Simple Things

‘I like big mugs, and I cannot lie…”

The irony of buying a Dunkin Donuts mug in order to encourage the habit of making my own coffee in the morning.

It’s amazing how much this small step - of making my own coffee in the morning empowers me. Dunkin Donuts is walking distance from my house, so the simple “chore” of making sure I have the few ingredients to make a cup of coffee requires a certain amount of discipline.

As I get older, I get more and more frustrated paying for things and not getting exactly what I want.
Occasionally, my coffee isn’t what I want it to be. Too sweet, to weak, too much cream. How are we getting this wrong? The person behind the counter may care about their job, but they don’t really care about my coffee. And while I generally think they make a great cup of coffee, it’s not perfectly the way I want my coffee to be.

That makes me think, with a little effort, I can always have the PERFECT cup of coffee!
So what does that taste like?

The thought that with some effort, I can create things EXACTLY as I want them is fueling me to be more disciplined about creating routines. Giving thought to the simple powers I have in my life makes ponder in what ways can I take control, and make my life EXACTLY as I want it to be?

My Dunkin Donuts mug is perfect. As will be the coffee I make and pour into it every morning.

Test Drive Your Dreams

It was recently brought to my attention that I really don’t allow myself to get excited about much. I protect myself from disappointment, by keeping my expectations low. Too often, I live my life being comfortable with the bare minimum. It is infrequent that I think in terms of possibilities and excitement. Part of this is a personal coping mechanism that I have perfected. Also, growing up, I got a lot of messaging telling me this was somehow virtuous. But I see that it has not only steered me away from living a life that reflects what I feel I am capable of, but it also steers me toward self-destructive behavior.

Unlearn behaviors… STOP limiting yourself.

I need to allow myself to be excited by the possibilities in life! With childlike excitement, I want to get back to imagining the most amazing version of my life, and the things in it. I know that part of what will help me do this, is making a point to identify what I want, and visualizing it. In a few areas of my life, I have already experienced how having a “compelling vision” for my life creates excitement, and helps me overcome the fear of change, fear of disappointment, fear of failure, fear of success. Being able to see clearly - in my mind’s eye - exactly what it is that I want, has made it incredibly easy for me to progress in new directions.

Another thing that I’ve realized is that I don't have to be able to fully actualize my dreams before I can have a taste of things I want. It reminds me of a test drive, or an open house. These experiences are excellent selling tools, because they get ALL of your senses involved. When you test drive a car, or walk through a staged model home, you are being exposed to as much sensory information as possible. Being able to experience the thing makes it more real, and intensifies your desire for it! Not only do you get to feel the experience, you can decide whether it’s really what you expected it to be, or if you need to tweak it in certain ways to make it perfect for you. Contrary to popular belief, I’m learning that nothing has to be an eternal commitment. And I can experience the thrill of an experience well before I am able to achieve it in its fullest form. I can stay in various hotels and Airbnb’s to see exactly what amenities, layouts, and locations bring me the most joy and pleasure. I can test drive my dream car to see if it handles the way I like, or what features give me a thrill. I can have clarity on which parts of experiences bring me pleasure, and what things diminish my enjoyment.

I have decided to Test Drive My Dreams. I’m compiling a list of things that I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m also making notes of small ways to taste the experiences I want to have. It will help me get clear about what I really want, and it will give me the satisfaction of experiencing my dreams today - instead of deferring them until I’m in a completely different place financially, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc.

I intend to share some of these experiences here, so I hope you will follow along with the journey. Perhaps you will be inspired to Test Drive Your Dreams as well!

I AM ALREADY ENOUGH...

Note to Self:

I am abundant in my ability to create Value.

• I have enough materials

• I have enough ideas

• I have enough connections

• I have enough energy

• There are infinite possibilities I don’t even know about

• I have enough knowledge to get started

• I have enough intelligence to ask good questions

• I have an abundant capacity to learn

• I have enough help

• I have the capacity to ask for more help

A Handful of Flaws...

My goal is to read 12 books this year. So far, I’ve finished one book that I started in December, and I started a new book that I learned of from The Tim Ferris Show podcast. The book is The One Thing, and the author is Gary Keller, founder of Keller Williams Realty.
I may do a book report when I complete the book, but I wanted to share something that I thought was simple, and hopefully useful.

One of my goals this year is to read 12 books. Maybe I should do Book Reports.

Typically, with self-improvement, I strive to focus on building new positive habits, and the books drops some gems about making it easier to build good habits. But this sentence struck me in an interesting way:
“A pioneer of quality-control management, [Joseph M.] Juran had noticed that a handful of flaws would usually produce a majority of the defects.”

The focus of the chapter was basically, the Pareto Principle, efforts, and results, but this sentence struck me, because it got me thinking in the opposite way I’m usually working.

If a handful of flaws produced a majority of the defects, what if in life, we first aimed to set up little actions or systems to eliminate the habits that don’t serve us? For me, a lot of times I try to develop a useful habit that may be difficult to train, but what if instead, I first worked on ways to make it hard for me to make certain bad decisions.

Examples:
- SPENDING LESS TIME ON MY PHONE is a worthy goal, but what if I 1.) Buy a watch (My Father would be happy to hear this, which will be a blog post when I buy a watch). A watch would help because right now, I have to pick up my phone to keep track of time. 2.) Only put the interesting apps on my iPad (which stays in my studio) 3.) Keep magazines in the bathroom (so i have something to look at other than Instagram)
- DRINKING A GALLON OF WATER DAILY would be nice, but what if I bought Sparking Water or tea (which, for me, makes it easier to drink less beer.)

And perhaps I’m just thinking about it in reverse, but the thought is, if I first focus on making it harder to make bad decisions, significant improvements can come before I’ve accomplished the challenging work of building a “positive” habit. And perhaps that improvement can give the momentum to build better habits. I’ll give it a shot and let you know how it’s going.

In A Bit Of A Funk...

Some random lines, and familiar text work. It feels good.

I haven’t created anything with my hands in over a month. I’ve been shooting with my camera (which has been fun). I’ve organized my studio (which feels liberating). And I’ve given a lot of thought to how I want to move forward in my creative life. But as far as the process of creating with my hands, I’ve been blocked. So today, I’m wanting to be in the studio and to do SOMETHING. No plan. No concern with results. Just do some shit. Pick up a brush and marker, and put some marks down.

The image above was the first thing. It feels good. I’m going to continue for the evening.

In The Right Direction...

I always know "the next step", that's never been the problem. The difficulty is embracing the direction I need to go. Stepping out a place that is very comfortable (for better or worse), when I only know where I'm placing my next step.

Knowing you're on the right path is a fortunate thing, and I do believe I'm headed in the right direction. But it's a struggle to face my fears. I guess I have to struggle then. There's work to do, and places to go! Everything I want is on the other side of fear. 

28 Collages in 28 Days

"The day is the only unit of time that I can really get my head around. Seasons change, weeks are completely human-made, but the day has a rhythm. The sun goes up; the sun goes down. I can handle that."

-Austin Kleon

In his book, Show Your Work, author Austin Kleon says, "Building a substantial body of work takes a long time - a lifetime, really - but thankfully, you don't need that time all in one big chunk. So forget about decades, forget about years, and forget about months. Focus on Days" 

I really couldn't agree more. I want to build a body of work, but the task seems daunting. I'm learning to appreciate the value of developing a rhythm in your work - whatever work that may be. 

But I tend to overthink, and underestimate the value of working in increments. 

In the past year or so, I've discovered some tools and processes that frequently lead to me creating work that I enjoy. But I don't engage the process nearly enough.

To explore these my creative processes more consistently, I am commiting to creating 28 pieces of art in February.  

I look forward to see the power of working CONSISTENTLY in small increments. 

This is not necessarily a collage-a-day challenge (though hopefully it will end up being that).

I'll be updating every couple of days, and will show all of the work at the end of the month. 

A body of work...

Would't that be nice?!?!!!