Forward motion. It’s not always linear, it’s not always predictable. Many times, we need to go through loops in order to get moving. But it is imperative to move forward. If we stand still for too long, we become stagnant. A question that can help with forward motion is “What’
The nature of fear. The nature of fear is to deter us from following our path. It delays, distracts and disorients us. The irony is that the path that fear presents has no case at all. All it says is that this has worked in the past, so simply keep doing that only. When
What before how. Determining the “what” is much more important than rushing into the “how”. The busy and urgent culture forces us to rush into the how, into doing things whether they lead to forward motion or not. Working on a clear vision and direction, and identifying the key action steps that take
Generosity as a skill. We all have the capability of making things better. And the more we make things better, the more capability will build to do it. There is no limit to the amount of impact you can create when you act with generosity. When you bring change with intent for the people
Getting out of the slump. The creative process is cyclical and getting into a slump is a natural part of it. The thing that makes it worse is the guilt associated with the slump. In order to get out of the slump, it is important to be kind to oneself and start afresh. Analysing the
Understanding change. Change is hard. The status quo grows on us the longer we stay there. Change involves unpredictability. It requires us to be patient and agile when things don’t go the way we expect them to. The key to change is intent. When change is done with intent, we can
What needs to be done? There are times when we feel lost, when we are unable to see a direction, when everything feels stuck. At these times, it becomes difficult to find clarity and get answers. What can help is to focus on one action at a time, one day at a time. Sometimes, a
One thing at a time. There is almost nothing that can’t be resolved by giving it our undivided attention. Sometimes, we may end up realising that we can’t do anything about the thing in question, but even in that case, we can move forward. Overwhelm occurs when we try to solve too many
Intent matters. When you do things with intent, you ask the tough questions. You know longer go with the flow or choose the convenient path. Intentional action is rare and valuable. It is from intent that new, innovative things shape up and take form. Intent usually starts from an individual but then
Finding your voice again. It is difficult to find our voice when we are at the receiving end of stimuli. It could be conversations with friends or instant messages or videos on streaming services or social media. When our brain is handling stimuli, its focus goes mainly to responding to those stimuli. And then
Separating work and personal life. A big part of the challenge of working as an independent creative is to create boundaries between work and life in as many areas as possible: physical space, time, attire, people, finances among others. The more clear the boundaries between work and personal life, the more effective we become as
The emotional labour of taking a decision. When we take a decision, we cut out the alternatives and choose a path. This requires emotional labour. The process of thinking about the alternatives and looking at the pros and cons can act as an illusion of forward motion. At some point, we have to make a trade-off, we
Few marketing questions. Who’s it for? What’s it for? What change do you seek to make? What promise are you making? Why would they trust you? Why would they talk about you? HT to Seth Godin for bringing these questions to focus. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing. If you
Deserving rest. As a salaried professional, we get scheduled breaks: evenings, weekends and vacations. The salaried professional can turn off their work mode and enjoy these breaks. There is very little guilt linked to them. As an independent creative, it is very likely that we don’t have any scheduled breaks. And
Start with one. And then add another one. That’s how you get started. At some point, you have to let go of the planning and preparation and focus on getting done with one thing. When we take the first step, we change the status quo, we move forward. Whatever it is that
Getting done for the day. When we are working on our own, there are two ways we can get closure over the day. Both are complementary and can be used in tandem. The two ways are: 3-hours a day and The one most important thing for the day. Many days, we do not have clarity
Start the work at the same time every day. For independent creatives, there is no rule more important than this. The creative work is ambiguous and unpredictable. In order to sustain it, we need to create predictability and consistency. Starting every day at the same time, helps us gain that surety. Moreover, when we do it over and over
Well before the deadline. The good thing about deadlines is that they ensure that the work gets done, especially when another person is involved. The bad thing is that we get used to doing the work only in time to meet the deadline. We become habitual of starting the work only when the deadline
Not making exceptions. Once you have decided on something, there should be no reconsidering until we are done. These reconsiderations and exceptions harm our journey more than anything else. The professional creative lives to his word, even if, or rather especially if, no one’s watching.
The right time and place. Creativity and inspiration happen at unexpected times and in unexpected places. We get ideas while in shower, while on a walk, while driving, while cooking and many such places. Most of these ideas are unexpected and we are surprised how things come together on their own. Many a times, a
Embracing infinity. The universe is infinite. Human connection is infinite. When we embrace infinity, we start seeing possibility. With a possibility mindset, we evolve beyond where we are. We need to let go in order to transition from a finite mindset to an infinite one. — If you liked reading this, consider subscribing.
Making things imminent. When things are imminent, we know exactly what needs to be done and by when. The thing with creative projects is that, in most cases, there is no externally set timeline and no one on your head to keep you on the hook. The responsibility, then, comes on the creative
The weights we carry. We get used to the weights we carry. Many times we find it difficult to remember how we ended up carrying them or to realise exactly how much we are carrying. It’s only when we let go, when we release these weights, that we realise why we weren’t
The metrics that matter. It’s easy to get distracted by numbers or maybe even drown in the complexity that they can create. When we invest our focus in determining the key metrics, ensure that we can track them without much effort and represent them in a way that’s useful, then numbers become
Making it irreversible. While we might seek change, we might not be willing to commit to it. The status quo is too comforting by its nature and it’s difficult to break it. The only way to break it is to take action which make going back impossible. When the situation is irreversible,
