The bad days. There are days when we have no motivation, no excitement and even no energy to do the creative work, the work that we have signed up for. The brain doesn't work, the creative juices don't flow, things just don't feel right. These are the
Fun or profit? Are you doing it for fun, or are you doing it to earn a profit? "Both" rarely works. When you choose what's it for, you can choose to make the tough decisions that will get you the outcome you are looking for.
Finding neutral. When we get rejected, or when something unfortunate happens that we don't seem to have control over, or when things don't go the way we intended them to, then, the natural tendency we have is to react to the situation and to try and take action
Missing a day. When we miss a day on a habit we are trying to build, the immediate reaction is to try to make up for it the next day. That's a trap and it leads us on a slippery slope which goes like this: if you write a blog daily,
Making it easier. There's a difference between doing the hard thing and doing it the hard way. The easier we can make doing the hard thing, the more likely it will be that we do it. For instance, if you are writing a book, it helps significantly to join a co-working
Slight discomfort. Resistance wins because we try to avoid slight discomfort. The discomfort of closing the emails tab and opening a blank page to write. Or the discomfort of leaving the sofa and starting a workout. Once we start writing or start working out, the discomfort is no longer there. Instead of
The magic of making a start. A few wise words from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur
One thing at a time, one day at a time. A reminder for whenever we feel overwhelmed. We don’t have to solve everything today. We can do what we can do today. And, almost always, that’s going to be enough.
Who are you? What do you do? A runner runs. A writer writes. A teacher teaches. Choose your identity, choose your work, choose your future.
Unhelpful assumptions. We all make assumptions all the time. Some of them are helpful, some of them not so much. If we can learn to discern between the two, can we also choose to let go of the unhelpful ones? It might be a skill worth learning.
Embracing constraints. Constraints are good for creativity. They allow flow to happen. When there are no constraints, we tend to give into entropy and nothing tangible gets created. Even when they are not there by default, we can choose to add constraints by design.
Who gives you energy? And who drains it? How can you engage more with the former? And less with the latter?
Will they tell the others? How can you create the conditions for your work to spread? How can you make it irresistible for those who engage with your work to talk about it? And, how is fear stopping you from doing this with intent?
Putting on a show. It's safe to be behind the scenes and keep working hard trying to make our work/project better. But, if we are unwilling to put on a show, we do not have a right to complain that the audience didn't show up. This is another leap
Finite is doable. Make your project smaller. Make it finite. Make it doable. Big, ambitious projects get done by shipping small, specific, finite versions.
What you don't ask for... You either don't get it. Or you leave it to chance. We can create the conditions to get what we need or want. And a crucial part of it is making the ask. “Many years ago, the Detroit newspapers carried a feature story about a monstrous insurance policy
This might not work. There is magic in "this might not work". It brings a lightness to the process. It allows for creativity and audacity. It allows us to focus on the process and finetune it. "This might not work" creates possibility that can't be accessed with a
Finding the right culture. One of the reasons that you may not be thriving could be that you are in the wrong culture. Not wrong in the absolute, but wrong for you. There’s a culture for each type of person. And the hard work is to find the one where you thrive.
Get in tune... Excerpt from Pathways to Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander: “…to embark on the exploration “Get in Tune,” open yourself to the idea of a complex universe, pulsing and vibrating, that is striving to attune with you. Imagine that everyone you meet desires to be in tune with you, as does
Because everyone does it that way... ...doesn't mean that you have to do it that way too. Be relentless in your pursuit of happiness. ~ Anonymous
What's the next "one" thing? If it is more than one, then the next thing would be to select one out of the many. And that might actually be the hard part. Once we select the one thing we are getting done next, we can focus on it and create forward motion. Otherwise, we may
The first draft is the hardest. No one complains about how hard the second draft is. It’s always the first draft. No matter how ugly it is, once we get the first draft done, it only gets easier from there onwards. Once we have something on paper, we can always make it better.
Choose your assumptions, choose your future. Our assumptions have little to do with reality, and much to do with the stories we tell ourselves. The good thing about the latter is that we have the agency to choose what story we tell. We can learn to reject the ones that don't work for us
Last minute rush. When we are faced with a last-minute rush, we buckle up and try to get the work done somehow before it's too late. We work late nights and weekends and whatnot and there is a heroic feeling when it all gets done. What we skip mostly, though, is
Writing > Thinking Mind maps, free-flow writing, numbered lists, bulleted lists, the tools of writing can vary depending on the situation. But writing is almost always more effective than thinking. When we are feeling stuck, writing is a reliable way to start moving towards getting ourselves unstuck.
