"Everything in the world is conspiring to try to force people into this mold where they work for other people until their life energy's exhausted," Molly Crabapple says. "You have to try to resist that." In an exclusive interview at Lavin's New York office, Crabapple shared her thoughts on how to stay motivated to lead an interesting life. The best way to motivate yourself, she says, is to remember that you only have one life—and you should spend it living out your dreams.

To Crabapple, an interesting life is one where you "[live] to the full extent of your passions, [are] engaged with your community and [make] the world better." However, many people feel pressured to fit into a mold where they work for someone else who profits off their work until they retire or run out of inspiration. She says that this acts as the best motivation of all, because we should feel driven to make the most of our creativity and branch out on our own. Do things on your own terms, and live a life where you feel inspired and challenged every day.

This type of disruptive thinking is what Crabapple is best known for. The artist consistently pushes boundaries in her art, and, in the way she profits from that art. She lives by the credo of never asking for permission, and advocates for making your dreams a reality—on your own, and on your own terms. She hopes to make the old model a thing of the past, and urges her keynote audiences and students at Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School (which she founded at age 22) to create a life of their own design.