Tag: ideas

Layers of Feedback: Going Beyond Someone Else’s Comments

On By Alice StrathernIn Mindset

Feedback has many layers. It’s easy to associate this word with what other people think about our work, our ideas, our performance and so on. It causes a certain level of nervousness as observations are presented in a way that you might not be ready to face yet.

I recently came across this illustrative quote:

Feedback is not a judgment of your worth or talent, but a way to help you grow and achieve your goals.

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One of my favourite authors once shared a comment someone posted on Twitter regarding his brand new book at the time. “This book is bad. I didn’t read it, but I just know it’s bad.” Yep. There’s always someone…

This example is a reminder that you always get to decide how feedback impacts you and whether you take it or not.

On the other hand, if you think about it, other layers of feedback can be found within you, and they can give you clues about yourself. It’s not always about someone else’s comments. It also involves the environment where you’re creating your best work. The times when you feel your best self or even your worst.

Feedback is also in the quality of the contents you consume everyday. It is in your recurring thoughts. It is in your own body.

Are you noticing what all those different internal aspects are telling you?

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Failure Culture: Reframing Mistakes to Grow As a Professional

On By Alice StrathernIn Inspiration, Mindset

Failure culture is an uncomfortable topic in any professional setting. Even if you are an entrepreneur. There’s an inner voice that constantly says “you can’t afford mistakes”, “defeat is not an option.” There’s a constant pressure to succeed almost flawlessly.

If you were to reframe failure, though, your work would gain more depth. In any creative process, missteps, ups and downs, and losses are bound to happen. That’s the nature of any initiative.

I remember the time when I was discussing marketing strategies with a former manager. We were going to launch a new product, and we had clear goals to reach. As we were wrapping up our meeting, I said: “If some parts of the strategy don’t go as planned, then we’ll learn a lot.” His response was unforgettable: “Yeah, but let’s try not to make any mistakes. We can’t do that.”

Failure culture is almost taboo. After careful planning and investment of time and resources into a business, why would you welcome it? You are aiming for great results. However, it’s worth reflecting on two key factors: the input that learning experiences can provide and the idea of embracing discomfort to grow as a person and as a professional.

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”

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Momentum as a Mindset: Make it a Habit and Become Unstoppable

On By Alice StrathernIn Mindset

Momentum is a mindset. It goes beyond the sum of actions to produce a desired result. It’s a habit. It’s a commitment to create impact for the long term. At the same time, it’s hard to find a precise definition. Paraphrasing Solomon Timothy, this concept can be a broad term whose meaning varies depending on the context.

In sports, it’s a great play or a struck of luck. In music, it’s taking a basic idea and eventually turn into a structured song. The best example that comes to mind is Paul McCartney composing Get Back out of the blue.

While Paul makes it look easy, it is important to state that building momentum may take longer than expected. Dan Cumberland, author of The Meaning Manifesto, uses a great analogy to explain how the process works. I’m breaking it into four bits:

  1. Momentum is like a merry-go-round: it will take a good amount of force to get it moving.
  2. You have to push with everything you have to get the first few inches of rotation.
  3. As it gains speed, less force is required to keep it moving.
  4. Once you have momentum, it is much easier to keep going.

It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop, as philosopher Confucius once said. That’s why starting small is a great decision.

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The Habit of Side Hustling: Start with Two Minutes

On By Alice StrathernIn Mindset

The habit of side hustling is exciting to start, but challenging to maintain. On the one hand, there’s joy in creating something meaningful in any form; on the other hand, at times it feels like there’s so much that can be do but so little time.

It’s still worth the try.

When thinking about habits that develop around side hustling, one specific friend comes to mind. She would say that every day, no matter what, she would sit at her desk and write for three straight hours. She committed herself to do that without skipping a day. Eventually she wrote a book, and it got published.

Her dedication was outstanding. When she told me about her writing process, I hoped to be like her someday.

There’s another case that comes to mind. I once read a series of tweets from an indie writer who shared one of his habits: hitting a thousand words every single day. He would always carve time to reach his goal.

I thought his discipline was impressive. I know for a fact that a lot of writers set goals based on word count and results can be satisfying.

While it’s wonderful to hear these stories of productivity and success, let’s be mindful about one crucial point: every person finds their own system to work on their goals. Everybody has different lifestyles and routines. Therefore, it’s not always possible to focus on a creative project for three straight hours. Word counts vary from person to person. If someone decides it going to be less than a thousand per day, it’s still valuable.

When working on the habit of side hustling, it’s okay to start small. It’s okay to not imitate those who seem super productive in your eyes. Small progress is always great progress.

Building a habit while starting small is perfectly doable. You’d be surprised to know that it’s simpler than you think.

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Joy at the Core of Your Creative Work

On By Alice StrathernIn Mindset

Have you ever thought of joy as a core value in your creative work?

It’s worth considering it. Joy isn’t just confetti vibes. It’s the conviction that you’re creating a piece of work that’s important to share. It’s expressing what you feel needs to be expressed.

I’ve been thinking about a few writer friends I’ve met along my journey. I remember they would read my work, and they would give me wonderful feedback. However, when I read theirs, they wouldn’t always take a compliment. Their reaction was actually quite harsh.

“I’m not that great.” “I’m supposed to be good at this, and it sucks. I write pages and pages, and I just end up with garbage.”

To me, these thoughts indicated that they were trying to achieve perfection to feel like their writing was valuable. Sadly, an activity that was meant to bring them joy had the opposite effect.

When you’re working on your creative craft, are you obsessed with how perfect the end result will look like or are you making sure you’re having fun creating it?

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The Power of Documenting Your Experiences

On By Alice StrathernIn Inspiration, Miscellany, Personal

This illustration caught my eye while browsing Instagram.

It reminded me of a place I visit frequently in my mind when I need to think. When I was younger, I tried to draw it many times. As an adult, I stopped and didn’t attempt to do it again. However, Iulia Bochis’ illustration made me remember it.

I was so intrigued and impressed with her work that I visited her website. I found out that her art journey began as she was travelling in Asia. She kept a journal to document her inner experiences, and later on, she started sharing her work on Instagram.

It made me think of the importance of documenting experiences in any form. At first, it’s a personal exercise; for your eyes only. Then, one day, you decide to take some parts of it (or maybe all of it) and share it with the world. Without realizing it, you’re touching someone else’s life because it connected with them.

So next time you feel you’re called to share a thought, a photograph, a journal entry, a drawing, a painting, a playlist, a collage…think that it will reach the right people.

Genuine work finds a genuine place. This is the power of documenting experiences.

A Fresh Idea for 2023: Your Time is Not a Democracy

On By Alice StrathernIn Beginnings, Mindset

As a new year unfolds, here’s an idea that I think it’s worth reflecting on: your time is not a democracy.

A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast episode on The Chase Jarvis Live Show entitled “Your Life is Not a Democracy“. I thought about the same idea, but applied to time and how it’s our responsibility to make the most of it to live a fulfilling life.

Time can be tricky. Time can be a blur. There isn’t enough time for everything at once.

Some days, you wish you had more hours to work on as many projects as possible; however, other days, everything just seems to be moving slowly, and momentum fades away. Regardless of what any given day brings, it’s you the one deciding where your focus is.

Then again, your time is not a democracy.

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Creating Habits: Ask Yourself Questions to Move Forward

On By Alice StrathernIn Mindset

If you’re looking for ways to create new habits, especially as we’re getting closer to the end of the year, it’s worth reframing the way we look at this specific action.

You will find a ton of information on the Internet on how to do it. The advice will be useful, without a doubt. You can get information from a variety of sources and make your own plan to proceed and improve your life.

My suggestion: ask yourself questions that require a mindful answer.

This idea comes from James Clear when he was interviewed for The Chase Jarvis Live Show. When Chase asked him about creating habits, James proposed going inwards to develop what you need.

This makes a lot of sense. You are the expert of your life; therefore, you are the only one who can tailor your habits to advance your career, improve your craft or your life quality.

I came up with a list of questions to help you get started.

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What’s the value of your time? Hint: It doesn’t have to do with money

On By Alice StrathernIn Mindset

As you get ready to start a new day, let me ask you: what’s the value of your time?

Something that may come to mind is “I’m worth $25 an hour”, or maybe more dollars depending on your occupation and experience level. While that’s a valid answer, time goes beyond the value of money.

One thing you can’t buy more of in this world and that is time.

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The relationship between money and time is peculiar. When you have some cash in your hands, you can either spend it or save it. The same thing happens with the way you use your time. However, unlike money, you can’t get back the time you’ve spent.

Therefore, the value of your time is higher than you can imagine. How are you currently managing it?

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Imperfect creativity: good is enough

On By Alice StrathernIn Inspiration, Mindset

Imperfect creativity is natural and good enough.

Anything that requires creativity has a human touch and humans are imperfect. This idea is still hard to assimilate. At some point in our lives, we’re taught to avoid mistakes and get flawless results.

Recently, I thought about my literature teacher in high school. Our discussions in class tended to lead to all kinds of random topics. One day, he expressed his frustration at some students that were obsessed with getting perfect marks. His words were unforgettable:

“In this life, you have to deal with the fact that you’re not perfect.”

He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. Maybe that statement sounded too harsh at the time, but the wisdom is there. If you think about it, life itself is imperfect.

So why is it worth hanging onto perfection?

Perfectionism is connected to your self-worth and is something you probably have to keep working on to overcome.

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That’s another hard pill to swallow. In the Western culture, this is a constant struggle. Aim to be perfect or go home. On the other hand, in other cultures of the world, embracing imperfection is normal.

For example, there’s the Japanese idea of wabi-sabi. Leonard Koren, author of Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, defines it as “the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.”

I love the idea of finding beauty in the imperfect. There’s value in creating, doing your best to give it form, and releasing it to the world and let it be in its full glory with glitches included.

Creations are never complete. There’s always an improvement to make or a new version to start from scratch. After all, wabi-sabi is based on the cycles of nature, which are constantly changing. No creation ever stays the same.

With this concept in mind, how can you embrace imperfect creativity in your daily life?