sTAYING INSPIRED
The most inspired and creative thinkers I know have one trait in common - they have a curious lens through which they see the world. And maybe even more importantly, they share their questions and ideas, allowing them to evolve.
My current practices to help keep me inspired are:
morning pages - freehand journaling for 3 pages every morning
creatives dates - a solo adventure where you actively take in inspiration from other people’s creative work
actively sharing my thoughts, ideas and questions with people (in person, on Instagram, etc) to give them room to evolve
someone else is doing it
Someone at a talk asked me how to overcome the fear that a space is oversaturated and you can’t possibly get noticed and make a profitable career out of it. I know this fear well. I’ve swirled in it for a long time when I was deciding whether to start my own podcast.
I think the answer is two-fold. On one hand - if I am planning on creating a podcast that is similar to one that already exists, it’s worth asking what makes my podcast different (the answer could simply be that I am the host and that makes it different). Or maybe my product is cheaper, or has more offerings. Whatever it is, it’s worth asking this question and asking what my unique value proposition is. I actually really refined this when I took SideHustlePro’s Podcast Moguls course.
The second layer to this question was really a self-worth and culture question for me. The real question I was asking was “Can I really tell the world that I have something to say and I think they should stop what they are doing to hear it?” …again, there is some validity to this question - arguably, we’d live in a less divisive world if more people with hateful/terrified views were asking this very same question. Like no Karen, we don’t really need to hear your racist opinion right now. But I think when you grow up Black (maybe even even more true for those of us who grew up in conservative cultures where humility is praised above all else), you learn to over-censor yourself. So we need to hear more from you. I personally want to hear more stories online from Black women online. We sit in such rich cultures and intersections, who better to tell stories than us?
Resources that helped:
Side Hustle Pro’s Podcast Moguls
Seth Godin’s book Linchpin and his blog were game-changers in helping me embrace this mindset. My story matters. So does yours.
Start with Why - great for helping you figure out how to tell your story
designing your career
I used to tell everyone that I just got really lucky when I met a podcast producer on the train and she eventually hired me into the podcast production career of my dreams.
The truth is that this is a very un-empowered way of describing how I landed in this world. If I were to describe it in a fully empowered frame, I would tell you that:
I started a podcast where I tested out what I wanted my career to be about. Through podcast interviews, I learned what I really want for my life - to tell stories with people from all over the world, to have physical and financial freedom through my work, to feel like I was doing something useful in the world while actually having fun along the way. At the same time, I learned some technical skills (like how to edit and produce a story).
I had also been practicing becoming an organized time manager and project manager, which I knew I’d carry into whatever job I went into.
I was also aware that relationships > everything!
So if it weren’t for everything I just listed:
I wouldn’t have known what kind of career I wanted for myself.
I wouldn’t have the social skill/or the confidence required to approach a stranger and ask for their number.
I wouldn’t have been able to jump into editing or managing projects effectively as a professional producer.
And this is all stuff that any one of us can do. We can cultivate the lives we want as we keep an eye out for opportunities or lucky breaks.
Great books for this are:
Designing your life - tactically roadmap for how to design your life
The Desire Map - focused on mindset around what you want and why
Start with Why - everyone recommends this book