Meet Sean Aaberg

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sean Aaberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Sean with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I came up in the International DIY Punk scene. The ethos, or more vulgarly the politics implied that you’ve only got one shot in life & things aren’t going to change if you don’t do it yourself. The whole scene was comprised of people that were not going to come together unless it was to see some band & get messed up, or drink free beer so doing things really fell onto the individual – & that is how I became a workaholic & had a stroke that was definitely aided from that mentality. Still, that’s the seed, seeing that another world is possible & that life is short & there isn’t another chance.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m an artist, I used to consider myself more an illustrator than anything else but in 2018 I had a massive stroke leaving me disabled & unable to draw like I used to. In the last six months I’ve really been focusing on my writing. I’ve run the company GOBLINKO with my wife Katie Aaberg since 1999. GOBLINKO has been the label that we’ve released everything under for the last 26 years. Our biggest projects to date have been PORK magazine & our board game DUNGEON DEGENERATES.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

My curiosity & desire to keep learning about everything have served me well, My work ethic, combined with my vision have helped direct my work ethic into worthy projects that wouldn’t see the light of day otherwise. The ability to compromise in areas that will help see the project done & then not compromise on the actual thing, the vision has allowed me to go forwards & see the things I want to exist come into existence relatively similar to how I want them to turn out.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

The real world is the constant challenge, but I’ve come to see it as a series of puzzles instead of just a frustrating mess. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is a frustrating mess, but I’ve got things to do! I get a clear idea of what I want to exist in my mind & then the next step is to see the puzzle that unfolds in front of me. With the goal clearly in mind, the next step is to solve all the puzzles. This is a sort of gameification of reality that I’ve been working on. This strategy is detailed in my Goblin’s Rules of the Game zine.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

The photo of me is by Katie Aaberg, all the art is by me.

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