CREATIVITY + INNOVATION Page 4 of 22

Wednesday Wellbeing

Posted on 2016-11-16 at 8:55 am.

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Happy Wednesday!

Friday is fast approaching but if you’re feeling the midweek blues you’re in the right place to be inspired!

Today the Do What You Love team is sharing what they’re up to and what is motivating them at the moment. We hope their thoughts get you thinking about what lights you up and how you can get more of this into your life…

Rachel Kempton is making time to create

I’ve been meaning to brush up on my sewing skills for years but since becoming a mum it’s a creative dream that’s fallen to the wayside… until recently! Through Hagglers Corner, a creative community of makers and doers, I was introduced to Running With Scissors, a business which runs small craft workshops, and it has inspired me to make time to make. It’s been over 10 years since I last used a sewing machine so I’ve carved out some ‘me-time’ and booked myself onto a beginner’s sewing course. Being a beginner can be scary so it’s good to know that I’ll be amongst others who are also there learn the basics. I hope that my new-found knowledge and skills will give me the confidence to experiment with interesting tools and techniques and that (one day!) I’ll be making all sorts of gorgeous gifts for my family and friends and giving my home a truly handmade feel.

My thought of the week: Maybe you feel stuck. Or bored. Or frustrated. Or maybe you quite like the life you live, it’s just that you suspect there’s something more. Some greater sense of meaning or excitement. New connections. New adventures. New possibilities. Well possibilities are always within reach. You may not be able to quit your job or develop new skills by osmosis, but every day brings new opportunities, dictated by the choices you make. Sometimes even the smallest shift in thinking or doing can create the biggest opportunity and set the stage for positive life changes. Nourish your mind, body and soul today by making choices that make you feel most alive and give your creative dreams a boost by living them. How can you give yourself time and space to create today? Do you have any passion projects right now? What creative dream are you going to start working on?

Louise Gale is feeling energised by nature

As soon as I wake up (and before logging onto my computer!), I head down to the beach for my morning walk. This is such a great way to start the day as I take time to appreciate a quiet moment in nature and sink my feet into the sand to soak up the earth’s healing electrons. This time of year is perfect as it is quiet and the sun is rising over the sea which sends beautiful reflections across the water. Spending time in the great outdoors is so good for us all, whether it’s a walk on the beach or through a local park on the way to work. Taking time to do this first thing in the morning sets me up for the busy day ahead, and leaves me feeling inspired, motivated and positive.

Louise’s thought of the week: Leading naturalist and author of the nature Principle, Richard Louv, is right when he says: “We can be happier, healthier and smarter if we weave more nature into our lives.” You can read more about why nature does good things in this article.

How can you strengthen your connection with nature today?

Fiona Duffy explains why her work always feels like ‘me-time’

I recently joined the team at Do What You Love to help Beth with the launch of her book Freedom Seeker, to be released in April 2017. I’m lucky that more often than not I feel very energised in the work I do. On reflection I realise that is because I always try to set myself realistic and personal goals that are super-aligned to the work projects I’m a part of. Doing this means that ‘work’ actually feels like ‘me-time’ as I can clearly see how my job is enriching my life on a daily basis.

For example, whilst the team here supports Beth with her book launch, I plan to use the stories and exercises within the book (lucky me, I get a sneak peek!) to identify exactly what it is that makes me feel free, and introduce more of it to my working day, and life.

Fiona’s thought of the week: I’ve found that choosing fun and uplifting locations to work from, like cafés and co-working spaces, and jazzing up my home office to make it an inspiring place to hang out, makes me feel creative, free and ready to take on the day.

What changes – small or big – could you make to enhance your workspace today?

We’d love to hear what is inspiring and motivating you this week so please do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Exciting times!

Posted on 2016-10-26 at 10:16 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Exciting times, exciting times, exciting times…

This is what I constantly seem to be saying to Beth at the moment, in fact I have been saying it for the last few months. There is an energy and a level of optimism in what we are doing at the moment that I don’t think we have experienced for a couple of years in the business. Not to say that it hasn’t been enjoyable, far from it, but we seem to be in a position where the foundations of our plans have been laid and all those hours, days, months and years of hard work are paying dividends.

Why the level of excitement? Well, there are a few reasons. Firstly, Beth is realising her dream of writing a book and is working with her dream publisher to bring ‘Freedom Seeker’ to life and out into the world. Stay tuned for more on that very soon! To watch someone so close to you achieve a lifelong dream is a reminder that life is what we make it. (Beth is looking over my shoulder right now and telling me that ‘Life is what you make it’ was her motto in her school yearbook over two decades ago!)

Secondly, the actual writing of the book has provided a fresh focus for us here at DWYL. The world of publishing is new to us but finding out about it, working with new people and learning new skills has been a very enjoyable learning curve.

Thirdly, it became very apparent that to achieve all our new goals we needed some additional help. So it is with great pleasure that I can introduce our newest team member… Fiona Duffy.

Welcome Fiona Duffy – the latest addition to the DWYL family!

We are absolutely over the moon to welcome Fiona into the DWYL family. She brings with her invaluable experience working with The Happy Startup School, an infectious enthusiasm, a huge smile and a refreshing honesty and openness. And she gets it! She really does. She gets what we are trying to do, where we want to be and has so many ideas to help us get there.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the guys at The Happy Startup School for supporting Fiona’s decision to go to part time so she can spend the rest of the week with us, and embarks on the phase of her career and life. You are going to love her like we do!

Recruiting for your own business is often challenging, because when you have a small team you really have to fit together. But sometimes someone comes along who makes it very easy for you. In this case it was a complete no-brainer. Fiona oozes charm, a zest for life and is a huge force of positive energy. Welcome Fiona – we hope you enjoy your role with us!

Thought of the moment

We are all works in progress. Beth spotted this written on a window in New York on her travels last week, and tells me she suddenly felt like the pressure was off. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we are works-in-progress, that we don’t have to be perfect, and that every day offers an opportunity to learn and grow. So here’s to you being a work-in-progress too!

Until next time,

Mr.K

What I learnt at barista training (and it wasn’t just about the hearts and tulips)

Posted on 2016-08-29 at 8:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Does it feel like the end of summer where you are? I am sitting in a coffee shop with a steaming cup of tea, looking out at the rain splashing on the pavement. It feels like October, not August today, but inside this cosy café I don’t really mind.

I can’t help looking at the café menu differently today. I can’t help noticing how the sofas are arranged, or how whether the staff ‘bless and press’ as they are making the next cappuccino. Why? Because Mr K and I spent two fun days training to be baristas last week, and learnt all sorts of things about the business of coffee and coffee shops.

We wanted to take a couple of days to do something fun together after many weeks juggling work and family while I was trying to finish my book manuscript. We left the girls with their grandmas (all parties were delighted!) and headed to Limini Coffee in Yorkshire. Over the next two days we laughed a lot, learnt a lot, and drank so much coffee we felt slightly drunk. By the end of the workshop Mr K had proved himself to be a dab hand at latte art, and I had just about managed a thistle-topped mocha and a tulip-topped latte.

Besides learning that the coffee industry is booming (apparently the Recession was the best thing that happened to cafes in years, because ‘a coffee and a cake treat’ is considered by most of us to be an ‘affordable luxury’), we learnt that taking time off together works miracles—besides having fun together, we have both been coming up with idea after idea following our short break away. I also got reminded how at home I feel in nature, having stayed at the lovely old Shibden Mill, surrounded by rolling hills.

This week I challenge you to give yourself a short break, whether it be a whole day or just a couple of hours, with someone you love, to just have fun. If you can learn something new when you are at it, even better. Stretch that brain in new ways this week! As summer is edging away, soak it all up this week (even if that means jumping in muddy puddles!)

I’ll be back next week to share some of the great adventures I’ve been having over the past few months in the writing of my book…

Have fun

Beth

PS Thank you to everyone who has already signed up for the Do What You Love e-course, which we are running in October for the last time this year. I can already tell from the energy of those of you who have signed up that this next class is going to be completely transformational. If you missed it, and feel ready to discover your true passion and do what you love, registration is now open here!

My top 3 takeaways from an amazing festival of ideas

Posted on 2016-06-20 at 8:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

A couple of weeks back I spent a few days at ‘How The Light Gets In’, an ideas and philosophy festival in Hay-on-Wye. I love that events like this are popping up all over the world, challenging our thinking, and connecting us with other people who are interested in deep conversation.

HTLGI was particularly special because of how intimate it felt. One afternoon I found myself sharing tea and excellent cake with one of Britain’s most celebrated pop artists, Allen Jones, the next morning I breakfasted with Jenny Boyd, a former model who hung out with the Beatles in their hey day, married a member of Fleetwood Mac and has had both George Harrison and Eric Clapton as brothers-in-law, and has gone on earn a PhD in Psychology and write a book about how rock stars tap into their creativity. In both cases there were only 10 of us around the table.

I was not expecting the heady combination of Cake + Warhol, or Croissants and The Creative Merits of LSD, but I was grateful for the opportunity!

The whole festival had a friendly, unpretentious feeling, all teepees and delicious local food.

People were invited to get involved in the discussion, not just listen to the speakers. I will be back, and I highly recommend it if you can get yourself there next year.

Here are my top 3 takeaways from this festival of ideas:

(1) There was a moment in the sixties when almost everyone was divided into two camps: War / No War. You could tell which side someone was just by looking at them. You instantly bonded with people on the same side as you, and there was a strange magic in the air borne from everyone caring so much, whichever side they were on. (It’s feeling a bit like that here just a few days before the nation votes whether or not Britain leaves Europe…) These pivotal moments in time are opportunities for us to connect and contribute, and we must not let them past by without playing our part.

(2) The only way to conquer apathy is inspired leadership, and the first place to start is with yourself

(3) Everyone has something of value to offer to the conversation. Sometimes you just have to probe a little to give them the confidence to share it.

This week I challenge you to think in big ideas, and find some interesting people around you to discuss them with. Maybe even book yourself into a festival this summer.

Struggling to turn your ideas into reality? Try our free resource L.E.A.P. which will help you find the courage, commitment and focus to make a major leap this year, and see it through, to get your closer to doing what you love, for life.

Happy ideating!
Beth

PS We announced the winner of our ‘Reach Teach Profit’ e-course mentoring competition last week. The lucky winners were Michelle Lloyd (UK), Claire Eden (Australia) and Victoria Hackett (USA). Congratulations all!

Knee deep in books and ideas…

Posted on 2016-06-06 at 4:06 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

I hope this finds you basking in the same kind of glorious sunshine we are enjoying here in the south of England. I am just back from a few days at the Hay Festival (of books), and How The Light Gets In, a festival of ideas and philosophy, both held in the sweet Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye.

My mind was left buzzing so much from the events that I have hardly slept since I got back. Today I’m going to share a few pictures and thoughts from Hay, and next week I’ll share some insight into the fascinating ideas festival.

The Hay Festival is one of the most famous literary festivals in the UK. It pulls in big name authors and crowds of 1000+ people to hear them talk, but it also has smaller intimate events where you can ask your favourite authors anything you like. I went to a wide range of events, from a Q&A with Sarah Bakewell, author of ‘At The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails‘, to a session with Anthony Lester QC, author of ‘Five ideas to fight for: How our freedom is under threat and why it matters’ and the barrister at the heart of the thirty year campaign that resulted in the Human Rights Act.

As you can see there is a bit of a theme going on here… no surprise that I was interested in talks on the theme of freedom with my own book deadline just around the corner, and freedom on my mind…

All the talks were interesting but the one which really blew me away was Ruby Wax on mindfulness. She was hilarious, powerful, knowledgeable, down-to-earth and very real. If I can ever hold a room the way she did, I’ll be proud! I’m looking forward to reading her book, ‘Frazzled‘.

The main thing I learnt was that it takes all sorts to be an author. The most important thing is to write a really good book, but after that it helps if you can talk about it in a compelling way, with a touch of humour and a bucketload of humanity.

Depending on your view of books, spending several days at a literary festival may seem like a luxury or a trial, but to me it was a fantastic opportunity to think deeply about certain ideas, to interact with authors and have a lot of fun people watching! It was refreshment for the brain.

This week I challenge you to take yourself to some kind of event which takes you out of your comfort zone and pushes you to think differently about something you are interested in.

Have a good one!

Beth

PS: We have another ‘Mastermind Week’ coming up next week in ‘Reach. Teach. Profit. The E-Course Creation Masterclass’ so if you want the opportunity to pick my brain about anything e-course related, make sure you are signed up to class by Monday June 13! You can register here.

On my 39th

Posted on 2016-05-06 at 9:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

I want to take a moment to be grateful today, for this day, my 39^th birthday which I am spending in a beautiful yoga spa in the Costa Rican jungle and on a white sand beach at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

I have spent most this week working on my book, which will be on the shelves this time next year. I came here eleven days ago with a rough structure and an inch-high stack of notes. I now have nearly 30,000 words of a first draft to send to my editor. It’s still a long way off the final version, but it’s in a completely different place to the day I landed, and I am so grateful for this time.

I couldn’t have done it without the incredible care of the staff here at the Costa Rica Yoga Spa. They couldn’t have done more to make me feel at home, and give me space to write and write.

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Are you trapped? Are you a freedom seeker? I need your story for my book!

Posted on 2016-03-26 at 10:14 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

I am deep into the writing of my book, which is due out with Hay House in Spring 2017. It will be called ‘Freedom Seeker: Live more. Worry less. Do what you love.” This writing process is tough, tough, tough, but it is also one of the most spirit-lifting, intellectually-stimulating, and thrilling things I have ever done. I absolutely love it. But there is still a long way to go until I hand my manuscript in in the summer.

And this is where you come in. The book is packed with tools and personal stories to help readers escape whatever is holding them back, and learn to soar, so they can live a life doing what they love. But I also want to include a host of stories of other people at various stages of life, with a variety of experiences, who have felt stuck, trapped or held back from living their fullest life.

It could be that you are in it right now, feeling like you have lost control, or that your circumstances are dictating what is possible for you. Perhaps you have dreams of what you want things to be like, but you never seem to get off the starting block, or you get part of the way along and then the dark clouds come in – the fear, the negativity, the worry about money or what others will think. Or maybe your responsibilities always seem to take over and you can’t find the time to take the steps you need to take.

Or perhaps you have been there, but are now living a freer, happier life. Perhaps something happened and you were inspired (or forced) to make major changes in your life which have resulted in you feeling more free, doing something you love and being happier?

If so, I want to hear your story! If you would be willing to share it, please sign up here to join my Freedom Seeker Research Group by Wednesday 30 March, and I will be in touch later this week with an initial questionnaire.

Even if you aren’t able to share your story, I hope you will cheer me along over the coming months as I birth this book and put myself out there in a way which right now feels terrifying! Some things just have to be done…

Thank you so much!

Beth

**A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SHARED THEIR INSPIRING STORY WITH ME AND HELPED TO BRING MY BOOK TO LIFE. FREEDOM SEEKER: LIVE MORE. WORRY LESS. DO WHAT YOU LOVE IS NOW OUT.**

Huge news! On becoming a Hay House author (somebody pinch me!)

Posted on 2016-03-03 at 10:07 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Some days are really big days, and I just had one of them. It was the day I signed a deal with Hay House, for them to publish my first book! It is a book about freedom, written for anyone who feels trapped, stuck, hemmed in—not in control of their own time, money, or destiny. It is for people who are afraid that life is passing them by, but feel powerless to do anything about it. It is a timely self-empowerment manifesto: an inspiring and practical manual that will enable people to recognise that freedom is a choice. I am busy writing it now and cannot wait for it to be released worldwide in Spring 2017!

Hang on a minute. Let’s just rewind. Did someone just say I’m going to be a Hay House author? Am I dreaming? It certainly feels that way right now, because this is not just something on my ‘Do Before I’m 40 Bucket List’, but something I have been dreaming of for many years.

In case you’re curious about how it came about, I’ll share the story here. I warn you, this is going to be a long post, because I want to share all the pieces of how this particular dream has unfolded. So get yourself a nice cup of tea and we’ll begin… (Note: I would love for you to help me bring this book to life. Right at the end of this post there’s some info on how to get involved!)

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Last chance to join our life-changing e-course Do What You Love (Starts today!)

Posted on 2016-01-18 at 12:55 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

One of the best parts of my job is guiding people through the Do What You Love e-course journey, because I see them cracking open, unfolding and growing in front of my eyes.

I see people grow in confidence, make bold moves, discover new things about themselves.

They get a ton of ideas for getting paid to do what they love, and put together real plans for moving forward.

Crucially they reorganise their lives around what really matters to them, so they can do more of what they love every single day.

This is the ninth time we have run this course and the results continue to astound us. Just recently one of our course graduates said,

“I can’t believe it’s nearly a year that’s flown by since we took the course and how far I’ve come; physically, emotionally, personally and professionally.”

This is why we do what we do, and I why I started Do What You Love in the first place.

Class begins today, and this will be the last time we run it until the end of 2016 (because I’ll be working on a very exciting project which I will share shortly…)

CLICK HERE to register and begin your journey of self-discovery to find out how to do what you love, every day.

Hope to see you in class for a transformational experience to remember!

Beth

Happy New Year! Make this the year you do what you love

Posted on 2016-01-03 at 8:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

What is it you really want? The courage to start a new career? The time to pursue passions and hobbies? The freedom to travel and have big adventures? Or simply to “feel differently” about your life, just as it is? All of those wants — and so many others — stem from one big desire… The desire to do what you love.

And if that’s what you want, you’ve arrived in the best possible place you can be. This is your launchpad — and this is your community. And the Do What You Love e-course might just change your life.

Do What You Love is about re-opening doors that you thought were locked shut… re-opening possibilities that you thought were long gone… and illuminating possibilities you never knew existed.

If you find yourself thinking things like: “I can’t afford to _______” … or “I’m too old to _______” … or “I’m going to need years of training before I can _______” … or “It’s just not realistic for me to _______”… or “But what if ______”, Do What You Love will show you that all of your options are still open, no matter what your current circumstances and responsibilities may be.

Inside this course possibility is your new reality.

CREATIVITY + INNOVATION Page 4 of 22

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Rachel Kempton is making time to create

Louise Gale is feeling energised by nature

Fiona Duffy explains why her work always feels like ‘me-time’

Make this year the year you start doing what you love. Find out more or register HERE.