Being kind to ourselves. Some days, we can choose to let ourselves be. Some days, it can be okay to not be our best selves. Some days, it can be okay to not show up. It's tough being our own boss. And sometimes we can choose to be a kinder boss.
Asymptotes. You can neither be a complete amateur nor a complete professional. I think the two extremes are asymptotic. You can’t reach the end. But you can come pretty close to the axis on either end.
The big payday. I am all for working on the ambitious project, the big payday. But I am not for betting the house on it or relying on it to pay our bills. I think we can make space for more realistic projects that create sufficient income while working on the big shots.
I will (NOT) work harder. Instead, I can ask whether this needs to be done at all. And if yes, why? What's the cost of not doing it? Can we bear the cost? And if it needs to be done, does it need to be done now? Can it be pushed down for
Calling it a funk. When we are in a funk, when resistance is powerful, when we aren't able to get much done, there's a phase where we want to deny it, where we want to act as if there's no funk. But, the first step to getting out
The virtue in repeating our mistakes. When you show up and it doesn't work, when you raise your hand up and no one notices, when you create something and no one engages with it, it's tempting to think that you shouldn't repeat the "mistake". It's tempting
Continuous or Discrete? A 90-minute focus session makes time discrete. A 3-month project makes work discrete. A 2-week vacation makes life discrete. We all have access to continuous resources, time being one of them. Our job as creatives is to create something tangible, something discrete. You can say that I have 10 years
Breathing space. Creating a space to breathe allows us to rejuvenate, regain our focus and do better work. The hustle mindset seems productive in the moment, but it never is. It just makes us focus on being busy and avoiding the important work. When we create spaces where we are doing nothing,
The other side of the project. Yes, we, the solopreneurs and freelancers of the world, love doing the work, the writing, the coaching, the design, the editing and whatnot. That's what we signed up for. And now that there's no boss, there's no one to hold us back. The deal
When the time's not right. It's okay to retreat and come back to fight another day. It's okay to go back to find your footing and look at the challenge from another angle. It's okay to not get what you expect and call it a day. Quitting one project
Where do you need to be? In order to get what you want, where do you need to be? What would it take for you to get there? What stops you from taking action and moving now? Putting yourself physically in a space where you are more likely to get what you want is a big
And fear shows up. When we take definitive action towards change, when we put ourselves on the hook, when we leap, when we decide to put our ass where our heart wants to be, fear doesn't like it, not one bit. All sorts of rationalisations, distractions, unnecessary details will start floating in
Saying no to say yes. We are trained to not say no. We are told we can't say no to the test in the school, or to the subject we don't like or to the company we don't want to work at. And now, as solopreneurs, we aren'
20 pins. During a day, our maximum capacity is of doing 2 (max. 3) "deep work" sessions of 90 minutes (max.) with preferably 30 minutes break between each of them. If we'd like to do deep work, we hence have a limit of around 20 such sessions a
Forward motion. Once you see what's next, there's not much to do but to move forward. The more you delay it, the more misery it costs. It might work and it might not, but you'd never know until you do what needs to be done.
The voice of later. Ship! Publish the imperfect blog, make the imperfect post, send the imperfect email. Don’t wait. Don’t listen to the voice of later. The cunning voice that tells that later will be better somehow. It won’t. Later will not be better, it will only be more difficult.
What else could it be? When something doesn't go our way, there's a tendency to jump to the worst conclusion about ourselves. When our mind jumps to a conclusion, one helpful thought can be "what could be another reason for this thing to happen" and how likely is the
Staying with resistance. There's a predictable feeling that comes whenever we are about to do something important: like sending a message to a potential client or asking someone out for a date or sitting down to work on something important, something that needs to get done. The stomach starts churning, the
Closing time. War of Art by Steven Pressfield teaches us that a professional works on a schedule while an amateur works when he feels like it. The point that Pressfield is making is that the professional starts at the same time each day. However, it may be even more important as a
When things don't work. When things don't work, it's a sign that we showed up, we took a risk, we put ourselves on the hook. It's a sign to embrace that we are on the right track. In creative work, things will never be perfect and the way
Glass half full. The water in the glass is real. The empty space is a story. Which one do you choose to see: "the way things are" or "the way they should be"? “Often, the person in the group who articulates the possible is dismissed as a dreamer or
Infinite and finite. Human creativity engages with the infinite in order to create something finite, whether it is a movie, a book, a painting or a product. As creatives, we engage with both the infinite nature of inspiration and the finite nature of resources. Every project we commit to requires a certain amount
Writing is a privilege. It gives you space to express and share your ideas. It helps people connect and learn from you. It doesn't need to be hard. It can come from a place of curiosity and play if you allow it to.
Finding your work. What is the work that others have done that you are grateful for? That has mattered in your life, that has changed your life significantly? That if it was not there, your life would not be the same? Now, what is the work that you can do that would mean
Letting go. What's on your plate? Would you put it on it now if it wasn't there already? If not, how can you get it off the plate? Sometimes, it might even help to start with a clean slate, rather than making space on the already cluttered one.
