Full of joys and excitement, connecting with friends, watching fireflies dance at night.
But also some lows, as I’ve been worried about a friend of mine who is really ill.
Been pouring a lot into my work and creativity lately.
Here are all the fun things I have to share this week, with more coming soon 🙂
Today:
an invite to my free live event this Friday
fun Summer writing prompts I found on Pinterest
my new article “Writing Consistently isn’t a Real Goal”
1. Free Event this Friday
Free virtual writing cowork Friday July 11
-If you want to feel more motivated to get some writing done for your book or business, come join!
-You’ll also be able to ask me questions about your writing, nonfiction book, or business marketing projects.
Mark your calendar for Friday, July 11!
Lasting two hours from
11 AM-1 PM Eastern, or
8AM-10 AM Pacific
Come drop in for a free coaching and & cowork session.
You can work on your editing, writing, creating, marketing, and idea organizing.
It is free!
Get the inspiration or answers you need for your book or business, and then get to work!
Words from our last free event:
“It was good to co-work with you and the group today. I feel like I made so much progress just writing this one email and, of course, sharing about our life and work. Amazing. Have a great rest of your week.” – Uli
it’s such a difficult time for America as a country right now as the news has been filled with upsetting things going on. My heart is out to everyone in my community who is feeling that.
AND I am so proud of so many Americans I know for their heart, their spirit, and their fire.
To help others. To make a difference. To be part of a better future.
That’s what I have to stay focused on these days, and that is the country that I love and recognize.
Today I’d like to share a little story for everyone interested in writing…
And perhaps I will see you soon in the upcoming writing cowork & coaching session next Friday, July 11?
Scroll down for more information about how to join for FREE.
A long time ago I began to dream of being a writer, and it was a dream that never left me.
Although now, years later, I have achieved that dream and it has become my work to help other people to write for their books and websites, it’s still all too easy for me to lose touch with the things that brought me to writing in the first place.
For me it is about self love, and finding myself in the process of writing things.
Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, if I didn’t love myself and think my voice was valuable, then I wouldn’t bother to do any of this.
That is why I try to get other people hooked on writing.
There are so many fears that keep people from writing. I know. I have been through it over these past decades of being a writer. It doesn’t really end but I find ways around them.
I could easily write and not enjoy it because of comparison, and trying to be like someone else. It is so easy to compare to the millions of books and writers I see and read, but the thing is that I only see the outside of the process.
Some of those writers have budgets and teams that I can only dream of. Some authors literally do nothing but write, or went to college for it and had someone pay for that, etc. Or they pay ghostwriters and editors to spend years polishing it to perfection.
There is no reason to compare because it’s not a fair playing field to do that.
I don’t even want to compare to myself in the past because I am different than I used to be. I am a new person.
I think at the heart of comparison is that my greatest fear is that I will be like everybody else: normal.
Rather than special. A future Leonardo DaVinci of whatever I write…
These sorts of expectations just aren’t helpful.
I am coming to accept we are pretty much all the same deep down. Including moi.
The point of editing isn’t to have a perfect draft that will rival the greatest writers or artists that have ever lived.
The point for me is to find fun and meaning writing those words, and to have it be a valuable process for myself, the one going through it.
Any little bit of time that I can grab to write is worthwhile. Writing is a beautiful thing to me.
I give myself time to write and, honestly, it is all that keeps me sane.
That time is a gift to myself out of love. It doesn’t matter how long I take to write or what comes out of it. It is for me.
If you’re feeling stuck on your writing, go back to basics, and try writing something that you would enjoy reading, or something that just feels good to get out on paper. Start there and make it pleasurable for YOU first.
Free virtual writing cowork coming soon
-If you want to feel more motivated to get some writing done for your book or business, come join!
-You’ll also be able to ask me questions about your writing, nonfiction book, or business marketing projects.
Mark your calendar for Friday, July 11!
Lasting two hours from
11 AM-1 PM Eastern, or
8AM-10 AM Pacific
Come drop in for a free coaching and & cowork session.
You can work on your editing, writing, creating, marketing, and idea organizing.
It is free!
Get the inspiration or answers you need for your book or business, and then get to work!
Words from our last free event:
“It was good to co-work with you and the group today. I feel like I made so much progress just writing this one email and, of course, sharing about our life and work. Amazing. Have a great rest of your week.” – Uli
Can I come for just part of it, if I have to leave?
That’s fine! Yes, just pop in for a bit.
If you have a question, and cannot attend in full:
consider sending me the question in advance via email or putting it in the chat during the session and perhaps I can record my answer even if you have to leave before I answer it.
Can I come late?
Absolutely, yes, just please make sure you are muted if we are working quietly.
Is there a recording if I can’t make it?
Yes and no: I might record parts where I am teaching or answering an important question. But the part where we are quietly working? Nah. Probably not.
Do I have to talk or be on camera?
Nope. You can just hang out if you want.
Can I invite a friend?
Yes! Absolutely, I run a small editing and writing coaching business and, thus, I love being referred to others and meeting new people.
This week my husband had his wisdom teeth out and I’ve been the helpful person to drive him around and deliver all the ice cream and soup he needs.
It’s another confirmation of a lesson I’ve learned with time:
life is optimal when we take turns leaning on each other. The goal isn’t to be independent, solo individuals doing it all alone. It’s connection.
Also I recently picked up the book “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals,” by Oliver Burkeman.
I love it so much that I’m going to share some thoughts on what it has stirred up in me even though I’m just a small fraction into it.
“The problem with trying to make time for everything that feels important–or just for enough of what feels important–is that you definitely never will.
The reason isn’t that you haven’t yet discovered the right time management tricks or applied sufficient effort, or that you need to start getting up earlier, or that you’re generally useless.
It’s that the underlying assumption is unwarranted: there’s no reason to believe you’ll ever feel “on top of things,” or make time for everything that matters, simply by getting more done.”
Rather than being the typical time management book advising me to squeeze everything possible from all seconds of the day,
this one gives an unexpected message:
the key is to finally accept there will not be enough time to do it all.
Only from this acceptance can you really deal adequately with the time you have.
Only from this place can you see it as wise to step off a hamster wheel that takes you away from what matters most to you.
Although counter-intuitive, accepting limitations leads to more freedom and satisfaction with the time you have.
Fighting it, thinking you are just one new planner or productivity tip away from optimizing all your time, actually creates a greater feeling of time slipping away from you, dangerously out of your control.
I love this book and its message.
It’s been affirming for me and validates many lessons I’ve learned over the past few years.
If you’ve been following me for some time, you may have heard me talking about my desire to make the most out of all of my journals.
It’s led some very cool realizations.
I started digitally archiving every idea and journal entry so that they aren’t lost on a shelf or forgotten with time.
Why do I care?
Because I used to be one of those people that would pick up an old notebook and think,
“This idea is great, why did I not do anything with it over these past years?”
Or upon discovering old notes, I’d notice that I simply keep relearning the same lessons over and over,
without actually integrating them or changing my behavior to match. I was forgetting a lot.
Anyway, since I began to keep a digital archive of my journals in a free program called Obsidian, I figured out ways to keep track of these ideas better.
And I also began to make unexpected connections between entries occurring over the weeks, months, and years.
One theme that continued to pop up was what I began to call my relationship with time.
My Relationship with Time
This relationship with time seemed to cause me a lot of feelings:
-anxiety that I wasn’t doing enough and time was running out,
-stress and urgency that something needed to be figured out quickly,
-overwhelm from feeling that there was so much to do in so little time that I would be immobilized from acting or deciding on next steps at all.
I saw it over and over again and began to note the instances.
By doing so, I could review this theme over time and see the patterns occurring again and again and again.
((Sidenote: If you are interested in how to digitize your notes and make connections like this,
I’m hoping to get a self study course out soon that will teach my methods of digital organization!))
What is really interesting to me is that I have rarely ever heard anyone talk about this “relationship with time.”
It’s always funny to me though when I discover something in isolation.
I can’t unsee it once I see it. After I make connections it seems so obvious, surely someone else could figure it out, too.
The book Four Thousand Weeks is one of the first that specifically addresses it, which is why it feels like a drink of iced water on a hot day.
Why does it matter?
Looking at something as a relationship or a dynamic adds additional richness to how you can understand it.
I’ve heard people talk about their relationship with their body or body image, for instance.
Usually people use this to mean that this relationship is something separate from the body itself.
Similarly a relationship to time is something separate from time itself.
It has ebbs and flows of its own.
When I feel a sense of urgency, the idea that there is a ticking clock feels like a fact to me. Almost like a bear is running towards me and I better move or else.
And, yet, maybe this is an illusion.
Similarly, someone experiencing a toxic body image can look in the mirror and see body flaws that don’t even exist in real life.
Until that person takes a step back enough to realize that their perception may be part of a toxic relationship they’ve developed with their body,
they can continue life without ever questioning the thoughts about their body that cause them so much pain.
They can confuse their relationship with their body, with the body, itself.
Similarly, until I began to step back and understand that my relationship with time and perception of it exist separately from time,
and that they need to be questioned,
I was operating on autopilot under the anxiety that I wasn’t going quickly enough or getting enough done.
It was this noticing of my relationship of time across my journals, along with the feelings I wrote about it causing (anxiety, stress, crippling overwhelm)
that made me realize I needed a change.
These patterns had been running me ragged, on and off, for decades.
It snuck into everything I did: my writing goals, my business, and also my personal life.
This toxic dynamic stole satisfaction from nearly everything
because no matter what I did, there was always more to do (and soon).
To navigate life, I did learn to manage some of these feelings on a daily basis.
I’d decide a particular thing wasn’t so urgent and I should prioritize something else, or just try to calm my stress down that day so I could get back to work.
But the feelings would pop back up about something else.
I managed the feelings so that I could function, but without truly addressing the underlying premise of the relationship itself that was running in me as a long term pattern.
A Big Change
Losing my father in 2021 increased my anxiety so much so that thinking about a deadline could make my heart pound so much I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.
And when I operated on that urgency, my nervous system was so dysregulated I would not be thinking right.
Then I would try to something quickly, and screw it up so badly it usually took me more time in the end to unravel the knots rushing had created.
It provided the perfect opportunity to go easier on myself.
Basically there was no other sane option.
Since then I developed some new mindsets to lean into, to reshape my relationship with time.
Lately, slow but steady has been my mantra.
As is, going at my own pace.
Also, taking my time.
I’ve come to create a new meaning for that phrase, “take my time.”
Usually, it means going at a slower pace, but I like to think about it as grabbing my time for myself when I need it or want it. Like grabbing it with my hands.
Take that slow morning coffee.
Take that walk.
Take that opportunity for peace.
This time is mine first, not anyone else’s.
At the end of the day, this is my life, and I don’t want to spend all of it spinning and spinning.
I’m still human, still a work in progress, still figuring it out.
But I’m happy to say I have found a better kind of life than I used to have. Thank goodness. I have a better relationship with time and productivity that is much less toxic.
Here’s another quote from Four Thousand Weeks to cap off this reflection:
“We’re often obliged to find ways to cram more into the same amount of time, even if we end up feeling busier as a result….
So I don’t mean to imply that once you grasp what’s going on here, you’ll magically never feel busy again.
But the choice you can make is to stop believing you’ll ever solve the challenge of busyness by cramming more in, because that just makes matters worse.
And once you stop investing in the idea that you might one day achieve peace of mind that way,
it becomes easier to find piece of mind in the present, in the midst of overwhelming demands,
because you’re no longer making your peace of mind dependent on dealing with all the demands. …
You begin to grasp that when there’s too much to do, and there always will be,
the only route to psychological freedom is to let go of the limit-denying fantasy of getting it all done and instead focus on doing a few things that count.”
Did you see my recent email where I talked about the dangers of consistency?
If you need help with your book or business writing:
I help people write for your book or business. I take this attitude of patience and “slow but steady” into my coaching and editing work that I do with people.
Many of my clients have found this soothing and helpful to making faster progress in the long run on the things that really matter.
It’s also permission to follow the fire of your creativity and the life force that wants you to go outside, take a breath, be a human being not a human doing.
It’s possible to live a good life while being a writer, creator or entrepreneur…
Maybe I should rename my coaching package from being called “Rapid Progress” to something else? What do you think? Any ideas?
Or not…
Ironically, being more patient with myself has resulted in fewer instances of time-based anxiety and crippingly overwhelm.
As a result, I am making progress on the things that really matter, and wasting less time on things that don’t matter so I can enjoy more of my life.
It still feels like Rapid Progress…just not as frantic or stressful.
I’ll have to chew on that.
…
Free virtual writing cowork coming soon
-If you want to feel more motivated to get some writing, creating or work done, come join!
-You’ll also be able to ask me questions about your writing, nonfiction book, or business marketing projects.
Mark your calendar for Friday, July 11!
Lasting two hours from
11 AM-1 PM Eastern, or
8AM-10 AM Pacific
Come and stay for a while, or hop in during the middle and join us.
You can work on your editing, writing, creating, marketing, idea organizing.
It is free!
Get the inspiration or answers you need for your book or business, and then get to work!
You can ask me questions about writing, marketing, organizing your ideas, a course you bought from me, and more during the Q&A section.
And of course, there will be some friendly chat!
Then, during the coworking time we will work on our projects independently.
Words from our last free event:
“It was good to co-work with you and the group today. I feel like I made so much progress just writing this one email and, of course, sharing about our life and work. Amazing. Have a great rest of your week.” – Uli
Can I come for just part of it, if I have to leave?
That’s fine! Yes, just pop in for a bit.
If you have a question, and cannot attend in full:
consider sending me the question in advance via email or putting it in the chat during the session and perhaps I can record my answer even if you have to leave before I answer it.
Can I come late?
Absolutely, yes, just please make sure you are muted if we are working quietly.
Is there a recording if I can’t make it?
Yes and no: I might record parts where I am teaching or answering an important question. But the part where we are quietly working? Nah. Probably not.
Do I have to talk or be on camera?
Nope. You can just hang out if you want.
Can I invite a friend?
Yes! Absolutely, I run a small editing and writing coaching business and, thus, I love being referred to others and meeting new people.
It’s been a minute since I posted. If you are new to my posts, for a long time I’ve written them weekly.
But I did something really cool!
And I told no one.
I’ve took a vacation last month to go to Italy and France!
Really enjoying my life over the last few weeks and just totally focusing on being in the moment.
If you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t know you were on vacation,” that’s because it was planned a bit late and because I sometimes I like to tell people after I do something cool like a vacation.
While other people may really enjoy posting a selfie while they are in a wonderful location, I just like to be in the moment, in my own bubble away from the rest of the world.
I also just really like my privacy.
I think privacy is highly underrated.
Am I an unlikely person to like privacy?
It’s funny because only four or five years ago, I considered sharing my thoughts and feelings with others via my writing to be basically the point of my life.
And if I were looking at myself from the outside, I would think a love of privacy would be a complete and utter bad fit for my personality, given that for over a decade, I was kind of an open book.
But nope, even as I have been lauded for being brave to share about my feelings and my life authentically, there are always things I have held close to the chest. Nobody knows what they don’t know. 😉
In fact, I think telling a good story is as much about what you choose to keep in, as what you choose to leave out:
(because of your own comfort, or because it takes away from the story).
Still, after 25+ years writing and publishing nonfiction about my life, I’ve stretched myself past my shyness many times. Shared and shared so many things,
And then something changed.
I wanted something new.
I went to Japan, which took me out of my habit of sharing my thoughts to instant feedback.
It isolated me in a timezone where everyone back home was asleep while I was awake.
And it began to make me realize…I desired a sort of retreat.
Retreat has some connotations. I don’t mean retreat as in defeat.
Imagine a ballon being stretched–it reaches a limit, right? And then what?
You stand forever with it stretched out?
Nah, you get tired of holding the tension and then you let go.
Retreat to me right now feels like a contraction after I’ve expanded to the farthest I can stretch.
At a certain point, once I have stretched and stretched, I’m tired.
And a retreat is also the only place I can really go if I want to embrace change. For me personally.
And I do embrace change, oh that I do.
I haven’t been as regular in my weekly Funletters this past month because I have been off doing some things in my personal life. Fun and happy things.
And it’s possible that may happen again.
I want to keep the focus on being in the moment.
I got to spend time with my husband, be in nature, be me, and not worry about anyone else, and it felt really good, so I hope to keep doing that.
Overall, I am glad I experienced the change in pace.
I’m glad I gave myself permission to break my own rules, bust out of my structure, be off my typical schedule, and just not write for a bit.
How this Relates to You
But let’s talk about this on another more universal level, because it’s bringing up thoughts that may help you in your own writing. …
So here it is:
Setting goals like writing a weekly email can be good.
Typically goals and structures like, “Write X emails in X time” are a great place to start if you aren’t in the habit of writing, yet, or are shy about sharing what you’ve written.
But…I also think it’s important sometimes to step off the hamster wheel.
I’m very much into balance. There is a time for everything.
But I don’t see this balance discussed by other people much at all.
All I hear is, “consistency, consistency, consistency.”
Consistency has become more than a buzzword these days.
For writers, for business owners – consistency has become a drug. Practically an addiction.
And it has also become the place to met out judgement.
What this looks like – is thinking the question, “How well am I doing?” is equivalent to, “How consistent am I?”
It means making the instant connection, “I’m not consistent enough…and that’s bad.”
What does success even mean?
An obsession with consistency can cause you major confusion about what success really means.
The actual measure of whether you are consistent or not doesn’t ACTUALLY relate to your main goals or personal definition of success.
The consistency is supposed to be a tool to get to success, not the measure of success itself.
For instance– if you want to write a really good book, and you set a goal to write daily, you might start beating yourself up if you miss a week.
Meeting the weekly goal can seem like the only thing that matters.
But the thing is that the point isn’t actually to be consistent, right?
The point is to write a good book that you feel proud of.
Because, you could also write a bunch of crap every day and be consistent.
And honestly, most writing advice would be to do just that, and trust the process that the flow of writing will lead to something really amazing.
Maybe it would.
Maybe writing on a schedule regardless of quality could benefit you.
It could help you build a habit, maybe some parts are good, etc.
But here’s the thing…
maybe the actual book you write would still be total crap.
Maybe it would even be so bad you couldn’t even edit it into something worthwhile.
I’m going to tell you straight up:
This has happened to me.
I’ve done NaNoWriMo, a challenge to write daily to write a novel in a month. I did it a lot of times, and most of those drafts were too horrible to do anything with.
Sometimes taking more time to write something will make it a higher level of quality. Sometimes take a little rest when you have nothing good to offer is a good idea. (And yes it can be hard to tell the difference between this and mere procrastinating sometimes, I’m happy to chime in if you need a second opinion!)
But taking a needed pause can be a better use of time than trying to rush through things, just for the purpose of consistently hitting a writing goal.
Because the point is you want to write something good not just check off a todo list.
A Time for Everything
I’m being contrary to most writing advice saying this, just so you know there is a time for everything.
There are times it’s beneficial to not be consistent, not writing daily, etc.
if that’s what actually allows you time to process, learn, think, develop, and come up with ideas that will enrich your writing and ultimately result in a much better book.
There isn’t one right way to do writing. People are different, and different seasons call for different things, as well.
CONSISTENCY is only one ingredient – the goal, the timing, and the purpose of it all (aka your real goal) also matter.
For instance, an obsession with consistency itself won’t necessarily help you write a book that is enduring and good. So if that is your real goal, consistency is a separate thing from the true definition of success.
You might want to consider your writing quality to see if you are on track with your goal, not necessarily focusing solely on your consistency.
Writing for Business
Just a side not for my entrepreneurs who want to write to market their business.
We need to examine consistency carefully here as well.
What’s the real goal of business?
Is it really to be consistently posting on social media, etc?
No. The point of business is to make money, ya’ll. In general, that’s the point.
Perhaps posting on social media etc. is a tool to do that (if it works).
And yes – I tend to work with entrepreneurs who also really want to help people.
Luckily you can do that as you write, share, and market yourself even without paying customers.
I love win-wins like this, and writing is a great way to invite people into your world, your business, and help people for free along the way, too.
But many people are hyper focused on consistency, telling themselves–if you email weekly, post on social media daily, etc., etc. then you are on track with your business.
But it isn’t necessarily true…
At the end of the day you have to take a review of those things you are trying to be “consistent” at and ask yourself if it REALLY is resulting in you making you money or if perhaps you should try some other things.
For example, I focused on posting to social media daily for a literal decade.
My consistency was on point. But it took me a long time to realize that the time I was putting into that outlet was actually not equal to the payoff.
There were many lovely things I got out of it, including cool people I stayed in touch with, and connections made, and there were some sales made, etc. etc. etc.
But it became harder and harder over the years to get my writing seen on social media. Things change.
It also had costs including costs to my mental health. More and more people are noticing these apps are influencing our brain chemistry in negative ways.
And if I am hooked onto social media, I’m just not thinking my best, living my best life, creating my best, enduring, good writing, and so on. So daily use of social media takes away from some of my real goals in life.
Now I don’t put any pressure on myself to show up in social media daily. I pop on when I want to, I schedule posts, and I have found a better balance for myself.
In Sum
Consistency itself isn’t the be all end all when it comes to writing or marketing.
The actual goals you have in life need to be clear.
And the goals need to be revisited.
And whatever you are putting energy into being consistent at needs to ACTUALLY help you achieve real goals.
You have to reflect on it and be real about the ROI.
Wether you want to write a really good, enduring, high quality book, or article;
get sales in your business so you can pay your bills;
or make a visible impact like when people message you to say they really appreciated what you shared….
You got to stop staying in a prison of consistancy if the thing you want to do consistently doesn’t move the needle of your real goal.
Bonus Goal
Speaking of real goals…
at the end of the day, I invite you to take on the goal of being your own best friend.
There has to be a limit to what kind of pressure and expectation you are going to put on yourself. That there has to be a limit to how much you push.
Even if you do something consistent that is good (like me and this email newsletter) sometimes you are going to need a break.
You’ll need to get out of the structure YOU created yourself.
Feel into this and see if resonates. If it doesn’t right now, that’s totally fine, but maybe it will later on.
Please let yourself break free for a while. Don’t be a jail keeper.
And while you are at it, here’s some productive inner work you can do and journal about:
Get to know the part of you that needs escape and understand their reasons.
Remember:
Every part of you has some interesting things to say,
including the so-called “bad, lazy, unproductive” part of you that might be saying,
“Screw consistency, I want to change, I want something else. I want a vacation!”
They are trying to be heard in this shaming culture that looks down on anyone who commits the crime of being inconsistent or unproductive.
If you believe that your freedom matters, by taking time to listen, explore and let things unfold, maybe you’ll discover something that helps you feel more alive.
Maybe you’ll find out that the thing you are being consistent at isn’t fully related to your most important goals.
Maybe you will realize that there is somewhere else you need to focus on to reach those goals.
Or maybe you’ll find an even more important goal to pursue.
Including my favorite: being your own best friend!
LETS BE FREE TOGETHER!
P.S. Stay tuned for an update on my next coworking session to dive into juicy questions like this live with me. Will say more in a future email. Much love.
If you are new here to my blog, hello! I usually talk about things like writing, inspiration, motivation, having a small business….but here’s what is popping off today.
Last week a friend of mine asked me for advice.
The question my friend asked was personal so I won’t share it exactly. Let me make up a scenario that would fall into a similar vibe:
A person named Cherryblossom has been trying for years to live a great life, fall in love, as well as have a great career.
They wanted to be famous worldwide (including on the internet), and thus become wealthy and live a high-impact, spiritually purposeful life that would really help a lot of people as a result.
However, a series of unfortunate events befell Cherryblossom in her quest, including deaths, heartbreak, betrayals, disappointments.
Now she says she has lost all hope in being happy, as perhaps everything she tries will always end up in tears and disappointment.
Now I think a lot of people would say something like, “Chin up, keep trying…” but that’s not the advice I gave.
I gave very specific advice that I know from personal experience can be potentially life changing. If given at the right moment…
I’ve been a lot like Cherryblossom in my life.
In my early 20s, I ran out the gate trying to check all the boxes of happiness. I started my first business right after college and began taking my writing really seriously.
I, too, wanted to fall in love. I also wanted to hit that bar of internet fame or success and “make it” so I’d always have work and wealth.
I wanted to make a big impact changing the world with my work, and grow my business as a win-win for everyone. From a young age, I’ve had a very large appetite for what I wanted to do and achieve.
Fast forward to a decade later.
Despite running myself into the ground for all that time, I didn’t achieve all my wildest dreams (although I had done plenty of things)…
I finally found myself at a crossroads.
Crossroads
In this moment, I was sitting in my apartment in Japan – my life had totally changed in order for me to spend a year there, but I was not satisfied.
It wasn’t what I expected.
Some things happened that made it feel emotionally crappy. It felt familiar, the same sort of emotional crappiness that I had already lived a million times already.
I was tired of being in the same place (emotionally)!
I’ve come so far…and yet was still running in place. I’d moved to Japan, but still felt like I was caught in the same mental loops as when I still in America.
On this day, I was watching a dumb reality show where people were getting these career opportunities to be famous, and I was like why is this making me so angry?
“These people are getting all these opportunities on a platter, when I’ve worked 50 hours a week for 10 years to get my small following!”
But on reflection, my anger wasn’t really about them.
I had put so much labor behind my goals and I was angry that I wasn’t where I wanted to be. That I wasn’t instafamous like all these people were going to be because of this dumb show.
Not only had I spent time trying to make a name for myself and for my business (the hard way),
I had spent a lot of money getting help on every level imaginable–coaches, healers, therapists, classes, certifications, marketing people, a masters degree–to try to be somewhere different.
Still life didn’t feel that much different from where I began 10 years before.
I had fans, but couldn’t fill a stadium with them like Taylor Swift. I was on this hamster wheel trying to make sure my bills were paid every month. I got them paid (which is an accomplishment) but it was hard work.
And if I was really honest, what were my big dreams and my anger at not achieving them really about?
It was about proving something. It was about proving how great I could really be. It was about being adored the way I should have been as a kid.
Both Cherryblossom and I have been through the ringer. We didn’t have happy childhoods. We’ve been through a lot as adults.
No wonder we both wanted to be experiencing something else, and yet those same disappointing situations and feelings kept returning.
It’s like the most desperate you are to run away from something, the more likely it is to linger.
When you have a Chinese finger trap, you can never escape if you pull away.
I had been making the mistake of pulling away. You only escape by relaxing and moving towards it.
I hadn’t realized I was running, I thought I was just being ambitious or trying to live my life purpose.
But I was running, and there was only one thing I hadn’t tried: staying in place.
There is a concept called “seeking mind,” that being hooked into ambition or seeking spiritual answers or purpose can cause a cycle of seeking and seeking.
It never stops and causes suffering.
You are only thinking about the future, and you never arrive there, like you are on an endless treadmill.
But getting upset over a really dumb TV show showed me all this about myself: I was stewing and disappointed. I’d been seeking for a really long time.
I finally realized that I needed to just be in the moment. Be where I am and accept how I am, how life is.
Accept the possibility that it may never ever change. It may never ever get better. At least not by a lot.
“How can I find it in myself to accept what I have, as it is?
And to stop rejecting it?
To try to be good with it?
Or at least okay enough to just be with it for now?
It would have sounded negative on any other day–
because on a different day it would have sounded like I have low self esteem or was being negative. Like I didn’t believe I have what it takes. I’m not deserving. Not special. Just giving up on my dreams.
But that’s not it. That’s not what I am saying at all.
Dreams are nice, and I can still have them, but I can’t be so fixated on them that everything less than that feels like a nightmare. Even though some one else would be lucky to be where I am.
For instance when I work with the nonprofit I support in Sierra Leone, Her Future Foundation, it makes me realize how great it is to have running water, toilets, electricity, safety, a fridge, etc.
That I have any of that is a win.
Also, just FYI, one of my big focuses is to feed my optimism on a daily basis.
So I do want to be optimistic.
I think it’s possible to be both optimistic and face the hard knocks of life straight on.
That includes the possibility that all dreams may not be achieved for reasons that may be totally random.
But if you can be real and optimistic at the same time, you basically become invincible.
The way Cherryblossom and I have lived, we know that life isn’t always fair or kind or enjoyable.
Stuff happens.
Maybe you know how that is?
So this sort of advice is just being real about that.
THE THING THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Eventually I realized that I needed to reassess my grand ideas about the future, and for a while just focus on being ok with life, right here, right now.
Since I began making that shift in 2019, a lot has happened.
-I met the love of my life and got married.
-I have moved from Japan to USA to Japan, back to the USA, but to a region I never lived before.
-My dad died suddenly and, with time, I learned to smile again.
-I grew out my hair and died it so I look like a new person.
-I changed my business a lot and acquired a second one. I don’t work 50 hours a week anymore.
-I created writing groups that sold out. Made several courses and sold them online. Took private clients to help them write and market their book or business.
-I’ve done a lot to support a NGO in Sierra Leone Africa called Her Future Foundation to help women and girls escape FGM, and child marriage and live better lives through education.
-I’ve made new friends where I live.
And these are just things on the outside.
Learning to accept the possibility that change won’t happen, and to accept my life as it is, has created INTERNAL changes.
A lot changed on the inside that no one can see.
That is what really matters.
That is what began it all FIRST.
If I didn’t shift this internally first and accept my situation as a whole, then nothing else would truly have pleased me. I could do all these things externally and still feel like crap. Because there’d always be more I wanted.
I know that because I’d already lived it multiple times. I had collected many successes and achieved many goals that ended up making almost no difference in how satisfied I felt with my life. I’d just be on to the next.
The thing that changed everything, and what I told Cherryblossom was:
The only time good things have really happened for me is when I accepted my life as it is.
A humble life, a small life, that doesn’t need to be a big important life to make me happy.
Accepting the idea maybe there is nothing bigger in store for me. And that life can still be okay.
I don’t need to be famous.
It’s ok if I don’t make a million dollars.
It’s ok if I don’t save the world and just help a few folks. Honestly just helping myself sometimes has to be all I think about.
Sometimes the most important thing is just to think about what am I going to eat for my next meal. Or finding a way to take a few breaths outside. The little stuff.
I have to be happy with the little things, or there’s no happiness at all.
I asked myself, What if little stuff could change but overall my life and work would just be 90% the same no matter what direction I went in?
Could I be okay with that and be accepting of it?….or even happy with that?
That was the new goal. Acceptance.
Paradox
There’s a marvelous paradox about that.
Because acceptance actually can produce change.
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” – Carl Rogers
It’s how I met my husband. I wasn’t looking for anything, I was fine if we just dated a bit and it went no where because I was going to move out of Japan anyway.
And when I wasn’t looking, there I was getting to know the man who would ultimately become my husband.
I’ve heard that sort of story from a lot of people.
So to my writers and entrepreneurs, maybe you want to think about this in terms of your career:
What if you applied that
To your business?
To a writing project you are stressing over?
To a course you want to teach?
TRY ON THIS THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
Acceptance could look like:
What if you achieve your goals but don’t become super famous?
What if you don’t achieve anything that is out of this world amazing?
If your work didn’t change the world instantly or take your life to a whole new level, would you still see value in doing it?
How could you be ok with a small success or a microchange rather than the kind of success that flips your entire world upside down?
What can you accept about the things that aren’t going so well?
Can you try to be happy anyway within this thought experiment?
You could change some of what you do or keep doing it, but how could you accept the general scenario as it is?
You may feel some sadness or anger even trying to think like this, but it can really help reveal the hidden motives you have for trying to achieve things.
That’s healthy.
These emotions under the surface can actually make it harder to achieve your dreams or to be happy with what you are able to achieve.
Process them, get to know them. Move towards them not away and see what happens.
Remember this is all just an experiment, you can end it anytime if it is truly not for you.
But if you embrace it…
Weirdly when you accept things won’t change…is when it actually is more likely to change anyway.
That’s a Paradox of life
You just have to try it to see what I mean.
Accepting things chills everything out and removes a lot of that emotional noise.
Then you can actually think clearly about whatever you’d like to change and it doesn’t feel so personal or high stakes.
Because at the end of the day you don’t have much to lose since you know you’ll be fine no matter what happens.
And you’ll be ecstatic and grateful with achieving smaller, easier to reach milestones that don’t require you to be superhuman or burnout.
So if you’ve been trying everything else in your business, in your life, in your writing and you still aren’t satisfied with your results…
give acceptance a shot.
It just might change everything.
Quick Writing Prompt
Something I do weekly is think about my challenges, and I write a quick letter to a friend.
If my friend had the same challenge as me, what would I say to them?
It’s always a nice way to step into deeper self compassion, and step out of any confusing emotions. I often come up with some really sound advice.
If you only have a few minutes, Give it a try!
P.S. Did you like this?
Here’s a way to get more from me…
I made a program inspired by all the tools that have helped me find my optimism and motivation again after my father died in 2021.
If you’re feeling sluggish and pessimistic about the future, there’s a way to feel more alive and upbeat about the things to come. And yes, you can still be real about whatever is going on that you don’t like, as well. Do both.
Sometimes I get discouraged about the direction the world is going in, so I have to collect those sparks of inspiration and hope.
First, I finally got to watch a documentary I have been looking forward to for a really long time – Common Ground.
It recently got added to Amazon Prime, making it easier to watch or rent online.
The movie shares facts about how we can combat climate change with the power of conserving and improving our soil and through changes in how we grow food.
If you didn’t know, I’ve been working with an organization called Her Future Foundation as a volunteer for about five years, helping them fundraise and serve girls, boys and women who need help in Sierra Leone.
The last few years since I learned about this, I’ve been talking to my partners in Sierra Leone about how we can use regenerative agriculture to help local people there to farm crops they can eat, as well as improve resiliency against flooding and other disasters. Still lots to learn to execute the idea, but they are really open to the idea.
2. Speaking of disasters in Sierra Leone, recently intense winds destroyed a school that was helping 115 students to avoid human rights abuses like child labor in mines, child marriage, and FGM.
Let me just give thanks that this school was ever created.
The story of its creation is a miracle in itself.
It began in 2015 when Ariefa Kumara, the founder of Her Future Foundation, heard about a girl in the community being married off.
She was a 8 year old orphan, and the community scheduled an FGM ceremony for her.
She would be married afterwards to an older man.
Ariefa thought it was wrong. Long story short: Ariefa and his mother convinced the community to stop this event.
He was successful and instead of child marriage, the girl became a student. They started a community school to enroll the child in.
That school continued to serve over 100 students a year until right now. Ariefa also went on to create Her Future Foundation, create a second school and many other programs to empower women, girls and boys.
Because of the natural disaster, the school is out of commission but they hope to rebuild.
Whatever happens, the school has made an amazing impact on the community, and I’m so thankful. It shows the power of someone to create change in their community for the better.
3. I’d also like to once again thank everyone in my community for your help in previous fundraisers I’ve shared for Her Future Foundation over the last six months.
As a result of your help, we were able to send two young women to college in Sierra Leone.
By we – That’s me, and everyone who reads my emails, or knows me, basically. We were the ones to fund this.
Below is a note from Aminata, our latest student aid recipient, to say thank you!
From Aminata: “I hope this message finds you well. I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to you and all the generous donors who have supported my academic journey.
Thanks to your kindness and financial assistance, I am now eligible to sit for all my tests and exams this academic year. Words cannot fully express how grateful and overjoyed I am. In a world where many prioritize their own needs, your selflessness and willingness to help someone you’ve never even met is truly inspiring.
Because of you, a girl who once thought all hope was lost is now filled with renewed determination and a strong desire to learn and succeed—not just for herself, but to make you all proud. I will always hold your support close to my heart and remain forever indebted to your generosity.
I sincerely pray that God Almighty continues to bless and reward you and your families abundantly. May He protect and guide you in all that you do, and may all your heart’s desires be fulfilled, in Jesus’ name.
With all humility, I kindly ask that you continue to support me through the rest of my academic journey, so I may reach the finish line and fulfill the promise of your generous investment.
With heartfelt thanks,
Aminata Kargbo”
Year 3 Pharmacy Student
Once again, thanks for your help in making this donation to Aminata possible.
(Note: We will fundraise again for our 2 college students including Aminata in 2026, which is when the next funding deadlines are due for them.
There are so many ways to make a difference and no one has to do it exactly the same way.
I hope this reminds you that even small things like giving $25 for a cause, or spreading the word about something you care about can ultimately be so powerful.
It can change someone’s life.
So can growing a plant in a pot, or selecting a different farm to buy your beans from. There are little things we can do to make the planet better.
Focusing on what you can do (even if it is small) versus what you can’t is a way to stay sane.
Usually I talk about writing, ideas, making progress and things like that,
but putting energy into causes I care about is another way to sustain motivation and momentum, because it gives life meaning–
and otherwise I’d be too depressed to get out of bed in the first place.
I hope this brings inspiration to you and helps you start to think about small things that you could do to bring meaning to life this week.
I wanted to share about something really magical…that can also help you get things done! Wow, what a win-win…
Maybe you’ve heard my rant about the way people use unhealthy ways to motivate faster progress, including fake urgency and anxiety.
We don’t want that. If you are like me, you’ve done this for years, and you need another approach.
I have had too much experience with this stressful sort of motivation and have spent the last year trying to find healthier alternatives.
Recently, I did a deep dive learning about a certain positive form of motivation:
it is called.
(Drum roll please……..)
curiosity.
Yes, really.
Here are a few quotes to illustrate:
“There are few forces on earth more powerful than curiosity.
“Curiosity has propelled many an explorer away from the safety and comforts of civilization to brave unknown and potentially hostile conditions.
“The need to know is so strong that it even gets them past their fear of failure and their prime directive to stay alive.
“If curiosity can do that for an explorer, it will surely drag you by your hair— past to-do lists and drama and earthly delights and needy spouses and worries- right into the uncharted territory of your own work.
“Unlike willpower, curiosity and imagination don’t wear out with use. They’re infinitely renewable and clean burning.
“Saying you can’t write if you’re not disciplined is like saying you can’t climb a mountain if you’re not a goat.
“If you’re not a naturally disciplined person and you’re not likely to become one anytime soon, that’s fine. Get curious about what’s on top of the mountain, and you’ll find a way to get up there.”
-Deb Norton
And Secondly:
“It’s easy to find ways to improve when you are genuinely curious about something.
“Rather than asking yourself, “How can I be better at this?” start by asking, “How can I be more curious about this?” – James Clear
In the free class, I guide you step by step to quickly ramp up your curiosity about the writing you need to do for your book or business,
so that you are more motivated to make faster progress without all the stress.
And yes, you can use curiosity to feel more motivated to do just about anything you need to do.
Scroll down for more about this free bonus class.
But hold on, here’s a note so you don’t miss this week’s sale!
SAVE $200 (40%)
“Sofia masterfully guided me to tune into my own wisdom to discover what my business was telling me. It was such a unique and empowering experience. Sofia’s approach is unique and highly effective.” Keasha Lee Ince, Striking Statements
Get 2 Months of 1-1 coaching from Sofia
This program is for you if you want to make progress writing,
but feel stuck or overwhelmed by too many ideas.
If you don’t know what to do next, or
if you don’t like the progress you’d achieved so far.
– Clarity & Prioritization: Sort through ideas with me so you always know what to focus on next
– Weekly Feedback: Check-in with Sofia via voicenote or email—no live calls required!
Projects we can work on include:
nonfiction books, blogs, articles, business webpage, sales page, emails, product service descriptions, course materials, launch materials, posts for social media, slides for a presentation, youtube script ideas, and more…
Come and stay for a while, or hop in during the middle and join us for all or part of it.
You can work on your editing, writing, creating, marketing, idea organizing, with me live.
It is free!
You can also ask me questions about any of the above during the Q&A section
This free session looks like you joining me as I am:
Giving you a short presentation at the beginning about a cool surprise topic to get you more motivated to make progress.
Silently working with you for 30 minutes. You can pop a note in the chat about what you’re working on.
Taking a break in the middle to chat with you.
Laying down or dancing around if I need to have a think about something.
Q&A questions related to my courses, organizing your ideas, marketing your business in a sales page, editing or writing your book, managing your energy as a creator, things like that! I will be available for questions SOME of the time, let’s say 10 minutes per hour.
Can I come for just part of it, if I have to leave? That’s fine! Yes, just pop in for a bit.
If you have a question, and cannot attend in full: consider sending me the question in advance via email or putting it in the chat during the session and I’ll record it even if you have to leave before I answer it.
Can I come late?
Absolutely, yes, just please make sure you are muted if we are being quiet.
Is there a recording if you can’t make it? Yes and no: I will record parts where I am teaching or answering an important question. But the part where we are quietly working? Nah. Probably not.
If you are new here — welcome to my FunLetters, where you get a little update from me and some things to inspire you and delight. <3 Feel free to reply to my emails anytime and let me know how you are or what you are working on.
Me, I have been exercising discipline to be NOT obsessing over the news for 36 hours, which is good for me LOL. It’s great to be informed but there’s such a thing as too much, especially when I notice I’m getting burned out on it.
I’ve recently fallen in love with the practice of recording an audio recording of myself giving me a pep talk.
When I relisten a few times it hits so differently. Have you ever tried that?
Another thing feeding me is digging into some of my creative writing. I stumbled on a piece I wrote when I lived in Japan.
This piece always feels totally PRESCIENT because I wrote it a bit before the pandemic rocked the globe and..well, you can read it.
In today’s age of uncertainty, it feels appropriate to share it again.
That story from Japan on uncertain times is below.
But first here’s the scoop on some events happening!
Whether you’re bold and quirky, soft and soulful, loud, quiet, colorful, calm — your presence is enough. You are enough.
You don’t need to become more extroverted, more polished, or more “on brand” to attract amazing clients.
You just need to stop hiding parts of yourself.
That’s what the Get Paid to Be You Summit is all about. Hosted by Sarah Michael, this 5-day free event features 25+ speakers — from Hawaiian-shirted attorneys to quietly magnetic mentors — all sharing how they built successful, profitable businesses by being fully themselves.
Because there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. There’s just the version that fits you.
Come and stay for a while, or hop in during the middle and join us for all or part of it.
You can work on your editing, writing, creating, marketing, idea organizing, with me live.
It is free!
You can also ask me questions about any of the above during the Q&A section
This free session looks like you joining me as I am:
Giving you a short presentation at the beginning about a cool surprise topic.
Silently working with you for 30 minutes. You can pop a note in the chat about what you’re working on.
Taking a break in the middle to chat with you.
Laying down or dancing around if I need to have a think about something.
Q&A questions related to my courses, organizing your ideas, marketing your business in a sales page, editing or writing your book, managing your energy as a creator, things like that! I will be available for questions SOME of the time, let’s say 10 minutes per hour.
Can I come for just part of it, if I have to leave? That’s fine! Yes, just pop in for a bit.
If you have a question, and cannot attend in full: consider sending me the question in advance via email or putting it in the chat during the session and I’ll record it even if you have to leave before I answer it.
Can I come late?
Absolutely, yes, just please make sure you are muted if we are being quiet.
Is there a recording if you can’t make it? Yes and no: I will record parts where I am teaching or answering an important question. But the part where we are quietly working? Nah. Probably not.
I wrote something in December 2019 right before the pandemic that always sticks with me.
The topic is uncertainty…and it had a certain level of psychic prediction considering what was to come.
Uncertainty seems to be the buzzword for 2025, especially for anyone in business or finance.
So here’s some food for thought on it.
Sending love to you.
Dear reader (from December 2019),
As of quite recently, I’ve been living in Japan, engaged in a job teaching English that will last for a year.
It was going well and, until recently, I thought I would stay in Japan for an additional, second year, too. I wanted to stay. I wanted to travel, pay off some debts, save, create a really good foundation of whatever I would do next.
But something ruined my perfect plan. I realized I was really unhappy. I was finding myself holding back tears at work. And one day it dawned on me…I really don’t like my job.
Wow. And in admitting that, I was frustrated and fighting it because I really didn’t want to change my nice little plan. I was mad—it felt good to know what I was doing next year!
My plan was certain. I had decided in my mind. It seemed clear. It gave me a ton of information about what to expect from the future. That felt safe. I love having a plan, a goal, something to drive an arrow towards.
The truth is that the unknown is scary. Confusion is uncomfortable. Being certain is nice. And having a plan to focus on distracts me from the inconvenience of having to deal with the feelings coming up in the present moment.
But sometimes being certain is bullshit. Sometimes we decide things based on information we perceive, but that information is incorrect, or inconclusive, or it changes. And living in the future is also nonsense, it’s a fantasy world, and it usually leads to me being disappointed that the reality is not all as good as I imagined it would be.
The universe has a way of changing things up. The truth is that none of us are in control. We think we are. It’s a nice little illusion we can buy into so that we don’t have to think about things we can’t control.
Stuff we can’t control, like the fact you could be hit by a bus of falling plane, or someone you love could be ill, or there could be a massive infection that decimates the a third of the world within two months. ((2025 me says: I swear I didn’t know a global pandemic would happen within months when I wrote this December 2019!!)) Someone could say something really mean to you or attack you on the street. Climate change could ravage our entire economic system and we could lose our house. Someone could raid your trash and violate your privacy. Your food could be bad and you could be on the toilet for the next 36 hours. Phone could suddenly break. And thats just, you know, the stuff that comes into my mind hardly thinking about it. But of course, we don’t want to dwell on all that.
We can make all the goals in the world, and decide—I’m doing this! This is happening! And there is something to be said for the power of that.
But in truth—I’ve been doing that since I was a kid. I’ve been setting goals and pursuing them since before I can even consciously remember my thought process.
Why? Because it gave me certainty, and it gave me safety. In my case, it’s not something I need to increase. It’s something that has actually become a crutch to feel safe in a world that I know for a fact is as uncertain as quicksand in many ways. It’s become overwrought, and considering the culture we live in, it seems like people are so often talking about goals, and bucket lists, and hussling that it makes my eyes cross. I accomplished enough of that to know that the other side is usually not the mystical paradise that it may seem.
Rather than trying to plan for every eventuality, I know that I can’t. I can’t live in constant fear either, because that is no way to live. I need to make the most of my time here on the planet, as rough and crazy as it can seem sometimes. And to do that, I need to accept uncertainty and mourn the certainty that I have so clung to. It served a purpose, I had to survive my youth somehow, but now any kind of illusion is only going to hold me back.
I put my trust in the waves of the universe and let myself float. I’m not going to be staying in Japan past April 2020, although I thought it’d be cool to stay until 2021.
Do you believe in something bigger? In times of uncertainty, it is what I come back to.
A story for another time, but there are reasons I know I am supposed to be in Japan. I don’t understand why. But there were signs that brought me here. I know in my bones that this is true.
The truth is I decided to go to Japan, but only because the path was illuminated for me.
And I said yes, I chose to be led by my spirit because I’ve found the alternative has never worked out. It was a cocreation, I chose to follow but I didn’t choose the direction.
Yes, still I worked my ass off for it, it didn’t just happen. But why? I did all this because I felt led to. I’m usually glad I follow the callings I’ve been given, even if it doesn’t make total sense during the journey and sometimes it still feels like a shit sandwich along the way. I’ve wondered what the point of me coming here has been if I am going to leave…but there has to be one. The path is uncertain, but I tried all the stuff I was “certain” about and it didn’t fulfill my expectations, anyway, so what is there really to lose?
But just because I’ve been led to take a left towards Japan, doesn’t mean I’m not going to have to change directions to leave Japan when the time is right. I have to always be listening because navigation is something that changes. I have to guide the wheel this way and that. If I’m listening for the directions, I still need to make decisions, hit the break, or add the gas at points.
So I told my company I’m not renewing my contract past March. I’m still here for at least 3-4 months. I can always just leave if I want…but although things are difficult, and I’m fiercely homesick and don’t feel like I’m making much of a difference for the planet at my dayjob—which maybe is sucking energy away from meaningful things like my business I actually want to be doing—I’m here and I’m doing my best.
And that can totally change any time. The future is uncertain, and I am okay with it. Because uncertainty means I’m paying attention, and I’m ready to be guided. And I bet where ever I end up will be pretty cool.
((Note from future me….later that month I began dating the man who would become my husband!! We are in love. How’s that for a reason to go to Japan?)
This week, I watched all of the Harry and Meghan interviews on Netflix.
And sidenote: oh my golly, it is an unfortunate story, but also very inspiring.
Shame that things didn’t work out and they couldn’t remain as part of the royal family but leaving makes perfect sense given what they shared. I think the two of them are very inspiring, heart-filled people and I really admire them for the love, the sensitivity, and care that they have about the planet (including Africa!) and being of greater service to all the people in it.
Now that we’ve gotten the important stuff out of the way lol,
I’d like to take a moment to speak about the power of a single, sparkling, gorgeous idea…
AND I AM ANNOUNCING SOMETHING NEW & EXCITING!
First the discussion of sparkling ideas. This is a holy thing to me, my life is all about listening for this sort of idea and putting it into action,
so I creep into this discussion like I am interrupting a church service.
I feel like I have arrived late while you are the priest or priestess of your creative process, speaking and delivering holy water…
hunched over, I quietly creep to my place in the church of good ideas…
I slip in with no sound except to maybe mouth “sorry” to someone or give a little smile or thumbs up
lest I interrupt you in the process of connecting with the thing most important of all.
(It’s not me–it’s about something bigger. ✨✨✨✨The ideas. ✨✨✨✨)
From a space of humility I offer this:
Photo by Hayley Maxwell
People really overestimate how many good ideas you need.
✨✨All you really need is one.✨✨
Or one writing session of an hour can spur you on with a single nugget of inspiration gained.
One class can give you one idea and be totally worth the money.
That’s the power of a good idea.
Most of us probably fall into 2 categories:
1. Some of us are looking for their single, sparkling idea and trying to find it out. We suspect it is something new that we don’t have yet…
2. Others have gotten the idea already, maybe long ago, and are learning to trust it.
Which is it for you?
FUN FACT:
✨✨Once you embrace that one single sparkling idea…✨
you basically open the floodgates for a million more sparkling ideas.✨✨
But it starts with seeing the value in the one you’ve got close at hand.
If you fight it or consider it unworthy…. that’s like shutting a door in its face.
YIKES!
Good ideas really don’t like that sort of disrespect.
Come on now, pick up that precious idea and give it some love.
What ideas are brewing for you? ✨
Here are a few of my recent ideas:
What is NOT happening:
I have decided not to do a new live round of the 3 month digital organization club.
I will be turning the material into a self study program instead. Keep an eye out for future updates.
What IS happening:
I have decided to offer a FREE COWORKING SESSION.
Please mark your calendars for the upcoming FREE cowork session
editing, writing, creating, marketing, idea organizing, with me live.
It is free!
You can also ask me questions about any of the above during the Q&A section
This free session looks like you joining me as I am:
Giving you a short presentation at the beginning about a cool surprise topic.
Silently working with you for 30 minutes. You can pop a note in the chat about what you’re working on.
Taking a break in the middle to chat with you.
Laying down or dancing around if I need to have a think about something.
Q&A questions related to my courses, organizing your ideas, marketing your business in a sales page, editing or writing your book, managing your energy as a creator, things like that! I will be available for questions SOME of the time, let’s say 10 minutes per hour.
Can I come for just part of it, if I have to leave?
That’s fine! Yes, just pop in for a bit.
If you have a question, and cannot attend in full:
consider sending me the question in advance via email or putting it in the chat during the session and I’ll record it even if you have to leave before I answer it.
Can I come late?
Absolutely, yes, just please make sure you are muted if we are being quiet.
Is there a recording if you can’t make it?
Yes and no: I will record parts where I am teaching or answering an important question. But the part where we are quietly working? Nah. Probably not.
Do I have to talk or be on camera?
Nope. You can just hang out if you want.
Another idea has been brewing for quite a long time and I had to let it out today.
A note about my ever evolving relationship with social media:
A note about my ever evolving relationship with social media: I want to speak about something bothering me. For over ten years I have been a business owner and one of the big questions that sits heavy is how to integrate social media into it.
I used to always post daily. It felt like an important business act as an entrepreneur and writer—I never really used social media as much before I started my business. It was new 15 years ago and honestly I had traumatic things happen that made showing up online difficult. I had to work through that but it’s not like it totally goes away.
I dream about being invisible to all except who need to hear me.
Now I *can* take center stage when I want and social media has helped me cultivate friendships and connections as well as business opportunities. Things are changing…
For several years I have been aware that this habit that seemed healthy as a marketing tool at some point became a distracting addiction. (Email or posting to my site by comparison feels so much better.)
These days I monitor my scrolling time. When I go on to post one thing (often prewritten and I just need to paste it in), I get so distracted and flustered by things I see in the process that I have spent an hour scrolling and totally spent forgotten to post my original content.
But even a few minutes in, I notice, can have an impact on my mood and mental health.
I am unable to schedule posts for my instagram and facebook profiles, or YouTube profile, they must be done by me manually.
I already looked into it and have scheduled material to go out on my Facebook business page, and LinkedIn. I email out things weekly and post to my website here.
Although I feel I have things to say and want to continue posting Facebook and IG and even YouTube posts (the places I cannot automate)….
I am taking it day by day. A part of me wants the certainty of an announcement to say I am stopping altogether but that does not feel right. I’m no longer holding myself to a schedule. Everything shared elsewhere will not necessarily be shared on those platforms that I have to physically go into at that time to post.
