then act on that input. So having that hunger for improvement and then living in a way the reflects that is crucial. And lastly, and this should go without saying, but having integrity is absolutely crucial. So when you say you will be somewhere, be there and be there on time or early. Following through on your word and being someone that people can count on really makes a difference. So many people are so flakey these days that being reliable is almost a rarity unfortunately. I could go on with this list but I think those are three really important qualities that have helped me a lot.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
My ideal client is first and foremost ethically sound in their business practices and motives. Their business not only doesn’t harm the world, but contributes to it in a profound way or helps solve the problems of the world. The perfect client has strong opinions that they know how to share in a respectful way but is also open to our expertise and letting us do our job as the creative professionals. My working relationships with clients always go the best when they tell me the destination and let me figure out the route to get there. That leaves the process open for the types of profound discoveries that make great work happen. I think a good way to illustrate the type of client that would be ideal is to talk about the kinds of clients that might not be a good fit for us. The types of people we tend to not work out with very well are the ones who really want to do the designing themselves but don’t know the programs so they hire us as their “digital arm” to be their personal pixel pushers. Clients who don’t want or value strategic input or research or don’t want us to question anything at all are generally a bad fit. A big part of what we do is asking “why are we doing this and is their a better approach?” So if a client is content with the status quo, we’re probably the wrong shop for them. We love to make groundbreaking work that affects real change and that takes a certain level of gusto and willingness to take risks creatively. If you like to push the limits and make waves, then please hit us up!
Contact Info:
- Website: smartmindsthinkalike.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/culture_conservationist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paullukes/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-lukes-906608134/
Image Credits
Paul Lukes
