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Tag: create

Nepal

While fundraising for the Discover Outdoors Foundation, I learned Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. One quarter of its people live on less than $1 a day and barely half of them are literate. After some research and plenty of emails, I found a local agency that places volunteers in projects across the country. My bags are filled with crayons, games and animal balloons, and I’m teaching English to kids before trekking to Everest’s Base Camp.

You won’t see quite as many posts in the upcoming weeks. In fact, as you’re reading this, I’m on one of several flights leading me to the Himalayas.

I feel incredibly blessed to have the freedom to connect and converse and discover and explore with people around the world. And I’m filled with a deep sense of gratitude for the confidence that comes with the support, love, and backing of so many. This journey has been magnified by the monumental encouragement I have received from friends, colleagues, clients, and strangers. It’s an incredible gift to do work you love, from anywhere.

I’ve debated whether or not to post while I’m away. I’ve toyed with the paranoia of disconnecting for an extended period of time. “But the momentum…but the readers…but…but…” I’ve considered the risks that come with automated content, as I’ve witnessed scheduled generalities firsthand during Hurricane Sandy. I remember sitting in a trembling NYC apartment, listening to water slosh around in the toilet bowl, and reading tweets advertising “10 creative ways to green your kitchen.” There’s a sensitivity and presence that is oh-so-irreplaceable, and fresh and timely cannot be undervalued.

I’m not quite sure what my access will be while I’m away, but I know I want to be present to my experience and not worried about technical malfunctions, open rates, or traffic. Absence alone can be lighter fuel for ideas, dreams, creation.

That said, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be blogging the “ole’ fashioned way” while I’m traveling — via journal and pen. You’ll find a few posts in your inbox (if you’ve signed up to receive them), but with less regularity. And if the mood strikes, I’ll pop into an internet cafe and post a few thoughts.

Count on a treasure trove of goodies upon my return. Project Exponential has some incredible, very exciting changes in the works, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Until then, go find adventure, plan a few dinner partiers, put yourself on a weekend sabbatical, and become an explorer in your own neighborhood. Your community needs it. You need it.

What connects us

Understanding that first and foremost, the life you want to create for yourself, the type of person you want to become, the parts of yourself you’re most excited to develop will attract individuals who will help you get there.

Realizing that true, authentic connection is expansive. The right relationship discovered at the right time can help you soar, find freedom, create, and see a limitless future.

Recognizing that relationships are catalysts for growth and independence — for supporting both reckless abandon and providing the foundation to carry the wisdom that comes from experience, failure, frustration, pain.

Acknowledging that your highest highs and lowest lows are probably different than mine; the value lies in sharing and discovering what these experiences were like for each of us.

Accepting that at your very worst, you are someone’s pride and joy. Knowing this helps reveal the very best parts of you.

That through the fog of confusion and longing, we can help each other find shared laughter and bouts of success, punctuated with gratitude and contentment along the way.

That our mutual appreciation for life — the ups and downs, the hard lessons and the easy ones — may or may not happen at the same time. Your up might be my down, but no matter, when we find ourselves on the same plane, we can share the lessons we learned and the tricks we used to get us through.

That the whole point is to create tribes, to build and create and be generous — to others and to ourselves.

Embracing that this is all really about compassion, about elevating each other and pushing one another to succeed by sharing our struggles and our wins.

We collaborate because our ideas become greater. Like a brilliant prism, the unique perspectives we each offer leads to undiscovered treasure.

It’s our gift to find it.

prism

29 thoughts from a 29-year-old

  1. Decide to get it done. Commit. Go.
  2. Goals will keep you on track.
  3. Fears take on tricky disguises. Call them out or enlist the help of someone who can.
  4. Helping others is one of the best things you can do with your time.
  5. You will learn more traveling than sitting in a classroom.
  6. Relationships are containers for growth.
  7. Be kind.
  8. Laugh more.
  9. It’s OK to make mistakes.
  10. It’s OK to admit you’re wrong.
  11. It’s OK to say no.
  12. Sometimes you don’t know what you want. Do what you enjoy, instead.
  13. Metabolism can be cruel; eat healthy, get sleep, be good to yourself.
  14. Take more risks.
  15. If it excites you, do it.
  16. No one else will know your value until you do.
  17. You don’t need permission to act. Stop waiting to be told.
  18. Finished is better than half started.
  19. Give others permission to recognize your worth.
  20. Stop waiting for perfect. “Good enough” is just fine. Perfect doesn’t exist.
  21. Nothing is permanent.
  22. No decision is irreversible.
  23. It’s never “too late.”
  24. People can change.
  25. Love is what happens after the butterflies fade.
  26. Home is a place you create for yourself.
  27. Get outside daily.
  28. Dream big. Great, now dream bigger.
  29. Hold nothing back.

Read this when you actually want to get it done.

Writer’s block. It happens to the best of us. Procrastination, exhaustion, complaining, and straight up avoidance isn’t unique to you, either. When you’ve had enough wallowing and decide it’s time to actually get things done, here are 10 steps to lead you onto the path of production.

And yes, I followed my own advice to write this post (see image).

  1. Get off Facebook.photo
  2. Step away from the computer.
  3. Go for a bike ride.
  4. Take a shower.
  5. Sit somewhere new. Or change your desk around.
  6. Get reacquainted with pen, paper, markers, tape, glue…
  7. Turn off the phone! Really!
  8. Realize that everything will still be there in one hour. Emails can wait. Voicemails aren’t going anywhere. No one will die.
  9. Chunk it. Break it down into bite-sized pieces. Set mini goals if you must.
  10. Stop trying to be perfect. Write crap. Come up with terrible ideas. Just start.

In 5 years…

I see this again and again with my clients. I’ve even done it myself.

We have so many choices, so many options, it’s difficult to settle on long-term decisions and commit. Paralyzed with indecision and uncertainty, we get in our own way and waver from one idea to the next. A helpful exercise:

Envision the person you’d like to become.

Think about your work life.

Your home.

Where you’d like to live.

Who you’re spending your time with.

Get detailed and really imagine it. Write it out so you can refer back to this dream often.

When you allow yourself to imagine an overall vision, it becomes an umbrella under which daily decisions can be made and choices become easier to manage.

Your future has an exponential number of possibilities. Don’t cheat yourself out of any of them.

27 reasons to put yourself on a sabbatical

  1. Reevaluate your current goals and aspirations
  2. Consider what you wish you would have learned sooner (and teach yourself)
  3. Update your story so it accurately reflects who you are
  4. Take time to build and nourish your relationships
  5. Write thank you notes to those who have played important roles in your life
  6. Think about what risks you’ll take in the coming months
  7. Meet someone new
  8. Let serendipity work for you
  9. Read a book (or two) you keep meaning to
  10. Find new sources of inspiration — a different coffee shop, a nature trail, a hidden park bench, a museum exhibit, an antique store
  11. Set coffee dates without specific objectives
  12. Gift yourself time to do whatever you want, no pressure
  13. Contribute to the communities and tribes that are important to you
  14. Dedicate time to your health
  15. Cook from a new recipe with ingredients from your neighborhood farmers market
  16. You deserve it!
  17. Ask what you’re afraid of
  18. Savor a slower, more intentional pace
  19. Be alone with your thoughts and dreams
  20. Connect with nature
  21. Rediscover your favorite neighborhood
  22. Wander aimlessly
  23. Travel someplace you’ve never been (it could be the next town)
  24. Listen — really listen — to a favorite album, from start to finish
  25. Watch an old movie
  26. Enroll in a class (Skillshare, GA, etc.)
  27. Write. Write every day.