Hi everyone,
I hope this letter finds you safely gliding into your Thanksgiving break. As we enter the holiday season, please make sure you take a breath, take a break, and continue to focus on the things that matter most to you. Stay safe and here’s to better days ahead!
Now, on to the newsletter.
Financial Stability Tip: When To Career Pivot
The pandemic has caused so many people to consider a pivot into a new career. The economy has been upended by COVID and I imagine this will continue for some time, even after a vaccine is released. I expected to have conversations with people who were forced out of work, but have been surprised to have just as many conversations with people who are fully employed and are taking this time to reevaluate their career. If there’s one thing we have during this pandemic, it’s time to contemplate our lives and livelihoods.
TIp: Life is short. If you’re not happy on your current path, it may be time to make a change. Although we all want to be in positions that bring us joy and meaning, you may first want to consider how financially stable you can be when you decide to move in a new direction. In my podcast this week, I discuss different ways to help you think about when it might be time to make a pivot in your career.
Work/Life Balance Tip: How To Design The Perfect Day
One thing that I’ve noticed over the last ten-months is that I’ve become hyper-aware of how I spend my days. While I’ll admit that I still have work to do in this area, a few things enable me to rule the day. The 5am wake-up calls, daily exercise and the commitment to getting my most important work done before noon keep me driven to create each week.
Tip: While the plan I laid out above will not likely be the path you take, I strongly encourage you to take some time to plan how you will spend each day. I recommend that you start each planning session by including some form of exercise and at least a 2-hour block of time to tackle your most important work. Khe Hy over at RadReads wrote this amazing article on how to design the perfect day. I encourage you to start with that article and grow from there.
Tips On Finding Meaning: Take time to create insights out of your thoughts.
We spend so much time consuming the thoughts of others online but it is rare that a thought piece turns into actionable steps we can take in our own lives to make a change in the world. I often find myself enjoying what someone has to say about a particular topic of interest, but then want the author to give me a call to action at the end. It’s the connection between insightful writing and a direct call to action that applies to my life that compels me to read what someone has to say the next time they post something online.
Tip: For those of you building an online audience, I strongly encourage you to check out this fantastic article that will help you think about turning your thoughts into meaningful insights. The big take-away for me: focus your writing on insights that not only benefit your understanding of the world, but those who might read your work.
Field Notes: Artists Know How To Play The Long Game
Artists specialize in the long game because they dedicate their lives to attaining the unattainable. Their hero’s journey is one of many ups and downs and it often takes years to settle into a career that is sustainable and also brings them joy. The delayed gratification that comes from working on something over a long period of time is an asset. Artists and creators inherently understand the time it takes to create something beautiful so they are willing to stick with their plan over a long period of time and see it through to the end.
Tip: The long-game approach also applies to the work you might do outside your art. Whether it’s building a following one raving fan at a time or launching an annual music festival in your home town, playing the long-game has the potential to have an incredible payoff if you are consistent, focused, and comfortable with the ups and downs that come with reaching your goal over time. Tackle the immediate challenges before you but always keep the long-game in your mind as you do so.
The Way Things Work: Building In Public
Entrepreneurs and marketers have long adopted the strategy of building in public. The idea is simple: Share your product, service, podcast, music festival or what ever you’re building in realtime, from the very beginning of your journey. Artists and creators love to protect their ideas until that perfect moment when they release the idea to the world. By taking this path, they have missed a huge opportunity to gain valuable knowledge from their audience as they build their idea.
Tip: Don’t wait for that perfect moment to share your fully imagined idea with the world. Share your idea at the very beginning of the process, ask questions of your potential audience and build a better idea. I love the site Build In Public because they offer great resources, like this interview with Janel who talks deeply about building an audience in real time and taking her product to market.
Things I Loved:
- Here’s a great way to decide what to watch.
- 20 Million of us will eat greenbean casserole on Thursday. Here’s why.
- Why am I so fascinated by cranberries!
- It’s magic….that he didn’t throw up.
- Using legos to understand social mobility in America = Mind. Blown.
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