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From DWYL HQ: Growing pains

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This week we turned down two book proposals from two major American publishers. Last week we turned down the offer of a lucrative new e-course partnership. Are we crazy? Maybe. But we don’t think so.

Last year Do What You Love saw explosive growth, which was brilliant, but exhausting. We had offers flying in left, right and centre, and it was hugely tempting to keep expanding, adding more courses all the time and getting involved in all sorts of exciting projects. But right at the start of 2013, when we took stock and looked ahead to what kind of a year we wanted it to be, we decided that this year we would focus on quality not quantity.

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Life According To Mr. K – Love Life (3)

lifeaccordingtomrk

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

–       Mother Theresa

Our lives are all unique. Our own personal stories are made all the more colourful as they blend and interweave with one another’s when our paths meet. They are filled with experiences that create memories, thus providing us with an opportunity to gain knowledge and wisdom for the next chapter.

Every step of our adventure is dictated by the decisions we make. The places we go dictates the people we meet. Science fiction may let us believe different but unfortunately we cannot journey down two separate paths simultaneously, to check where it may lead us. We have to trust our gut instinct and experiences to guide us.

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Celebratory giveaway winners announced!

Thank you all for the lovely comments about our new website. We have lots more goodness to add over the coming weeks and months, but it is starting to feel like the site we have been planning for a long time. We hope it serves to fuel your dreams and give you the tools you need to keep you on track!

Over 300 people entered our giveaways last week, and it was so hard to pick our winners, but we read every single comment and felt the following people would really benefit from the prizes:

  • The set of books to inspire adventure, curiosity and an appreciation of life goes to: SUSAN BLACK
  • The bundle of creative inspiration (books and magazines!) goes to: VICKY MORSE

If you name is listed above, congratulations! We will be in touch by email shortly with more details about your prize.

Thank you to everyone for entering – we wish you could all win!

Life According To Mr.K – Love Life (2) + Book Give Away!

lifeaccordingtomrk

Love Life!  This is our theme for August, and perhaps the most important one yet.

To love something we must treasure it. To really love life requires an appreciation of life itself. And when you really begin to appreciate your life you become increasingly aware how fragile and short it is in the grand scheme of things. The importance of  life has been exaggerated by the news that come Christmas I am going to become a Dad!

I mentioned last week that I believe we get one shot at life and I was going to make damn sure I was going to live my life to its maximum. What I forgot to mention was that I am also very keen to live a very long and healthy life – but aren’t we all? This has never been more true than now, with a baby on the way.

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Published in Where Women Create Business! (PLUS book bundle giveaway!)

Where Women Create Business magazine COVER

It is always exciting when a magazine drops through the door and you open it to find an article you wrote – and that was certainly the case when I received my copy of Where Women Create Business. This is the second issue of this fantastic magazine from Jo Packham (published by Stampington), which dives into the business wisdom behind some of the most exciting creative businesses out there, run by female entrepreneurs. If you would like a copy, check out our giveaway below!

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Welcome to the all new Do What You Love website!

Welcome to the all new Do What You Love website! dwylhq1

After many months of brainstorming, note making, pondering, prototyping and tea drinking, we are thrilled to unveil our brand new website, designed to help you choose your path and change the world. We will be with you every step of the way.

Originally this site started as a blog, and then we added pages, and courses, and interviews, and all sorts of other bits and pieces, but the company grew faster than the website and it wasn’t a real reflection of who we are and what we do. Hopefully that is much clearer now with the new site, and you will find it much easier to navigate your way to all sorts of resources, advice and encouragement to help you do what you love for life. Please take a moment to start at the beginning – on the home page here – and see how it works for you.

Check out…

  • Our innovative system to help you find what you need to start doing what you love (answer the question here and follow the links to all sorts of resources and advice)
  • Our brand new newsletter ‘Love Mondays!’ designed to get your week off to a great start, and make every week count (If you aren’t on the list already, get on it via the sign up box at the top of the page)
  • Your invitation to take our flagship course ‘Do What You Love‘ (back by popular demand for the first time in over a year!) – now offered as a unique online experience and life change survival kit! Find out more here

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We have big plans for Do What You Love in 2013, including a brand new members’ area coming soon. We are so grateful to you for being part of this extraordinary journey. Stay tuned for more goodness in the coming weeks and months!

In celebration of the launch of the new site, we are doing a week of giveaways (see below) and sharing a brand new free resource ‘Zen for Ten’  a free 10-step guide to help you take steps along the path to doing what you love. This was written during our six-month sabbatical in Japan. Please share it with anyone you think could benefit from it. Get yours HERE.

We want to inspire a movement of people doing what they love, and are committing to help you and others make the tough decisions and big leaps needed to do that, and then to stay inspired and on top of your game once you have done it. If you know of anyone who is stuck, unfulfilled, bored or feeling that there is more to life than what they are doing right now, please point them towards https://dowhatyouloveforlife.com!

It’s your life. Live it!

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(PS Huge thanks to Jo Klima at The Darling Tree for all her work on our new site!)

GIVEAWAY!

All this week we are giving away cool prizes here on the blog to celebrate the launch of our new site. You can enter as many of the giveaways as you like – just pop back to the blog each day to enter:

Today’s giveaway PRIZE: Win a FREE PLACE on the Do What You Love e-course (starts October) worth GBP £109

TO ENTER: Take a look at the course description here and then pop back and leave a comment below explaining where you are in your journey right now and why the Do What You Love e-course would really benefit you at this point. Please be sure to include your full name and country in your comment. Then share a link to this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter including the words @DoWhatYouLoveXx #dowhatyoulove

DEADLINE: This giveaway will close at 12 noon GMT on Tuesday 13 August 2013. Any comments left after then will not be counted.  **THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED. FIND OUT WHO THE WINNERS ARE HERE**

THE SMALL PRINT: There will be one winner who will be chosen from the entries after the deadline, and announced on this blog shortly afterward. The competition is open to anyone over 18 anywhere in the world. There is no cash alternative. Our decision on the winner is final and no correspondence will be entered into. By entering you agree for your email address to be added to our mailing list but you can unsubscribe at any time.

Life According to Mr. K – Love Life (1)

lifeaccordingtomrk

I have the great pleasure to introduce you to our next month’s theme – Love Life.

Working for Do What You Love does mean that more and more hyperbole appears in sentences that you either write or speak, love being a perfect example. This is not a coincidence!

I certainly do not want to get all bohemian on you but when you find that right direction and combine it with the right balance, life becomes one great adventure. And living that adventure becomes the reason you jump out of bed every morning. It is only natural that you want to share this with your family and friends, and in our case through Do What You Love to the whole world.

As you may be aware if you read this blog often, my life has changed massively over the past couple of years. I have reflected and written retrospectively about my experiences in my old career and during my time in Japan, but now, given the new theme, it is time to dedicate this month’s posts to the present moment.

Depending on your religious beliefs you may well have different views on what life means and the value of it. I believe that we get one shot at it so I am going to make damn sure that I use my time to live it to its very maximum.

What does living life mean to you? Is it grasping every opportunity that comes your way? Is it dedicating it to a good cause? Is it experiencing as many things as possible? Is it about being happy? Or could it be described as leaving a legacy for the next generation? I think it is most probably a combination of them all with lots of others thrown in depending upon the individual. For me it is Doing What You Love.

Doing what you love does not mean drinking cold beer all the time, constantly sunbathing, not working or necessarily getting rich. Doing what you love is finding the right balance in your life to ensure you remain enthused, interested, motivated and healthy. For example, a cold beer tastes so much sweeter when it is earned and sun bathing may be a much needed re-charge of the batteries after being cold or cooped up inside.

Although I have changed career some of my favourite memories of the summer have been spent ensuring huge concrete pours go off (literally) without a hitch. Then having a cold beer and sharing that achievement with my work colleagues. The trouble was the good days were hugely outweighed by the not so good. This balance of my life had to be readdressed. It would be considered stupid to continue down a path so out of proportion.

“Life’s hard. It’s even harder when you’re stupid.” –  John Wayne

My life now finds me down in Brighton. For those of you not from the UK it is directly below London on the coast. It is vibrant, diverse but has a sense of perspective about it. And like most coastal towns/cities it has a relaxed and laid- back undertone to it. Most mornings I wake early and go either running or cycling along the front. This way I manage not only to get my exercise in for the day but also to enjoy the view with a few select others before the crowds flock. It is also my time when the world and my thoughts are mine alone. Priceless.

I return home and shower before most have even woken up. This early bird routine has been with me since my paper rounds at the age of 11. Personally I think it really is hard to beat an early morning, when the air is fresh and the optimism that a great day is in-store is still a reality.

Another advantage of living by the sea is eating on the roof terrace. Nothing special, but it is a quiet private space where my wife and I eat, plan, laugh and look over the rooftops out to sea. Every now and again we do hold our breath as another seagull flies over our heads waiting to see if we are going to be their next victim(!) but that is a small price to pay… I guess gazing out to sea encourages you to dream. Well this is how I feel life is now. Limitless!!

I then work. Yes work! We are forging our own path and we both truly believe that the world will be a better place if more people were doing what they loved. This is a hugely motivating ideal, which I am sure we can help others achieve. So every email that is sent or blog post written or course content devised may just be that little part of someone else’s day that makes all the difference.

I allow time in the day to go to the gym and to get outside. One thing I miss in particular about my previous career is the outside element of the work. For me now to sit behind a computer all day would be hypocritical, boring and unhealthy. It just isn’t me. So to design my day to suit me provides the balance and variety I crave. We can all do this. The level of freedom we have may fluctuate be we are all in charge. So take charge.

After work we cook and chat about various things, whatever is important, humorous or even annoying! At the moment it is predominantly about the prospect of being parents. Then we eat. I have, do and always will love my food. Then most importantly we have some private time. We may walk, watch a good film or just read. The quiet moments are some of my favourites, then off to bed. What the next day has in store I never know but I can’t wait to find out. This hasn’t always been the case.

This is just a snippet of a common day in my life now. I have made changes to allow me to live it and enjoy it. Do not wait for someone else to live your life for you.

Get up, get involved!

I would be interested to hear your thoughts and how you could readdress the balance in your life so it suits you better!

until next time…

Mr K