Building Community & The New Revolution
Reviving our Amateur status, and letting it be easy...
You may or may not have noticed that I usually send this out on Thursdays… and it’s Friday now as I send this.
I’m almost certain you do not care. But I care.
Building consistency within myself is important to me, so is keeping my word that I would send this out every Thursday.
And also…
This delay provides me with some super valuable feedback. It shows me where there are cracks in my system (or that the system doesn’t exist when things get busy!)
I now have the opportunity to recalibrate, and design a consistent system that still feels in flow, but creates more flexibility.
When you’re fully committed to something, Failure (with a capital T!) doesn’t really exist if you’re continuing to evolve and experiment with ways to make this commitment work with your lifestyle.
There are little failures as you continue to evolve your process into something that sticks. And that’s good!
While this ‘failure’ doesn’t feel particularly juicy to me, it is teaching me…and that is juicy.
Creative Nuggs
This week I’m sharing two inspiring ideas from Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work
1. Find a ‘Scenius’
The term ‘Scenius’ comes from musician Brian Eno, and it’s the concept that “great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals—artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers—who make up an ‘ecology of talent.’”
Good work is not created in a vacuum by some lone genius.
“Creativity is always, in some sense, a collaboration, the result of a mind connected to other minds.”
Want to be more creative? Want to produce better work?
Find yourself an aligned community that inspires it! A Scenius.
Many of you reading this belong to an expansive creative community…one that celebrates your wins and lifts you up when you’re not at your best.
Yes, AND—it’s not only our creative communities that fuel us. Our other chosen communities can act as a charging station for our other values.
I’ve previously shared about my group of friends from my hometown. They are all creative in unique ways, but together we choose to play dress-up and let our inner weirdos go wild! This Scenius fuels my own creative thinking in so many abundant ways!
Which Scenius’s do you belong to? How do they inspire your creativity?
Looking to find one?
There are so many virtual hangouts to find your new Scenius. A quick google, some intuitive hits, and a few inevitable rabbit holes will take you where you need to go.
Now…before you go thinking you’re not ready to jump in yet - you are.
If you care, you’re ready.
Everyone has to start somewhere—and if you value growth and expansion—you’re going to be a student for life.
2. Amateur mindset:
Today it is the amateur—the enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love, regardless of the potential for fame, money, or career—who often has the advantage over the professional.
Amateurs are in the arena!
Amateurs are willing to experiment!
Amateurs will follow their inspirations without judgement!
“Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing.”
Remember when you were just a baby Creative? You were proudly showing your work off before you learned you needed to be protective of it?
I was willing to do ANYTHING to become an actor. In high school it was ALL I could think about. I moved away from home so I could live in a big city. I was manifesting before I even knew what manifesting was. I was creating and performing whenever I could.
The raw enthusiasm of the amateur is contagious!
“Amateurs–they’ll use whatever tools they can get their hands on to try to get their ideas into the world”
When things get stale in your own creative practice, try using a different tool, medium, perspective, or just allow yourself to play. Be an amateur at your own craft.
We get far too into ‘profesh mode’ and our businesses can become stodgy, which is entirely the opposite direction of how/where/why we started!
“Forget about being an expert or a professional, and wear your amateurism (your heart, your love) on your sleeve. Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.”
It means we might want to try something new.
Show that we care.
Create for sake of creating what we like!
“The best way to flourish is to retain an amateurs spirit and embrace uncertainty and the unknown.”
Not the uncertainty and unknown again Lauren!?!?!
Oh baby, it’s where the magic happens!
Want to know how to support yourself while you do that? Stay with me…
The Untangling
This week I’ve been noodling on this question:
What if getting the things we want could actually feel relaxed?
Like what if we could be in joy, not hustle, not force our brains to ‘figure out the answer,’ to find success?
I know this is true. I feel it. I have enough data to support it’s the truth. I’ve seen enough proof of it in my life, in my clients lives, interviewing people, and by meeting people who have proof.
I’ve sought out the science, I’ve devoured books on the topic…
And yet, my brain is always searching for loopholes.
My overactive mind takes over and makes work for me to do in order to achieve the success I want.
And often, that does not feel relaxed.
But if I’m in creative mode, or if I’m playing, or in joy, —that part of my brain quiets for a moment, and the truth slips through the cracks.
I keep being shown that it really can be this simple.
So why does my brain try to override the system?
Last year, the night before I took off on my 3-month travel adventure, I went and saw Elizabeth Gilbert give a talk in Toronto.
Her main thesis was in support of a new revolution for women. Not one that asked women to be courageous, resilient, fierce, vulnerable or ‘bad ass’ (the common battle cries).
Instead she lobbied for a…
Relaxed Woman Revolution
Because that would be bold, that would truly be cutting edge.
We all know women who have all, or most of aforementioned traits, but how many relaxed women do you know?
It really resonated with me. Women are generally the caretakers of the world. We often bear the weight of far too many things, and we’re conditioned to believe that it’s our duty. It’s what we’re naturally good at!
When we’re so busy over-delivering, relaxation, or having “space” can feel uncomfortable. Even if it’s intentional, there can be an uneasy feeling about it.
Guilt?
But hold on, might that be byproduct of our ongoing societal programming??? Suspish….
Interestingly, I do think there has been a shift. A shift worth continuing to pioneer.
I believe women are starting to get wise to a different way of operating.
I was speaking to a friend I met at the Alt Summit this year (shout out Homebody DIY) and she said she noticed a big difference from last years programming to this year. Last year was more Boss Bitch Hustle and this year was more Soft & Slow.
We are slowly realizing there is another way, one that can actually get us more of the things we want.
Gilbert shared that when you’re relaxed and your nervous system isn’t fried, you’re actually calm and ready. Ready to be thoughtful about your responses, ready to take aligned action, ready to listen to your intuition.
Want to join the revolution?
Ask yourself…
How could you choose to prioritize some You Time today/this weekend?
What is something that would feel super juicy for you today/this weekend?
What if you taking inspired action on that soft, slow and juicy thing…is on the path to your success?
Psssst.
It is.
Abundance Aggregate
This week I joined my friend Alisa’s Quarterly Planning Workshop called “Sketching Success.”
Admittedly, I didn’t have a great handle on my Q3 goals, for reasons I talk about here.
Alisa walked us through a simple quarterly (and ongoing) planning system built on a google spreadsheet, and then let us all practice using it.
It was simple and effective for Solopreneurs who want to keep themselves on track to reach their goals.
Alisa facilitated this workshop at no cost. She’s one of those people who has an ever-abundant community of people because she builds and nurtures the communities she’s in.
She’s a connector. A ‘Scenius’ Architect.
She embodies the kind of warmth and care that is the very pillar of a strong community.
We both share that strong value of community - that’s one of the reasons my best friend Aliyah and I created our Podcast.
For This Juicy Life, Aliyah and I are working with Alisa to create a new system on Notion that will allow us to manage everything in one place. We wanted to build this out so that it was easy to work with various people and keep ourselves collectively organized and on track.
I’ve always loved the shininess of learning about new organizational systems…it’s the practice of implementing them that feels painful for this creative brain.
This is Alisa’s specialty.
She’s a Creative and she understands that we don’t think, plan, or execute in the same way that a linear thinker might.
Alisa listened to our needs and goals, helped us prioritize, and then built us a bespoke structure and process for us in Notion.
She’s been diligently working with us to allow us room to experiment and trial & error this new system of our choosing.
I have to tell you, this is another form of Alisa’s artistry. It’s bloody gorgeous.
There is ZERO chance we could have done that on our own. And to be frank, we wanted to spend our time working on the fun stuff that lights us up!
The bonus of it all is that Alisa holds your hand while you’re kicking and screaming and asking why the heck you ever wanted a new system in the first place!
This is me right now having to practice using this fabulous new system… taking the baby steps towards building this new habit.
Short term pain for long term gain! I am still holding the vision Alisa!
Alisa is one of those rare Creatives that can think in systems, processes and efficiency. She can compute your pain points into a process that will work for you.
And this shit actually lights her up!! Helping Creative Business Owners feel more flow in the business and move towards their goals with a system that avoids overwhelm.
If you’re thinking about getting your poop in a group (as Mark Groves would say) and thinking about potentially hiring a VA, then hit up Alisa. She’s probably got some weird and wonderful solution that is bespoke to you. And if she can’t help you, she will 100% connect you with someone who can… because that’s just how she operates :)
One additional tool that Alisa shared, which I’ve seen before but it really it hit me in a different way this week.
When looking at the tasks and actions that propel your businesses forward—where can you luxuriate in this sexy lower right hand quadrant this summer?
Where can we invite a relaxed revolution into our businesses?
And finally, in the Scenius you belong to, (or would like to be part of) consider asking yourself what you have to contribute?
It’s in the details—the ideas you share, the quality of the connections you make, and the conversations you start.
If we want to nurture and contribute to a Scenius, it’s time to stop asking what others can do for us, and start asking what we can do for others.
And on that note, if you are working through your own creative ideas and would love someone to listen, ask questions, and help you gain clarity on where to get started… I would love to contribute, with no strings attached!
You can book a free Creative Brain Untangling Session with me and have me all to yourself for 90 minutes!
*I will be offering this until the end of July :)
Sending you so much love and relaxation!
xo
Lauren