Examine WHY you want those things and what trade-offs might come along with that. Ask yourself what you can learn about yourself from the things and people you aspire, to not necessarily how you can attain them. The best life is not the one we have to chase down or attain; it’s the one we create for ourselves intentionally, day after day after day.
Last year, “crunch mode” would have meant long nights, little sleep, and endless amounts of worrying about how every little detail would come together.
But not this year, my friends. Thankfully I’ve learned a few things from my various project launches last year, and one of my intentions for 2016 was to make launching a lot less stressful and a lot more fun.
So today I want to share with you one of the biggest mental tools I use to remove stress from my business projects or my life.
But first, I want to kick things off with an illuminating story from one of my favorite books, Essentialism. (If you’re tired of hearing me talk about this book, go grab a copy (aff link) and then you’ll understand why I use it in just about every aspect of my life!) The story is called The Slowest Hiker:
Imagine a scout troop on a hike. The troop is 10 miles away from their final campsite and the scout master is in charge of getting all the scouts to camp before sunset. As they move through the woods, the scout master notices that some of the scouts are naturally moving faster than others. Before long there’s a large gap between the slow scouts and the faster scouts. The slowest scout named Herbie is so far behind that the scout master can’t even keep him in sight. So the scout master tells all the fast scouts at the front to stop and wait for Herbie, and once they’re all together he starts them again. Within minutes the problem is recreated. It’s clear he needs a new strategy.
So he puts Herbie in the front with all the other scouts lined up behind him in order of speed: slowest to fastest. This strategy succeeds in keeping the scouts together, as every scout can keep up with the one in front of him, but there’s one hitch: they’ll never make it to camp by sunset if they move at Herbie’s pace.
That’s when the scout master realizes that the answer is to do everything he can to make things easier for Herbie. With Herbie leading the group, every increase in efficiency for Herbie, however small, will benefit the pace for the entire group. So they remove weight from Herbie’s pack and distribute it across the troop, which does speed up the pace of the entire troop and they make it to camp on time.
In business and management, they use The Slowest Hiker story to deliver this lesson: if you can identify the true “constraint” — the one part of the process that is holding up the rest — than you can improve the entire system just by alleviating that constraint.
That’s a helpful reminder, but I actually glean an even broader lesson from The Slowest Hiker and it’s one that I continue to apply to my business and life. I think this story is about IMPACT.
Not all effort is created equal. You have to decide what effort will create the most impact in achieving your final goal.
“Not all effort is created equal. You have to decide what effort will create the most impact in achieving your final goal.”
This idea is beautifully described in an article that my better half Jason wrote to his list last week called “Put Down The Toothpick and Pick Up The Hammer.”
So often we approach our businesses or lives by making toothpick-sized changes. We nitpick at the imperfections on our website or we spend days tweaking one line of sales copy until it’s perfect or searching page upon page for that perfect icon.
What we really should be doing is looking for the hammer-sized changes. We should be tackling things that have a direct correlation to the goal we’re reaching for. Those kinds of changes might feel riskier or bigger, but they ultimately will result in an impact that can be felt and seen. Maybe it’s nailing down your ideal audience or finally committing to a content schedule and sitting down to write those blog posts you’ve been meaning to write.
With every single item on my to-do list getting ready for this pre-order launch, if I find myself at a sticky point, I simply ask myself these three questions:
That last one usually seals the deal for me and I realize that spending two hours searching for the perfect stock photo when I haven’t even loaded all the products into the shop is NOT an efficient use of my time.
I know it may sound silly and overly simple say focus on the foundational things, but I also know that there are tons of you out there who, like me, often find yourselves debating the minutiae as a way to hide from the big, scary stuff that matters.
And unfortunately, when we spend our precious time on stuff that doesn’t have a substantial impact, we end up down to the wire, beyond stressed, and wondering where all that time went. It went to the toothpicks!
Learn to evaluate tasks based on the impact they’ll have on your final outcome.
When you’re able to finally let go of all the toothpick-sized tasks and only focus on the things that will get you to your goal, you’ll be amazed at the time and mental energy you can free up.
Because making things should be fun, not stressful, right?!
There are just a handful of days before the first pre-order window goes live for the Art Shop, and there’s no scrambling, no sleepless nights... just pure excitement.
Thanks again for all the support, you guys! It means the world.
I honestly can't even believe I've hit send on 100 of those babies, but as I've said many times, starting a weekly newsletter was the best decision I made when I started my business.
It's been such a gift to not only document my personal and professional growth week after week, but it's provided me with a weekly opportunity to interact with all of you -- to hear your stories, your struggles and your triumphs. So a huge thank you to those of you that have been reading for months and months, and a huge welcome to all of you that are new to the club!
For this week's letter, I actually decided to steal an idea from a friend of mine, Paul Jarvis. Paul also has a weekly newsletter and yesterday (in his 175th newsletter - he's got us beat!), he sent out an email called "State Of The Union, 2016." I thought it was so interesting that I asked him if I could rip off the idea and use it here, to which he kindly obliged.
The idea is simply to take stock of how things went in 2015 and to give you all an idea of where things might be going in 2016. I hope the recap is valuable in illustrating some big lessons I've learned, and I hope it gets you excited for what's in store in the coming months! Let's get to it...
***
As I mentioned above, I wrote a Monday letter to you guys every single week of 2015. I didn’t even take a break in December when I was on hiatus (like I had originally planned) because it truly continues to be the highlight of my week.
I still maintain that the two most crucial elements in growing a sustainable, profitable solo business are consistency and authenticity. (You can read more about my feelings on this in a post I wrote for Elle & Company’s blog, The Collaborative.)
The Self-Made Society newsletter is the fundamental way I consistently share my authentic self with you guys, and it has paid off by continuing to grow this community of passionate, positive soulful creatives. My core list grew from 1,400 subscribers to 3,400 last year, and I’m really looking forward to continuing that same trend in 2016.
By far the most game-changing decision I made in 2015 was hiring my assistant, Laura. I fought the idea of bringing on help for a long time, mostly because I had no idea how to grow a team and that fear of the unknown held me back. But I finally hit a point back in the fall where all the little things on my to-do lists really started to add up and the notion of trying to keep everything organized was overwhelming. I could feel my anxiety coming into the foreground (something I desperately wanted to avoid), and that's when I realized that even though I didn’t know “how” to hire someone, there was nothing that said I had to do it anyone else’s way but my own.
I found some amazing applicants through the blog, but ultimately Laura felt like the best fit and we’ve been jamming together ever since! Not only has it been immensely helpful to have her get processes in place and organize the various projects Made Vibrant has going on, but the best unforeseen benefit has been having a fellow soulful creative in my corner supporting me and cheering me on with each step in the evolution of Made Vibrant. She reminds me of the WHY behind the brand on a regular basis and that has been the greatest gift.
Back in February of last year, the hand-lettering course was selling pretty well and was bringing in a steady monthly income, but I kept thinking there was untapped potential there. I was getting emails from students saying the course had reignited their creative fire again, and I wanted more people to experience that benefit.
Meanwhile I was starting to see some real traction with my semi-regular lettering posts on Instagram, which is when it hit me to start a monthly lettering challenge to encourage people to join the course. In the months following the challenge debut, monthly course sales more than doubled, making it one of the most directly impactful marketing moves I've ever made.
To date, there have been over 18,000 posts with the #BetterLetteringCourse tag. Even cooler than that, though, is the interesting intersection between lettering and self-reflection that has emerged. The daily prompts we share each month now act as a kind of daily journal prompt, and reading the captions and stories from students as they post is so incredibly rewarding for me. Instagram has turned out to be such a rich and thriving place for this community, which was another big learning that came out of 2015.
This is what made the biggest change in my daily life and the business model last year. Late in 2014 I made the tough decision to stop taking on branding clients and to move exclusively to a products-based business. As much as I loved (and still love) freelance design, I had to admit to myself that not only was managing client expectations hard for a highly sensitive and dangerously over-achieving person like myself, but the economics of running a service business (trading time for money) just wasn’t that desirable.
I finished up my final design project in the spring of 2015, and this year I launched two new e-courses, with the most successful by far being the Better Branding Course, which took my business revenue total to over six figures -- 3xing the revenue of my first year in business as a freelance designer (2014).
Now, I’m not telling you guys that to toot my own horn or to brag about how much money is in the bank (most of it went to paying down debt and buying out the lease on our car!), but I’m sharing it with you as an illustration that it’s possible to build a highly profitable business without e-courses that cost $999 and weekly sales webinars and crazy complicated email funnels and free opt-ins on every blog post.
All those things can be effective tools at the appropriate times, but more often than not they can leaving you feeling overwhelmed and icky and chained to your laptop managing it all. Instead of going that route, I simply created affordable, valuable courses that I was proud of, products that I genuinely knew would help people, and then I promoted them when and how I wanted to in a way that felt natural. Could I have probably made more money? Maybe. But I was still able to triple my previous year’s revenue with a list well under 5,000 subscribers and while actually working less hours, traveling more and staying healthier. That is a win in my book. (If you have any specific questions about how I made that happen, feel free to reply back and let me know. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned!)
***
This was a sort of experiment I started on a whim after I saw such fantastic engagement from the Better Branding Course Slack group. However, what I learned from the experiment was that without a regular content schedule or reason for people to show up and chat about a certain topic, there's no real reason for anyone to pop in.
To give the Slack community idea the chance it deserved, I should have asked you guys how that group could be most valuable and planned more consistent content based on that. Moving forward my goal is to either come up with a structure and plan for it (like weekly Slack chats around a specific topic for example) OR to potentially close the community so it’s not hanging over my head and taking up mental space.
Again, Slack works phenomenally for a specific topic or community interest, but as a general group without structure, the activity there becomes sparse. (If you want the Slack group to stick around and have ideas for what would make it valuable, please reply back with feedback! I’d love to hear it!)
In August I decided I really wanted a more formal, easy to navigate place for all my e-guides, worksheets and e-courses on the website. I envisioned it as a helpful place for soulful creatives to go and find resources to push their businesses or lives further. What I found out instead was that most people don’t buy resources directly from that page — they buy them from the various content marketing posts or from this email newsletter.
Since most of the non-course resources don’t have a specific traffic source driving to them, the sales were pretty low compared to my other revenue sources. Just to give you an idea, the non-course products in the shop (guides, e-books, and worksheets) accounted for less than 1% of my total revenue in 2015 (only about $800 total.) I didn’t realize this until I did my end of year financials, but it was definitely an eye-opener to see that as a business opportunity, I’d probably be better off creating free resources and using those to add new soulful creatives to this community. You’ll likely see a shift in that direction this year, as well as more courses since that seems to be the preferred way that people like to consume their helpful content!
When it comes down to it, this is what I feel like I struggled with the most in 2015. While it feels like I planted A LOT of seeds, I wasn’t able to properly harvest the fruits of all that planting because I had trouble seeing things through to completion. For example, I’d create something like the Better Branding Course, but then when it came to that last 10% of coming up with a well-thought out promotion plan, I’d just move on to the next shiny object project.
The result at the end of the year was this overwhelming feeling like I had a lot of projects out in the ether, but none of them fully baked to completion. My goal in 2016 is to instead curate my list of projects, really commit to one thing at a time, and make sure that I fully see each project to completion. I still have plenty of ideas for what I want to accomplish this year, but in order to do each of them well, I need to let my brain narrow in on one at a time and push myself to fully realize the potential of each idea by completing its intended vision.
***
Now that brings us to this year! What do I have in store for you guys and where do I see the future of Made Vibrant headed?
I started Made Vibrant with the intention of exploring the interesting intersection between life, creativity and business. While the focus skewed a bit more toward business last year (with resources like the Better Branding Course and Your First E-Course), my deep love affair with acrylic art that started back in August feels like it’s leading me to swing more toward the creative side this year.
I get such immense joy out of commenting on the beautiful relationship between creating things and getting to know yourself deeper — as evidenced by the Better Lettering challenges — but I want to explore that even more this year. The most magical revelations have come to me as I engage in my various creative pursuits, and I want to continue to find ways to share those insights in a way that encourages people to shed their expectations of what art is and simply make what their heart is leading them to make.
I’d love to make more creative e-courses (similar to the lettering course), and I have at least two solid concepts I’ll start working on soon. I still intend on “reporting back” on the business side of things, as it’s still my personal mission to help as many creatives as possible make a living with their art, but I want creativity to be at the forefront again. My 2016 daily project, Abstract Affirmations, plus the addition of a print shop coming soon will be the first manifestation of that. Color Your Soul, my vision for a digital mindfulness subscription, is also still on the docket, and I can’t wait to see how my art finds its way into that endeavor.
Given the major uptick in products-based businesses and business resource blogs out there, I also feel that doubling down on the creativity aspect of what I do is my way of tapping deeper into what makes Made Vibrant unique and carving out an authentic niche for my skill set and offerings.
Other than that, I want to continue to grow the business in a slow and steady way so that I still have the bandwidth to answer your emails and connect with you on social media. I’m not always able to get to everyone’s comments or emails, though I promise I try, but I want to continue to make that a priority since I wouldn’t be able to make a living without this amazing group of people. And I’ll keep sending out these weekly letters if you guys promise to keep reading them! :)
So that’s the plan, guys! I just want to keep moving forward, learning everything I can, and reporting back to you all in a way that you hopefully find uplifting and inspiring.
As I’ve said since the beginning, Made Vibrant is simply my personal exploration to discover my best and brightest self, and I’m just grateful that I get to share that process with people that are as generous, caring, creative and insightful as you guys.
It could be for your business or your life, but write down what worked last year, what didn’t, and where you want things to go in 2016. The very exercise of writing this down will help you bring forth intentions that you might not have recognized before.
I hope so. Jason, Plaxico and I had an amazing time with family and friends and I’m so glad our road trip to Florida meant we could spend quality time with the people we care about.
On the other hand, though, I will say I’m with Emily McDowell on this one, I’m a little relieved to get back into the swing of non-holiday life.
Next on the agenda, Jason and I are packing up once again and heading to a modern cabin in northern Georgia to ring in the New Year with some much needed relaxation. It’s becoming our tradition of ours to do some type of travel the first week of the year in an effort to decompress from the holidays and start the new year off feeling refreshed.
Predictably, since it is the final newsletter of 2015, I want to offer up my two cents about how to get your mind right before 2016 shows up.
It’s possible that many of you are making resolutions as you read this right now. Promises to yourself to read more, exercise more, love more; drink less, worry less, buy less.
And while I believe those intentions are (theoretically) a fantastic way to bring some ownership into your life, this year I’m feeling a bit like we need something... more.
Yes, resolutions can be helpful. Tiny commitments to yourself to get in shape or stay in touch with friends or keep things organized are all good and well. But do you know why the majority of people fall off the wagon? Because they don’t take the time to confront the mindsets that cause them to drop the ball on those things in the first place.
If you don’t take time to understand why you’re lacking in those areas to begin with, then resolutions are just like temporary band-aids. (And, as the great poet Taylor Swift has taught us, band-aids don’t fix bullet holes.)
Yep, we need to start a revolution in our own minds. And listen, I know, “revolution” sounds kind of extreme. But I use that word purposefully because it sounds abrupt and important and downright rebellious. That’s the kind of change that’s necessary to stick to something you’ve never stuck to in the past.
Think about it, a revolution marks the being of a new era, a different story, a divergence from what came before. If you’re in the boat of people that are looking for that, this could be your ticket.
No longer do I make resolutions, but instead, I look at the year ahead and ask myselfwhat MAJOR (revolutionary) mindset shift could make the biggest impact for me.
In other words, I answer this two-part question:
Because if you find a way to flip just one destructive or fear-based script, all those tiny resolutions will pale in comparison to the revolution you can create for your own life over the course of a year.
Now, it might help to give you an example:
At the end of 2013, I found myself completely exhausted with one year of entrepreneurship under my belt. I felt like I was working all the time. I was constantly worried about what other people in my field were doing. And it was creating a major imbalance in the way I lived my life. (No exercise, my mind racing before bed, major anxiety.)
As 2014 approached, instead of resolving to “make more time for relaxation” or “work less on the weekends” etc, I knew there was an underlying mindset that had to be dealt with.
Using that trusty two-part question above, I realized that what I wanted MOST was a blend of life and business that allowed me to actually enjoy the perks of running my own business (as opposed to being enslaved by the never-ending list of to-dos.) I wanted a day-to-day that made time for art and hikes and mid-day movies and reading and fun as much as it made time for to-dos and answering emails.
Ultimately what I realized was holding me back from that was this story I kept telling myself that if I didn’t take advantage of every opportunity, the business would suffer and ultimately fail.
But, I had to ask myself, was that really true? If I stopped working 10-hour days would things fall apart? And did I really need to be a "six-figure business" like some of the other entrepreneurs I'd seen or could I be content making enough money to support my lifestyle and live as my happiest self? Suddenly I started investigating this story and realized that I had the power to take back control of how I run my business. It takes will power and practice, but I no longer worry if I pass up an opportunity or if I leave revenue on the table or if someone else has their business on hyper drive.
Throughout the entire year, when I found myself wanting to take a break or step away from my laptop but my inner guilt/anxiety was rearing its ugly head, I simply repeated to myself: “When you’re happy and refreshed, the business thrives.” Andthat’s the true story.
I can honestly say that was a completely revolutionary concept for me and it led to the happiest and most balanced year of my life. (The irony also being that because I was my happiest, most balanced self, I had more ideas and focus this year than I could have imagined, leading to six-figure business revenue anyway. 😱That proves to me that I was right about the business thriving when I'm a balanced version of myself.)
So, now let me ask you, instead of setting resolutions for the new year, is there one major mindset shift that could change the game for you?
Try answering the two questions above and see what comes up.
In order to make lasting improvements on our daily lives, we have to continue to understand ourselves better and the things we tell ourselves. I hope this week’s letter helps you do just that in preparation for the new year!
Did everyone survive the holidays in one piece? I hope so. Jason, Plaxico and I had an amazing time with family and friends and I’m so glad our road trip to Florida meant we could spend quality time with the people we care about.
On the other hand, though, I will say I’m with Emily McDowell on this one, I’m a little relieved to get back into the swing of non-holiday life.
Next on the agenda, Jason and I are packing up once again and heading to a modern cabin in northern Georgia to ring in the New Year with some much needed relaxation. It’s becoming our tradition of ours to do some type of travel the first week of the year in an effort to decompress from the holidays and start the new year off feeling refreshed.
Predictably, since it is the final newsletter of 2015, I want to offer up my two cents about how to get your mind right before 2016 shows up.
It’s possible that many of you are making resolutions as you read this right now. Promises to yourself to read more, exercise more, love more; drink less, worry less, buy less.
And while I believe those intentions are (theoretically) a fantastic way to bring some ownership into your life, this year I’m feeling a bit like we need something... more.
Yes, resolutions can be helpful. Tiny commitments to yourself to get in shape or stay in touch with friends or keep things organized are all good and well. But do you know why the majority of people fall off the wagon? Because they don’t take the time to confront the mindsets that cause them to drop the ball on those things in the first place.
If you don’t take time to understand why you’re lacking in those areas to begin with, then resolutions are just like temporary band-aids. (And, as the great poet Taylor Swift has taught us, band-aids don’t fix bullet holes.)
Yep, we need to start a revolution in our own minds. And listen, I know, “revolution” sounds kind of extreme. But I use that word purposefully because it sounds abrupt and important and downright rebellious. That’s the kind of change that’s necessary to stick to something you’ve never stuck to in the past.
Think about it, a revolution marks the being of a new era, a different story, a divergence from what came before. If you’re in the boat of people that are looking for that, this could be your ticket.
No longer do I make resolutions, but instead, I look at the year ahead and ask myselfwhat MAJOR (revolutionary) mindset shift could make the biggest impact for me.
In other words, I answer this two-part question:
Because if you find a way to flip just one destructive or fear-based script, all those tiny resolutions will pale in comparison to the revolution you can create for your own life over the course of a year.
Now, it might help to give you an example:
At the end of 2013, I found myself completely exhausted with one year of entrepreneurship under my belt. I felt like I was working all the time. I was constantly worried about what other people in my field were doing. And it was creating a major imbalance in the way I lived my life. (No exercise, my mind racing before bed, major anxiety.)
As 2014 approached, instead of resolving to “make more time for relaxation” or “work less on the weekends” etc, I knew there was an underlying mindset that had to be dealt with.
Using that trusty two-part question above, I realized that what I wanted MOST was a blend of life and business that allowed me to actually enjoy the perks of running my own business (as opposed to being enslaved by the never-ending list of to-dos.) I wanted a day-to-day that made time for art and hikes and mid-day movies and reading and fun as much as it made time for to-dos and answering emails.
Ultimately what I realized was holding me back from that was this story I kept telling myself that if I didn’t take advantage of every opportunity, the business would suffer and ultimately fail.
But, I had to ask myself, was that really true? If I stopped working 10-hour days would things fall apart? And did I really need to be a "six-figure business" like some of the other entrepreneurs I'd seen or could I be content making enough money to support my lifestyle and live as my happiest self? Suddenly I started investigating this story and realized that I had the power to take back control of how I run my business. It takes will power and practice, but I no longer worry if I pass up an opportunity or if I leave revenue on the table or if someone else has their business on hyper drive.
Throughout the entire year, when I found myself wanting to take a break or step away from my laptop but my inner guilt/anxiety was rearing its ugly head, I simply repeated to myself: “When you’re happy and refreshed, the business thrives.” Andthat’s the true story.
I can honestly say that was a completely revolutionary concept for me and it led to the happiest and most balanced year of my life. (The irony also being that because I was my happiest, most balanced self, I had more ideas and focus this year than I could have imagined, leading to six-figure business revenue anyway. 😱That proves to me that I was right about the business thriving when I'm a balanced version of myself.)
So, now let me ask you, instead of setting resolutions for the new year, is there one major mindset shift that could change the game for you?
Try answering the two questions above and see what comes up.
In order to make lasting improvements on our daily lives, we have to continue to understand ourselves better and the things we tell ourselves. I hope this week’s letter helps you do just that in preparation for the new year!
I, myself, was a bit frozen from it all.
In times where the suffering of others comes racing to the front lines of my head and my heart, continuing to create or share or do what I love sometimes feels so… cold. Insensitive. Trivializing.
So I spent the weekend checking off things from my to-do list, getting ready for our cross-country trek back East for the holidays (we leave tomorrow) and I made myself busy to avoid both the sadness and the guilt of being anything other than sad.
Then I came across this beautiful post by a favorite artist of mine, Emily McDowell:
All day I've struggled with what to say about Paris and Beirut and all of it. Even though it's kind of my job to say things, everything felt meaningless. And then I read this, by @jenpastiloff, who founded @girlpoweryouareenough:
"I don't know what a prayer is but I know how to love. The only thing I can think of right now, with the sun on my back, as I sit on my couch reading articles about Paris and Beirut and Turkey, is "I love you." So I decided that today is the day I'm dedicating to making other people feel better. Now, I know I'm not a magician (just a little bit of a witch) & I know I'm not God. But we ALL have the power to make someone feel good. Pick up the phone. Go hug someone. Write a letter. Smile at a stranger. Donate blood. Offer to help. Ask, "how may I serve?" Tell someone you love them. There are so many ways, and every one of us has the power to radically alter the day and life of another human. Go do that."
// We all know how to love. To paraphrase Dr. King, only love can drive out hate. // My painting style here is heavily influenced by@pamgarrison, who's amazing.#girlpoweryouareenough #jenpastiloff
All day I've struggled with what to say about Paris and Beirut and all of it. Even though it's kind of my job to say things, everything felt meaningless. And then I read this, by @jenpastiloff, who founded @girlpoweryouareenough:
"I don't know what a prayer is but I know how to love. The only thing I can think of right now, with the sun on my back, as I sit on my couch reading articles about Paris and Beirut and Turkey, is "I love you." So I decided that today is the day I'm dedicating to making other people feel better. Now, I know I'm not a magician (just a little bit of a witch) & I know I'm not God. But we ALL have the power to make someone feel good. Pick up the phone. Go hug someone. Write a letter. Smile at a stranger. Donate blood. Offer to help. Ask, "how may I serve?" Tell someone you love them. There are so many ways, and every one of us has the power to radically alter the day and life of another human. Go do that."
// We all know how to love. To paraphrase Dr. King, only love can drive out hate. // My painting style here is heavily influenced by@pamgarrison, who's amazing.#girlpoweryouareenough #jenpastiloff
As I read it, I thought to myself, “YES, I want to do that too. I want to DO SOMETHING that will pour love back out into the world in a time like this.”
But, moments later I was scrolling through my feed, on to another post, and then hours later I realized I hadn’t done anything at all.
That seed of a thought never turned into anything at all because I didn’t give it the action it needed to grow.
So, that’s what I want to talk to you about this week. Not in the context of the tragedies abroad, but just about why so many of us often have these wishes and desires to improve our lives, yet fall just short of taking action (myself very much included.)
Do you have this issue? Am I alone here?
How many times have you thought to yourself:
I want to be a better friend.
I want to make more time for my art.
I want to read more books.
I want to brush up on my Italian.
I want to travel the world.
I want to do something today to make someone else feel better.
How many times have you had that thought in your car at a stoplight, in bed before you fall asleep, after watching a touching video online, after having a conversation with a friend, after hearing someone inspiring speak?
And how many times has that thought then vanished into the ether without some sort of action to tether it to reality?
If we’re talking about me… it’s hundreds if not thousands of times.
There are so many things in my life that I WANT. Even things I know I need, things that I know will bring immense value to me, but inevitably I fall just short of putting those things into practice. Because it’s hard to change our everyday behavior without making at least one significant intentional action.
If you want to read more books, maybe that’s picking out one book a month and blocking out 30 minutes on your Google Cal with an alarm to your phone.
If you want to be a better friend, maybe that’s writing down the five friends that you want to have for life and sending one of them a letter each week for the next five weeks.
Whatever that aspiration is, if you want it to be real, you have to ACTIONIZE it. (Yep, I just made up a word. Actionize. But honestly, I’m surprised it doesn’t exist yet because I think we all need a LOT more actionizing in our lives.)
“Intentional actions form the only bridge to lead our aspirations out of our heads and into reality.”
It may seem overly simple, but I believe THIS is the thing so many of us struggle with. We have dreams and ideas and goals and desires, but dreaming is so much easier than acting, isn’t it?
And yet I believe that if we can adjust our internal settings so that we’re just a little bit more biased to action, we can make some amazing things happen in our lives.
Yesterday morning I was in bed reading Essentialism, and the book was talking about giving yourself time and space to think. It suggested using an Out Of Office reply to curb your email monster, and I thought, Man, I should really put an auto-responder up for the month of December while I’m on creative hiatus. Just something to give myself the space to not feel beholden to my inbox when I’m supposed to be creating freely.
In the past, I would’ve had this thought and may or may not have acted on it later. But with this perspective fresh in my head, I dropped the book right then and there, opened my laptop and drafted the auto-response. I took one significant, intentional action to bring that desire to fruition. (And can I just say, it felt amazing! It was so satisfying to grab a potentially fleeting thought and take action on it.)
So.. here’s the how-to. Are you ready?
When you find yourself starting a statement with “I really wish….” or “I want to…” or “My life could use a lot more…” make sure that your next question is this:
What's ONE SMALL ACTION I can take in the next five minutes to bring this further into reality?
AKA How do I … actionize this aspiration?
Commit to asking yourself this question for the next week and see how satisfying it feels to act on all those tiny desires that pop into your head.
As for me? I still very much want to do something that will pour love out into the world in a time like this.
My one small action is this: I want you to email me with one thing you feel you're in need of right now, one thing I could help you with: Is it a vote of confidence? Some advice? A note of gratitude? A simple “I see you?”
Whatever it is that you need, you let me know and I’d love to spend the next few days replying and sending love to each one of you that needs it. It’s a simple act that may not stop wars or halt terrorism or end injustice, but it will mean that there’s a little more love in the world because of me and I hope that in return you all will think about spreading a little more love out there too.
Coming from someone who issues herself daily and monthly challenges all the dang time, even I admit that it never truly gets easier to follow through on intentions I set for myself. Almost every day I wage that internal battle with myself - am I going to remain accountable to the things I set out to do?
Am I going to do my daily lettering piece today? Am I going to write that blog post? Am I going to get myself to the fitness studio?
And sometimes I fail. Sometimes my progress stalls and I find myself starting all over again on one of my self-imposed "challenges." But, no matter how many times I fail, I still continue to work towards my goals because I have a desire to get better and work toward the brightest version of myself.
If you’re like me and you’re constantly trying to challenge yourself, but you too struggle with ways to help you follow through or stay accountable, today’s post is for you!
A few weeks ago I stumbled across a link to this article on Quartz.com. The title was,“Coloring in this picture helped me erase $26,000 in debt”. Um… talk about a link you want to click, right? Who doesn’t want to wipe out debt by coloring!
The writer, Amy, went on to explain that she wanted a way to keep herself accountable to paying off her mountain of debt. Remembering back to when she was young and her mom, a sales associate, would work toward her company’s annual sales incentive trips by coloring in a simple drawing issued by the company, she decided to give the idea a try by coloring in a canvas of swirls (each one representing $100 paid toward her credit card debt.)
As I read this, the whole idea really resonated with me. I’ve always been drawn to documenting my progress in a visual way, whether it was placing heart stickers on my calendar for every day I went to the gym (true story) or checking off boxes for every day I stuck to my health plan.
This article made me realize though that progress trackers can be a heck of a lot more fun than simply some boxes to draw exes through! I mean… that swirl drawing is pretty sweet, right?
So I decided to make one of my own.
At the end of last month, I was ready to start fully committing to my fitness and I wanted to do something drastic. I challenged myself to attend 20 Dailey Method (barre workout) classes in 30 days. I’ve accomplished this once before and when I did two years ago, I saw major, noticeable changes in my body. It’s no easy task, though, and so I knew I needed some sort of visual way to keep myself accountable. Taking Amy’s lead, I drew this funky geometric/neon thing (the Dailey Method colors are bright yellow, green and orange!)
Every day I go to class, I get to color in a triangle. Every day I rest, I fill in with stripes. That way, at a glance I can see how much I’ve accomplished and how far I have yet to go.
Surprisingly, it’s working! I’m on pace to hit my goal.
Seeing the success of my own progress map, I started wanting to make progress maps for every commitment in my life.
This month I’m also trying to post on the blog five days a week, so I created a nice little map for that too. I get to fill in the letters as I complete my post each day. (This is Friday’s post which is why it’s not colored in yet!!)
So far, the whole idea of creating a fun and visual way to stay accountable to myself is working well! I love that each of these “maps” is taped up by my desk in a place where I see it every day. Plus, it feels surprisingly good when I get to take them down and color in my little piece of the puzzle each day.
Like I mentioned before, accountability is a hard thing.
If you think creative progress maps could help you tackle your own goals, I’ve created three funky and free printable progress maps for you below, all with 31 places for you to color in. That's one whole months of accountability for you (and you can always add to it with your own creativity if you need more "days."
Get these three downloads by clicking the button below and entering your email address. You'll be signed up for Self-Made Society and I'll send you weekly inspiration and motivation for living your brightest life.
I also recommend checking out Amy’s website, Map Your Progress, where you can purchase all kinds of her cool swirl progress maps.
So, what do you think about the idea of creative progress maps? Do you think having a tangible progress tracker helps you stay accountable? Let me know in the comments!
