I Got Myself Into This

Last week I wrote about how some successful writers/creatives swear by posting daily. I mentioned a few examples. One I didn't mention is Seth Godin. He calls getting his thoughts published "shipping," and does it daily. Last night found me spitballing to my family about ideas I have for Packing Lust, and about how I was playing with this idea of posting daily. My sister said that Seth Godin had a daily challenge coming up soon.

I looked it up, and of course it was starting tomorrow. With such serendipitous timing, I couldn't say no. Or rather, I couldn't just imagine I would do it at some vague point in the future. So I got myself into this 7 day challenge led by Winnie Kao, the Special Projects Lead for Seth Godin.

This is what happens when you say your intentions out loud. People give you suggestions and opportunities. It happened last night and after tweeting my intentions out publicly, I was committed.

I'm doing this as an experiment to see how the rhythm of posting daily feels. I tried it years ago and I couldn't maintain it.  Why'd I fail back then? Maybe I can explore that this week and figure out a way to avoid whatever the reason was.

It feels good to start following my own advice.

http://yourturnchallenge.strikingly.com/

The Power and Difficulty of Connecting Daily

I'm learning so much from my research into how artists make a living from their creativity. One thing that keeps coming up for folks that have quickly built a solid income up from zero is communication with their audience or fans. Not just any communication, daily communication.

 How to Get Rich Quick(er)

These creatives attribute their success almost entirely to the daily post. It's a ticket to success -- and transparency or honesty, which is a huge factor in our ability to connect with our audiences or market, no matter what line of business we are in.

I'm thinking of a copywriter/ online marketing expert who writes an email every day to his followers. He teaches all his clients to write the daily email, saying it is his key to success.

I'm thinking of the author of a diet book who posts a daily vlog to YouTube sharing what she's eating and how she's living a healthy lifestyle daily, as well as advice for those who want to be healthier. She has over 300,000 subscribers.

And I'm thinking of artist Jolie Guillebeau, who built her art business up quickly by sending a daily short email with a photo of the day's work and a story or observation about it.

She still sends those emails. I'm on her list and love the daily peek into a painter/potter's mind.

It's Too Hard

So why don't I do the daily post? Why don't most creatives?

It's like the story I heard in Hollywood. A well-known screenwriter regularly teaches a sold-out seminar where he takes hours to break down and analyse the structure of the classic film Casablanca.

At the end, he promises that if all present would just repeat the exercise regularly, they will because successful screenwriters. How can he make such a promise, he asks? He knows very few, if any of his students will follow through. No one is willing to spend the time on such a tedious exercise.

Daily posts take a lot of time. I tried it a few years ago and gave up because I felt I'd over committed and couldn't keep putting in the time to come up with thoughtful posts every day.

The other major obstacle to daily posts is feeling vulnerable.

There will come a day when you feel you have nothing to write, or that what you have to share is something that feels too honest, too vulnerable. But that just might be what connects you most to your audience - what creates a strong sense of loyalty.

I'm not saying that you have to post daily if you want to make money from your art. I am saying that if you want to build an audience relatively quickly, posting daily is a tried-and-true method. Of course, one you have an audience, you have do have to actually sell something to them. But that's another topic for another day.

 Don't Do What I Do

So, do as I say, and not as I do. Post daily if you want to quickly cultivate a passionate audience for your work.

And maybe one day soon I'll find a way to post daily too.

8 Tips for Creativity + Stress Management During Pregnancy

Prince Charming and I, adventurers that we are, created a perfect storm of stress by following this recipe:

Take 5 of the unofficial list of the top 10 most stressful life events you can undergo:

1. Having a baby.
2. Leaving a job.
3. Moving to a new continent.
4. Writing a book while launching a separate product.
5. Moving back in with the parents as an adult.

Stir. Then bake under an oven set at 350 degrees of jet lag and reverse culture shock.

My pulse is racing just listing out this recipe for stress.

So what's the recipe for serenity?

I've had an extra push of creativity these past few months, probably because I'm anticipating being completely and happily lost in baby-la-la land for a while once the little elf gets here sometime in early December.   Stress stifles creativity, so it's important for me to keep those stress levels as low as possible. (Oh, and that's right, it's good for the baby too.)

These tips might help you even if you aren't pregnant, but just going through a stressful time, as all of us normal human beings tend to do from time to time.

Here are some things that have worked for me to keep stress levels at bay so I can stay creative and keep working on the latest book and finish the 30-Day Map to Get Rid of Your Crap. I'd be lying if I said the following keep me in a state of queenly serenity 100% of the time, but they do keep me royally calm at least 3% of the time. Or maybe I just do them 3% of the time and it would help if I...

Do These Things More

1. Marrying well.

Well, this is actually not a habit I do regularly, but something I did once, and did well, even if I do say so myself. He recently asked me "what do you want for lunch, baby?" And I said, "Hmmm... I think Shrimp. Lime Cilantro Shrimp." This exchange happened in front of my mom, and she immediately laughed and said something like "If you can give that answer, you know you married well."

Besides keeping me well-fed, Prince Charming is incredibly supportive about all my creative endeavors. And even my eccentric pregnancy plans, like studying hypnosis for a more comfortable birth.

2. Yoga

Somehow it feels like cheating to call it yoga, because it's mostly stretching and deep breathing for me since I don't know the names of any of the poses. (Except for shivasana, my favorite.)  I've taken a lot of yoga classes, so I just do a lot of yogic stretching of any part that is soar or tight. It feels great and seems to help everything in life.

3. Sleeping a lot and taking naps.

I have always slept a lot, and of course now I'm sleeping for two, so I take as much horizontal time as my body wants. For a while in Palestine my  sleep pattern was bimodal. According to Wikipedia, "Along with a nap (siesta) in the day, it has been argued that this is the natural pattern of human sleep. A case has been made that maintaining such a sleep pattern may be important in regulating stress."

My body naturally started bifurcating my sleep when I was worried about our friends in Gaza during the ethnic cleansing massacres there this summer, worried about Prince Charming working in Gaza, and anxious about where and how I would bring our baby into the world. Now that I'm back in the US and feeling that my family is safer, I've been sleeping through the night and not needing naps so much.

4. Ability to work on the floor of a closet.

I'm writing this while squatting in front of my computer on the floor of a large walk-in closet. I love it. All I need to write is a private space, even if it's small.

5. Writing every single appointment down in Google Calendar.

I love Google Calendar. It did take me a while to get used to checking it and adding everything to it. But now that it's habit, it helps so much because otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep track of appointments, travel plans, and birthdays. Even if I'm not in a particularly busy phase of life, I rely on Google Calendar and tend to forget things when I don't use it.

6.  Eating tons of fruit and vegetables.

I have our nugget to thank for this, because the little monkey loves bananas and other fruit. I wake up craving a big fruit smoothie that I often add greens to like spinach and kale. I still eat plenty of pizza, I just try to load up on fresh produce as well. I polished off a watermelon this morning.

7. Meditation.

This one is so hard for me to do regularly. I skip days all the time. But if I can sit down in a quiet place for even 10 minutes, it seems to help. I don't really follow a particular technique. Sometimes I sit and breath and clear my mind. Sometimes I pray. Sometimes I meditate on things I'm grateful for, or do a forgiveness meditation. I just got an email from Charming's mom about this free meditation series. Maybe I'll do it.

8. Just doing it. (The creative work.)

Have you heard that the concept of will power is a myth? People who are able to stop procrastinating have learned skills to get the work done. I sometimes think of those skills as tricking myself, or turning things into a game. I don't sit down to write books because I have more will power than all the other people who want to write books, but don't. I sit down to write, probably because I told myself there might be chocolate involved, or that maybe after writing I'd get to belt out "Let it Go" with Elsa from Frozen one more time.  (I don't even have a kid I can blame that on yet.) Or, like right now, that I'll just START this blog post and it will be just a few words then I'll get up. And here I am at the bottom of the post.  Ha ha, Genevieve. Tricked ya again!

 What do you do in stressful times to stay serene? Please share in the comments so everyone on the internet can learn from your experience.

How to Write and Publish a Non-Fiction Book in 17 Weeks

I'm currently in the middle of a very exciting time: drafting my third book, tentatively titled 12 RITUALS FOR ART + INCOME: Learn and Apply the Habits of Successful Artists, Writers, and Other Creatives. 
 I thought I'd share with you my plan to complete and publish the book by the end of November, 2014.

The Plan

1. Week of August 4: Draft The Beginning (first chapter)
2. Week of August 11: Draft Chapter 2 and organize interviews
3. Week of August 18: Draft Chapter 3 and title research/testing.
4. Week of August 25: Draft Chapter 4 
5. Week of September 1: Draft Chapter 5
6. Week of Sept 8: Draft Chapter 6
7. Week of Sept 15: Draft Chapter 7 and begin cover design
8. Week of Sept 22: Draft Chapter 8 and ask for Beta Readers
9. Week of Sept 29: Draft Chapter 9
10. Week of Oct 6: Draft Chapter 10 and continue cover design
11. Week of Oct. 13: Draft Chapter 11 and ask for Beta Readers
12. Week of Oct 20: Draft Chapter 12
13. Week of Oct 27: Draft Chapter 13
14. Week of November 3: Draft Chapter 14
15. Week of November 10: Re-write and send to Beta Readers. 
16. Week of November 17: Complete cover design, write book description and any other sales copy or launch copy needed. Set up/spread the word about hard launch via Author Marketing Club.
17. Week of November 24: Incorporate the thoughts and edits of my beta readers and soft launch the book! (Hard launch will be December 30, 2014.)

Eating the Elephant

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time goes the cliche. The first version of the plan had me working on the book until the last day of December. And when I talked to Prince Charming about my plan to work right through our baby's birth and even work the week of Christmas (ha... ha ha, ha), there was enough eyebrow raising that I thought maybe there was a slight chance I was biting off like, huge elephant bites at a time when my life will already be a feast, metaphorically and literally.  So I tightened up the schedule so I can enjoy my baby and holiday time. I did this by making my elephant bites a wee bit larger earlier in the plan, but still chew able.  I allowed for those bigger bites by saying "no" to some other things in my life. This is the key you have to understand if you are going to fit more in.

Drafting to Soft Launch

The plan is a very tight schedule and includes up until the soft launch (the publishing of the book on Amazon.com). The hard launch is when the publicity takes place and the book reaches a wider audience.

If you have the time, I recommend adding a few additional weeks to give yourself some breathing room on your own book. I think 20 weeks is a good goal for this process.

Research Time

Please note that this plan does not include the majority of the research time for the book. I'll still be researching throughout my drafting time, but I've also already done a lot of the research.  This is a topic I've been intensely interested in for years. I tend to naturally collect information on topics I'm interested in, and I did,  both before I knew I'd be writing about this, and more systematically after I started blogging about it, sometime over a year ago.

Word Count Goal

The book will likely hit somewhere between 42,000 and 60,000 words. This is enough to get the point across without being too much of a time investment for busy readers. Each chapter will be around 3,000 to 4,300 words, so that's less than 1000 words a day. Hey, that's a pretty easy bite of the elephant!

P.S.  FYI I would probably never eat a real-life elephant.

Publishing

I use Amazon's KDP program which makes the publishing process both easy and very quick. See this post for more about why I love this program for self-publishing authors.

Your Project

I hope today's post helps you on your own book writing project! Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or thoughts. Please share this post with that person you know who has a non-fiction book inside them just waiting to get out.

photo credit: Just Us 3 via photopin cc

My Top 3 Takeaways For a Wealthy Creative Life - WDS 2014

Part of my USA travels this July included a trip to Portland, Oregon for the World Domination Summit, "a  gathering of creative, interesting people from all over the world." More from the Eventbrite description: "Every summer, thousands of people travel to Portland, Oregon for an immersive experience in life, work, and travel."  

My top 3 takeaways for the creative life from WDS 2014:

Use your imagination to increase your bravery.

We are scared. Our imaginations, when used correctly, are powerful things. Put those two together and you have a recipe for bravery. Over and over, the speakers talked about how scary it was to take risks in life, business, and creativity. But if you use your imagination in a positive way, you can do anything. It's like the tired advice given to professional speakers to imagine audience members all naked. Stuff like that works. But here are some more original examples.

• Gary Hirsch got interested in how art impacts peoples lives for good, and hand painted a bunch of tiny robots, giving them away to people as "bravebots." He and a team hand painted one of these for every summit attendee. He's got photos of people holding these before they go in for chemo, surgery, and before doing other, less physically scary things, like, oh, write a book. His challenge to us was to "activate" our little bot by posting our brave thing on social media. So I did. My one brave thing: write and publish a book by the end of 2014.

• Tiny home builder Dee Williams came onstage wearing a "superhero cape" that was actually a Delta airlines blanket. Just that alone took guts. In a moving and hilarious speech, she talked about how walking around in her every day life wearing her "invisible superhero cape" gave her not only buns of steel and better posture, but an attentiveness to how she might help people around her in grocery stores, parking lots, and other daily-life places.

Declare yourself.

Saying your dreams out loud can be magical. A simple declaration of identity or action, spoken to an audience, has more power in your life than unspoken thoughts.

Speaker Elisa Blaha Cripe had trouble definining what she did. After lots of soul-searching, this is her answer: "I make stuff." And she really does. It's powerful because there's so much integrity in her statement. She is an artist and crafter and she is constantly creating.

She had us write down our declarations.

Mine: I'm a writer.

Scarier: I write inspiring books that help people live better, happier lives.

Scariest: I am love.

Take imperfect action.

This gem came from most of the speakers, but was most clearly stated by one of my favorites, Jadah Sellner, who told  authentic stories about the imperfections and failures that went along with her entrepreneurial journey. These stories were encouraging in light of the very successful business she eventually built (after lots of failure.)

I was struck by how the action people took was most assuredly and often NOT the action I would have taken. Ever. After witnessing the effects of an oil spill, "The Planet Walker" John Francis decided to stop riding in cars and took a 17-year vow of silence. Would I have ever dreamed up that response? No. Was it effective in changing things? For him it was, probably because it came from a true place inside him.

A fellow attendee, "The Poem Catcher" decided to travel the world with a large butterfly net. He asks people to write and donate poems and throw them in his net. Then he makes books and sells them and gives the proceeds to charity. Here he is:

These actions are creative, possibly insane, and probably imperfect, but they are working.

However, it's called imperfect action because it doesn't always work. Don't be afraid to try something else. There's no shame in trying and failing if you learn and try something else.

I'm writing a book on creativity, and will be focusing on that throughout this fall. I'll use this space to write about what I'm sure will be a very imperfect journey towards a completed book. I look forward to sharing it with you.

What do you think of these takeaways? Which one is speaking to you the most?

More About My Experience

This was my first time going to the summit, although I've thought it would be fun to go since I first heard about it a couple of years ago. It is the first event I've attended as an investment in myself as a writerpreneur, which felt good in that little-bit-scary, challenging way. I showed up alone, nervous about an entire weekend of meeting strangers. With over 3,000 other people in attendance, would I meet the right ones? Would I learn a lot, make exciting connections, and have fun?

I needn't have worried.

Before the first day was even halfway over, I felt that I never wanted to speak or blog again, because I had met so many good-hearted people doing wonderful, interesting, creative, world-changing things. People with so much to share, so much wisdom. All I wanted to do was listen and learn from these people. Of course the funny thing about creative and world-changing people is that they are curious and they wanted to hear about what I was doing too. Each person I met was encouraging and genuinely interested in what I was doing, some energetically offering helpful advice, encouragement, or connections.  I don't remember the conversational content of several of the most impactful interactions I had, just how they gazed into my eyes with so much gentleness, acceptance, love and undistracted presence that my life is changed for the better. Not a single person I talked to was cynical, jealous, or discouraging.

One B-schooler I met up with during the welcome party, Jackie Knechtel at Pure Vibrant Living, rushed me around, introducing me to about half the attendees, it seemed like. When I asked how she knew so many people there, she said that she'd traveled to over 50 countries, and just loved people. People loved her too, basking in her warmth and openness and hugs.

Throughout the weekend I continued to meet kindred spirits, like this wonderful woman who runs Alight Biz Solutions. She and I plotted together about creativity, project management, book writing, and empowering women in business. And we shared the summit's gift to us: a free hot air balloon ride.

3 Ways to Give Back and Improve your Creativity

I was recently talking to a young photographer-filmmaker, and he was telling me that he planned to teach media classes to high schoolers at the same time as he was building his own career in media. I thought what a wonderful way to give back.

People tend to think of giving back as something unselfish they can do with their free time - something that will serve others. It's true that giving back requires thinking of others, and it's best done without expecting anything in return.

However, the secret about giving back is that it can also be a powerful booster for your creativity-based career. While I think it's important not to be entirely motivated by what you can personally gain from giving back, I do think there's nothing wrong with being partially motivated by what you will gain from giving back.

Here are three ways to give back, along with how they can help your creativity-based career:

1. Teach.

Whether you're volunteering or teaching for pay, something about the act of sharing your craft and art with others can help cement your own understanding of it, and even help you make breakthroughs in your art. Hint: Teach before you feel ready.

2. Write thank you notes.

Expressing gratitude to those you've helped you learn to be a better artist, or to those who've helped your career doesn't just make people feel good. It also serves to keep you and your art in the mind of people who may be able to help you by giving referrals or connections.

3.  Give your art away.

This has to be done strategically, so that the perceived value of your art doesn't decrease, but occasionally doing things for free can really serve a person or organization who needs what you have to give. And the bonus is that when you give something away for free, people feel indebted to you in a positive way; they want to help you and your career in any way they can. I always sell more books than usual after I give a bunch of books away, presumably because people who got it for free recommend my book to their friends, who then pay for it.

Bonus: Another way you can give back is by commenting on blogs like this one.  Can you think of a way to give back that I didn't list? Comment below for the benefit of all the readers.  Thank you!

Looking at Hot Models: Creative Success through Mentorship

Think for a moment about the big creative dreams that make you feel amazing. Are you writing? Painting? Making abundant money from selling your creative work to an enthusiastic audience? Perhaps you sigh and think about why you aren't there yet. Maybe you have some fears or concerns that are getting in your way. Maybe you saw someone else succeed at cost to their family or health.

This is where mentorship comes in.  It's very hard to do something that we've never seen anyone else do.  Creative success on your terms becomes easier to achieve in direct proportion to the number of people in your life who are modeling the kind of success you desire.

Yet it's quite rare to have these models around you naturally. If you, say, you grew up in a family of rock stars, and you want to be a rock star, you are very lucky. Rock stardom will come much easier to you than to someone who has only seen rock stars from the mosh pit.

Most of us need to do a little bit of (fun) work to create mentorship in our lives. It's pretty easy.

I've boiled it down to three steps.

1. Find some hot models to look at.

No, not the Victoria's Secret kind, unless you aspire to design lingerie or walk the runway. Find people in your creative sphere who are on fire - whose success you want to emulate.  You probably already have someone in mind, perhaps the person who inspired your to get into your field in the first place.

2.  Do more research.

Often the first people who come to mind, upon closer inspection, don't have exactly the kind of success you'd like. Say there's an artist who's work you L-O-V-E, but you discover that he's deeply depressed and drinks heavily. That's probably not a lifestyle you see as optimal for yourself. So look for artists who are successful, happy, and healthy. They aren't hard to find once you scratch through the surface of the cultural stereotype of the drunk, depressed writer or artist.

Follow these folks you find on Twitter, bookmark their websites, and support their work in any way you can. Read up on anything you can find about the way they get the work done while maintaining a happy, balanced life. Soak in their example until what they've achieved starts to seem normal and do-able to you. Even if you never meet them, their example can do wonders for your own career.

3. Connect to a mentor.

Ideally, you connect to a mentor and build a supportive friendship so that you can learn directly from someone whose example you'd like to follow. However, in the real world, it's not always possible to build a friendship with someone who may be  in another country or simply too busy to take on a new protege. In these cases, your mentor can be a coach or simply a supportive person in your life who is willing to listen, encourage you, and be consistently positive about your ideas and goals. A good coach or mentor is someone who asks about how your creative work is going and helps you stay excited, motivated, and laser focused on the next step to take in the direction of your dreams.

Here are some good guidelines to keep in mind as you communicate with a mentor.

• There's no need to use the word "mentor" until your relationship is well established and has lasted years. It's a serious word and using it too early is kind of like proposing marriage on the first date.
• You may want to consider paying to be part of a mentorship program or hiring a coach who has helped other people achieve results similar to what you desire in your life. This is true especially if you work from home or work alone a lot, as those conditions make it harder to mix with people in your industry.
• If possible, make contact with more than one mentor and make sure you mention it to your other mentors. Some of my best mentee experiences have resulted by my letting a mentor know that I'm also working with another brilliant mind in the industry/area. It helps the mentor know that you are making connections and are ambitiously pursuing excellence.
• You job is to ask questions and listen. Don't use a mentor's time to complain; instead, ask for his or her advice about challenges you are facing and then give them an update about that challenge next time you meet.

Email Template

Finally, here's an example email template you can use to reach out to someone you admire. Make sure you customize it to your voice and personality.

Dear ______,

I'm a big admirer of your _________ and you inspire me especially in the way you ____________, _____________ all while _____________. (Specific qualities you've noticed.)

I'm a writer/artist/creator myself, and I'd love to know more about how you _______________________. Specifically, ______(One specific question they can answer in 5 minute or less.)

Thanks for being such an inspiration.

Regards,

If you get a response, feel free to send more brief questions. Be yourself and be ready to think creatively about how you can make their advice work for you.

If You're Thinking of Starting a Creativity-Based Business...

I wrote this self-coaching guide for Fairy Tale Life (before I moved my creativity coaching to Packing Lust) to help you decide whether you should start a business as a writer, artist, photographer, performer, designer, or any business where you will be offering a product or a service that you create or co-create.

 The outcome we are aiming for here is for you to make a decision to:

a) Start a creativity-based business as soon as possible.

b) Start a creativity-based business on a specific date in the future.

c) Not start a creativity based business at this time.

If you are considering starting a business with a partner, make sure both of you answer the questions individually, and then discuss your answers together.

THE QUESTIONS

1. Do I believe in myself?

I don't just mean this in a Disney musical sort of way. It's not just about believing you are a good person with talent. It's about trusting your ideas, skills, gifts, and ability to grow.  It's about believing in yourself when no one else does.There will always be times when other people validate your work, but when those people aren't around, or when other people criticize, you are your most important validator and encourager.  Can you find things to love about your work? Also, can you believe in your ability to persevere while you close the gap between the quality you aspire to and the quality you actually produce? This is the gap Ira Glass refers to when he says "It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions."

2. Am I growth and learning-oriented?

The first place this applies will be in your market research, that is, in talking to and learning from potential customers, clients, or fans.  Are you open to your business not looking exactly like you first envisioned? Can you learn about what people really want and need and apply those lessons to your business?

Can you build new habits that will at first feel uncomfortable or scary? Do you have the can-do attitude that is summed up in Marie Forleo's mantra "everything is figureoutable?"  Do you love to learn about how to improve your work and your business?

3. am I sincerely focused on and committed to this idea?

In the first question, you asked about your belief in yourself. The opposite of belief is doubt, and self-doubt is a powerful killer of dreams. The best way to combat self-doubt isn't through willpower to stop negative thoughts, but rather, the willpower to focus on your art and your vision of your business as you build it. Once you've researched your business idea, and made sure there is a possible audience for what you do, you've got to fully commit and focus. Doubt will certainly come up if you are human, but your focus and commitment need to be stronger than that doubt.

4. Can I help people connect?

Seth Godin writes, "In the connection economy, there's a dividing line between two kinds of projects: those that exist to create connections, and those that don't."

As an artist, your job is to create the work. As an artist who is also building a business, your job is to help people connect over the work. Do you feel comfortable in this role? Can you answer questions, foster conversations, and reveal your process enough to make people feel connected to you? Will your projects create connections?

5. Can I make the space?

To run a business, you will need to make physical space and time space. You'll need to actively manage your time, which often means using a calendar.  It means prioritizing chunks of time in which you will work with focused effort on your business. It means finding & paying for childcare if necessary. It means clearing out a room, closet, or other space where you will work.

6. Do I honor commitments to myself and others?

Danielle LaPorte says that the secret to success is to do what you say you are going to do. Of course, this is a high standard, and life is full of opportunities for white lies. (Did you really keep in touch with everyone whose high school yearbook you wrote in?) But language is powerful, and if people don't trust your words, or if you don't even trust your own words, then your business may falter.  Can you keep appointments and be on time, or communicate clearly if you have to cancel? Can you deliver products or services when you state that you will? Can you stick to your policies even when they are inconvenient?

7. Am I open to suggestions and ideas without being overwhelmed by them?

There's a delicate line between being open to growth and opportunity and staying focused on creating your vision. You have to learn to walk that line. If you are too open to every new thing that comes into your landscape, you could get overwhelmed and creatively stuck. Yet if you shut your eyes to all new ideas, you may miss out an important life or business opportunity. Have you developed your own personal sifting process so that when new ideas come in, you can implement, discard, or save for later?

8. Do I have the support of a few people close to me?

It's true that not everyone in your life - or even in your family - may understand what you are up to when you choose to start a new business. That's okay. But I believe that you need to have at least one or two close friends or family members in your corner who believe in you and are cheering you on. Bonus points if your romantic partner is on board. You supporters will be there to give you pep talks when you lag, sympathy when the going gets tough, and ideas when you feel uninspired.

9. Do I have savings, a good bridge job, or some other way of staying out of debt while I build my business?

While businesses can grow quickly, it's common that in the beginning they cost more money than they bring in. And if you don't have a built-in audience that you've already cultivated, then give yourself plenty of time to gain fans or clients.  In the mean time, you'll need a way to keep paying the bills. You could save up (the amount will vary depending on your budget and your business), you could keep working in your current job, or you could get a bridge job. A bridge job is one that covers the bills but doesn't drain your creative energy.  It helps if your bridge job meets a need for you that your business doesn't. For example, if you are an artist who spends long hours alone in the studio, an ideal bridge job might be bar tending to meet your need to socialize.  Your spouse or partner also might agree to take care of the bills for a time while you build your business. Finally there are artist communes and artist housing projects worth looking into where your cost of living could be very low.

10. Do I have a clear purpose in life that I know on a deep level and is this business connected to it?

I know, this last question is a doozy. But I believe that without a sense of purpose, life is less fun and less meaningful.  I love how Mark Twain puts it: "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."  Your purpose can be in a 10-page mission statement, or in one word, such as "love," but you need one and it needs to resonate deeply with you.  Your purpose may change or evolve with time. Do you know your purpose? If so, how is your business idea connected to your purpose? Running a business takes as much time as you are willing to give it, and that time will be more fun and fulfilling if you can identify every day why what you're doing matters.

 Let's Talk about Yesses!

How many yesses did you have? Did you say "yes" to all ten questions? If so, congratulations! You may be ready to start a creativity-based business! If not, can you work on turning any no's into yesses? If so, your decision can be to delay starting a business until a certain date in the future. I believe self-doubt can torture entrepreneurs, and is the greatest killer of new businesses and new ideas. I wrote this post to help you make a strong decision and vanquish self-doubt. Now that you've answered these questions, I hope that any doubts you have about your decision to start a new business are gone, and that you can move forward with confidence in your decision.

I wish you luck, fun, and magic in your new venture. Know that I am here cheering you on.

"Yessing" you all the way,

Top 10 Best Websites for True Creativity

I typed "what is creativity?" into the Google, and this is what it said:

The use of the imagination or original ideas, esp. in the production of an artistic work.

To some extent, we each have our own definitions of creativity. Those of us in creative professions may have our own unique set of rules, superstitions, ceremonies, and special pants to protect and nourish our creativity.

Getting it Out There

So what do I mean by "true creativity?"  Well, I mean what I think is important to be truly creative. For me, true creativity emphasizes the production part of the definition. And I would go even further to say not just the production part, but the getting-it-out-there part. Because if you are all alone in your house being creative without sharing it, you are the only one who is going to benefit. And you are WAY too big-hearted, brave, and selfless to let that happen.

Criteria

The criteria, therefore, to make my list of top 10 websites for TRUE creativity included not just inspiration (although a couple are pure inspiration) but also encouragement, education, and channels for distributing the things you create. Because, again, creation without an audience -- creation without benefitting others --  is like having a child and then never letting it grow up and experience the world.

Some websites masquerade as pro-creativity sites when really, they are just pro-crastinativity sites. (And yes, I made that word up for phrasal symmetry.) Intentions might be pure, but these sites waste your time, make you feel bad about your own creative production, and then, in the worst cases,  use your weakened emotional state to sell you things you don't need. Yuck. I've filtered all those out for you. You’re welcome.

The Top Ten

Here are the topic 10 best websites for true creativity (other than this one, of course) along with their highlights and an idea-suggestion for how to use each to get you going on your creative way.

1. Design Milk

Highlight: This online magazine covers what's new and modern all over the design world: art, architecture, fashion, interior design, and technology.

Idea:  The best sources of ideas are almost never in your field (you risk copying someone else there). So if you're a fashion designer, try looking at their architecture section. You might just find yourself inspired by the lines and colors you see there.

2.  COLOURLovers

Highlight: This community of color fans shares palettes and patterns inspired by a wide variety of sources, including magazines, weddings, and Japanese art. Since I'm obsessed with color myself, I can't help but sneak in a link to this amazing article on Creative Bloq that shares 27 other online color tools. I could spend all day just looking at colors and palettes.

Idea: The colors and palettes are each given creative names by community members.  Maybe you're writing song lyrics and you need some inspiration for how you're going to sing about the color of your lover's eyes or the sky. How about "lime fusion," or "moonage daydream"?

3. Kindle Direct Publishing

Highlight: There are a lot of websites out there aimed at helping self-publishing writers promote and sell their work. But Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is the only program I've experienced significant results from. The program is free, easy to use, and in most cases, authors can earn 70% royalties while tapping into the marketing powerhouse that is the Amazon website. Through their  KDP select program, I've been able to reach over ten times the amount of people I would normally be able to promote to. That means my book is actually out there in the world, even though I haven't spent a lot of time touring or promoting through blogs.

Idea: See just how easy it is to use by publishing one chapter of your book via KDP. Once you convince yourself just how easy it is to reach an audience, you'll be more motivated to finish your novel and start selling it.

4. Pinterest

Highlight: Pinterest may be the world's best collection of visually-presented ideas. If you are a visual or curatorial person, odds are you are already on Pinterest. If you're not, get ready to sacrifice at least the next three days and nights to this addiction.

Idea:  Maybe you're a film set designer. You could click on the "home decor" tab to instantly see incredible designs and atmosphere. And any other idea you could dream of.

5. ARTtwo50

Highlight: This brand new app allows people to virtually hang your visual art on the walls before buying it. And it markets and promotes the work of artists who sign up. I know so many artists would take a bullet before letting the words “business plan” come out of their mouth. Until ARTtwo50, that meant starvation or tending bar.

Idea: Use the app as your imagination puts you in the shoes of the people who buy your art (or who you visualize buying your art). See what they want and what they need. See how it’s going to hang above their couch. Hopefully that inspires you to make something that will make their life better.

6.  Times Haiku

Highlight: Jacob Harris at the New York Times created an algorithm that automatically detects haiku which occur within the paper's articles. This Tumblr blog features the human-selected best from those naturally occurring haiku the computer program finds.

Idea: Revisit Times Haiku when you need a writing or creativity prompt. Could this haiku:

inspire a short story, or even a novel? What about a painting?

7. Etsy

Highlight: This online market place is the first spot to check out if you want to buy or sell handmade or vintage items.

Idea:  Use the Collections feature to get atmospheric inspiration for anything from a poem to plating your latest culinary creation. Or just use it to get your own creations out there!

8. Freundevonfreunden

Highlight: FvF is an online magazine that shows creative people all over the world in their working environments, studios, and homes.

Idea: There's something inspiring about seeing artists in the space where they make things. Next time you feel self-doubt, just take a peek at FvF to be reminded that people all over the world are creating and you can too.

9. TED

Highlight: TED is a nonprofit that started with the goal of spreading ideas in the areas of technology, entertainment and design. Now it's become synonymous with videos of compelling and inspiring talks on just about any idea worth spreading.

Idea: I suggest watching TED talks when you need encouragement, motivation, or inspiration, because they tend to fire you up enough to get you back on track with YOUR projects. It's not an endless rabbit hole, with one video leading to another until you suddenly realize it's 2 AM. I usually can just watch one or two and then am able to apply an idea to my art or life.

10. Austin Kleon's Blog

Highlight: Writer-Artist Austin Kleon combines writing and visual appeal in his pieces, giving him unique authority to talk and write about the trans-mezcla nature of creativity.

Idea: If you haven't read his book, Steal Like an Artist, you should. In the meantime, check out his blog where he provides pithy and encouraging advice on the creative process.

BONUS!

11. Any Website That Makes You Laugh

Highlight: This website tickles your funny bone; it always seems to have a video or joke that cracks you up every time.

Idea: Visit when you feel creatively stuck. Laughter decreases stress, increases blood flow, increases positive brain chemicals, and can help improve creativity.

Did I miss a website that is in your top ten? Tell me which one and why in the comments.

Image credits:

1.  See-ming Lee 李思明 SML via photopin cc (image altered).

2. betta design via photopin cc (image altered).

3 Powerful Rituals to Stretch Your Spirit

I've been meditating daily. Sometimes I feel twitchy. Sometimes I get sleepy. Sometimes I feel completely unable to sit still, and just be. But I’m proud to say I’ve been sitting down (or sometimes lying down – that’s ok, right?) for meditation for 15-30 minutes almost every day this month.

Soggy Cement vs. Hard Cement

January traditionally is a month for focusing on new habits, or rituals, and Stretching Your Spirit was my habit of choice to zero in on this month. It’s one of the 12 Rituals that I've written about before.

If you want to focus on Stretching Your Spirit, then plan to practice a new ritual for 30 days. Some studies say that 21 days is all you need to cement a habit, but I find that my cement is still a bit soggy after only three weeks. I need a full month to make something a firm habit. I suspect this time varies from person to person. Experiment to discover how many days it takes before you do something on autopilot. You’ll know it’s a habit when you get a “something’s missing” feeling if you don’t do it, or if you find yourself doing it without realizing it.

Here are 3 rituals I have personally found to be amazing for stretching the spirit.

1. Meditation: a Sacred Stillness

The essence of meditation is presence. We make ourselves comfortable, and then tune in to what’s going on inside.  Slowly, we let the brain-chatter die down, and we focus on our breath. Some find it helps to focus on a mantra, one word or phrase that calms the mind and gives it focus. When thoughts bubble up, as they often do, we let them pass without holding on. Without analysis. We return to our breath or our mantra.  One of my favorite meditation resources has been the Oprah Chopra 21-Day Meditation Challenges provided by the Chopra Center for free from time to time.

2. When the Spirit Moves the Body

Spirituality and movement go well together. Yoga helps calm the mind while stretching the body. The combination of a calm mind and a sense of well-being in the body can bring joy, a fact evidenced by the massive and ongoing popularity of the Yoga movement.  It’s global.  There’s a popular yoga center where I live in the developing country of Palestine. Another kind of moving meditation is one that I learned in Los Angeles: feminine movement. To learn more, I recommend taking a class in feminine movement, such as a belly dancing class or a sensual movement class. A moving meditation is a highly personal meditation often done alone. It can take the form of dance, Tai Chi, stretching, prayer or yoga. It’s an outward expression of an inward emotion: a desire to connect with the divine. You can witness a moving meditation in the way that Catholics stand up, sit down, and kneel during a celebration of Mass. You can also see moving meditation in the way that Muslims pray.  The spirit moves the body, and the body moves the spirit.

3. a Powerful Partnership

While our friendships can certainly be a source of spiritual growth for us , setting an intention with one friend to pray for him or her can help us grow spiritually more than leaving things to chance. When two people mindfully share their desires, struggles, and intentions, and commit to praying for each other, amazing things can happen.  Knowing someone is on your side, sending love to God on your behalf is incredible, and praying for someone else keeps us focused on what’s important. I have most valued my prayer partner when in the middle of making important life decisions. When looking for a prayer partner, seek someone who is nonjudgmental, optimistic, kind, and honest.

What do you think?

I hope these three rituals inspired you or gave you a new idea about how you’d like to stretch your spirit! Please comment below and share with us what top three rituals you have find most helpful for your spiritual growth.

Yours,

[Photo credit: blinkingidiot via photopin cc]

How to Create a Beautiful Website Without Wanting to Die

Do you ever want to just give up before you start working on your website? Ever thrown yourself down dramatically on a dock and said “How am I ever going to create a beautiful and functional website about my sea shell collection?”

Yeah, me neither. But if you want to create a powerful website with minimal drama, you’re in luck. I’ve got a list of my favorite tips and resources right here for you. This is for those who don’t want to mess with a lot of code and aren’t professional developers, yet want to have as much freedom as possible over the look and feel of their site.

Here, for free, are my best steps and tips (and what I do) for creating websites:

Steps

1. Use WordPress.org (not WordPress.com). Follow this tutorial to get WordPress working for you to create a self-hosted blog that you will turn into an awesome website. Self-hosting via WordPress.org is the single best, industry standard way to get the most out of your website. You will eventually regret it if you go with Weebly or a similar service because when you’re ready to grow, they can’t grow with you.

Think About Theme

2. If you are going to use a free theme, select one with lot of positive reviews, not a new, untried one. Look from the dashboard of WordPress under the Appearance > Themes > Install Themes tab. However, I recommend learning on one of the themes that comes pre-installed free with WordPress, and then paying for the Headway Theme.

3. Now it’s time to learn the basics of WordPress, such as how to add a new post, create a menu, and add photos. The WordPress Codex has everything you need, starting with some basic terminology.

4. If you are willing to pay for a theme, I recommend Headway, which you can download here. You’ll probably only need the base plan ($87). Headway allows more customization-without-knowing-code than any other theme I’ve tried. Not convinced? Read more about it here.

5. I recommend watching tutorials to help you learn how to design in Headway, which involves minimal coding. Search Google or Youtube to find a video that answers your specific Headway questions, or you can find free tutorials here. If you are willing to pay to make your learning process and time shorter and sweeter, I recommend Websites Made Easy, by Nathalie Lussier. She has a way of breaking down technical projects into actual human language. I personally use her Websites Made Easy tutorials and I love them.

5. My favorite website to find royalty-free images to use on your blog or site is Photo Pin. I love how it helps you give proper attribution.

6. For editing images, you could use a program like Photoshop that takes forever and slows your computer down, or you could use PicMonkey, which I recommend.

7. Install a few basic plugins from the WordPress Dashboard. I recommend Akismet, BackupBuddy, and JetPack by WordPress.com.

tips

Break it step down into bite-sized pieces. Make a list, and cross each one off as you go.

Pace yourself — don’t try to get your website up and running perfectly in one day.

All most every WordPress question has already been answered  somewhere out there — Google and Youtube are your best, best, best, best, best, best friends.

Rock on!

Yours,

Your Worst Enemy

This is a guest post by my wonderful, funny and wise grandfather, Trog. Thanks for sharing, Trog.

I recently wrote about enthusiasm being your best friend. So, if enthusiasm is your best friend—then what is your worst enemy?

 That would be the opposite of enthusiasm, optimism, and happiness.

that would be pessimism, unhappiness, darkness, gloom and meanness.

I once had a friend who I worked with. Sometimes we went to lunch together, and sometimes we had to work on a case together. He seemed just like a regular “guy,” but spending time with him usually depressed me. He seemed to have no love of life. There was no excitement or happy expectation of anything. I think he was trying to be sophisticated by being unemotional.  He was blase, bored, and disappointed with his life. He seemed to think that he was too high and mighty to be doing such a dull job.

There are no jobs that are “dull” only “dull” people who don’t know how to make their job interesting and exciting. I’ll grant you sometimes it takes a lot of creativity and imagination. Sometimes you have to “work at it.” But, life is all about how you perceive things… another case of attitude controlling your altitude.

the lesson to learn is don’t let these unhappy complainers, and critics drag you down to their level. don’t let them grind you down. sometimes it is hard to resist joining them in their weltschmerz  (german)—”world woe”; romantic melancholy and sentimental pessimism.

I’ll end this missive with a tag line from the film The Bridge on the River Kwai (William Holden and Alex Guinness). The director of the film was David Lean–who also directed Lawrence of Arabia.

 You probably know the story- locale –a POW camp in the jungle of S.E. Asia. The POW’s are captured British soldiers who are being starved and beaten and made to work on the railroad. The Japanese Colonel in charge of the camp–stands on a box and addresses newly arrived prisoners. He says, the motto of this camp is: “Be happy in our work.”

(Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoomar/145322737/)

The Blender Story

This is part of the Don’t Be Like Me series, a new column of mostly true stories illustrating what not to do in life.Email me if you’d like to contribute. We all have a story.

When Prince Charming recently came home from a three day trip to Gaza, he was all “Agh… this really stressful thing happened…. someone almost got arrested and I lost my right foot in a freak accident, do you still love me?”

And I was like “AHHHH! That sounds horrible but this blender, and arg, and I am so frustrated. Pay attention to my needs first and then I’ll try to listen to you better.”

Prince Charming:  Ok, what’s the problem? (I love him so much.)

Me: I should have used the food processor for this but I don’t know how to use the d____ thing and I f-ing hate it!

(I’m attempting to use a butter knife, spatula, and chopstick simultaneously to dig the cementing pie-gel from under the sharp blades of the vitamix blender.)

Me: I HATE COOKING!!!

Prince Charming: You know, I can show you how to use the food processor.

Me: No! Cooking shouldn’t be like that! You should’t have have to assemble a complicated piece of machinery to cook! And then you have to wash it. And it’s so dangerous! All those moving parts. Ah! I want to push a button and do it! Cooking should be, like, easy. If I can’t figure out how to do it by myself, it isn’t worth it! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! WHY IS MY LIFE SO HARD???

Charming: So you didn’t have to learn how to use the oven? You just naturally know how to do everything?

Me: You probably have a point but I really don’t want to tell you that right now. That is why I said that first part in a quiet Shy Ronnie voice AND THIS IN MY LOUD YELLING VOICE:  ITS NOT THAT I KNOW HOW TO DO EVERYTHING, IT’S THAT WITH A LITTLE EXPERIMENTATION, YEAH, I CAN FIGURE ALMOST EVERYTHING OUT. BUT I’VE MESSED WITH THE FOOD PROCESSOR FOR LIKE TWO HOURS AND I STILL CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT. I DON’T WANT TO NEED HELP, I DON’T!!!!! OK?

You can probably see where I am going with this. It’s crazy to think you can do it all on your own. No one ever accomplishes anything magnificent all on their own, not even a vegan pie crust. If we look around, we are generally surrounded by kind, supportive, one-footed or two-footed people who are willing and eager to help us learn what we need to learn, go where we need to go, and be the people we need to be.

Don’t be like me and try to do it all on your own without help. We are all in this together.

ADDENDUM: Don’t worry, Prince Charming did not really lose his foot.  That was a metaphor for an extremely stressful experience that took a toll on him. Thankfully, not THAT much of a toll.

Pie crust-covered hugs (the best kind),

(photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintmachine/2987986325/)

Why Selling Art is an Act of Compassion

I was recently talking to a fellow artist — a photographer– and I told her that I looked at her photos when I was having a bad day and needed to feel better.

her response was incredulous. “do you really mean that? or are you just saying that because you’re my friend?”

I couldn’t believe she was asking me if I really meant what I said. Her work is stunning. Her business is growing. Her clients are overjoyed. Is she still maturing as a photographer? Yes. She’s still finding her voice and vision. But her work is already way above that of entry-level professional photographers.

Like many artists who are in a similar stage, she is having trouble charging what her services are really worth.  She underestimates her own abilities, which is something I frequently see in my work as an artist coach. This underestimation undercuts her ability to market and sell her services.

There’s something she doesn’t understand, and it is something many artists don’t understand. This something is the single most important thing I can tell an artist about selling art:

selling art is an act of compassion.

It’s not about you. It’s not about your skills, or lack thereof. It’s not about your fears about not being able to fulfill your artistic vision. Every artist has growing to do.

SELLING ART IS ABOUT THE EFFECT YOUR ART HAS ON THOSE WHO EXPERIENCE IT.

And that effect is a powerful one. Art makes people feel something. As humans, we need to feel. We need to feel strong emotions of passion, excitement, surprise, shock, connection, serenity, joy, rage, and the whole gamut. Perhaps if you truly understood the affect your art has on people (not everyone perhaps, but the special group who “gets it” who is it your job to find) then you would see what an act of compassion it is to create and sell art.

There is no other industry or field that can claim such a noble purpose. Some people think that selling a utilitarian item – a washing machine, for example – is easier than selling art, because a washing machine does something we all need – it cleans our clothes.  We all need clean clothes, right?

More than clean clothes, we all need beauty in our lives. Beauty makes us forget our troubles for a moment, and it can also sooth our wounds, acting as a balm for heart ache. In slums around the world, people don’t own washing machines. They walk around in dirty clothes. But take a look at photos of these slums, and you’ll see the satellites and television antennae. Somehow, they found a way to bring art into a place missing most basic necessities.

All great art comes out of love, not just for ourselves, but for others.  Let’s remember that when we sell our art, we are offering one of the most numinous experiences a human being can have. That is priceless, of course.

Yet human psychology teaches us that people value what they pay for more than what they get for free.   Value, or benefit to the viewer’s life increases when he or she pays for art (with money or something else of value).

Therefore, not only is making and sharing art an act of compassion, but selling art is an even greater act of compassion.

By pricing your art well and communicating clearly about it (which is all selling is), you as an artist are actually increasing the amount of joy your customer can feel about your art.

I hope this is starting to sink in. By selling your art at the right price, you are effectively improving the quality of your customer’s life experience more than even meeting his or her basic needs would. Don’t believe it when someone tells you humanity’s need for transcendence is less than humanity’s need for basic necessities. If that were true, the world wouldn’t be at war over ideas. While there is violence over access to basic resources, world peace is much more threatened by ideas like culture, religion, equality, love, and freedom. We fight hardest for the things that bring us a sense of connection and transcendence.

I believe if art was more valued in the world, there would be more peace in the world. Art brings people together. Art lifts people up, making them feel better when they otherwise might turn to violence.   The value of art is its great potential to bring world peace.

As artists, it’s our jobs to be the first to value art. The way we value art is by creating it and selling it.  Have compassion on the world by selling your art.

♥ ♥ ♥ ,

(Heart image credit :http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/371032725/)

What’s More Fun Than Being a “Serious” Artist?

Answer: Being a fun artist.

That is, having fun creating your art. If what you are working on isn’t something that you would not read/watch/view/experience during your weekend chill time, stop! Do something fun.

One of my favorite artist-writers, Austin Kleon, suggests:

Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.

I wholeheartedly agree with Austin on this one.  You've got to be inspired by what you already love. Or, you’ve got to create something that you have looked for, and not found. Ideally, a combination of the two.

AND HEY, YOU CAN BE AS “SERIOUS” AS YOU WANT TO BE.

If that’s truly who you are. If you are working on an anomic novel where the main character’s journey is one long walk through the rain, ending with her suicide, that’s totally cool. As long as that’s the sort of fiction you read when you are trying to relax after a long day.

So have more fun as an artist by creating the sort of things that you enjoy. I know that if you make the sort of art that is fun for you to consume, your work can find an audience.

Take action now by making a list of the books you are reading and the art you love. Compare this list with the projects you are working on. If there are no similarities, you may want to rethink that project.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.

How Artists and Writers are Usually the Opposite of Driven Business Types

Today I got an update from Jonathan Fields of Good Life Project. He interviews all kinds of people who are changing the world in a meaningful way. I’m a fan of his show, and read the bio of the man he recently interviewed, Chip Conley. Here are a couple snippets.

“As the founder of the legendary hotel group, Joie de Vivre, he shattered the status quo for excellence in hotel leadership and customer experience.”

and

“Chip was riding the crest of the wave. Then things went south…

With his success as an author he began traveling the country speaking to packed houses. But the hellacious schedule found him undernourished both creatively and physically. While on stage his body failed him in the most profound way. He literally died on stage. Chip’s heart had to be restarted several times in the amublance to the hospital.

He made it through, but it was a wake-up call. Conley wasn’t here just to build an empire, he was here to create meaning.”

The thing is, we’ve heard this story so many times. Ambitious business person experiences stress-related health problems and realizes life is about more than making money.

When artists, dreamers, and creatives hear this story, we simply can’t relate.

The “lesson” seems obvious. We start out in life instinctively knowing that this journey isn’t about empire-building, but rather, about meaning-building. In fact, we may wish we could focus a little more on making money — like Chip Conley before his heart attack.

However, what the artist instinctively knows about life is a huge gift, and also a massive head start. Some people need a heart attack to slow them down and get them to focus on what’s important. For others, it’s natural.

 The challenge for artists, creatives, and dreamers who want to make meaning AND money is to focus on consistently building habits, or rituals, that combine both business skills and heart-based creation.

The way to start is through the 12 Rituals for Art + Income.

3 Ways to Take Control of Your Time

 

The 4th ritual for art and income is turning your schedule into your own personal fairy tale. That means owning your time. It means not letting someone else take the reins of your day. It means having time to do the things you want and need to do — making art, working on your career or business, spending time with the people you love, and anything else you need to do.It means doing what’s important without feeling guilty or like you are forgetting a commitment.

Without further ado, here are three ways to take control of your time.

1. Find your soul-mate calendar situation. This love relationship doesn’t have to last forever, but it does need to be exclusive. Settle on one calendar set-up, and stick with it. I prefer Google calendar, but if a beautiful notebook with touchable, soft pages is what works for you, choose that. It has to be something you will use.

2.

Practice three ways to politely decline invitations or demands. If your default is “sure!” or “yes!” when someone asks you for something, it’s time to change your default response to demands on your time to something like: “No thanks.” “Let me think about it.” “Maybe…. can I get back to you?” This is the key to owning your time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and those who make the most of it spend those 24 hours doing activities they enjoy and that move them closer to their goals and desires.

3.

 Aim for a state of grace, not perfection. No one, least of all those with the gifts of imagination and creativity, is perfect at managing their time. We all forget appointments and commitments. Grace means saying sorry when you let someone down by forgetting a commitment. Grace means forgiving yourself and moving on when you let yourself down. Grace means high standards and higher levels of kindness to yourself and others. Take action on idealizing your schedule by asking a few people you admire how they keep track of their commitments. Then create your own unique system so that you can create your ideal schedule.

Plunging Headfirst Into Creative Terror

“I can’t deal with the roller coaster of creating!” Does this sound like you? One of my clients said something similar, and it got me thinking about how to deal with this particular roller coaster without tossing your cookies or, worse, falling off the ride altogether.

First, let’s acknowledge that we kind of love the roller coaster. I know I do. Creating – and the emotions that go along with it – meet my needs for variety and adventure.

Roller coasters are supposed to be fun, right? Thrilling, a little scary, but ultimately, an adrenaline-filled blast.

That was the case when Prince Charming and I rode Tatsu at 6 Flags in Magic Mountain, California. It’s billed as “the tallest, fastest and longest flying coaster on Earth.” The seats flip after you get on so your body is open and parallel to the ground. At one point, you are plunging headfirst toward the ground, with no cage or car. It feels like flying. It was terrifying.

Sadly, the emotional experience of creating is not quite as thrilling as Tatsu. I saw a graph that described the emotions during an entire project from conception to completion.

You start off optimistic about the novel you are writing. The enthusiasm! The dreams of literary fame! But very quickly that emotion drops off. You begin to feel doubt: about your abilities, your story, your characters. You begin procrastinating because the story has lost your interest. Perhaps you keep going, but now your expectations are low. To even finish would be an accomplishment, never mind the Man Booker Prize.

This is where most people give up.

But not you, because you are reading this blog post. You aren’t most people. You are focused on your own sweet growth, and making a greater contribution to the world. You know that you’ve made a promise to yourself, and you are not the kind of person who would break that promise.

HERE IS HOW YOU KEEP YOUR PROMISE TO YOURSELF.

You must know that this isn’t about pushing yourself through. That will only lead to literary constipation. This isn’t about dragging your ass to the computer, unlike the butt-in-chair advice you’ll get from many writers. That is masculine advice, and it comes from a sense of being at war with yourself. Sometimes I will advise a masculine perspective. I even recommend the book The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield, as a general guide for artists. Yet when you are emotionally low is not the time to be at war with yourself.

When you want to toss your cookies on the emotional roller coaster of creating is when you need to make it easyon yourself. Nurture yourself. Have fun. Scream. Get up and dance. Look in the mirror and tell yourself how gorgeous you look. Be silly.

Set up a writing (or painting, designing, etc.) schedule of mini-goals or baby steps on the path to finishing your novel. Reward yourself every time you finish a baby step. Make them as tiny and incremental as necessary.

Fun little baby steps and lots of rewards was how I finished my first book. It helped that I was on my honeymoon while writing the middle section, and that my rewards could be long kisses and wine-sipping Grecian sunsets. Get creative with your own rewards.

Remember, it doesn’t matter if you give up and start again 100 times. All that matters is that you picked up the pencil, laptop, camera, or paintbrush again.

Take Action

Be present to your emotions during your art creation. How are you feeling right now about your project? Write down each separate emotion. Consciously feel your way through each emotion, and then acknowledge that each of them can be helpful, as long as you choose to move through them, and not get stuck there. Emotions – all of them – help us become better artists.

I would love to read about what you do when you hit emotional low moments during creating. Please let me know in the comments area below.

12 Rituals for Art + Income

I believe that our artistic and financial outcomes are a direct result of our daily, weekly, and monthly habits, or rituals. This belief comes from research and reading in the field of habits and behavior. Even more specifically, through a lifetime of being an artist, being friends with artists, and working with artists, I’ve discovered that there are 12 rituals that, when implemented, lead directly to artistic and financial success. With trumpets and drum rolls, here is a quick summary of the 12 Rituals for Art & Income.

RITUAL 1 — Stretch Your Spirit

Successful artists know that their work comes from a place of love, presence, and mystery. They honor that by getting spiritual: meditating, being in nature, honoring each  and every emotion, and practicing forgiveness and loving kindness.

RITUAL 2 — Commit to Your Creative Ritual

Real artists do their art every day. They know that, as in a relationship, the fires of passion must be stoked daily to grow stronger and stronger.  Making art isn’t just a fun hobby, it’s a commitment. They feel respect for the work and the process of growth. In the words of Steven Pressfield, they “go pro.”

RITUAL 3 — The Heart Habit: Empathy

Making art can be a selfish act, but to make it a loving one, artists cultivate a sense of empathy with their fans/peeps/market/customers. They find out what these folks love and what makes them tick. They talk to them about the art, and about the process. Successful artists communicate with authenticity – vulnerability, even – to their fans.

RITUAL 4 — Take Control of your Time

Never at the whim of others demands on their time, working artists learn to politely say “no” to invitations and demands when their gut instincts aren’t saying “Hell yeah!” This means the artist has plenty of time to make art. To make sure she  does what she says she is going to do, a successful artist keeps an updated and active calendar at all times. She debunks the “flaky creative” myth by finding examples of artists who manage to find the time to have a career, business, family, etc.

RITUAL 5 — Another Heart Habit: Cardio

To avoid burnout and health problems, happy artists exercise daily. They often combine exercise with something that brings them inspiration, such as hiking, dancing, or horseback riding.  For artists predisposed to depression, daily exercise is a vital part of a happy life.

RITUAL 6 — Website Magic

Artists who go pro create websites where customers can experience and purchase their art. When a successful artists has technical difficulties or feels overwhelmed, she seeks help from the Google or the YouTube fairies. She may also ask a friend or hire help with her website.

RITUAL 7 — List Lust: Building an Audience

Modern, entrepreneurial artists know that the best way to communicate with fans is through email. Therefore, their first priority when they meet a new fan is to invite that person to sign up to their email list. A smart artist’s website has plenty of opt-in forms where fans can sign up to get special, personalized communications from the artist.

RITUAL 8 — Abundance Mentality

Wealthy artists purposefully cultivate a sense of financial abundance. They stare down the sneaky “starving artist” myth and debunk it by looking around to find examples of wealthy artists they admire. They have no problem holding down a “bridge job” (one that doesn’t use the same skills that making art requires) while they work on building their art business.

RITUAL 9 — "If You Haven't God Your Health, You Haven't Got Anything"

Knowing how important their health is to their energy level, vitality, creativity, and ability to juggle all the balls that being an artist and entrepreneur requires, healthy artists add on at least one healthy habit per year.

RITUAL 10 — Challenge Your Creative Ritual

Without challenge, a happy artist knows her art will get stale and she will become bored with her work. Therefore, she constantly looks to improve her technique, to seek inspiration and ideas from a variety of sources, and to take classes when necessary. She sees failing as a normal, playful part of becoming a better artist.

RITUAL 11 — Support From Your Court

A happy artist is a well-connected one. She seeks mentorship, coaching, or accountability groups. She purposefully pursues positive friendships and communities that make her feel happy, loved, celebrated, and challenged.

RITUAL 12 — Give Back

A real artist is filled with gratitude and sees the truth of things: we are all dependent on each other for life. Out of her sense of gratitude and abundance, she writes thank you notes, gives gifts, teaches and mentors other artists, and donates to charity.

Take action on the 12 Rituals today. Which rituals are you working on right now? Which ones are you really good at?

If you have any questions, do let me know and I would love to answer them in the comments area.

I’m here to support, nurture, and inspire you to take the steps you need to make money from your art!

4 Keys to Finding People Who Value Your Work

It’s hard to believe that just 10 days ago I was crewing for a racer in the world’s most grueling (and oddly obscure) athletic event, the Race Across America, or RAAM. RAAM is a bicycle race that takes the insane few who try it from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD as fast as their legs can pedal. Unlike the Tour de France, there are no stages. That’s right, there are no obligatory resting times. Racers stay on their bike a much as possible, and do everything on the bike except sleep. They brush their teeth on the bike, eat on the bike, go to the bathroom on the bike, cry on the bike, laugh on the bike, sing on the bike, and, after days of racing, hallucinate on the bike.

And who was our athlete for RAAM 2013? None other than my mother, Maria Parker, who just turned 50.

Over the course of the race, I helped her eat, bathe, and dress. I woke her in the middle of the night after three hours or less of sleep, and helped her get back on the bike to keep racing.

Daily throughout the race, supporters of Maria and our cause, 3000 Miles to a Cure, grew by leaps and bounds.

THE ACCIDENT

 Then there was an accident — something terrible that we thought was a race-ender.

A distracted driver slammed into our follow vehicle, destroying equipment and morale, and causing minor injuries to the crew.

Everyone thought our race was over – even our crew chief, who called race officials to pull Maria out of the race.

But that post to our community about the accident generated more views than anything else we had posted to our cause’s facebook page. Support came pouring in.

Over the course of the night, into the wee hours of the morning, something shifted. Maria got a good night’s sleep. The team came together; a new plan to continue the race against brain cancer coalesced.

My mom decided she was going to get across the country on her bike, race or no race.

But then something incredible happened. She decided to start exactly at the scene of the accident, instead of skipping that dangerous portion of the road as she had earlier planned to do. And then RAAM officials decided to let her back in the race as an official racer.

CINDERELLA

People all over the world went crazy, calling her story a Cinderella story.

As Maria began passing other racers, RAAM interviewed her and said her race was the greatest comeback story in all of sports.

It was a very difficult race, but she finished it. And she won. Women’s champion, rookie of the year, and “Queen of the Prairies,” which, naturally, I affectionately called “Queen of the Fairies.”

As you are probably figuring out, the jump from athletics to art is merely a small hop.

Finding people who value your work, your cause, or your race, is a matter of knowing four keys. They are simple to say, but extremely difficult to do.

HERE ARE THE FOUR KEYS TO FINDING PEOPLE WHO VALUE YOUR WORK AS AN ARTIST.

1. Start.
2. Keep going.
3. If you quit, start again.
4. Keep people updated.

• You’d be surprised how many people never start. How many people say “I’ve always wanted to write a book…” but then they come up with the most creative excuses for why they haven’t done it yet. Starting is everything.
• Once you start, you have to keep going. The trick here that most people don’t get, is that “keep going” often means starting many times. Most of us take breaks. We start a project and get discouraged, perhaps after a year, or perhaps after a minute.  Each successfully completed project likely had many points where it’s maker wanted to give up. Not only is that ok, but I believe more and more that stalling repeatedly is a natural part of creating anything from a 15 x 50 foot mural to a small business. The trick is to keep going.
• If you quit, start again. When you finish something, no one accuses you of quitting. Quitting and starting again nullifies the quitting. So if you think you’ve withdrawn from the race, sold your paintbrushes, or burned all of your business bridges, think again. Excuses can be valid and worthy. There’s always an excuse you can come up with and no one would blame you. Everyone would understand. Therefore, you have to be your own greatest challenger. No matter how big your obstacle is, you will always find a way to get through and come out on the other side. Get a good night’s sleep and think fresh creative thoughts in the morning.
• You can’t find people who value your work if you don’t keep them updated. I can say proudly that of all the teams racing RAAM, 3000 Miles to a Cure did the best job with social media updates. As a result, people felt, and in reality were, a big part of our team’s success.  Our updates were authentic and transparent. And truthfully, without the support of the community we created, I’m not sure my mom would’ve made it up the last four difficult hills in Maryland.  We read her supportive Facebook comments to keep her going. Those supporters knew they were an integral part of Maria’s race because we told them. They’d been with us every pedal push of the way. Even if you have only a few people who value your work, cherish them by keeping them updated – honestly and openly. Let them know about your struggles and joys. People love hearing about projects, goals, and dreams coming true, but they also want to hear about the challenges along the way.

 Take Action:

Leave a comment below if this resonated with you, and if you have any questions about how to find people who value your work, I will be happy to answer them below.

Let my mom’s race inspire you in your own art-making and selling challenges. I’m here to support, nurture, and inspire you to take the steps you need to make money from your art!