It’s the first time I’ve written and published 30 days in a row. Ship30for30 has helped me build, not only a new writing practice, but a system for organising my ideas and managing my writing output — the lack of which was likely holding me back from writing at all and feeling very far away from this thing that I love. Now that I know which way is up, I’m filled with optimism and the feeling that I’m in alignment with my purpose again.
Meet the three gunas; a philosophy about our natural energetic states. There’s a Sanskrit philosophy called the three gunas; sattwa, rajas and tamas. “Guna’ translates as strand or quality and essentially represents the energy forces of the universe and our psychological, emotional and energetic states. We are always weaving between our sattwa, rajas, tamas energies.
Create for your critics? Who does that? What a silly thing to say! Well, have you ever actually stopped to think about it and consider if you do? When you write or create, are you unconsciously steering your word choice, or what you share or choose to express around the responses of your critics?
I’ll never forget getting a call from a Creative Director I worked with while freelancing at an agency. “Yo, there’s some vodka on your desk, can I have a bottle? I need to get loose, I need to write some lines.” What the actual? Firstly, it was gin — a gift from a client that I hadn’t yet taken home. Secondly, what the actual?
It’s been boring being a South African on Twitter the last few years. Everyone I actually knew or used to engage with left the platform long ago. But when I started connecting w/ #ship30for30 cohort & alumni writers, my feed came alive again! Unless you’re into social voyeurism, cancel culture or celebrity scandal, there’s been little on offer here. Going to post there was like ‘hellooo?’ — only to get ‘echo-echo-echo…’ in return.
A rippling reminder of what making art, of any kind, is all about. I woke up feeling irritable and anxious — not ideal for a Monday, but the universe delivered and dropped a timely reminder from Kurt Vonnegut into my line of sight. It gave my soul a flutter of much-need lightness that carried me through the day. The following quote is his call to create for creation sake, for the enriching experience of having made something and released it into a world of one.
Forget downtime - make room for creative uptime! As creative solopreneurs we need to prioritise creative uptime. It’s how we recharge our batteries and invest in our creative growth journey. It's quality time to spark ours imaginations and feel creative connection that is both progressive and meaningful. If you’ve been feeling empty and uninspired and you’re not sure why - ask yourself if you’re getting enough creative uptime?
Life is not meant to be an over-polished trophy. Sometimes though, we can’t help ourselves; we get caught up in trying to make it this big, impressive, shiny thing. We obsess, self-assess, goal-orient, productivity-hack, focus-focus and super-charge our way to efficiency and success.
I’ll admit, I subscribe to quite a few [amazing!] mailers, but I don’t have a lot of time to read them. I dump them into designated folders until the right moment or mood to smash through a whole bunch at once. Seth mailers come once a day, so they add up quickly, but the man has a gift for brevity and communicating one essential idea. This makes rolling through his mailers - his daily blog post delivered by email - refreshing and delightful.
Answer: One intentional, proactive and well-planned bite at a time. Anything worth doing well is worth doing slowly and intentionally, but this is especially important if you're taking on a big creative project and you need to figure out how to successfully eat your elephant. Here's a fun framework to get you stomping in the right direction.
Did you know our brain is at a creative peak just before we sleep? You already know this if you turn off the lights and find your mind ricocheting ideas that have you reaching for your phone in the dark — lest you forget them while gallivanting in your dreams, which is likely. But have you considered the creative power of the nap?
His book, Kitchen Confidential, sat on my bookshelf for years before I actually picked it up. And that was it; I was late to the party, but I was hooked. I quickly read his follow up, Raw, and then absorbed every episode of his shows: Parts Unknown, No Reservations, The Layover. Probably twice. Does that make me a Bourdainian? Fine, I’m it; I'm one of them. What people who haven’t connected with his work don’t understand about the Bourdain legacy, and the tribe of loyalists that feel his absence from this earth, is the atmosphere he created with every word he wrote.
Writers have a hard time owning the title of their craft. If you write, competently or professionally or as a practice, you’re a writer. If you engage in the process of writing, be it a book, blog, short story or journal entry; you're a writer. So why does the word ‘writer’ stir so much discomfort and vulnerability in those who do the damn thing?
To be interesting, be interested. This is something I’ve shared with my clients over the years when coaching them on building their online presence. But what does this mean exactly? It means it’s not all about you. Or your brand. Or your business. It’s quite a lot about who you’re selling to. Are you making them feel seen, heard and valued?
We get to choose and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Life can be busy, layered, stressful, even confusing. It can be filled with chaos, change, judgement, lessons, trauma and strain; events that can alter us into reactionary states. Always reacting to external input or forces. Always just trying to cope with it all. Always doing what everyone else wants, needs or expects of you. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we can put ourselves first.
Working with your archetypes is like tapping into a superpower. Archetypes are universal symbols used in myths and storytelling through the ages and across cultures. The were conceptualised by Carl Jung, who identified these patterns of behaviour in our collective unconscious.
Our lived experience is becoming more digitised by the minute, but books aren’t going anywhere. Books are one of the earliest forms of technology. A Buddhist text called the Diamond Sutra was the first book produced in Ancient China, 868 CE. Ironically, books are one of the most undervalued forms of technology today.
(spoiler: you don’t have to be an artist to get these creative kicks!) What is creative expression? It’s an outward expression of inner values, feelings, thoughts and ideas. It’s bringing something that wasn’t there before to life. It’s a combination of body action and mind potential fusing into something else - an imprint of yourself, perhaps? But what if we don’t have to take it all so seriously?
When I began my Ship 30 journey, I became aware of fellow writers talking about ‘Smart Notes’, Zettlekasten and The Second Brain: A field of productivity called PKM. What the hell is PKM? Google explained: Personal Knowledge Management. A lightbulb went off. I have been needing this!
An incredible thing happens when we realise the only thing standing in our way is ourselves. We can decide to stop taking detours, ignoring our calling or waiting for others to approve of our ambitions. We can step into our power, purpose and flow. We can thrive.
