When it all gets too much remember this. Learn to say no. Hire someone to help you. Delegate. Choose not to do everything, so you can make it possible for you to do anything.
do what you love Page 32 of 61
I love business trips – wandering Boston
A few days ago I got back from a fantastic trip to the US, where I filmed a series of videos for this exciting new project with Lilla Rogers (more on that in the coming days!). When we had wrapped up filming I had a couple of days to myself in Boston. I love having a bit of down time in a new place after several days of work, to explore it and be inspired whilst gathering my thoughts before plunging back into my life back home.
Boston is a particularly good city for walking, and for sitting in cafes, and I did much of both those things. I wanted to share a few photos from my wanderings, so here you go… I just love the wreaths hung on so many of the brick buildings and lampposts, even though Christmas is long gone. They are so pretty and welcoming, and bring a warmth to winter.
I stayed at the lovely Encore B&B, a very cool little place inside a beautiful house owned by a former architect and theatre director. It is in the heart of South End, and I loved having the attic room with a balcony looking out over the snowy city.
The Encore B&B – My home from home for the duration of my stay in Boston
I feel very lucky to have this kind of business trip!
Featured in Where Women Create!
I have just got back from Boston (more on that soon!) where I was thrilled to walk into major bookstore Barnes & Noble and find the latest copy of Where Women Create, with a 10-page Do What You Love feature in it! It is always such a special moment when you see your writing and photography in a magazine, and especially when the publication is as beautiful as WWC. I have long loved this magazine, and am truly honoured to be included.
In this article I shared my experience of spending six months in Japan, where I was surrounded by inspiration, and had luxurious time to think, but was without my studio all that time. I talk about how I came to realise that you can be creative anywhere, and sometimes it is worth leaving behind all the bits and pieces of a full studio to head out into the world and create wherever you are. It was quite an unusual article for a magazine which is filled with stunning photos of women’s physical studios and creative spaces all over the world, so I must send my grateful thanks to Jo Packham for including it, and recognising that a creative space can be different things to different people, and different for each of us at different moments in our lives. When I was in Japan my creative spaces ranged from temple gardens and paper factories to the riverbank and a bamboo forest.
You can download the first two pages of the article below, but I would encourage you to get the whole magazine if you can (from Stampington here), because it is filled with inspiring articles and delicious eye candy.
Download the first two pages here: BethNicholls_WWC0213
PS A four-page sneak peek of my new column (co-authored with Kelly Rae Roberts) from the new publication Where Women Create Business was included in the back of this issue of Where Women Create. What a treat and a lovely surprise!
Thought for the week (7)
Take the plunge. Move closer. Use your fear.
A living worth scraping
Image via Mickey Smith
I don’t believe that doing what you love always has to be at the expense of a healthy income, but if ever there was a good argument for ‘making a living worth scraping’ this is it!
I promise it is worth 6 minutes of your time to watch this brilliant short film by surfer Mickey Smith.
Where does your heart beat fastest?
Thought for the week (6)
You don’t need anyone’s permission to do what you love.
Who is going to stop you? No one, I hope.
What do you desire?
Those of you who have taken the Do What You Love e-course will know that something life changing happened to me nearly two decades ago, when I was 17 years old. I was on a boat in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, on the first of many big adventures, when I had a major a-ha moment. It was the summer before my final year of sixth form (like high school in the US), and I was getting ready to apply to university. Up until that point my mind had been set on a career in finance, and that had been a major influence on my academic choices. But then, on one particular glorious day on the high seas, I realised that I felt free, and that that was how I wanted to feel for the rest of my life.
Ever since that day I have used ‘How do I want to feel?’ as a major driver for how I make decisions about my life. I have not once made an important decision without considering this, and I think it is the most powerful question of all.
If you have never asked yourself ‘How do I want to feel?’ in relation to any or all parts of your life, try it. It works miracles. It not only opens your eyes, but gives you a completely different perspective. And it means you chase what your soul desires, not what your peers or bank balance tells you you should. And there is a major difference.
Recently Danielle LaPorte brought out a brilliant new programme called The Desire Map which, at its heart, asks this simple but powerful question. But Danielle digs deep beneath the question, and helps you excavate your desired feelings in every area of your life. I have been doing this for the past twenty years, but never before has someone so brilliantly and clearly laid out a path to help you work through your own feelings to find what it is you truly desire. And therein lies the key to where your best life is waiting.
The Desire Map is a brilliant resource which I would highly recommend if your New Year’s Resolutions feel a bit like a soulless to-do list, and you want to dig deeper this year.
Go on, make 2013 the year you use your desired feelings to make your decisions, and ultimately do what you love, for life.
Thought for the week (5)
This is really really true. Are you taking steps to build your own dream or are you spending all your energy building someone else’s? This doesn’t mean you have to be an entrepreneur – it just means you have to know what your OWN dream is, and be sure you are spending your limited resources working towards that!
Get inspired… join us on Pinterest!
If you want some inspiration check out our Pinterest boards – packed with inspiring quotes and beautiful images!
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PS Module 2 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design begins on Monday! If you want to learn how to Create Your Professional Identity, and promote and protect your work, this course is for you. It will not run again until August, so sign up now!
Make 2013 the year your design business flourishes!
The blessing of storage – and why it is worth making time for a clear out
In the process of painting everywhere white to start afresh
When we went to live abroad for a few months last year we had to clear out our house for the tenants. We decided to put everything in storage, although ended up getting rid of a huge pile of things in the process (especially out of the big black hole that is the attic!) Now we are back we have unpacked our luggage, put away everything in the boxes we shipped (mainly books, stationery and more books) and repainted. We have taken a few things out of storage, but more than 70% of what we stored is still in there, and I have hardly noticed. Compared to before our house seems much emptier, but in a really good way. It is lighter, more airy, more us.
Having culled my wardrobe and given many things to charity shops when we went away, most of what has been stored is beautiful, useful or precious to us. But I have come to realise that we don’t need to have all of it on display, or within reach, all the time.
From time to time I pine for some of my books packed away at the back of the unit, or for my easel, tucked away behind some chairs, or for this jumper or that skirt. But mostly, I like having a whole lot less stuff around me. It is easier to make things look beautiful when there is less clutter. It is easier to think when there is less to distract you. And it is easier to clean when there is less to move around! Not to mention that paying for a small storage unit is cheaper than getting an apartment or flat big enough to have everything on display. A blessing on many fronts.
The beginning of the year is as good a time as any to declutter your house, your creative space and your mind.
Why not try it?
Make space for new good things.
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Have you decluttered recently? What difference did it make?
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PS If you want to think more about this topic you might like to check out the blogs ‘Unclutterer‘ or ‘Zen Habits’