February 21, 2012

are you leaving enough space for your life in your work?

some celebrating - photo by liz kalloch

If you are an entrepreneur-self-employed-part-time-creative-consultant-activist-full-time-trying-to-find-your-calling-and-your-raison-d-être it’s not all about the marketing plan, the biz plan, the to-do list, the connections, the working it, the social media-ing, the never ending must-dos. It’s also about fun.

Fun, you say? But I’m trying to get a business off the ground so I can make the living of my dreams; so that I can leave the place I’m working at now; so I can keep things status quo and so I can be happy and fulfilled and not feeling like I am being crushed like a bug by boredom and fatigue in that 9-to-5 gig I left, or am trying to leave. {wow, I feel out of breath, what about you?}

{breathe in, breathe out} Yes, fun and joy and lightness and ease are just as important as the work, because I’m guessing if you’re anything like me, though I love my work, I didn’t sign up for my own gig so that I could work all the time.

It may be your life’s work, but remember to make sure there’s enough space for your life in your work.

Some reminders, suggestions, and prompts for all of us:

  • Celebrate all your quirks, all the silly things that make you you, all the things that got you to where you are right now, to the person you are right now.
  • If you have a work schedule that is solidly in place, mess with it. Turn it upside down. Start with what you usually end your day with, or start with what you do in the middle of the day. Keep yourself on your toes.
  • Instead of pushing yourself through a problem, a glitch, or a roadblock, take a break for some perspective: call a friend, go for a walk, stare at the sky, take a nap, play with your cat (or dog, or stuffed teddy bear) and know that you will solve whatever it is if you give yourself some space to breathe.
  • Skip {or run} when you could could get there walking. {Take a cue from your 3 year-old self.}
  • Keep yourself inspired by whatever means necessary. Spend a moment to recollect and then write down all the feelings and thoughts that you can remember having when you first realised you wanted to be who you are and do what you’re doing.
  • Ask yourself this: Who am I if I am not working? And also: Who am I when I’m working?
  • Go to your go-to people. Go to them a lot. Talk. Skype. Meet. Talk. Listen. Understand. Share. Laugh. Gather. Talk. Listen. Repeat. Often.
  • For one day throw out your to-do list and make it up as you go. Take some notes and remind yourself how that went.
  • Ask your go-to people to be your memory, and when you’re feeling lost, ask them to remind you of who you are and why you are doing what you do. Think of them as life-lines, because they are.
  • Make some part of your workday about play: Clean off your desk and leave a sticky note paper with a smiley face on it, paint the cover of the folder your tax papers are in, make a playlist of songs that you can sing along with while working. I think you get the idea.
  • We human beings are a mix of a lot of things: serious, silly, loving, competitive, insecure, certain. The list is potentially quite long, so I’ll leave it at that… What I’d like you to do is list some of the things you’d like to see yourself being more of, and then start to put those same qualities into your work. {NOTE: Please make this list, while also NOT dissing yourself for any qualities you’d like to see less of; keep your focus on the things you’d like to see more of.}
  • Celebrate your work and life successes in whatever ways are meaningful to you; just mark the occasions. Sometimes these successes happen at moments when we feel we are too busy to stop, and we think we’ll go back to acknowledge them. Truth be told, we rarely do. Stop to acknowledge, even if it’s five minutes worth of lighting a candle and calling your mum.
  • Make ridiculous, idiotic faces at yourself in the mirror. It diffuses a variety of blah, icky, stressful situations. Very quickly. {Yet another cue from your 3 year-old self.}
  • Check in with yourself semi-regularly, and ask: Am I still doing {or moving towards doing} what gives me joy and purpose and expresses who I am in this life?

Whatever it is that you are working on, working towards, working for, remember to remember just why it is you’re doing whatever it is you do and keep your life and your work happy and light. You can have some deep and intense too, just keep some joy for the side.

We’d love to hear any of your own queues for keeping the moments light and buoyant. How do you keep remembering why you do what you do?

Filed Under: action, creating action, creative thinkers, Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , , , , 10 Comments
February 7, 2012

What are you sweating?

The week before last I began the annual slog through receipts and invoices and interest income statements, organising and spread-sheeting and preparing for our annual visit with the accountant. This week also happens to be the annual event where I berate myself for not having kept up with logging the receipts and the income, and the mileage. The week that I promise myself that THIS year it will be different.

And yet. It never is.

Each January/February I participate in this week of regrets and recrimination for how I’ve handled (or not handled) preparing my tax papers, and each year I promise myself that I will do a better job of keeping up. I will stay on task. Each first of the month I will be sitting right here recording all my monetary deeds. And I do. Until about March or sometimes I stretch it into April. And then it just stops. And I don’t think about it until sometime in October, with a grimace, but I rarely ever sit down to catch up.

Perhaps I can attribute it to nicer weather in spring. Perhaps I am busier in April than in the more wintery months. And perhaps whatever free moments I possess I just don’t want to spend sorting receipts between what is a write off and what is a household expense.

So this year, as I sat down to sort receipts from the last 9 months and that voice in my head started in with, If you had done this each month it would be so much easier to take care of now, I decided that’s it. I need to re-work my approach to the whole tax organising job. Clearly, I am not going to take care of logging all the stuff I need to do for my taxes every first of the month because I’ve been not doing it quite successfully for quite a few years now, no matter how much or how loudly I scold myself.

So I asked myself: how can I re-frame this, leave out the guilt and recriminations I hand myself every year, and just get the job done?

My solution: Schedule a week in late January to pull all my papers and financial info together. Make the appointment with my accountant to keep myself on task, and there, voilà, it’s done.

So of course, I got thinking about how many other areas of my life this approach could work on:

  • What are the places and situations in my life that I consistently don’t come through in a way I’ve decided I should do?
  • What are the tasks that I consistently avoid until it’s deadline time?
  • Where and when am I berating myself when there might be a less painful and easy solution?

I came up with my list, and it’s actually not too long, and I’ve also come up with solutions for just about all of the scenarios. Now get this: in all these situations, I am just re-working what I need to do around how I am already doing it. No re-teaching myself new behaviour that I will potentially resist. No setting rules for myself that I won’t follow. No telling myself I have to do it this way, because so-and-so or such-and-such said it works best that way.

My best solution is to do it the way I always have and build in some checks to keep me on task. That’s it.

My tax spreadsheets are almost done, and I have to say I feel lighter, and happier, and am looking forward to finishing up the tax stuff and feeling that sense of accomplishment. And, the process has gone much more smoothly without me berating myself the whole way through. In fact, it’s taken about half the time it usually does.

So what are some of the tasks in your life that you might avoid and then repeatedly get down on yourself for? And, how can you reverse the trend, get the tasks done in a way that makes sense to you AND not be irritated at yourself?

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, creating action Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
January 24, 2012

How to keep your eye on the forest when the trees are so very lovely

Trees at Columbus Circle, New York, January 2012

One of the things I started my new year off thinking about are my larger, longer, and bigger life and business goals. When taking stock of 2011 I realised that I had lost track of some of these bigger goals all for being focused on the smaller day to day ones.

Most of us have our lofty dreams, our go-to goals, and our list of must-dos. Each one of these dreams and goals are made up of a series of much smaller actions – actions that, when put together as part of an overall plan, help to shape these big dreams. Sometimes, though, we can get so involved with the smaller bits, the day to day, that we lose sight of where we are headed, or even momentarily forget where we are going, and our overall plan for how to get there.

You know that old saying: She couldn’t see the forest for the trees? Sometimes the trees all look so lovely and so compelling that we forget to shift our perspective and look at them all together, as a forest.

Let’s look at the pieces and the whole as a movie camera would: Close ups of the leaves, and the branches, shifting to the trunk and to the earth where the trees are rooted, and shifting again to the tops of the trees, and further to the sky. Now, slowly, the camera moves back. Our vision is widened, and we see all the varied and sundry trees growing together in the forest. Each tree a goal or a dream, each tree linked to each other through the earth and through the sky.

So as you begin this new year, as you move through this first month of the year, how are you putting your vision to work?

Are you remembering to switch your focus from close up to panoramic view, and vice versa? Are you focusing on the small bits that make up the whole and stopping now and then to step back and look at the whole picture?

One of the practices that I will be putting to work for myself is the use of perspective. Just as in drawing or painting or photography, the use of perspective gives us depth and spatial relationship, it gives us space, it gives us context and it gives us a view to where we’re going.

So whatever the task at hand – writing copy, working on a new piece, designing a promo piece or finishing a piece of jewelery – I will be building in time to step back and look at where I’m going. This will mean changing some patterns {see Maeg Yosef’s post on changing patterns}, and adding some time to stop and look and listen.

What things are you doing this January to change up your focus a bit, and keep your eye on the forest as well as the trees?

Filed Under: creating action, Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , , , , 6 Comments
December 27, 2011

how do you end the year and start another?

photo by Liz Kalloch

When this post goes live, Christmas will have come and gone and New Year will just about be here. When November is drawing to a close, I always get to thinking about how I want to wind up the current year and get ready for the next. Be it: cleaning my studio, choosing a word for my year, wrapping up projects and finishing up things that have been left undone, making lists of what I’d like to accomplish, creating a list of wishes to come true, or just going to a great new year’s party with good friends.

Whatever I choose to do I try to wrap up the end of the current year in a way that will feel complete and meaningful and fun.

I thought I’d ask some friends what they like to do to end their year, what practices they use, any personal rituals, review techniques and how they put out what they’d like to manifest in the year to come. Enjoy!

I journal a lot at the end of the year. I review journal entries from throughout the year and think about what the year has meant to me. I know that there’s a lot of pooh-poohing of New Year’s resolutions, but I find it very powerful to use the changing calendar as a time for positive self-reflection and considering what has been experienced and what can be created. I think it’s enormously important to take time to acknowledge oneself for that which has shifted–perhaps even more important than asking what one would like to see, next.

The old stand-by of making New Year’s resolutions has worked well for me, but in recent years I’ve added a twist: I think about how I want to feel. So if I want to start running more, I avoid the “to do list” trap, which is ultimately unfulfilling. I think instead about how I want to feel as a runner. Sometimes through this process of considering what I want to feel, I end up realizing . . . I don’t actually want what I think I want! If I see that taking XYZ action isn’t actually going to lead me to my desired feelings, there’s no point in taking that action unless I’m practicing masochism. When people ask me for advice about making resolutions, I start with: Know the birthplace of your wanting. Know what you want to feel.

Kate Swoboda is a life coach who writes about revolutionizing your life from within through the practice of courage.

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Recently I’ve been ringing in the new year rather quietly, an early dinner with close friends, home by midnight for some time alone spent with pen and paper imagining what the year ahead might have to offer both creatively and professionally. But this year I am sensing a shift toward something more exciting. Loud music and spilled champagne, dancing with strangers till’ dawn. My only resolution for 2012: HAVE MORE FUN!

Anne Carmack is the poetic product of a one night stand between two people she has never met. Her search for something still undefined continues. To learn more please visit properhands.

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To wrap up the year, I do a Year in Review reflection exercise where I acknowledge all of my accomplishments and learnings from the year and my favorite format to do that in is an Exploding Box. It’s a fun and visual way to recap the highlights from each month and it certainly feels celebratory! In addition to chronologically reviewing the year, I also like to take stock of what I’ve done in the different facets of my life such as career, health, relationships, finances, personal growth, etc. so I know where I might want to focus my energy next. To set my intention for the new year, I light a candle, write my goals on a card and place the card in my Wish Box.

Jennifer Lee is the founder of Artizen Coaching and the author of the bestselling book The Right-Brain Business Plan: A Creative, Visual Map for Success.

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At the end of the year, I like to look back at my blog as a reminder of what I’ve done and what I’ve created in the last year. Sometimes there are things I’ve completely forgotten about! It’s a good way to reflect and celebrate what I’ve accomplished. At the beginning of the new year, I like to choose a word to focus on and make a piece of art to go along with it. Last year’s word was metamorphosis and oh boy, did it ring true for me. I’m not sure what next year’s word is yet!

Leah Piken Kolidas is an artist and new mom, living near Boston, MA with her husband, daughter, and their four crazy cats. You can find her at CreativeEveryDay.com.

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Near the end of each year I make a Mind Map to help me organize my thoughts and plans for the coming year. In fact, I just did this about 2 weeks ago. I felt like I had just about hit the wall with plans – some finalized, some still in ‘wish’ form – all drifting around in my head. I had this overwhelming need to organize. The nice thing about the Mind Map is its flexibility and I typically include every part of my life, from business pursuits (teaching, writing, selling my art, stencil company) to family plans to personal things ranging from my plans to nurture my spirit as well as my body. Seeing it all displayed on one large sheet of paper gives me comfort and a distinct way to approach the new year.

Mary Beth Shaw is a Mixed Media artist, workshop instructor and author of Flavor for Mixed Media, as well as a columnist for Somerset Studios.

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The year end is a great natural point to evaluate progress as well as plan for the future – though, I think that this type of evaluation should be done regularly for our businesses and our personal lives. The world is ever changing and we are constantly growing and changing ourselves, so I believe that it’s important to stop and reframe our perspectives now and again. I find it useful to reflect and realign my thoughts at regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, yearly) to make sure I’m still heading towards my ultimate goal.

I find it really helpful to have a mission statement that guides all my decisions – this can be your one word of the year – that is very general and loose. Then to have a second tier of general goals and finally a third tier of really specific measurable “wants” that fit under the goals and general mission statement. When I use this type of “system” for defining goals, I find myself much more successful and directed for the whole year!

Linda Tieu is an artist living in the Tuscan hills of Italy, blogging her adventures at Tortagialla.

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This might sound Scroogey, but in all honesty? I have never had a word for the year. I have never wrapped up the year. I have never even taken stock in that end-of-the-year-way. All those lists in the newspaper, the music critics’ “top ten of 2011″ “Notable books,” “must haves,” and “don’t misses” – they just get my back up.

At some point during every year, I say to my friend Ronnie: “Lookit Ron…this is going to be our year, I can feel it. No seriously!” But it could be July. The year doesn’t have a beginning and end for me. Every day has its own opportunity or pitfall, no matter the season. It may be that I am lucky enough that there is no 9 to 5. It may be that I need more structure. I am trapped only in the routines of my own making. And I fail at routine. Then I do the laundry.

Jonatha Brooke is a singer-songwriter.

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I update my portfolio at the end of every year and print out any articles about my work. Doing this makes me step back and look at my art as a whole while pinpointing what others see in it. I base the coming year’s goals on what I discover (magazines to contact, galleries to target, articles to write, etc). I always come up with a new series around November, experiment with it in December and implement it in January. All of this happens while I try to create as much of my previous series as I can in December. It’s a hectic time but fun.

Kathryn Clark is a fiber artist living in San Francisco, CA. She writes a blog to inspire and inform other artists who work in the unique genre called Articraft: artists who use craft in their work and craftspeople who make art.

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All in all wrapping up 2011 has been a roller coaster of productive days, self doubt days, delightful days, days of hugs, days of “am I going forward or going backward?” or just letting it all fall away to play with bunnies and paint a watercolor for xmas cards. With all of the to-do’s and goals at year’s end, I find peace when I simply let go into the perspective that this year had it’s treacheries and successes; I worked hard, I did good, I’m still alive, I still love, and I’m looking forward to the adventures of 2012.

Niya C Sisk is the author of Bragging Bantering Bawling. She is gearing up for an amplified year of community building at the new Niya’s Place | A Consortium of Creative Letters.

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I always look forward to the end of the year simply because it means the start of a new one, and I thrive on newness! That punctuation mark gives me a space to stop and assess the past twelve months. I look at all the good things that happened over the year I am incredibly grateful for, as well as the things that didn’t go as swimmingly as hoped and find the lesson in them. Then I take that brazen goodness and those lessons and write them down, along with my new intentions and ideas, things I want to revise and things I want to construct. This is the foundation for the year that lies ahead that I put forth then let go of to see where it all takes me.

Lisa Occhipinti is a painter, sculptor, photographer, author and instructor living in Venice CA.

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Early in December I take time to reflect back on the year’s highs and lows. I usually make a list in my journal and close that page until after January 1st. In January of the new year I reopen that page and add a priority number to both the good and the not so good. With the not so good, I limit myself to three top issues. With a fresh page I make a row with the issues on the top of the page. Below them I brainstorm solutions, and ideas for improvement in those areas. I then take time to review the year’s achievements and list new ways of expanding the successful ideas which worked out well. I review the lists over the year to see where I stand and it gives me a boost or a kick sometimes, when I need it most. It’s a simple task, taking little time which feels like time well spent early in the New Year.

Susan Schwake is an artist, author, curator and instructor.

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For the past two years I’ve been going full-tilt: freelance work, grad school, writing, creative projects, life. Along the way I’ve had to keep reminding myself to breathe, to rest, and to honor the good work I’ve done. But I haven’t made time for much year-end reflection and new-year planning. This time around I think I’ll plan a whole day for each: one for reflection and one for planning. It feels indulgent just writing that, but it also sounds like just what I need.

Jenna McGuiggan writes, edits, and coaches from The Word Cellar, her twinkle-light-filled studio.

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My end of the year rituals are all about envisioning my best self in the coming year. I choose a symbolic animal to accompany me on the journey of the coming year. 2011 was the year of the hummingbird and I don’t know yet what 2012 will be. I choose a leading phrase (THE BOOK YOU WRITE FOR THE WORLD IS YOUR LIFE is 2012) and a single word that grounds me. 2012’s word is HONEY.

MOSTLY HAVE FUN! On the last day of each month I make a journal for the coming month. The journal I make on the last day of the year does set the tone for the year in terms of color and form and symbolism. I review my life mission statement. It’s changed very little over the last two decades but who knows? New Year’s Eve this year could find me EDITING a little what I think I’m on the planet to do. I’ll know in a matter of days.

mary anne radmacher has always believed that one person makes a difference and lives her days acting on that belief.

And you? How do you end your year and move into the next? We’d love to hear what you do!

However you celebrate the beginning of a new year, I hope the start of 2012 is a beautiful thing!

Filed Under: creating action, Dialogue Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 6 Comments
December 19, 2011

What’s your intention for the holidays?

Hi there! It’s Laura. I’ve been writing here at Scoutie Girl for about 9 months, and I’m excited to be bringing some videos over here as well!

I’m all about doing things with intention and consciousness. Since the holidays are upon us, I thought I’d invite you to join me in setting an intention for the season. Nothing fancy, nothing mystical. Just a little trick that helps keep my head and my heart where I want it.

In the comments, tell us your intention for the holidays.

Gathering light,

Filed Under: creating action, Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , , 13 Comments