do what you love Page 39 of 82

Life According To Mr.K – Love to Change (4)

Life According To Mr.K - Love to Change (4) lifeaccordingtomrk

“Things do not change; we change” – Henry David Thoreau

How times change! Do you ever find yourself sitting there asking “How did I end up here? When did this become my life? Where have these extra inches around the waist come from? How do you use this thing??”

Yeah, me too! Isn’t it also funny that these slightly depressing realisations are usually then followed by little to no action? Change before you have to!

Why is it we normally have to wait for a traumatic event or even a disaster to happen before we make significant changes? This is certainly true of our history and it is certainly the way society and governments often work. But what if we were proactive and made changes, rather than reactive, and let changes happen to us?

Of course we all get older, our bodies change, as do our plans, priorities and maybe most importantly of all our responsibilities. But does this mean we can’t be the person we want to be? Or live in the kind of world we want to be part of?

I have spent the last two decades cruising around in second gear. Doing just enough. I have found myself at times poles apart from where I dreamt I might once be. I have now been inspired to change. I have been inspired to live the fullest life I can.  And I am thrilled to be a part of Do What You Love helping other people to do the same.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

All I know is that I want to be the best person I can be. I want to be the person my parents raised. I want to be the husband my wife dreamt about and one day hopefully be a father that my children are proud of and inspired by. I want to live the life I used to dream of, and at last I feel like I am on my way. Only I can make it happen, and I have finally realised that.

How about you? Do you tend to complain about things? This week, when you feel like complaining about something, why not try changing something about the way you approach it? You must be the change you wish to see in the world!

Until next time,

Mr K

Global Talent Search winner to get Mini Collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics!

Drum roll please… The winner of the Global Talent Search will not only be represented by Lilla Rogers Studio, but will win a Mini Collection license with Robert Kaufman Fabrics (and a host of other prizes!)

Global Talent Search winner to get Mini Collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics! Unknown 1

The Mini Collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics will feature 2-4 designs with 2 colorways per design. The winner will collaborate with a Senior Stylist assigned by the Robert Kaufman Studio, who will personally guide them through all processes involved to produce and market their work on fabric. The details of the license, including royalties, will be negotiated by Lilla Rogers Studio on behalf of the winner.

Registration for the Global Talent Search closes TOMORROW! If you have not yet registered, what are you waiting for? This is an incredible opportunity and someone has to win – it might just be YOU! Find out more and register here (PLEASE NOTE 2013’S GLOBAL TALENT SEARCH IS OVER. FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE WINNER SEE HERE.) 

Global Talent Search winner to get license with Paperchase!

We are bursting with excitement to reveal unveil another fantastic prize for the winner of the Global Talent Search (registration closes this Wednesday June 26)… (PLEASE NOTE 2013’S GLOBAL TALENT SEARCH IS NOW OVER.) 

Global Talent Search winner to get license with Paperchase! Paperchase

The talented winner will win a license for a journal cover with gorgeous stationery chain Paperchase!! ( LOVE this shop). The details of the license, including royalties, will be negotiated by Lilla Rogers Studio on behalf of the winner.

Global Talent Search winner to get license with Paperchase! Screen .hot 2017 05 10 at 11.48.31

Image via Paperchase website

Find out more about Paperchase on their website here.

How amazing? If you haven’t yet thrown your hat into the ring for the Global Talent Search, why not? Someone has to win and it might just be you! Register here by June 26 to be in with a chance of winning this career-changing prize! (PLEASE NOTE THE WINNER HAS NOW BEEN ANNOUNCED. SEE HERE FOR DETAILS).

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

Life According To Mr. K - Love to Change (3) lifeaccordingtomrk

In my last column I talked about the six month sabbatical Beth and I took last year. The change of location brought an obvious change in scenery, environment, food, culture, language, tempo and lifestyle. My physical surroundings had changed massively.

We had traded our considerably large and very comfortable 3 storey house for a postage stamp of a flat, – 12 square metres to be exact. We prepared food on top of the fridge and cooked on a single ring hob. The toilet design had been taken straight from a plane, it was three steps from the kitchen and the dining table was literally a foot from the bed. Compact to say the least (or cosy if you ask Beth).

We had no car, no phone and no TV. I had no idea how significant this was to become. These changes in circumstance prompted us to go out all the time. By going out I don’t mean going to the pub. I mean going outside and exploring. We cycled and walked everywhere. We spent time in coffee shops, by the river, at temples and shrines, in parks and public gardens. Okay and the odd bar!

I was reading, writing and drawing nearly every day. I felt alive. More importantly I felt that I was living every day.

There is no doubting that Kyoto is a magical place. It is so different it would capture anyone’s imagination for a while.

But I truly believe the most significant change for me was not the change in scenery, culture, people, language or food.

The most significant change was a shift to having less, doing less, rushing less. Less stuff, less technology and less noise led to more time, more laughs and certainly more adventures.

Maybe less is more! I never really appreciated this saying before my trip but it certainly do now. When you think about it in this way, it is actually possible to make small changes anytime, even starting right now. Small changes can have big results.

“True life is lived when tiny changes occur” – Leo Tolstoy

I remember sitting on the shinkansen (bullet train) and noticing that every single person was transfixed by their phone or tablet. I guess this is pretty much true of any commute, in nearly every industrialised society. And I used to be part of that. But not this time.

I spent the next couple of hours gazing out of the window, watching mountains and paddy fields pass by. My mind was free to wander aimlessly. I felt so relaxed, enjoying the details in the moment. Maybe if we try to be a little less obsessed with what is ahead, we can let ourselves enjoy the journey, and the view, a little more.

“True change takes place in the imagination” – Thomas Moore

I have made so many big changes recently, from changing career, to learning a brand new skill (Japanese) to getting married and now moving house.

I wonder why, after a decade of inactivity/ doing the same thing, there have suddenly been a flurry of changes? Is it my age? Is it the influence of my wife and the ethos of Do What You Love? Or is it that I changed one thing and that went well, so I had more confidence to change another, and another? Once I opened the floodgates I realised that there wasn’t that much to be fearful of, and a whole lot to be excited about. I suspect it is a combination of all the above.

How about you? What small steps could you take right now, to simplify your life and make changes today that will get you closer to feeling how you want to feel?

Until next time…

Mr K

Global Talent Search to get home & garden product license with Studio M!

We are so excited to unveil yet another fabulous prize for the winner of the Global Talent Search (registration closes June 26, 2013)… (PLEASE NOTE 2013’S GLOBAL TALENT SEARCH IS NOW OVER)

Prize for Global Talent Search

The talented winner will create a decorative garden product with Studio M, the new artful home and garden division of Magnet Works, Ltd.! The Director of Product Development will personally work with the winner throughout the development process to give them a better understanding of how a product line is conceptualized, developed, and marketed in the Specialty Gift Industry. The details of the license, including royalties, will be negotiated by Lilla Rogers Studio on behalf of the winner.

Find out more about Studio M on their website or connect on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

How cool? If you haven’t yet thrown your hat into the ring for the Global Talent Search, why not? Someone has to win and it might just be you! Register here by June 26 to be in with a chance of winning this career-changing prize! (PLEASE NOTE THE WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED. SEE HERE FOR DETAILS.)

Global Talent Search winner to get gift or home decor product line with Midwest-CBK!

Global Talent Search winner to get gift or home decor product line with Midwest-CBK! CBKhome

We are thrilled to announce another prize for the winner of the Global Talent Search, which we are producing in association with Lilla Rogers Studio – one of the top art agencies in the world! Not only will they get represented by Lilla Rogers Studio for two years but they will win a host of licensing deals including…

A gift or home decor product line with Midwest-CBK!

Global Talent Search winner to get gift or home decor product line with Midwest-CBK! Midwest Spring2014

Choosing from the uber talented pool of artists will be difficult, and winning will be quite a distinction. Midwest-CBK’s Vice-President of Design & Creative  will personally help guide the recipient through the process of understanding how a product line is conceptualized, developed and marketed, invented and reinvented. You will work together to create a strong product line of either gift or home decor, depending on what is the most natural fit. There’s the potential of developing wall art, lighting, textiles, ceramics, gifts, specialty products… all offered with the voice of this artist to help them build an identity & strong brand footprint in the marketplace. The licensing details will be negotiated by Lilla Rogers Studio on behalf of the winner.

Global Talent Search winner to get gift or home decor product line with Midwest-CBK! MWCBK2013

Awesome, right? If you haven’t yet thrown your hat into the ring for the Global Talent Search, why not? Someone has to win and it might just be you!

Register here by June 26 2013 to be in with a chance of winning this career-changing prize to help you do what you love, for life! (PLEASE NOTE 2013’S GLOBAL TALENT SEARCH IS OVER AND THE WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED. SEE HERE FOR DETAILS.)

Life According To Mr. K – Love to Change (2)

Life According To Mr. K - Love to Change (2) lifeaccordingtomrk

The six months I spent in Japan last year was certainly one of huge change and of even greater self-discovery. It is most probably one of the most important decisions I have ever made and has been truly life changing.  But surely we don’t have to disappear half way around the world every time we have an issue to work through.

I think it is important to note that I didn’t arrive in Japan and suddenly find all the answers. Far from it! It was a long and very frustrating process that eventually presented me with the questions I needed to ask myself.

It is easy to say that things have to change, but the big question is ‘How do I go about changing them?’ Herein lies the key.

I had to ask myself, “How do I want to feel in my life? What do I need to do differently to feel that way?”

The changes I sought had to come from within me. In six months’ time I was to return home. I refused to consider returning with no plan for doing things differently, and allowing all my old issues to return. I needed a long term and soul defining change.

I remember sitting on the banks of the Kamogawa (Kamo River) one morning reading a book that a friend had sent me. The book “Eat, Sleep Sit”, the autobiographical story of 30 year old Japanese businessman Kaoru Nonomura, who gave it all up to spend a year at Japan’s strictest and most revered training monastery, Eiheiji.

The book made me ask myself what do we hope to achieve by making such drastic changes. Do we hope that the magnitude of the change will be directly proportional to the effect it will have? Or is it more a case of, “If I am going to do this then I am going to really do this. Sink or swim.”

My conclusion? I’m not actually sure, but what I do know is that taking a big step to arrest the trajectory of my life gave me the time, space and energy to take more control of its direction. Making a big change means you cannot help but notice that things are different. And that can be just the wake up call we need.

I found some parallels with Nonomura’s story and what I was hoping to achieve, but there was one major difference. If I was to succeed I needed to be realistic. I needed to appreciate that some changes may take a while. And I needed a plan. I wasn’t running away, I just needed to catch my breath.

 “Just because everything is different doesn’t mean anything has changed”

– Irene Peter

We seem to put a lot of emphasis on changing location to help us make changes. This can help in certain situations, but it is definitely not the only way. In fact to make real soul defining changes we need to build on what we discover whilst away and find a structure that will work for us.

Surely we can find inspiration anywhere and everywhere – we just need to give ourselves the opportunity and more importantly the time to spot it!

If you could escape from your daily life, where would you go and why? Is there any way you can make that happen? It doesn’t have to be this week – it could be in the next year? Or the next five years? I’d like to hear about it.

Until next time…

Life According To Mr. K - Love to Change (2) paul sig1

 

Global Talent Search winner to get scrapbooking license with Prima Marketing!

Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search - Prima Marketing

We are so excited to announce that the winner of the Lilla Rogers’ Global Talent Search will get a fantastic licensing deal with Prima Marketing, one of the foremost companies in the scrapbooking industry. Do What You Love is thrilled to be working with Lilla Rogers Studio to bring you this incredible opportunity to transform your professional art career.

Global Talent Search winner to get scrapbooking license with Prima Marketing! Media Photo36

The winner will create a Journaling Set with Prima Marketing Inc, working directly with Prima’s own Creative Director and in-house Design Team through the development process, giving them the hands on experience to learn about this industry from the inside out.

Licensing details will be negotiated by Lilla Rogers Studio on behalf of the winner.

Global Talent Search winner to get scrapbooking license with Prima Marketing! Prima Logo Vertical

This is an incredible opportunity, and we are thrilled to be able to offer it as one of the licensing deals secured for the winner of the Global Talent Search.

Have you signed up yet? Hurry, registration closes on June 26! Find out more and enter here. This could completely change your art career…

**PLEASE NOTE: THE DEADLINE HAS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED – SEE HERE FOR MORE**

 (All images courtesy of Prima Marketing)