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Tag: create

What do you want more than anything?

Grit. Determination. Focus. Passion. Stubbornness. Courage. Diligence. Patience.

Your biggest dreams will require all of these and more. You will wonder whether your sacrifices are “worth it.” You will question your decisions and make mistakes. You will disappoint others. You will disappoint yourself. Your resolve will be tested, over and over again.

But if you really, truly want something? Nothing will stop you.

Check out Diana Nyad’s story if you’re needing some inspiration today.

The balance of hustle: How do you find flow?

The line between engagement and productivity, a flow state in which decisions and actions are fluid and purposeful; balanced with the cost of too much: moments of exhaustion, lack of focus and clarity, the heaviness of feeling overwhelmed.

How do you create balance?

Harvard Business Review estimates 150 million workers across North America and Western Europe are favoring independence over traditional employment.

I want to hear from founders, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and others who are hustling in the gig economy (and most likely working overtime). What are your tips for managing workload and client demands? How do you ensure you’re giving enough to your team while keeping a hardy reserve of energy for yourself?

Talk to me. Send me a message or tweet me @redheadlefthand.

Unhappy? Change one thing.

Unhappiness and discontentment feed off each other. When one thing goes wrong, it is easy to focus on all that is negative. One issue then consumes your energy and colors your entire life. It’s a spiral that winds downward, and quickly, if you’re not careful.

Feeling miserable? Find one thing you can change. Just one thing. Drink lemon water in the morning. Take a group fitness class. Carve out time to take a long walk. Set up a coffee date with a friend. Plan a vacation. Download a new podcast.

By shifting your attention, you’ll begin to redirect your focus towards experiences you look forward to. Feelings of excitement will gradually overpower those negative ones.

Of course life doesn’t always go your way, but by choosing to chase the positive, you’ll be closer to living a life you don’t want to escape from.

Ask or invite

We are taught early on that when you need something, you ask. Ask for permission, ask for directions, ask for funding, ask for time off. Information is required, and in order to get an answer you must ask a question.
Invitations, however, are reserved for special occasions. To invite is to include and to welcome; an opportunity to further a relationship and encourage dialogue.
Inviting a company to join your cause or partner together builds a different dynamic than a pointed ask for resources and support. Instead of asking clients to buy your product, invite them to take part in a greater story (see Seth’s Permission Marketing and Bernadette’s Story of Telling).
The next time you need something, look for ways to create an invitation instead of a simple ask.

What if nobody shows up?

What if nobody comes? If your product isn’t well received? If you get one bad review after the next?

What if you thrill five people? And those five people are so impressed by your work that they tell their friends. Then five more people try your services or show up to your event or read your book. And out of those five, two people are so deeply moved that they share with their friends.

That’s how movements begin.

This is very different from the fast-track to fame we so often read about. It is difficult to catapult to the top of the “best list,” to become the richest and most sought after in one swoop. But slowly, with time, your work can amass a following.

The question is whether you have the patience to see it through. Can you delight in pleasing five people instead of 50? 1,000?

Your work is your art. Five people could mean success.