GarthBox

The famous Chuck Close had said that inspiration is for amateurs. Professional show up and get to work. All evidence around inspiration zeroes in on the fact that inspiration follows the work we do. It shows up after we do, not before.

Work that’s meaningful is always painful. It’s a natural phenomenon of yin and yang. This makes discomfort you feel a sign that you’re going in the right direction; that you’re pushing on status quo; that you’re getting close to the edge.

Believe it or not, flow isn’t about momentum or that moment inspiration cares to join you in your efforts. Flow is when you’re in the moment, letting worries and distractions float on by you. (Not that you don’t acknowledge them, but that you do and let them go versus pull you away from your work.) You can also call flow mindfulness.

Every professional and artist dances with these three elements. If you haven’t danced with them lately, it might be high time.

Stay Positive & Thank You For The Work That Matters

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Leaping certainly gets you from here to there. It comes with a lot of emotions and a lot of reward.

But it’s not one leap and then done. It’s not one leap and then continued success.

It’s one leap. And then getting ready for another. And then another.

The scary part? It’s not the same leap. Leaping will require you to feel the risk again, but in a new way. It’ll require new commitments, new help, a new mindset.

Though there is all of that, I don’t really see any reason not to leap again anyway. Do you?

Stay Positive & Keep Leapin’

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You’re trying to conserve your phone battery. You’re at a gas station filling up. You know you’re close to your destination. So you ask the clerk for directions.

There’s no guilt or embarrassment. There’s no second or third guessing it. You know it will result in nothing (not setting you back at all) or it will result in something (getting you to where you want to go).

The same could be said for the project your working on, the mission you’re working for, the legacy you’re working toward. You can find people who might be able to help you, tell them where you want to go and hear them out on how to get there.

But instead, we often worry what they will think. We’ll feel embarrassed for not being able to get there ourselves. We think it’ll set us back or down the wrong road.

These are lies we tell ourselves, of course. It’s a form of hiding and we ought to work to ignore the little voice inside our head.

It’s okay to ask for directions whether you’re behind the wheel of an actual vehicle or behind the wheel of your life.

You might not always get to the destination more quickly, but you will no doubt have a more enjoyable journey.

Say Positive & Go Ahead And Ask Away

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Our default setting is to check boxes. It’s easier. It feels less risky. And it’s easy to add more boxes that we can check yet today.

It’s curious to keep a record of checked boxes against launched projects.

Projects are more time consuming. They have delayed gratification. Projects feel risky. And adding another project to your list feels like a big commitment (because it is).

But a life of purely checked boxes isn’t going to make the change we seek to make; it won’t make us feel fulfilled; and it certainly won’t get us to the life of work that we can truly get behind.

Stay Positive & More Projects, Less Boxes

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A jacket might be worth carrying with you.

Some extra cash. A kind heart, too.

But regret or resentment, worry or anxiousness, fear or absurd expectations – not so much.

There’s a lot we entered 2021 with, but we don’t have to carry it all forward.

Keep what you can truly use and toss what you can truly lose.

Stay Positive & Clean Slates Are Overrated, Anyway

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A choice isn’t something we make once and then it’s done.

A choice is something we make again and again and again.

We make it when we don’t want to. We make it when the naysayers speak up. We make it moment to moment. We make it even after we think we don’t need to because momentum is on our side.

The choice of our reputation.

The choice of being honest.

The choice of delivering on our promises.

The choice of staying positive.

The choice of doing work that matters.

The choice of working with better clients.

It sounds like a single time event, but it’s not.

What choice will you make again and again this new year?

Stay Positive & Consistency Is Everything

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More ideas on the upfront leads to greater discussion during planning season.

More down payment on the upfront leads to less interest paid overall.

More sincerity and care on the upfront leads to stronger personal connections.

More clear direction at the upfront makes for a more productive meeting.

Stay Positive & Load It Up

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