One of the things anyone who wants to live a creative life needs is awesome role models. When we see someone else doing something cool, it’s proof that such things can be done. And when our own dreams are a little (or maybe a lot) scary, knowing that others have gone someplace similar (or if not similar, perhaps as scary) before us can make the path a whole lot clearer.

Today I want to share with you a role model who is living a creative life, and whose work I find personally inspiring: Jess Greene.

Jess is the founder of, Seek Your Course, a fantastic website you really need to know about if you don’t already. Looking for creative learning opportunities, online courses, and in-person workshops and retreats? Jess’s goal is to get every offering of this ilk from the far reaches of the internet into one central location (ie, the Seek Your Course website) where those who are looking for them can easily find them. (Some people have found my upcoming creativity workshop adventure vacation in Istanbul on Seek Your Course, so it appears to be working. :))

But that’s not all that Jess is up to. Next month she embarks on a 10,000 mile driving tour to jumpstart the creativity of North America — the aptly named Jumpstart Creativity Tour. She’ll be stopping in 50 cities with a passel of art and craft supplies in her Mobile Creativity Unit (aka her car), and setting up events at every stop for anyone who wants to play with paint, write some prose, or experiment with mixed media. (I’m super-excited that she’s coming to San Francisco and Berkeley, both within driving distance of me, and am crossing my fingers she lands in the SF Bay Area when I’m around to participate!)

Writes Jess:

We believe that the creative community has the power to create change in the world just as it did in my life and in countless other lives. The Jumpstart Creativity Tour is the beginning of the ways that Seek Your Course is getting the message out and making creative engagement a common modern experience.

Pretty freakin’ cool, huh?

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jess the other day, and am delighted to share our conversation with you here at the top of this post. (Yes, I know the video is tiny. And fuzzy. My getting-long-in-the-tooth iMac and Call Recorder are not playing nice. Anyone want to buy me a new Mac?)

When you’re done watching our interview, check out Jess’s adorable promo video for the tour:

Then hop over to the Jumpstart Creativity Tour Kickstarter page and help Jess get this show on the road! (I just donated. Every little bit helps. :))

Jess was called to create Seek Your Course and take a 10,000 mile road trip. What creative adventure — large or tiny — are you being called to take?

Hey girlfriends! It’s time to stop just dreaming about living a creative life and start DOING it! Join me in Time to Glow, a 4-month transformational journey for women who are ready to answer the call, tame the gremlins, and actually live the creative life of your dreams. Click here for details about the program, and to sign up for a free Q&A info session on Thursday, May 17.

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

Some of my most magical memories from childhood are from the couple of times my parents took me and my brother to the Renaissance Faire.

I was captivated by the Elizabethan costumes, the revelry, colorful ribbons everywhere, jousting matches, funny signs (such as the bathroom sign, which said “Privies,” hand-painted in what is sometimes referred to as “Olde English” lettering. Hmmm… Now that I think of it, the Ren Faire may have planted — or a least helped to fertilize — the seed that would one day lead me to become a calligrapher! But back to my story…)

Photo by celebdu at Flickr

Both of our visits to the Renaissance Faire found the family spending quite a bit of time at the harp booth. Not because either I or my brother had any great interest in harps (though I found the mini lap harps charming), but because my mother had harbored a dream to play the harp since she was a little girl herself.

I remember Mom asking lots of questions — How much do they cost? What size would be the best for a beginner to get? How hard is it to learn to play? What is the difference between this harp and that harp? — and she looked longingly at the beautiful instruments that the harp-seller played for her. But ultimately, she walked away.

“I don’t have time to learn to play a new instrument right now. But maybe someday…”

As happens for so many of us, someday never seemed to arrive. My mother tucked that dream away on a hidden shelf, and life went on.

But one day something changed. I’m not sure what made my mom decide that it was time to stop putting off her dreams, but over a decade later, when Mom was 50, I walked through the door to my parents’ house to find a beautiful, blonde, full-size Celtic harp in the living room, and Mom beaming with excitement about the lessons she had just signed up for.

My mother understood that learning to play an instrument doesn’t happen overnight. She frequently voiced her frustration at how long and steep the learning curve was (not to mention how sore her poor fingers were as she built up those necessary callouses that all players of stringed instruments know so well.)

But she kept at it.

Mom didn’t let her frustration stop her. She just got more determined. She committed to her daily practice time and guarded it as if it were her very life. She bought a “travel” harp to take with her whenever she and Pop went on a trip, so she would never have to skip a practice session. “I have to keep up my callouses!” she would say.

Inspired by my mom’s new musical passion, about 6 months after my mom took up the harp, my dad came home with a flute. ”Now we can play the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp!” he announced.

I believe Mom’s response at the time included much rolling of eyes and head shaking. “Honey, that concerto is one of the hardest pieces ever written for harp,” she protested. “It will take YEARS for us to get that good. Don’t hold your breath.” [Correction: after reading this post, Mom said her response was more like "Yeah, right -- in your dreams!"]

Undaunted, Pop started taking flute lessons, and now their commitments fed each other — they could help keep each other on track, and the goal of performing as a duo added fuel to their fire.

Mom started off performing with the “beginner’s group” in the annual recitals put on by the harp studio where she studied. There was mom, with maybe one or two other adults and a gaggle of little kids, plunking away at the simple tunes arranged by the studio master.

It’s not easy to stand up and declare yourself a beginner as an adult, especially up on stage surrounded by kids (who always seem to be zooming past you!), especially when you’re not a ham (like your daughter!) and playing in public makes you incredibly nervous, but Mom did it.

And she kept doing it, year after year. She kept putting in daily practice after daily practice, and performing at those annual recitals, sometimes with my dad making a cameo appearance on the flute. (What a treat, by the way, to be able to go to my parents’ recitals and concerts, after they went to so many of mine when I was growing up!) Every year she got a little better and a little better, and got to play more and more complicated parts.

My parents also started taking their show on the road, performing here and there, getting gigs by word of mouth. Over time, their gig schedule filled up with concerts for senior centers and retirement homes, and the occasional church service or wedding.

All because my mom followed her dream, baby step by baby step.

Mom in her dress - isn't she gorgeous?

Two years ago my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They rented out a restaurant and threw an enormous party. Mom pulled her wedding dress down from the attic and found a seamstress who altered it to fit her 21st century form.

(I should hasten to point out, because I’m sure she’d want you to know, that my mom weighs exactly the same as when she and Pop got married in 1960… it’s just that gravity has shifted things around a bit.)

Pop rented a tuxedo like the one he wore back then. (Which I don’t think was quite the same size as the one he rented before, but who’s counting?) They even hired a designer (guess who!) to create beautiful invitations, and a jazz singer (guess who!) to sing during the cocktail hour.

Me and the band

It was a lot like a wedding, but without the ceremony part. (I made them the book in the photo below, 50 Reasons Why We Love You Mom & Pop.)

50 Reasons Why We Love You, Mom & Pop

My favorite part of the whole evening, though, was after dinner, when it was Mom and Pop’s turn to play. They had arranged a medley of songs that represented the sound track of the last five decades of their life together, from Around The World In 80 Days (their theme song, since my mom literally left on an around-the-world trip with her own mother days after their first, very romantic meeting on the campus of Scripps College), to When I’m 64, by the Beatles, and a bunch of others. It was delightful.

The real tour de fource, however, was what came next.

It makes me tear up even now, remembering how beautifully my parents played that Mozart concerto. They’d gotten private tutoring with a master harpist and worked for hours and hours to learn the piece. And now, some 60+ years after my mom first dreamed of playing the harp, and over 20 years after my dad set his sights on playing the Mozart concerto, here they were, celebrating a lifetime together, through thick and thin, past untold obstacles, sharing their dream with everyone in the room.

Mom (and Pop, too), you are my hero. Happy Mother’s Day.

Do you have a Mother’s Day hero? Share in the comments!

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

Roses photo by Charles Sporn at Flickr

Women: ready to answer the call of your heart and bring your own dreams to life? Join me in Time to Glow, a 4-month program to get you from dreaming to doing, living the fully creative life you really, really want. Click here for details about the program, and to sign up for a free Q&A info session on Thursday, May 17.

Given how much press the man has (deservedly) received, it’s hard for me to imagine anyone might not have heard of Chris Guillebeau at this point, but then Chris also looms very large in my own world. He is, in fact, the role model who kicked off my journey toward living the fully creative life I really, really wanted, rather than the “not quite” life I’d been settling for.

With his writing, his blog The Art of Nonconformity, and his business model, Chris showed me that yes, people actually can make a living doing what they love. And they can change the world along the way.

Of course Chris is by no means the only person doing this, but he’s the first one who landed on my radar when I was ready to take notice. My life was forever changed as a result. I started this blog. I started looking for the sweet spot in my work, where what I love to do intersects with what other people are willing to pay for. I started seeking out other people on a similar path — a supportive community to help me along the way. I started seeking out tools to get me where I wanted to go.

All catalyzed by Chris. Role models can be that powerful.

I have some more to say about Chris, but let’s get back to his new book for a moment.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy, and what a treat it is. My own mission is not to get people to quit their jobs and strike out on their own — I want to get you creating, doing the thing (or things) that fill you with joy and make you glow with life; I don’t honestly care one way or another if you want to make your creative thing your livelihood as I’ve done and am doing. I just want to see you doing your creative thing, period.

If you do want to build a business doing what you love, though, The $100 Startup is an essential addition to your library. Using dozens of case studies of all different kinds of businesses — from a guy who sells mattresses and delivers them by bicycle, to a professional dog walker who nets over $88k/year — Chris brings together the major lessons he shared in his groundbreaking Empire Building Kit into an easy-to-use (and fun to read!) guide. There’s also a multi-media component, with additional resources over on the book’s website, 100startup.com.

In short, it’s awesome. Highly recommended. Go check it out.

But back to Chris.

Here’s a guy who created a $50k/year business from his website in under a year (279 days, to be exact — and it’s waaaaaaay beyond $50k/year at this point…), who’s published two books, who created an amazing conference (the World Domination Summit, headed into its second year, also highly recommended), and who is well on his way to visiting every single country on the planet before he turns 35 — mostly on frequent flyer miles, by the way — just because.

From that list of accomplishments you might think Chris is some sort of superhuman. The truth is, though, that he’s no more of a superhuman than you or I. There is one big difference between Chris (and people like him) and most other people, though, and it’s this:

Mindset.

In short, “impossible” is not in Chris’s vocabulary. As a result, he doesn’t limit his dreams. He might be scared of them — scared of failure, scared of success (I don’t know, I haven’t asked him) — but he dreams BIG and (just as essential) he takes real steps to bring those dreams to life, to get from dreaming to doing.

Imagine if Chris had thought (and acted on — or rather, not acted because of) any variation on the following:

“I’m not smart enough.”

“I’m not capable enough.”

“Who am I to try to do this?”

“I don’t have enough experience/the right credentials yet.”

“Other people could do that, but it’s just not in the range of what’s possible for me.”

Any of these sound familiar? I’ll be honest, those are the beliefs I’ve held about areas of my own life, beliefs I didn’t even realize were beliefs. I just thought they were The Truth.

Which brings me to one of my favorite metaphors:

The Self-Installed Glass Ceiling

I call these kinds of beliefs self-installed glass ceilings, because they limit possibilities just as much as any rule or policy designed to keep you down.

Your mindset can be a glass ceiling that keeps you hunched over and playing small, or like Chris, it can be a source of incredible power that enables you to accomplish great things.

Which do you choose?

A Note on Sexism and Glass Ceilings:

It’s important to note that, because we (still) live in a sexist culture, the self-installed glass ceiling syndrome tends to operate in different ways on women than it does on men. No matter how much progress we’ve made as a society, there are still unspoken cultural beliefs and expectations about what women should/shouldn’t do, what women are/aren’t capable of.

Those unspoken beliefs and expectations are like a soup we all swim in, and until they’re pointed out to us, we have about as much awareness of them as goldfish have of the water in their tank. It can be hard to recognize them as cultural beliefs and expectations, and as a result, they affect our beliefs about ourselves.

We see them as just the way things are.

A glass ceiling is, after all, practically invisible, but you still bang your head on it when you try to stand up straight. It can take awhile to realize the problem isn’t with YOU (ie, “You’re just too tall, and that’s why you keep banging your head!”), it’s that there’s a sheet of glass in your way!

Men certainly face self-limiting beliefs — I in no way mean to imply that they don’t. But I submit that women have additional layers (or at least different layers) of self-limiting beliefs that need to be peeled away and deprogrammed in order for us to reach our fullest potential. This has certainly been the case for me.

The good news is that beliefs can be changed. Mindsets can be shifted.

Elsewhere I’ve talked about the 3 ingredients that together lead to the fastest mindset transformations:

1) An inspiring role model (like Chris has been for me)

2) A supportive community

3) An effective toolkit

Those are the ingredients that have made the most difference in my own self-installed glass-ceiling busting. (Click here for a blog post and video in which I talk about each of those ingredients in a little more detail.) And not coincidentally, they’re the ingredients I’ve brought together in my new program for women, Time to Glow, which you can read about here.

Perhaps even Chris Guillebeau had to bust through some self-installed glass ceilings to get where he is today — I don’t know, I haven’t asked, though it would be interesting to find out! I kinda like to imagine he did, even though his glass ceilings might be different from my own, because the fact that he shattered them would make him an even more awesome role model.

Not that he needs to be any more awesome than he already is. Love ya, Chris! Congrats on the book launch!

I’m curious, have you shattered any self-installed glass ceilings in your own life? What made the difference for you?

If you’re ready to bust through your own self-installed glass ceiling, to dream bigger and go from dreaming to doing, join me in Time to Glow, my program for women who want to answer the call of their heart, tame the gremlins, and finally live the fully creative life of their dreams. Doors open tomorrow, May 9. Click here for more info and to sign up.

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

Now, being empowered is actually pretty essential for living a creative life as a woman, but in college, my head wasn’t in creative expression; it was in Feminist theory.

After my first year in college, at UC (Cal) Berkeley, I spent my sophomore year following my first great creative Bliss (dance) to New York, where I’d been accepted at the Juilliard School. I was there to pursue my grand dream of a professional dance career, and when injury derailed that dream I came home to California, re-enrolled at Cal, and had what I now fondly (heh) refer to as my Radical Feminist Awakening.

As a Junior in need of a major, I declared as a Social Science Field Major with an area of concentration of “Gender in Contemporary Society.” (Which conveniently allowed me to take classes in a variety of different discipline, satisfying what I now recognize as my Passion Pluralite tendencies, of which I was totally oblivious at the time.)

I enrolled in classes that opened my eyes to the ways in which sexism pervades society, and lit a fire beneath me.

Or, to put it more bluntly, I got seriously pissed off.

I learned how patriarchal systems oppress all of us, how class and race oppression intersect with patriarchy, how we learn to be complicit in our own oppression (hegemony), unconsciously embracing belief systems and mindsets that hold us back and keep us down, as well as keeping us disconnected from each other.

(Think about it: when members of different oppressed groups are kept apart — whether through external forces or internal programming — they cannot work together for change. And when members of oppressed groups and members of groups historically seen as “the oppressor” are kept apart — again, whether through external forces or internal programming — they never have a chance to understand each other and join forces to make things better for everyone. But I digress.)

I could spout all kinds of academic jargon back then (Hegemonic systems! Objectifying complexes! Yadayadascoobydooda jargontalkthatnobodybutacademicsunderstandsorcaresabout!), and because I was filled with the passion and conviction of youth (not to mention being a redhead, AND a Scorpio, AND a Fire Horse [according to Chinese astrology]), my Feminist Awakening was rather… fiery.

(God bless my ex-husband, who met me right about then, poor soul…)

Where this is leading…

I tell you this, because it helps explain why I felt such a resonance when I encountered Tara Mohr of Wise Living, writer, coach and expert in supporting women to share their authentic gifts with the world.

Random fact: I actually first encountered Tara back in 2006, long before the blogosphere was even on my radar, when she purchased a ketubah from me for her wedding. I really knew nothing about her except that she was lovely to interact with via email, and she obviously liked my art (two very fine qualities, I must say).

Then in late 2010, we ran into each other again online, where I discovered that my former client was now coaching, writing for the Huffington Post, and clearly a kindred spirit. Tara has had a passion for making women’s voices heard since she was an adolescent, and she’s run an annual blogging campaign for the Girl Effect which turned me (and countless others) on to that wonderful movement (check the brilliant Girl Effect video out here– it’s awesome. I’ll wait. Bring tissues.)

Playing Big

So when, last spring, Tara launched the inaugural version of her flagship program for women, Playing Big, I took notice. Although I was sorely tempted, I didn’t sign up at the time, but I did join her team of affiliates, and I watched as the Playing Big participants transformed. (And yes, those are affiliate links, though the program is not currently open to new participants.)

Something really special was happening here. Something I was hungry to be a part of. So when Tara opened a second round of Playing Big in January, I not only re-upped as an affiliate, I joined the program myself.

That was one of my best purchasing decisions in recent memory.

The Playing Big experience has been nothing short of amazing. Tara has created a space where, instead of competing, women are supporting each other to leap forward despite our fears.

We’re learning to recognize the voice of the Inner Critic (or, as I like to call it, the Inner Critic Gremlin) and distinguish it from the voice of Truth — and how NOT to take direction from it.

We’re learning to trust our instincts, to dream bigger, and to NOT let the size of our dreams paralyze us, but to get on with taking little “leaps” toward them.

We’re learning tools for unhooking from criticism, and — just as importantly — unhooking from praise and the need for external validation.

Throughout it all, each of us in the program is working on our own Playing Big project, drawing strength and encouragement from our cohorts as we practice playing bigger by going after a goal that scares us and sends our Inner Critic (Gremlin)s into hyper-drive.

“You can’t do that!” says the Inner Critic Gremlin. “Who do you think you are to even try?”

But where such negative self-talk has shut us down in the past, we now have the grounded wisdom of an Internal Mentor to shepherd us forward. We’re harnessing the butterflies in the stomach and making them fly in formation!

I’ve had a lot of practice with the butterfly harness since starting Playing Big. First, as I approached my initial Playing Big project: to write my story into a book sharing how I went from being plagued with eating disorders, self-doubt and a belief that “I’m not creative” to living a more fully creative life than I ever imagined — and how YOU can do it too! Butterfly-harnessing tip: calling it a Book-Like Object seems to quiet that Inner Critic Gremlin a bit. The ICG doesn’t know enough about a BLO to tell me I’m not up to the task, or “who are you to think your story is worth making into a BLO?”

The second big practice area for managing the butterfly harness is via two other, more immediate projects I’m currently working on. One is not quite ready to share (stay tuned), but the other is.

Time to Glow

One thing Playing Big has really helped crystallize for me is that who I am and what I already know (ie, everything I take for granted about myself) is actually of tremendous value. I’ve been experiencing revelations around this, and I’m now truly seeing how just bringing bringing my full, authentic self to the table is the greatest value I offer. I’m realizing how much I already know, and it has been feeling increasingly important to me to share what I know in a more systematic way than I’ve done so far.

Just as Tara Mohr has brought together the sum of her wisdom, knowledge and experience around women playing bigger to create Playing Big, I have been feeling a powerful call to bring together the sum of my wisdom, knowledge and experience around living a fully creative life and share it in a structured format.

And despite the chatter of my Inner Critic Gremlin — who keeps waving its arms and shouting “You’re not as famous and accomplished as Tara Mohr!” and “Who do you think you are to try something like this?!” and “You’re surely going to fail — just give up!” and “You’re not ready! You need to do more research/get a credential/be more accomplished/have a larger audience!!!” — despite all that negative self-talk, that (ie, sharing what I’ve got) is exactly what I’m going to do.

In fact, I’m doing it next month!

Get Your Glow On

I see too many of my fellow creative women hiding their lights under a barrel, NOT making time to feed their creative spirit and pursue the passions of their hearts.

I see too many creative women with stunted dreams that are just waiting to blossom forth — all they need are the proper conditions for growth.

And though I’ve been witness to the spark and flame of rejuvenated creativity in my Creative Ignition Circles, I want to do more than spark people up and help them stoke their creative fires. YES, I want that — always that — but I also want to foster a persistent and steady connection to creativity (and each other!), the kind of fire that doesn’t flash and extinguish, but continues to radiate — that glows.

Next month that’s exactly what I’m doing, with my new program for women with a creative hunger, Time to Glow. It doesn’t matter to me what form your creative expression wants to take. (Right now, mine is almost wholly absorbed by the creation of courses and workshops — just as exciting and fulfilling to me as when I’m in “paint-all-the-time” mode or “write-and-perform-songs-all-the-time” mode.) As far as I’m concerned (and I’m not alone in this), creative expression is simply what humans are made to do — whether it comes in the form of painting or sculpture or designing a robot or crafting a product launch.

If it feeds and nourishes your creative spirit*, it counts, baby! *(And you know what that is for you.)

Whatever lights your fire is what I want to see you doing more of and sharing with the world — because that is exactly what the world needs most!

That’s what Time to Glow is designed to help you do.

Click here to read more and sign up on the advance list for priority access.

It’s time to get your glow on! I hope you’ll join me.

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Tara Mohr this morning, and I think you’ll enjoy our conversation. (20 minutes, 17 seconds.)

Some background:

A woman reserves the right to change her mind, and on Thursday, I changed mine.

After swearing I would not sign up for any  new online courses, I handed over my credit card and registered for Tara Mohr’s Playing Big. (I was already proud to be an affiliate partner for the program, but now I’m a paid member, too!)

Have you ever noticed how making a commitment to something changes the energy around it? In a matter of seconds I went from “Ack! I don’t have time! I’m not ready! I don’t have the money! I’m fine without this!” to a sense of serene groundedness. An inner knowing that this is absolutely right for me, right now.

Combined with a fizzy excitement at the big, exciting move I’m making!

Watch the video above for my conversation with Tara about what it means to play big.

Hint: if you’re thinking playing big is just for celebrities, politicians, and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that’s not the kind of playing big we’re talking about. As Tara put it, she could have just as well titled her program Liberating Your Inner Creative Voice. Because in the end, it all comes down to the same thing.

If you want to hear more from Tara about the Playing Big program itself, click here to listen to an information call Tara hosted on Thursday (you’ll hear me asking the very first question, which is what helped me come to my final decision to sign up.) And click here to read all about Playing Big (and if you’re ready to take the plunge, join me in the course! As a thank you for buying through my link I’ll give you a 6-month membership in my Creative Ignition Club and ClutterBusters group. :))

Enjoy the video, and I’ll just leave you with…

A message from the Universe

Someone (I think it might have been Tara, originally..?) tweeted recently:

Dear Brilliant Woman:

I made you brilliant so you could heal the world. Please start playing bigger.

Love,
The Universe

Amen.

Let me know your reactions!

Where have you installed your own “glass ceilings”? What if you played as big as you truly could? What kind of impact could you make? 

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

The following is borrowed in whole from Jonathan Fields, because I think it’s brilliant and hilarious:

[FTC Disclosure - You should always assume that pretty much every link on this blog is an affiliate link and that if you click it, find something you like and buy it, I'm gonna make some serious money. Now, understand this, I'm not talking chump change, I'm talking huge windfall in commissions, bling up the wazoo and all sorts of other free stuff. I may even be given a mansion and a yacht, though honestly I'd settle most of the time for some organic dark chocolate and clean socks. Oh, and if I mention a book or some other product, just assume I got a review copy of it gratis and that me getting it has completely biased everything I say. Because, books are like a drug to me, put one in my hand and you own my ass. Ethics be damned! K, you've been warned. Huggies and butterflies. ]

I’m still waiting for my mansion and yacht. And bling, too, btw.

I just spent a week in a time machine.

At least that’s how it felt. The past seven days have gone by in a flash, but on the other hand it feels like last Monday was about a month ago.

Why? Well, Monday marked the start of Action Studio, an intensive course with Sinclair of Self-Activator to hone in on your brand and build a new income stream in 30 days.

Since then I’ve been immersed in exercises to discover my primary and secondary brand archetypes (Creator, flavored by Caregiver, Sage, Every Woman and Lover, if you’re curious), and wrap my head around how that applies to my business.

All with the support of the most loving, brilliant community of women + one guy I’ve ever encountered.

Did I mention it’s intense? Let me tell you: it’s intense.

As in epiphanies popping like popcorn. As in rethinking every single thing we’re doing, from the ground up. As in “cast members” regularly admitting to liberal doses of tears in between the excited revelations.

Yep, major shifts are happening, and it’s a glory to behold.

Want the inside scoop? Check out the gossip from the set, posted Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays by three of my amazingly talented fellow cast members over at the Action Studio site.

The downside of popcorn epiphanies

All this intensity has me bouncing off the walls with excitement as I bubble over with a new sense of clarity of purpose, direction, and ideas.

It also has me utterly exhausted, because when I get in a super-creative phase like this, my insomnia kicks in.

Insomnia. Sucks.

Sometimes, however, exhaustion is a gift. Kinda like getting walloped upside the head with a 2×4 by the Universe is a gift, if you’re willing to take the lesson such wallops are there to teach.

In this case, I’m getting clear that the overextended schedule I’ve been scrambling to keep up with is simply unsustainable.

Yes, I like being engaged in lots of projects. Yes, I prefer being busy to being bored, but this is ridiculous.

So tonight I made some decisions that have been brewing for months. Decisions I’ve been in conflict about, not yet ready to implement.

All of them aligned with my new, clearer-than-ever understanding of exactly what I want to be doing and with/for whom.

Do you know what it feels like to stand on bedrock? To stand right in your sweet spot?

Thanks to a mere week in Action Studio, that’s where I am on the inside. Finally.

It feels amazing.

Now my job is to bring my outside into alignment with my inside. In other words, I have a lot of work to do.

And given that I already have more work on my plate than any sane human would try to juggle at one time, it’s really, really clear that something has to give.

Destruction makes space for generation

Letting go of something (“destroying”) is always hard, even when you know it’s to make space for a bigger dream. But when your goal is to live the life you really, really want, not just the close-but-not-quite life, it’s gotta happen.

The only way to rock out the great is to let go of the good, dump the “almost right but not exactly.”

Scary, and painful, but true.

So watch for changes in this space.

And now I’m off to see if this is the night I finally beat the insomnia dragon. Hold a good thought…

–

Did you hear the news?

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 5pm PST I’m doing a special call with the brilliant Sinclair of Self Activator, and you’re invited! Register here to join us (it’s totally free, and if you can’t be live on the call, you’ll still get to hear the recording).

Sinclair will be talking about 3 ways she sees creative entrepreneurs stallout between the passion they’ve got, and a strategic lucrative biz that creates the impact they want. (Sound familiar?)

In other words, the stuff that keeps creatives stuck, poor and playing small. (Btw, watch for more on that theme real soon from these quarters… hint, hint…)

Plus I hear the call will reveal some backstage secrets from Action Studio, which is about to relaunch. And who doesn’t like secrets?

Oh, and Sinclair might even “hotseat” somebody – help you pinpoint ways you can get past your own stallouts. But of course you gotta be live on the call for that.

The backstory

(In case you haven’t read it already):

I’ve followed Sinclair over the past year, taken advantage of a number of her free offerings (and gotten enormous, mind-shifting value from them). I’ve watched her grow her business by being totally herself, and totally un-spammy.

I was impressed. More than impressed.

I wanted to be like her!

Or, well, not like her — I wanted to be totally me, but totally rockin’ it as me the way she’s totally rockin’ it as her. Capiche?

So when I decided it was time to level up my business and work with a coach, Sinclair was the one I chose to work with.

The plot

Part of that picture is that I’ll be a participant in Action Studio 2.0. I’m ready to take my creative biz to the next level, and I know Action Studio is gonna help me do that in a big way.

Of course, we’re all on different paths, and that’s cool. Not everyone is going to be in the right place for a course like Action Studio. I wasn’t, when it originally launched some months back. But you can learn a lot from seeing shifts that are happening for other people. Which is, of course, why I share so much about my own journey on this blog!

Plus with Sinclair, you can learn a lot from her free stuff! And she’s giving out free stuff like crazy right now, in the lead-up to the launch.

Including Tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) call. Hope you can make it!

I also strongly recommend you sign up to get your name on the door, so you can get all that free goodness for yourself. Today Sinclair sent a questionnaire that revealed what archetypes you most strongly resonate with, which got the wheels spinning in my head. (I’m a Creator/Caretaker. Surprised?)

The sub-plot

If you are in the right place to do Action Studio this time around, I’ll sweeten the deal by offering 3 hours of my time to drill down into your blocks, uncover your gifts, and strategize how to best use your passions to create total abundance in your life and biz. Plus I’ll include a year of access to the Thriving Artists Project for you or a friend.

At my current pricing, that’s almost $550 in added value. And priceless if you think about how much it will push you and your business forward.

Either way, sign up for the call and be ready to glean some awesomeness from it (and bring your questions). Can’t wait to see you there!

xo,
Melissa

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You may have noticed that the Weekly Review went AWOL. If you were wondering why, here’s the story. (And no, the Weekly Review did not get drunk and stumble back to the base with a tattoo it didn’t remember getting. Though that would have made for a good story.)

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Question: Have you ever had way too much to do and not enough time to do it?

Err.. Let me rephrase that.

When you have way too much to do and not enough time to do it, what do you do?

Aside from feeling stressed out and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, that is.

If you’re smart, you probably prioritze.

I call it Business & Life Triage.

I look at my list of urgent stuff to get done like an ER doctor looks at incoming wounded, then tackle the critical ones first (assuming they’re the most likely to survive, of course) and leave the rest to languish until I can get to them.

Sometimes B&L Triage is pretty easy. Migraines tend to trump everything, which is what happened Sunday night when I finally turned to the Weekly Review.

That doesn’t, of course, explain the Weekly Review still being AWOL on Monday.

Ah, triage.

It’s frustrating at best, and definitely not a good long-term way to exist. And since I seem to keep adding items to my ongoing task list, one of my big priorities lately has been to move as many tasks as possible off of my own plate and on to someone else’s.

In other words, delegating. To (get this) an assistant!

Or, more precisely, a Virtual Assistant.

That word may as well be gold-plated, it has felt like such an out-of-reach treasure for so long. But a couple of months ago I started paying my 365 Days of Genius partner’s VA (short for Virtual Assistant), Katy, to do the data entry for the daily “Genius Resources” on that site.

The up-front costs (aside from cash)

This tactic was not without its challenges. I had to put time in on the “front end,” setting up a system to capture the info I needed to load and get that info to Katy (for which I discovered an amazing new technology called a “spreadsheet – maybe you’ve heard of it?) And since I hadn’t been using this system from the start, I had to change my workflow.

At first, all of this required more work from me as I scrambled like mad to get all the necessary info filled in for months of resources.

But, here’s the beauty: once I’d established the system and put my virtual assistant to work, my workload dramatically decreased.

Ahhhh!

All the time I’d been spending loading stuff onto the site? I could now use that time for other stuff.

Stuff I’d not only rather do, but that the Universe would really much rather I do – my special gifts. Stuff that only I can do. Like making my art, writing my writing, recording interviews, working with my clients.

A taste is not enough

Loading the daily Genius Resource links for 365 DofG was time-consuming, but in fact it only made up a tiny fraction of the time-sucking things that have to get done in order to keep the engine of my business humming along.

For a long time I felt stuck around delegating more work, though.

How could I spend more money on getting help with my triage – most of which is stuff that doesn’t directly produce income – when what I needed was to make more money?

Sometimes I’m a little slow. A little resistant. I confess that things often have to get really bad before I finally wake up to reality.

In this case, it took the launching of my new not-quite Daily ArtFix newsletter. Suddenly I had created for myself a whole series of new tasks that had to get done almost every day: putting my art up on my site, scheduling listings of the originals for sale on EBay, scheduling the actual newsletter to send out to my list.

What was I thinking?

When was I going to have time to work with clients, write new content, create the stuff I’ve been brewing behind the scenes, and make my art (let alone exercise, sleep and eat)?!

The old, poverty-mindset me would have said, “Oh my god, this is too much!” and simply dropped the newsletter idea as unmanageable.

The new, big-thinking, creative-abundance-mindset me said, “Oh my god, this is too much! I need help!”

Sure, paying for help felt scary, but when I looked at the amount of time it would liberate for me to work on creating more value – value that would ultimately make me more money – it was a no-brainer.

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t still scary, because it was.

It is.

But scary doesn’t mean bad. It just takes some getting used to.

Getting around internal roadblocks

Never having delegated ongoing tasks before, I had to overcome some internal resistance. What if she did it wrong? What if she isn’t reliable?

I had to keep reminding myself of the payoff: that the more time I liberate from the drudge work that anyone can do, the more time I have to spend on the high-value stuff that only I can do.

Granted, I still had to put a ton of time into setting up the systems in order to be able to delegate: I had to create a method for holding and organizing the data to be entered (did I mention that amazing technology, the spreadsheet?) And I had to train my virtual assistant on exactly how to enter it on the various sites.

Thank god for Camtasia, my video-creation software! Since Katy’s on the other side of the world, I recorded several videos of me walking through & narrating every step of every task I needed help with.

This helped me clarify in my own mind exactly what needed to be done, and showed me additional fields I needed to add to my growing spreadsheet.

Within a few days, the first “trial” batch of tasks was ready. I sent them to Katy (only later remembering to set up sharing in the Google docs so she could get to the data! Doh!)

Quick as a bunny, Katy loaded up my stuff. Now, the next step: reviewing her work.

I was pleased to see that she’d done a great job. Just a few things were not exactly as I wanted them, so I emailed notes, with illustrative screenshots, and we were off to the races!

I have a virtual assistant!

Yep, suddenly, after years of longing for one, and putting a little time and effort in at the front end, I actually have an assistant!

And here’s the most beautimous thing: now that I have a virtual assistant, I keep thinking of new tasks I can delegate to her.

It’s kind of addictive.

Plus I’m seeing how I might delegate other tasks, for which she’s not qualified, to someone else who is.

Did somebody say “leveling up”?

That’s exactly what I’m doing here, and it feels great.

And speaking of leveling up…

If getting going with an honest-to-god virtual assistant is Phase One of leveling up, Phase Two is something else that’s been brewing recently: working with a mentor to help me power forward.

In the past year of blogging, I’ve sought out people ahead of me on the path whom I could learn from. I’ve downloaded more free resources than I can count. I’ve bought several excellent paid resources (the Empire Building Kit, Question the Rules, Engaging E-Courses, a bunch of Dave Navarro’s stuff, to name a few). I’ve taken advantage of free consulting from Catherine Caine, Jenny Bones, Lee Stranahan, Michael Martine, Peter Shallard and Sinclair, among others. (And why yes, I’m affiliates for all of the courses mentioned above. And the lovely Ms. Catherine Caine. I’d be affiliates for the others, because they all ROCK, but I don’t think they have general affiliate programs. Just sayin’.)

All of these have been more than great. They’ve each been stepping stones on my journey to where I am now.

And now I’m ready to take it up a notch.

I’ve known for awhile that I would eventually want to work with someone more closely, and this week I actually took the leap.

A little before I was prepared to, but that often how these things go.

Whom did I choose?

The first consulting session I can remember having was just about a year ago, with Sinclair. I remember sobbing into the phone, knowing I wanted to get… somewhere… but not entirely sure where.

I wanted what she had: confidence, clarity, and the ability to make a difference for other people.

At the time, I think she was charging $180/hour.

Now she offers intensive month-long mentorships, to the tune of $6,000.

She’s grown from a $100,000 business last year, to a $250,000 business this year.

All without a whiff of spamminess.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

So when Sinclair sent her list the info for a free coaching call, I jumped with both feet. And when at the end of the (awesome) call she offered a steep discount on a 3-hour intensive with her, I gritted my teeth and handed over my credit card.

And when she invited me to be an affiliate and offered me early entrance into the upcoming session of Action Studio, I jumped again.

Now listen up

Not only will I be sharing my experiences with Sinclair and Action Studio over the next several weeks, but on Thursday, I’ll be interviewing Sinclair (who will reveal some secrets from the set of Action Studio). AND I’ll be opening the phones up for questions too.

From YOU, that is!

Yep, we’ll talk about creative, profitable biz-building – how to be more authentic than ever and build your business around that.

Not much cooler than that!

Again, that call will be:

Thursday, April 28
5pm Pacific (that’s 8pm Eastern)

Want in? Just sign up below and I’ll email you the dial-in info.

Oh, and one more thing: if Action Studio feels like a good fit for you and you decide to join me in this session, I’ll actually sweeten the deal and give you a free year of access to the Thriving Artists Project ($97 value) and a 60-minute consulting session with me ($150 value). That’s almost $250 of rock-your-creative-business value on top of the supercharging you’ll get from Action Studio.

The catch? You just need to make sure you use my affiliate link to sign up for Action Studio in order to get the bonuses.

Can’t wait!

So how’m I doing in my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want?

Talk about creative abundance: on Monday I interviewed artist and shaman Laura Hollick, of Soul Art Studio, for the Thriving Artists Project, and added yet another shining star to my growing constellation of impressive role models.

In fact, Laura found me, rather than the other way around. She stumbled across the Thriving Artists Project website, saw that we are doing the same thing in our own unique ways, and reached out to say hello. We made a date, shared stories on Skype a few days later, and I knew I had to interview her for TAP!

(That interview did not disappoint – Laura’s story of going from poverty and “starving artist” thinking, to a job as a letter carrier, and ultimately to wild success as an artist and shaman, a 3,000 square foot studio, a worldwide following and a thriving income is gripping and inspiring. TAP members, watch for it soon!)

A Brief Review of the Comparison Trap

Often when I look at someone who’s steps ahead of me in creating their vision and developing their business, as Laura is, I find myself caught in the Comparison Trap. Envy, that familiar green face, rears its ugly head, and I inevitably feel badly about myself for not making as much money/being as prolific/having as large a following/being as successful/[insert envied thing here] as the person I admire.

Since my entree to the Blogosphere just over a year ago, I’ve intentionally sought out role models to help direct me, putting myself in a prime position to be caught in the Comparison Trap, consumed with envy and bad feelings. When I set about to create the Thriving Artists Project, my opportunities for getting trapped increased even more, as I regularly found new thriving artists to interview.

Don’t get me wrong – doing the interviews has been an extremely effective way to get to know more about other thrivers, learn their secrets and new tricks to apply to my own business and life. It’s been a huge boon, and given me exactly what I’d hoped it would: inspiration and real-life role models.

But sometimes I’ve still found myself dragged down by the Comparison Trap.

“I should be doing things like [Blogger X].”

“No, wait, I want to be like [Artist Y]. That’s how I should do things.”

“Damn, I wish I were as successful as [Life Coach Z]. I need to be more like her.”

“Ooh.. I love how [Slasher Q] combines her blogging, art and coaching! She’s the one I want to emulate!”

Of course I emulate aspects of each of them – that’s why they’re role models – but much as I might envy a given person’s success and want to copy it for myself, one thing I’ve always known is that, in fact, I’m not copying someone else’s model, nor do I want to.

I am creating my own, unique model, and the more I can vibrate at my own energy and create a model that’s uniquely mine, the more I will attract the people who resonate with me.

Building My Constellation

So yes, I do want to emulate my role models. I just don’t want to try to be a carbon copy of any of them.

What I really want is to emulate bits and pieces of each of them. And it felt to me like some kind of concrete… thingy… might help with that.

So here’s what I did:

Tuesday morning, while writing in my journal, I decided to put all of my heroes into a sort of mind map, in order to see all of them in one place. In woo-woo terminology, every one of the people I admire is vibrating at a different energy. A unique color, let’s say. When I look at them one at a time, I automatically start vibrating to match that particular color. (In non-woo-woo terminology, I start thinking I need to do things their way, try to be more like them.)

But that color isn’t actually my color vibration, it’s theirs. And when I vibrate too intensely at that color (which happens a lot if I’m operating out of envy!), it’s all too easy for me to forget that there are other colors that make up my personal spectrum too.

All of this may sound very abstract (and yes, woo-woo – gotta love it), but here’s what I did to make it concrete: I wrote in the center of the page:

“People who are doing their own version of what I’m doing, very successfully, a few steps ahead of me, and whose energy I want to match.” (Or, in non-woo-woo terminology, people whose business models I admire and want to emulate.)

I drew a box around that statement, and in the space surrounding that box I proceeded to write the name of every role model I could think of.

The very act of creating this mind map – my Constellation of Role Models – shifted something for me. (There’s a reason human beings have created rituals since before recorded history: they’re powerful, and they work. Not necessarily in a The Secret I-think-certain-thoughts-and-the-world-changes-for-me kind of way, but in a my-inner-world-changes-for-me kind of way.)

Suddenly, with all of my role models on a single sheet of paper, I could see the entire constellation in one place. If I imagined that each of them was vibrating at their own color, for the first time I was able to see the whole spectrum.

And seeing the spectrum laid out on the page (even though I didn’t actually color them in – it’s an imagination thing, see?) allowed me to hum at my own vibration, while drawing energy and inspiration from each of them, no one of them dominating my vision.

Instead of comparing myself negatively, from a place of envy, something about seeing 21 different names on the page allowed me to feel inspired. Inspired in a multitude of different ways from this diverse group.

Here’s another metaphor (for those who relate better to food than astral bodies)

(Because one can never have too many metaphors. Plus I’m hungry.)

“I’m creating my very own brew,” I wrote in my journal. And the individuals floating around the perimeter of my Role Model Constellation mind map are ingredients that contribute different flavorings to the soup.

I haven’t decided whether they’re vegetables that go into the stock, or spices that go into the soup.

But that’s neither here no there. The point is, I figured out a way to turn the Comparison Trap into a source of strength. And that’s pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

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Who are your role models and heroes? Do they inspire you, make you envious, or both? If they make you envious, have you found a positive way to deal with that feeling?

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Photo by ganesha.isis at Flickr

Why?

In my quest to create the life I really, really want, I’ve searched high and low for mentors and teachers who could help me create a business model where I’m doing what I love, and making money from it. It took months of research to sort the wheat from the chaff (there are a lot of sleazemeisters out there), to find the people I want to hook my train to.

Dave Navarro is one of those people. His content is always excellent, much of it is free, and the stuff I’ve paid for has proven to be some of the best buying decisions I’ve made this year.

(Time-sensitive note: if you’re interested in super-helpful free content, today is the last day to see three awesome videos Dave made to promote his More Buyers Mastermind. Yes, he made these videos to promote a paid course, but the videos are not in the least bit spammy – they’re pure content, not sales. You’ll learn a lot from them. But Dave is taking them down when he opens the doors to More Buyers Mastermind tomorrow, so you better catch them quick!*)

Here are 5 specific reasons Dave rocks my world:

Awesome Free Stuff

1. The LaunchTips Newsletter

Every few days Dave publishes a newsletter with a link to a highly informative post, and frequently a video and workbook. The content is always top notch, packed with information you can use to make real improvements to your online business. Over 7,500 subscribers is some pretty good social proof. And it’s all for free.

2. The “Stop Settling” Newsletter

Over 3,200 people subscribe to this newsletter, which Dave calls “Your Monday Morning Kick In the Ass.” This bite-sized chunk of inspiration/motivation is a great way to start your week. And again, it’s free.

3. The Launch Coach Library

If you’re interested, even slightly, in learning about the world of making money online (in a non-sleazy way), Dave’s free Launch Coach Library* is a no-brainer. At the time of this writing, there a four excellent (and free) workbooks to download: 7 Steps to Playing a Much Bigger Game, 7 Steps to Networking Your Way to A-Listers Fast, 7 Simple Income Streams (That You Can Actually Create), and Start Making Money With Your Products in 3 Days.

As with all of Dave Navarro’s productions, these articles/workbooks are top-notch, “consultation quality”; the kind of thing you’d expect to pay money for. But they’re free.

Paid stuff

4. Awesome workshops

Back in April, after checking out a bunch of Dave’s free offerings, I decided to give his paid stuff a try. I bought Creating Products That Sell and Building A Responsive List (affiliate links), not knowing quite what to expect.

What I got kind of blew me out of the water. These are not just PDF e-books, but full workshops with several modules each. Dave walks you step-by-step through everything you need to know, from what works and what doesn’t, to the nitty-gritty technical aspects (ie, how to make a recording, how to set up a mailing list in AWeber). Solid stuff I highly recommend.

5. More Buyers Every Month Group Mentorship

When I figured out Dave was someone I could trust, whose products offered tremendous value, I signed up for his advance discount list, and the waiting list to get into his 2010 More Buyers Every Month Group Mentorship program. And when he opened up the doors for a brief time awhile back, I upgraded and snagged my spot.

What is the 2010 More Buyers Every Month Group Mentorship? It’s where you have access to every single workshop Dave creates, plus a group forum (which I confess, I haven’t even tapped into yet, being rather occupied already with the awesome Third Tribe (affiliate link) forum.)

Dude. Seriously worth the cash.

Upshot

In my personal Pantheon of blogosphere gods and demigods, Dave Navarro occupies a very high position indeed. He has earned my trust and respect, I’ve learned a ton from him (both from his content directly, and as a model of how to run my own business), and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next!

*Disclosure: If you click through my link and end up buying something, I’ll get a commission, but I only affiliate with things I know and trust, and can wholeheartedly promote. I’ve bought a lot of Dave’s stuff myself and stand by it, and if you’re not happy, you can complain to me directly.