This is a guest post by Lara Tabatznik who talks more about building 42 Acres – a dream retreat in Somerset, UK. You can find out more about Lara here, read our interview with her here and read her last blog post here.
I found that the most daunting part of building this dream was making the decision to actually do it. It is always scary when you’ve never done something before and so much is unknown; it takes courage and conviction to take that blind leap of faith and go for it.
After that the most difficult bit was actually getting started. I really have just been putting one foot in front of the other, making mistakes, learning from them, and fully trusting the process. I recognised early on that I needed to seek advice from people I trust and ask for help, something I don’t do often, but I allowed my intuition to lead the way. I believe with a strong foundation for being, the doing is much easier. When we are open to receiving the wisdom of each moment as it unfolds, we invite synchronistic magic into our daily lives.
Me on site at 42 Acres – project managing my dream
This is a guest post by Louise Armstrong. You can read more about Louise here.
In my last two posts I looked at how we can embrace our ever-changing world and evolve the way we live by adopting some simple techniques to help us survive and thrive in the future. Today, in my final post, I wanted to share with you the most powerful technique of all: it’s one that will help you to unlock your own potential and inspire you to make the most of the human experience. It’s the power of imagination.
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”– Albert Einstein
We all know what it’s like to dream, even if we can’t remember what we actually dream about, and scientists have now proved that dreaming plays a central role in our emotional health, our memory, our learning and as a way to help us find creative solutions to our problems. They’ve also discovered that over half of our waking thoughts are daydreams and that this is when we ‘unthinkingly’ do our best thinking.
In fact some of the biggest inventions of our time came about through daydreams – the Internet, robots, rocketry, test tube babies, the list goes on. All these things were dreamed up by imaginative people; people who went beyond facts and thought globally and synthetically, made serendipitous associations and came up with surprising and novel solutions.
“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” – Gloria Steinem
Imagination really can change the world because new ideas can change the world and it takes imagination to have a new idea. Imagination fosters empathy – the ability to “walk in someone else’s shoes” – and it also enables us to find creative, innovative solutions to problems. By unlocking the power of imagination for ourselves we pave the way to a life of awareness, fulfilment, freedom and personal power. Imagination is not the product of a gene pool lottery; it’s inherent within us all.
Here are my top tips for developing your imagination:
1. Create space for your imaginationto roam free
“Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.” ― Philip José Farmer
Allowing yourself to dream is like making a statement of intent: you are giving yourself permission to explore the possibilities and opportunities that open up when you free your mind. In our hectic daily lives, we don’t always give ourselves the time or the freedom to dream and yet it’s one of the most valuable gifts we can give ourselves.
I make time to dream in the morning when I first wake up and I write my thoughts in a notebook – it’s fascinating to see what emerges. Sometimes I daydream while I’m cycling to work. It’s amazing what thoughts pop into my head and very often I’ll come up with the perfect solution to a problem I’ve been having.
When do you give yourself time and space to unlock your imagination and dream?
2. Share your future truths
We all have dreams – big and small – but all too we keep them to ourselves. When you put yourself out there and start to share you find that amazing things can happen. Often you realise that other people are dreaming the same thing too! Unlocking the collective imagination goes a long way to counter all the negativity and angst we face in the media.
This happened for me recently as a result of a little project that I started in my own community. The Peckham Coal Line began as a seed of an idea we had to turn a bit of disused railway into a park. The dream was shared on Facebook and then we built a simple website to raise awareness. Before we knew it 50 people in the local community had emailed me to show their support and offer up their time to help. It is still early days but the project is gathering momentum and this is allowing us to talk to the local stakeholders and ride out the collective imagination of the local community. It’s so exciting to see the dream come to life.
A forgotten space: view of the west part of the coal line route from the Bussey Building with the city skyline behind
What’s your dream? Where are you going to share it? It might be a conversation with someone you know, a stranger, or a post on social media – start small and be open to where it takes you.
3. Create a prototype: make your dream a reality one layer at a time
Have you ever noticed that the ‘hi-tech’ communication devices you used to see in Star Trek look just like the early Motorola phones? It’s a commonly held idea that fiction informs reality and film props add that element of believability by making ideas a little bit more tangible.
The idea of developing and prototyping future concepts is widely accepted in design circles – so why can’t we apply this same idea to our own lives by adding layers of reality to your dreams? By experimenting with our dreams and taking small steps to bring them to life, we stop feeling stuck or overwhelmed and instead start feeling excited and that we’re making progress.
One project I worked on this way is IoTA – a space to help non-techy people make use of the ‘internet of things’ technology that is set to grow massively in the future.
The first thing we did was to draw out the idea. Then we described it. And then we made a film about it. We didn’t think much would come of it but when we shared it on social media people loved it. Before we knew it we were running a session with teenagers at a school in Manchester to put the ideas into reality. Being open to possibilities has meant that the project has now won some funding to enable us to develop the ideas further and we’ve created a new company as a consequence. It sounds grand but in retrospect all we’ve done is kept adding more layers of reality to grow our idea.
What can you do to add a layer of reality to your dreams? Maybe you can draw it, paint it, or make a little model. Maybe you can act it out, or do something productive towards making it happen.
4. Be your future, today
We think about the future being far away, and so it’s easy to put things off and tell ourselves that we have all the time in the world to realize our dreams. The fact is the future will be here before we know it so we may as well start living it today!
“The future is radically open, and it is shaped by who we choose to be in the present” – Maureen O’Hara, Dancing on the Edge
You owe it to yourself and to the world to make your dreams come true and sometimes you have to think outside the box and be imaginative in order to help bring your dream to life.
For instance my dream for my future is to feel aligned in my mind and body. To get there, I know I need a better work/life balance. So today I decided to experiment with my work day. I worked in flow with my natural energy patterns and decided to go for a swim at noon, which boosted my creativity, motivation and productivity in the afternoon. Ok, I’m not making huge life changes, but starting small makes it manageable and when my goals are manageable I know I’ll stay committed. I’ll keep experimenting until I find what works best for me, and this will take me another step closer to the big dream of living more holistically.
The big question is: what will you do to unlock your imagination and realise your dreams today?
Every once in a while you meet someone really talented in an effortless, weird and fantastic sort of way. The kind of person who can bring any dream to life because they possess boundless energy, bags of determination, and truly believe that anything is possible. Luis Peña is one such person. A creative thinker, designer, film maker, art director, and photographer from San Fransisco his gift lies in his ability to see the world in the wide-eyed ‘wow-this-is-amazing’ way that only children do. This purity of vision is rare, and it allows him to capture small fragments of truth and beauty, as well as the unexpected – things that most people would miss – and make great film. We caught up with him to find out more about his work…
1. How are you doing what you love?
I love making things. I get lost in the act. I have music blaring when I can and all outside influences and distractions disappear completely. If I’m filming or taking photos I spend most of the time staring in the viewfinder watching it unfold and finding the beauty where I can. I feel alive, my blood is racing, I’m constantly challenging myself. It’s play. I have a lot of childlike energy that I apply to my work life.
If you have a business you want to grow, please take a moment out of your day to read this. It could be very important for you.
If someone told you it is possible to start a new business in a recession, grow it to seven figures in under five years, be cash-flow positive every step of the way, and have happy customers in 50+ countries around the world, you’d want to know the secret, right? If someone told you your work could make a real impact, and there was a way to massively grow your audience so you can make serious money whilst making a real difference, you’d want to know about that too, right?
Well that is exactly what we have done with Do What You Love and, in a nutshell, here’s how we did it:
Today we are delighted to bring you an interview with a man who’s passionate about fashion. Michael Pendlebury, AKA The Denim Doctor, is one of Manchester’s most respected bespoke tailors, and, as you may have guessed, he loves working with denim! We caught up with him to find out why he’s ‘sew’ crazy about what he does…
Registration for B-School is now OPEN here! This programme comes round just once a year, and is the single best and fastest way to learn what’s at the cutting edge of online marketing, and how selling yourself better can help you serve your customers better.
If you are thinking of joining B-School (and you should if you are serious about growing your audience and boosting your sales significantly), then be sure that you check out the various affiliate partner bonus offers available around the web. B-School has a small number of official partners, of which we are one, and each partner offers a tailor-made package of bonus goodies if you take B-School through them. This is a fantastic opportunity to get a ton of extra value alongside the full B-School experience, so we’d encourage you to do your research and go with the partner whose offer best suits what you need right now.
Of course we’d love you to join B-School through us if our offer is right for you. If you are looking to build your online business rapidly this year, particularly if you have skills, knowledge and experience that you want to package into an online course and sell worldwide, then our offer is probably perfect for you (and it’s worth nearly $2000).
Exclusively for B-Schoolers joining through us, we have created The Complete Online Business Builder, a one year programme which includes a host of classes, resources and support. You can find out more about it in our offer brochure here:
Download the brochure here: High res / Low res (recommended for mobile)
Feel right for you? Then join B-School here and secure your Complete Online Business Builder package worth nearly $2000 for FREE!
I deeply believe that we are seeing a paradigm shift in the way we live, learn and earn, and now is the time to grab that opportunity before the rest of the world gets in on the act. In the grand scheme of things, digital business and online marketing have only been around in a big way for a very short time – just a decade or so – but the developments in platforms, software and opportunities have moved forward light years in that time. It has never been easier or cheaper to start an online business and make it thrive, and we want to help you do that.
Over the next couple of weeks you will probably hear a lot about B-School. That’s not surprising – as the top online marketing course out there, they know a lot about getting the word out. But I wanted to take a moment to explain why we are a partner of B-School.
In the early days of Do What You Love I bit the bullet and joined the course as a participant. It was at a time when I was really new to the online world of websites and digital marketing. It is no exaggeration to say that B-School was like manna from heaven. It told me exactly what I needed to know and do, how to do it, and how to get really excited about the potential of my business along the way. Within two years I had been nominated as a finalist in the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year awards. That’s what I call a result. The community is an incredible source of knowledge and support, and the material (all new for 2015) is top notch.
We are an official partner of very few programmes that we are not involved in producing, but we have proudly made an exception for B-School because it really works. We have put together an incredible package of year-long support to accompany the B-School programme for anyone who books the course through us – find out more and book here. It is ideal for you if you want to start or grow your business online as the B-School / Do What You Love combination will be rocket fuel for you.
*As a partner of the programme we may receive a referral fee if you decide to take B-School through us.
This is a guest post by Ben Keene. You can find out more about Ben here.
Has moving to Bali for winter with our family worked out?
I’d only been at Bali’s first co-working space, Hubud (a bamboo beehive of digital nomadic activity at the heart of the island’s ‘eat, pray, love’ capital, Ubud) for an hour when Steve Munroe (a ‘post-UN-cubicle survivor’), uttered his mantra. Perhaps even more interesting than what Steve was saying was the fact that he was speaking to a group of Harvard students who had come to Bali to study ‘remote working’ and sustainable business.
This is a guest post by one of the UK’s leading experts in digital distraction and digital detox and author of The Distraction Trap: How to Focus in a Digital World, Frances Booth. Find out more about Frances here.
How digitally distracted are you? Often we don’t realise how attached we’ve become to our smartphones, social media or email. But being distracted by a digital device all the time can have an impact on our productivity, wellbeing and relationships.
The first step to achieving balance in the digital world is to increase your awareness of your behaviour around digital devices. Here are five signs of digital distraction, along with five strategies you can use to increase your balance, productivity and wellbeing in the digital world.
1. Smartphone separation anxiety
You take your smartphone with you everywhere you go – often actually carrying it in your hand. As soon as your phone beeps, you leap. This is not prioritising. This is phone-in-hand syndrome. Your phone accompanies you everywhere, including to the dinner table and to bed. It muscles in on any conversation you have. It interrupts your thoughts, keeping you constantly ‘on call’.
The solution: Be realistic. It won’t be easy to suddenly go without your phone. You might find that as soon as your phone isn’t there, you need something to do with your hands. You might feel like something is missing (I see this in one-to-one sessions I run). It’s like giving up smoking, in a sense. Be aware of this. Try putting your phone in another room for just 15 minutes. Make sure you have something to do, like read a magazine. Hold something like a pen when you’re talking to someone. Next level: Go to the corner shop without your phone.
2. Journeys pass you by
What do you see on journeys? The light falling just so? Interesting happenings through the window? Or is your field of vision restricted to your smartphone screen? Journeys by bus or train provide a great opportunity for thinking time, or a short rest. They can be a chance to catch up mentally on the day so far, or to dream and plan. But all too often, we miss this chance. We begin our journey, and immediately stare down at a screen, processing yet more digital information. We arrive feeling rushed, and we’ve no idea what happened out of the window.
The solution: Become an observer
Try this exercise: Count ‘em. Next time you are on a train or bus, instead of staring at your phone or tablet, put it away. Start to observe other people. How many digitally distracted people can you spot? What do you notice about their behaviour? How do they look? Stressed? Absorbed? Can you spot pairs of people together who are both staring down at their phones? Sometimes it’s easier to observe behaviour in other people rather than ourselves. See what you can learn by doing this on just one journey.
3. Memory lapse
You blame your bad memory a lot these days. Or perhaps it’s not you, but other people you know who are using the excuse of their bad memory. Ask yourself whether this is really a memory issue, or whether you (or they) could be distracted. If you’re trying to pay attention to more than one thing at once, you might forget to reply to messages, and even forget the contents of the messages you’ve read. This is because you are not storing memories. I look at this in more depth in my book, The Distraction Trap: How to Focus in a Digital World.
The solution: Do one thing at once. It sounds simple, but we often don’t do this. Try it and see what a difference it makes to your memory, and to your productivity.
4. You can’t walk in a straight line
Do you use your smartphone when you walk along the street? Do you veer around the pavement as you look down at your phone? Do you stop and start, and even cross roads without looking up? Have you seen other people doing this? Digital distraction is extremely dangerous for pedestrians and drivers. Take this seriously. Put your phone away when you’re anywhere near a road. Never use your phone while driving.
The solution: This is an issue we really need to raise awareness of. Not only should you do this yourself, but you should tell other people to do the same too.
5. No time to think
A thought pops in to your head. This could be it … the answer to that thorny business problem you’ve been struggling with. Then – pling!!! – your phone demands your attention or an email pulls you off track. All too often, when we leap to answer to digital demands, we neglect time for deep thinking. Somehow, answering our email seems more urgent than just having a think. But if you (or your team) are short on good ideas right now, then the chances are, this could be why.
Do digital distractions mean you have no time left to think? (Photo: J Devaun)
The solution: Leave time for thinking. A simple way to take a first step here is by switching off digital devices when you are doing simple daily and weekly tasks round the house. Allow yourself to use this time for thinking.
This is a guest post by Louise Armstrong. Read more about Louise here.
In my first blog I talked about how quickly the world is changing and why we need to adapt and evolve in terms of how we live, work and connect in order to overcome the challenges the future holds.
As Albert Einstein recognised: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Of course, while we can never be sure of what lies ahead we can all adopt some simple techniques to help us navigate our way into the future. And the great news is that they don’t cost a penny!
These techniques are designed to unlock innate capabilities within each of us. All you’ll need to do is be brave, be willing to try new things, be ready to embrace new experiences and be disciplined enough to do them all regularly.
You can start today! Here are my five top tips for a flourishing future…
We seem to be getting more and more questions lately about how to create and run an online business, as people are increasingly seeing it as a fantastic way to do what you love on your own terms. We have learnt a huge amount over the past five years, always trying to push the boundaries and stay ahead of the game, and are happy to share that if it inspires even more of you to go for it.
We are working on some fantastic new business resources which we will share over the coming weeks and months, along with links to some of our favourite business websites, blogs, magazines and books. We will also be sharing a number of our most valuable lessons through this newsletter and dedicating the whole month of April to online business – the pros and cons, ups and downs, opportunities and how-tos – so if you are interested in finding your freedom through being your own boss, stay tuned! And even if you have never even contemplated running your own business, try to have an open mind and consider all the possibilities. You never know what might spring to mind…
One of the keys to our rapid growth over the past few years has been our commitment to collaborations. We have built some really strong partnerships with leaders in their field, which have enabled us to grow together, and make more of an impact than we could have made alone. We are grateful to be in the position where we turn down many more partnership opportunities than we take up, but when we do take a new partner on board, it is always from a place of real belief in their work, their approach, their expertise, and the relevance of their teaching for our audience.
And that is why we have chosen to partner with Marie Forleo in the promotion of her upcoming (awesome) online marketing course B-School. You may have heard a fair bit about B-School lately. That’ll be because Marie and her team are the best at what they do. But we have chosen to be a partner because the essence of what they teach – how to get your products and services in front of a huge audience of people who NEED them – is absolutely key to doing what you love in business.
Think about it for a minute – if you get clear on what doing what you love means to you, and you find a way to make that into a business, you have overcome the first hurdle. But if you don’t find the customers who want and need what you are offering, you have no business – certainly no long term sustainable business. And that will just leave you frustrated and sad. Great online marketing is a non-negotiable in this digital age, if you really want to carve out a place for yourself running a business doing what you love. You can have the best product or service in the world, but if no-one knows about it, your dream isn’t going to last.
If you want to find out more, here are two really useful free training videos from Marie, which explain a bit more about why this is so crucial to your long term success:
Me on site at 42 Acres – project managing my dream
