Create Blog

It’s the end of a beautiful, creative chapter as my business partner and I have sold our little business, Otherness Events. Back in 2017, we started with a whimsical dream to bring event spaces to life with quirky cuddle puddles and low lounges - events the way we liked them! Our mission was to create cosy spaces that bring all the elements of a good event together in the ultimate sweet spot - just add cushions. Those first few years were so much fun, they didn’t even feel like work.

When the body says no go-go-go, no more. In 2020, I experienced a radical, debilitating burnout. It changed my understanding of what was physically and mentally possible for me to achieve. The 'how to' of my doing and being. Though the work I've engaged in over the years since, I've come to understand my deep-rooted conditioning. A mix of perfectionism, productivity addition and high achiever programming.

We all have that story that has become a sticking point in our lives. A wound we can’t escape; a personal or professional failure, a trauma or tragedy, a season of misery or an unfortunate event that occurred. If we’re being honest, we all have many of these, but there are some you feel within the fibre of your being. It’s the one you thought of when you read the title of this essay.

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.

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?