do what you love Page 17 of 94

A week in Berlin: a taste of life as a digital nomad

Posted on 2015-08-14 at 3:53 pm.

Written by vbnz

Today’s post is by Vickie Binz, Marketing Manager at Do What You Love.

*Image credit: Stefano Borghi, www.stefanoborghi.com*

I wrote this article while sitting on the floor at Berlin Schönefeld airport waiting to travel back to London. My plane may have been delayed for 5 hours but I felt lucky…

This was a great opportunity to get ahead with work
The WiFi at the airport was really fast
My computer still had 57% of battery life
I was eating a free sandwich bought with vouchers from the airline
I had a carry on bag containing everything I needed to be comfortable
I could stay with friends in London since my plane was getting in so late – and we love an impromptu catch-up!

IMG_20150814_105553_resized — *Waiting for my delayed plane*

Rewind a few days and I was excited to be flying to Berlin to attend the first-ever global digital nomad conference, www.dnxglobal.com. The Do What You Love team works remotely so I was intrigued by the prospect of meeting people who work the same way, or who’ve taken it one step further.

My mission: find out more about digital nomads and their lifestyle to then spread the word about a movement that seems to be well in line with our values: sustaining a happy life while doing what you love.

And because I love to visit new places, experience new things and meet new people, I decided to stay on for a week, and live and work in Berlin as a “local”.

So what did my experience teach me about the life of a digital nomad?

(more…)

Live broadcast from The Little Beach Hut of Dreams!

Posted on 2015-07-09 at 12:24 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

BBC journalist Jane Vickers in The Little Beach Hut of Dreams

UPDATE: The Little Beach Hut of Dreams has been sold as we no longer live in Brighton and only residents are permitted to own beach huts there. This post has been archived for reference but we are no longer accepting applications for Dreamer-in-Residence. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Dreamers-in-Residence for being part of our adventure, and to Towergate Insurance for awarding The Little Beach Hut of Dreams runner up position in Beach Hut of the Year 2015. She was very proud!

Things have gone a little crazy around here since our Little Beach Hut of Dreams was shortlisted for the Towergate Beach Hut of the Year competition. Today we hosted a live BBC radio interview from the hut, with a soundtrack of seagulls and breaking waves. You can listen to Beth’s interview here:

The Little Beach Hut of Dreams is a tiny creative project that we dreamed up in order to create space in a busy world, to honour the importance of carving out time to dream, and just be in the moment. But more importantly because it recognizes our idea to share this tiny space with the world through our Dreamers-in-Residence programme, which allows members of our community to borrow The Little Beach Hut of Dreams for free for the day in return for a blog post which will in turn inspire others.

Now the competition is on to find the winner – and there is a public vote so we would LOVE for you to support our project and vote for The Little Beach Hut of Dreams! It just takes a minute – CLICK HERE to vote.

By voting for The Little Beach Hut of Dreams you are showing your agreement that we all need time and space to dream, and encouraging others to use assets like this for wider community benefit, not just their own enjoyment.Thank you!

We need your vote! The Little Beach Hut of Dreams shortlisted for Beach Hut of the Year!

Posted on 2015-07-06 at 12:15 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Yesterday we opened up The Sunday Times newspaper to discover that The Little Beach Hut of Dreams has been shortlisted for Beach Hut of the Year (cue squeals of excitement!)

This is particularly exciting for us, because it is a tiny creative project that we dreamed up in order to create space in a busy world, to honour the importance of carving out time to dream, and just be in the moment. But more importantly because it recognizes our idea to share this tiny space with the world through our Dreamers-in-Residence programme, which allows members of our community to borrow The Little Beach Hut of Dreams for free for the day in return for a blog post which will in turn inspire others.

Here are just a couple of examples of how The Little Beach Hut of Dreams is playing a part in other people’s dreams and plans:

SHABNAH: Shabnah used the time to think about a big adventure she was planning, and in doing so realised just how much power there is in pressing the pause button. Since her residency, Shabnah has travelled to Peru and Ecuador, before spending January in Colombia, which she tells us was 100% unplanned and 100% perfect. She wrote about her Dreamer-in-residence experience here.

In Shabnah’s words “Every time I catch sight of (a beach hut) I am taken to that silence within my previously overactive, second-guessing mind. When I applied (to be a Dreamer-in-Residence) I had been feeling lost and struggling with all decisions – I might make the wrong one, so best to make none. Being able to take a deep breath and return to how I felt that day makes it easier to listen to myself and make a decision that feels right in the moment, however small. Thank you Little Beach Hut built for dreaming for letting me clear enough of the chatter from my head for dreaming space.”

PETA: When Peta applied to be a Dreamer-in-Residence she was in need of a huge boost of inspiration. She had been working on an illustrated book for months, but needed space, and the view and calm to make real progress. She said that in her home office she was constantly distracted by emails and other work obligations. She also has a grand plan to live somewhere where she can plant fruit trees and keep bees, but is currently stuck somewhere with little nature nearby, so the day in the beach hut was a taste of being close to nature for her. She made great progress with her book during the day and we are waiting to hear when it comes out.

Our 2015 Dreamers-in-Residence are using The Little Beach Hut of Dreams this summer and we will share their stories soon.

If you like our idea and love our Little Beach Hut, please do take a moment to vote..

Huge thank you – this means a lot!

From all at Do What You Love

[All images: Holly Booth]

Bonnie’s day at the Little Beach Hut of Dreams

Posted on 2015-06-26 at 3:35 pm.

Written by vbnz

This summer we’re enjoying welcoming a handful of dreamers into the Little Beach Hut of Dreams. Bonnie Craig spent a sunny day by the sea this June, and wrote this lovely blog post about her experience.

Last week I spent a day being a Dreamer in Residence in The Little Beach Hut of Dreams. Dreamers in Residence are encouraged to use the day ‘to ponder and plan, to watch the waves or stare at the huge open sky’. Which is exactly what I was hoping to do.

I was welcomed into the beach hut on Brighton seafront by Rose, who showed me round the two square metres of loveliness and then left me to my day of dreaming.

I know that I think better when I’m occupied so I brought a sketchbook and some marker pens, with the idea of doing some really simple, repetitive patterns that would occupy the bit of my brain that needs to make decisions, while the rest of it would be free to wander around some of the ideas and thoughts that I haven’t had time to focus on for a while.

I also brought my camera, which I pointed straight out to sea and set up to take photos every 30 seconds. I wanted to document my day but didn’t want it to detract from my time there, so leaving my camera to do the work all by itself seemed perfect. And this is what it saw:

After spending some time people watching and sea watching, I realised that actually I was a bit of a spectacle myself and lots of people wanted to talk about what I was doing. So, after a few lovely but distracting chats, I got the pens out.

I went for repetitive, brightly coloured dots – about 15,500 of them in fact. One of the reasons I like to work with pattern is that I think the order created by repetition can be calming and reassuring. In my work I like to disrupt this order, which for me is where a pattern becomes really exciting, but on this day I just wanted the calming element. So I sat, and drew little dots, letting my intuition choose which colours went where, and as I did it I thought about lots of things – big things and little things – that hadn’t had the attention they deserved in a while. And while that sort of thinking can often be stressful, I actually found myself feeling completely calm and content.

Drawing the dots was more about the activity than the final result, but it’s given me some ideas for making really simple pattern tiles that can be combined in loads of different ways to create a final pattern that looks as if it is repeated, but is actually different every time it’s put together. I (really!) hadn’t meant to ‘work’ in the beach hut but it was an unexpected bonus to come away with new ideas.

Without wanting to do too much public soul-baring, a big part of the day for me was making some peace with my hometown of Brighton, somewhere that’s seen some of my most and least happy times and is always a bit emotional to visit. The opportunity to indulge myself in processing some of my thoughts and memories there was pretty cathartic.

And before I knew it, there was only an hour left. At which point I decided to treat myself to an hour of reading the book I’d just started, and I sat out in the deck chair and lost myself in the world of Theo Decker.

Rose came to lock up at the end of the day, and I went on my way, with a dreamy grin, to meet an old friend for dinner. I can’t recommend a day in The Little Beach Hut of Dreams enough.

Visit Bonnie’s website: www.bonnie-craig.com

Like her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/bonniecraigartist

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bonniepattern

What would you do with a day away?

Posted on 2015-06-23 at 8:56 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Last week we had our annual ‘away day’ at Do What You Love. It was actually two days – a strategy meeting on Wednesday, and a day on a yacht on Thursday! We chartered the boat to give us a way to get a complete change of scenery, open our minds and think differently. And it worked!

We were brainstorming ideas for my book (more on that in the coming weeks), and it was amazing how the gentle lapping waves helped us forget about to-do lists and tune into some big deep questions.

It was also good to spend some fun time with our lovely team, on a gloriously sunny day, to hear more about their individual dreams and plans, and get to know them better.

We are only a small team, but moments like this are important.

Even if you work on your own (or for someone else), can you give yourself the gift of an away day? If so, here are some tips to make it special:

Put it in your diary and guard that time carefully. No adding little meetings, or cutting it short for urgent business. Protect it, and make it happen.
Go somewhere you don’t normally spend time, or use an interesting mode of transport to get there. Try being on the move as you think – perhaps walking, hiking, cycling, or sailing.
Clear away all distractions (no email, no phones, no small people – just for a few hours!)
Plan one specific thing to think about, and ask yourself a handful of probing questions
Let your mind wander, and see what emerges
Make notes about your ideas, as they may disappear as easily as they arrive

This week we challenge you to find time for your own awayday. We’d love to know what you thought about, and what came out of it – please share with us on Facebook or Twitter!

Have a lovely week

Beth and team

[Tweet “What would you do with a day away? “]

Why creativity is so important (and how to unleash yours) + last chance to join the DWYL e-course – starts today!

Posted on 2015-06-15 at 8:13 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

A very pregnant me hosting a discussion on passion, connection and community with Lilla Rogers and Kelly Rae Roberts

Wow, what a week. Here at DWYL HQ we are recovering from an incredible few days of being ‘lovebombed’ by creative women from across the world. We hosted our first live event since the original Do What You Love retreat, and it was such an uplifting, energising experience.

‘Make Art That Sells: The Global Art Gathering’ brought together creative women (and one creative man!) from around the world – as far away as Australia, New Zealand, the US and right across Europe – to our city of Brighton to learn how to make art that is more commercially viable whilst staying true to themselves. It was a live version of the wildly popular ‘Make Art That Sells’ online courses we produce for top art agent Lilla Rogers, and was special in many ways.

Firstly, it brought together some of my favourite women, a number of whom are business partners and all of whom are dear friends, including Lilla, Kelly Rae Roberts, Rachael Taylor, Margo Tantau and more. It was life-affirming to spend so much time, and have so many rich conversations with them all.

Secondly, it made me so proud of our awesome team, who worked so well together to make it a really magical experience.

And last but not least, it became the catalyst for many creative journeys that are only just unfolding, as it brought together a new community of creatives who bonded over shared dreams and values, laughter and generosity of spirit.

Although the majority of our work is delivered online, and that very valuable communities are built there, it is impossible to deny the power of bringing together like-minded people to discuss, share and learn. Friendships blossom, business ideas burst into life and people really start to glow. It’s as if they suddenly got permission to be creative, to want to make a career from that, and to be proud of what they do. And why not? Creativity is what makes the world interesting, ever-changing, beautiful and unexpected.

How about you? Are you being as creative as you could in your life? We are all on a creative journey. For each of us, that journey probably began earlier than we realise, and runs deeper than we know. Along the way, we discover new mediums of expression, and new parts of ourselves.

Creativity isn’t just about painting, or writing, or taking lovely photographs. It’s about the way that you interpret the world, how you think, and what you do with that information. Discovering and pursuing what you want to do and be and feel in your life is one of the greatest creative adventures you could ever undertake.

If you are under the impression that there are two types of people, ‘creative’ and ‘not creative’, I can assure you that is a myth. We all have creative capacities, but some people use them more than others. At different times, different sides of our brain are dominant; but they’re interconnected, and we use both sides at any one time. It is possible to develop our creative capacities over time – sometimes this happens through need, and sometimes through desire – and with practice, we may become more in tune with our creativity. Don’t be fooled into thinking creativity is something that has to be learned. It doesn’t. It is in you already. All you need to do is to feed your creative soul.

To me, creativity is all about ideation and the creation of something that did not exist in a particular form before you made it that way. Creativity is proactive – it is about making things, and making things happen.

Creativity is exciting – it is about making decisions which are not necessarily the same decisions others would make, and which may invite the unknown. Creativity is imagination – it is about beauty, possibility, and wonder.

How do you unleash that creativity? Here are a few ideas which you can get started on straight away:

Give yourself permission to spend time bring creative, and silence the voice that tells you it’s a waste of time
Surround yourself with people who also value creativity – sign up for a workshop, join an online forum, get involved in a local group
Tackle the normal, routine parts of your day from a creative perspective. Make your to-do list beautiful, do a photo walk on your way to work and post it on Instagram, cook a delicious meal and consider the colours on the plate, write a letter to an old friend… anything goes.

Discovering a need for more creativity, and choosing to pursue that, is one of the most frequent outcomes of our flagship e-course ‘Do What You Love’ (which starts TODAY). If you feel that the time is right to explore your own creativity and general life direction further, why not join us? This is the LAST TIME this course will run this year, as I am heading off on maternity leave soon, and have several creative projects of my own in the pipeline for that treasured time off (not to mention welcoming a new baby into the world in a few weeks’ time!).

This week we challenge you to be more creative in your everyday routine. Share your ideas on Facebook or Twitter, and don’t be shy about it!

Have a great week

Beth

Is your routine holding you back?

Posted on 2015-06-09 at 8:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

[Tweet ““If you think adventure is dangerous try routine. It’s lethal.” ~ Paulo Coelho”]

For me variety is the spice of life. I like every day to be different and I’ve always tried to avoid falling into habits and routines. So when I had my little boy, almost two years ago now, I’m the first to admit that being at home all day and juggling feeds, nap times, nappy changes, and everything else that a new baby brings, took some getting used to.

As any new parent knows, having a tiny little person relying on you for everything is hard work. You’re no longer have the freedom you used to. Even the simplest task, like meeting friends for coffee, requires an element of forward planning and spontaneity gores out of the window. Within weeks I developed my own little way of doing things. I was in the motherhood groove and and before long I had a routine!

My husband and I were in Brighton when I realised just how much of a creature of habit I’d become. It’s amazing how much clarity a change of scene can bring. Being by the sea, exploring a new city, and escaping the ‘daily grind’ left us both feeling inspired, refreshed and re-invigorated.

Getting a new perspective

Zack was now a few months old and having adapted to being parents things were becoming much easier. We realised that while there are always going to be jobs to do, and obligations and responsibilities to fulfil, life doesn’t have to feel like Groundhog Day.

Exploring a new city

On the journey home we agreed that while some routines are helpful and even necessary, especially for Zack, others had seen us get too comfortable and complacent. So we decided that some things needed to change.

Things that changed after our trip:

I left my 9-5 and started writing part-time for Do What You Love. Now I’m free to work wherever and whenever I choose and to do all the things I love – be a mum, go running, do yoga, and be creative. Embracing new opportunities and connecting with interesting new people is part of the job so no two days are ever the same. I want Zack to grow up understanding that my work makes me happy and that I have my own hopes and dreams.
We stopped complaining about how much time we waste watching TV and now, instead:

– we limit the amount of TV we watch

– we have regular date nights

– we have dinner as a family and talk

– we socialise more in the evenings with family and friends

– we spend more of our free time being creative and working on our own passion projects

We looked at our finances to see where we could cut back and save money for a weekend away every few months.
We both started doing more exercise. I joined a gym and my husband started running with colleagues at work.
We made a 5-year plan that will help us live the life we really want and create our own special memories along the way.

10 simple ways to shake up your routine today:

Change your schedule. Get up with the sun and take an early morning walk. You’ll see your world differently, sense different emotions in the people you meet and hear different sounds.
Change your style – do your hair or make-up differently or experiment with clothes to find a new look.
Commute a different way to work, or instead of going by car take the bus, train, walk or cycle.
Take a class or a course in something you’re interested in, who knows what doors may open.
Pick a different place to hang out. If you meet friends at a local bar, try a local restaurant. Or do something different – go to a sporting event watch a gig or have a dinner party.
Have a conversation with someone new. Make this your daily mission and who knows, you might make a friend for life!
Make more of your lunch break. Go to museums, try new restaurants, meet a friend, walk in the park, do something you’ve never done before or go somewhere you’ve never been before.
Have a mini-adventure at the weekend. Do a road trip, go hiking or camping or explore a new city.
Be inspired and get creative. Watch this playlist of TED Talks to kickstart your creativity, or read this excerptfrom Pico Iyer’s TED Book, The Art of Stillness.
Take a day off and give yourself permission to do anything you want. Go for a long, solitary walk; write poetry; bake; go shopping; read a novel; watch a blockbuster; paint; make something for a friend; have a picnic in the middle of nowhere and then lie in the grass and look at the clouds.

[Tweet “Have you ever felt stuck in a rut?”] Do you follow the same routine, day in, day out? What small changes could you make to mix things up today?

Rachel

The Do What You Love e-course will help you ditch bad habits and boring routines, and lead you to see what you really want (or need) more clearly.

“I am now far more open to ideas and willing to say yes to opportunities. I think, well, what’s the worst that can happen?!” Shona W., Do What You Love participant, Jan 2015

Join us this June for the experience of a lifetime.

Top productivity tips for writers

Posted on 2015-06-02 at 8:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

This is a guest post by one of the UK’s leading experts in digital distraction and digital detox and author of The Distraction Trap: How to Focus in a Digital World, Frances Booth. Find out more about Frances here.

[Tweet ““Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” ~ Stephen King”]

Whether you work as a writer, aspire to be a writer, or use writing for business, these tips should help you be productive with your writing. Too often, writing takes us far longer than it needs to, and we agonise over it and struggle with it. It needn’t be the case.

Try these tips to increase your productivity as a writer.

Ignore the first 10 minutes

As you sit down to write, it’s likely that some measure of resistance will surface to start with. There might be voices in your head saying things like ‘this is no good’ or ‘today’s not a good day for writing’. Don’t let these or similar negative thoughts stop you. Keep writing. In a while the voices should disappear. It might take a few minutes to get into your writing each time you sit down, so just accept that and keep on writing.

Blank page etiquette

Starting is one of the hardest bits about writing. You need tactics to deal with the blank page. Never worry about what to put for your first line – the first line doesn’t have to remain the first line. You might choose your second line, your third line, or something from the middle as a start, in the end. If you want to get more productive as a writer, notice how much of your time is spent on the ‘build up’, procrastinating, avoiding, delaying, before you even sit down to write. This build up time can be cut to zero. Sit down, get a blank page, and write something on it. Then go from there…

1. Writing comes first

Don’t leave your writing until the end of the day. Don’t make it the last task, squeezed in after everything else. Don’t give it just the scraps of your energy. Put writing first. Start the day by writing and you’ll be far more productive. Give writing your full attention, and soon, the words will mount. Write before checking your emails. Write before going on social media. Writing comes first.

2. Know that distractions will tempt you

Because writing is difficult, distractions will be a huge temptation (as with any other difficult task). Stuck for what to write next? Don’t be surprised if ‘I’ll just check email …’ creeps into your mind. Your hand might even reach automatically to open your email account and type in your password. Resist! Digital distractions are a huge pull on your attention. But your attention needs to stay on what’s important right now, your writing. In my book, The Distraction Trap: How to Focus in a Digital World, I give detailed advice on how to deal with distractions.

3. When you get the chance to write, seize it

There’s not always chance to write. Even if you’re a full-time writer there’ll be other aspects of your business that you sometimes need to spend time on, such as promoting your writing, looking for opportunities, or networking. Many writers also have other jobs or other aspects of their work to fit in as well as writing. And all of us have day-to-day life to factor in. So when you get chance to write, seize it. You might not get the same chance tomorrow, or even next week. So make the most of it right now. Sit down, and write.

Don’t miss part two of this feature, published on Friday.

Why wholeness is worth pursuing (+ the Do What You Love e-course is back for the LAST time this year!)

Posted on 2015-06-01 at 3:18 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Every now and then you meet someone who makes you think differently about something, someone who makes you realise something you had never really thought about was actually really important. That happened to me when I met Leadership and Change Advisor Andres Roberts, and he started talking to me about the subject of ‘wholeness’. Have you ever thought about what that word really means? This is what he said to me:

“I’ve come to see the world really as a place where many of us as individuals live in a state of disconnection. Even within ourselves we’re not fully connected to all of our parts, and we’re disconnected from each other in society and family and community, and in organisations. One of the main reasons for this is that most of us, most of the time, wear masks, and live life dominated by ideas of competition against each other or separation from each other rather than a more profound sense of being part of the same thing. Many of us walk into our offices every day and put on a different persona to the one we are at home, or with our friends, so for many, life begins after 5 o’clock, or at the weekend. That’s where we’re most engaged, but by having completely different roles and ways of being, that’s a form of separation.”

I have long been a believer that each of us has many aspects to our personality, some of which shine through, and some of which are dampened or hidden based on who we spend our time with, or what we think others think about us. But exploring, discovering and sharing all aspects of you is what allows you to bring your whole self to any situation.

And expanding that idea of wholeness to thinking of us all as connected, and part of the same thing, feels full of possibility to me. It’s true that we often live in competition with each other, but that isn’t always necessary. Just because one person makes a living as an artist, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for anyone else. Just because someone else launched an e-course, doesn’t mean you can’t too. In fact, often the opposite is true – more people succeeding expands the opportunities available to everyone.

So this week we challenge you to think about how you could make yourself more connected in every sense:

Within yourself (showing up with all parts of your personality)
With others
Within the wider world

We’d love to hear what happens when you start thinking about this – share on Facebook or Twitter @DoWhatYouLoveXx

Beth and the team

PS We’re on countdown to the Do What You Love e-course for the LAST time this year!

As I am going on maternity leave from the summer, the course starting June 15 will be your only opportunity to join this transformational experience in 2015. If you know it’s time to make a major change in your life – if you are seeking personal, professional or financial freedom and need support to find your way – don’t miss it! Find out more and register here.

PPS. We have teamed up with Andres Roberts to offer you a unique coaching experience designed to complement the upcoming Do What You Love e-course. When you sign up for the e-course starting June 15, you can take advantage of a one-to-one coaching session with Andres in July for half the usual price – just £72.50 for 90 minutes (normally £145). Interested? Find out more here.

For the artists and designers among you, don’t miss the new fab free video series from our friends at Make Art That Sells, ‘Designing for Home Décor’. The series starts June 8 and will run for five days. Art director Margo Tantau will help you break into this lucrative market by teaching about the concept of home décor; how to get your art off paper and onto products; how to get your products made; popular materials for home décor; and of course, how to make sure you get paid. It’s completely free, so what are you waiting for? Hop on the list here and get ready to be inspired!

June’s happy list is here!

Posted on 2015-06-01 at 8:55 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

What’s is making you happy this month? What do you feel most grateful for? What experiences/people/places are making your heart sing?

Write it all down on June’s happy list! Big things, small things – it really doesn’t matter! All that matters is that everything on your list makes you smile and feel thankful.

On my happy list this month… finding this wonderful little space to dream!

Download June’s happy list and start celebrating your happiness today!