Synchronicity from all directions

If I had my preference synchronicity would mean buyers showing up at my door out of the blue with a checkbook already out. Instead this week it meant messages from all directions to take pictures and establish patterns of behavior – at least that’s what it meant to me.

• An online video recommended The War of Art (affiliate link)- the third time I’ve seen that book stressed in the last month. On a whim I check the used-book store and they have one copy. The key message of this little book – planning and studying isn’t doing and you have to keep ‘doing’ no matter what.
• A chance check of a local gallery website to see if they still reviewed portfolios for exhibitions (they don’t) alerted me to a new exhibit by my favorite photographer entitled ‘New Work’ opening the very next day. I was curious to see how his work had changed from what I was familiar with. I went but found that only about four photographs out of thirty had been done in the last two years. The bulk of them dating from the mid 1980′s and early ’90s. You have to keep doing.
• Another website I maintain saw a sudden spike in visitors – 11,000% from the previous day. That’s like stepping on the scale and losing ten pounds from the day before. Why the sudden surge? A brief post on odd art from about a month ago that got picked up in a search engine’s suggested topics. Nobody really noticed it when I posted it, but a month later they did. You have to keep doing.

While not glamorous my big accomplishment for the week was getting my taxes done. Otherwise, baby steps in all areas; I ordered the jewelry supplies I need to continue, edited the working files for the Yellowstone essay (book project) and fit in some yard work and the like.

Technorati Tags: synchronicity, thinking isn't doing

Can you really achieve your goals on 2 hours a day?

There’s no big status report  this week – my big accomplishment has been losing my voice as a not-quite-bad-enough-to-stay-home cold has occupied my  time. What I’ve notice though is the amount of pressure I’m putting on myself to still accomplish great things on a very routine basis. It’s always interesting to note where you put punishing pressure on yourself to be superhuman.  And yet not doing those things is not an option to my essential self- it’s going along with this working 8 hours for someone else because my essential self is also fond of its house and warm bed.

Then last night as I was coming home on the train I was listening to a podcast – figuring that would be about all my cold-ravaged brain could really handle.  Synchronicity or not, the phrase ‘most real work happens in just two hours a day’ caught my attention.  The idea being that two separate hours a day, completely focused on the task at hand is what accomplishes great things. I have two hours a day, mostly uninterrupted with wireless access on the train.  The only thing I can’t do is make jewelry during that time  so I’m re-evaluating to how to do less while doing more in that time frame.  If I put in those ten hours a week then time at home can go to eating right and exercising and maybe an adventure here and there.

I am worried about getting to that point of self-sustainment, but it won’t happen if I keep getting sick and this just may force me to be a little more efficient in my writing.  I’ll let you be the judge:-)

Technorati Tags: achieving goals, synchronicity, time management

It’s like learning calculus all over again

Don’t ask me why, but as a freshman in college I took calculus as an elective.  It wasn’t required and had nothing to do with my major (history) so it must have been pure stubbornness on my part. Even though I had optimal conditions for learning the subject; a class of only six students and a professor that had been a NOAA mathematician I never really understood why I got the answers that I got. I was immensely grateful that for the most part they were correct. That’s what this last week has reminded me of as I try to wrap my head around inbound internet marketing. I can see that it works but I’d never get there on my own. That’s pretty much all I’ve been doing this week – even letting a few things slide in favor of it so that I don’t compound the problem.  I’m determined to figure it out sufficiently to raise my business presence on the web to an acceptable level!

Winter has set in with a vengeance which is helping to keep me glued to the computer.  Part of my web time has been getting more sea glass jewelry posted on etsy and revamping how I describe and keyword them – that seems to be improving things so the next thing will be to give the photography side of things the same type of makeover. I hate rework but sometimes it’s necessary and in this constantly changing world I don’t see how you can avoid it and still be effective.

On a fun note, I met the people that found my Thanksgiving message in a bottle who were delightful – is it synchronicity or is there a correlation between the type of people that pick up bottle messages and the ones that send them?

Technorati Tags: synchronicity

Feeling impatient

It’s funny how when things start happening you just want even more to happen.  That’s where I am this week; trying to reign myself in. At the last minute I found out about the chance to submit artwork for the giant hospital expansion nearby – since I can hear them pounding and shouting all day, it seems like having it include my work would only be fair.  I’m hoping that it was synchronicity that made me look at that website on that day as it was highly ironic that I had to send everything off to Texas for inclusion in a building I can see from home.  And now that my jewelry is in the gallery I’m seeing new cracks in the business side of things and wondering if this will be a short-lived experience.  It’s hard to sell anything if you aren’t open for business.  But… some patience is required; not everyone likes to run with scissors which I constantly have to remind myself!

I have plenty to keep me busy – I will be doing my first craft show at the end of November and currently have nothing ready to sell which will need to be rectified quickly.  I also have my new volunteer case which was enough to give me some nightmares after I read the file but impatient (again) to keep going which I can’t do until the judge signs the official paperwork.

It’s now been just about a year since I returned from my solo road trip – in some ways it feels like yesterday and in others like it’s time to do something similar again.  Instead I’m going to try to create a book from it so that’s also high on the agenda.  And although I don’t want to, it’s getting to the time where I need to go find a part-time job while my other enterprises incubate.  Things always seem to move like a roller coaster!

Technorati Tags: dealing with impatience, Health and Happiness, solopreneur, synchronicity, the way to happiness

Patience may just be paying off

I’m resolving from here on out to start doubling my estimates of how long it’s going to get something done – it ends up taking that long anyway and I beat myself up for not getting to the rest of the things on the list!  That aside, it’s been a productive week, at least for the jewelry side of the business.  I finished a few show-stopper pieces and got them photographed, got a few smaller and lower-priced items loaded up to Etsy and finally got a website up – http://jewelry.julietchase.com so that I can direct people to the buying end of things.  My view for website analytics now stretches to two pages.  I will not even make the attempt to blog on this page – my goal is just to keep the pictures fresh with the latest and greatest and make sure any show and selling information is accurate.  It took me a full day just to decide on the WordPress template I liked the best, sometimes too much choice is a bad thing.  I’ve also configured some online advertising and ordered business cards and even got a free car decal included – I’ve never been one for bumper stickers but if I can pull in just one person to take a look at the website, then it’s worth it.

And then yesterday I got a request from a major magazine to use an old photo for an internal advertisement.  I chose not to push for money but instead hope that the wide distribution with a photo credit is like free advertising for me. It was completely unexpected although it did result from my putting some things out there for free Internet use which I talked about back in April.  I think it was probably a very good idea.  Crossing my fingers that this is just the beginning of something great.

On the non-business front, I’m picking a new volunteer case today, it’s always interesting to learn people’s stories and find out what I can contribute to the kids.  I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter there. I’m also keeping the exercise in my routine although I’ve not put in quite as much time the last few days – I’m determined not to let that dwindle into nothing, however. I have a good feeling about the next few months…

Technorati Tags: achieving goals, Health and Happiness, solopreneur, synchronicity, the way to happiness, time management

Progress and learning

What a busy and productive week!  My beach glass jewelry is now in the gallery which will have its opening reception in just a few weeks.  Of course, once I got the initial set displayed things looked a little empty so I’ve been busy making even more to fill in the gaps.  It’s a bit scary because of the risk of not selling anything but at the same time I’ve figured out display ideas like hanging earrings from wine glasses that I can continue to use at art festivals and shows. In the midst of all that I’ve been studying up on how to get traffic over to the etsy shop and learned how to post things to Google’s shopping search.   It sounds easy but I’ve had to force myself to relax in the face of ‘oh no, another thing to do. How do I do THAT?’  It is starting to come together. What I haven’t gotten done yet is business cards and the website.  I also have been thinking that a YouTube video on my design process would be a good idea – and one more thing that I haven’t a clue about how to do!

In the midst of running around last weekend, an absolutely free treadmill came into my life and I’ve been using it every day, which I’m hoping turns into an automatic habit.  I’ve also been conducting my ‘baby-steps’ experiment on running, adding just one house a day – it’s surprisingly fun.  Forcing myself to stop and walk at a certain number leaves my wondering how far could I go?  How long can I keep this up? I actually find myself looking forward to it which is a surreal experience.

This coming week is going to be more focused on photography, I feel like I’ve been neglecting that area while trying to get some other things moving – time to start my book project and think about how I can get that sold in a corporate environment.  And more marketing, it’s the area where I feel less confident so I leave it to last , which is not the way to approach marketing successfully!

Technorati Tags: Health and Happiness, solopreneur, synchronicity, the way to happiness

Doing instead of thinking

It’s funny how a certain message can come at you from many different sources in a short span of time. It’s a synchronicity of sorts although I find that these messages are usually telling me something I’d rather not hear.  The phrase ‘thinking isn’t doing’ has come up in a phone conversation, a book I’m reading, and a few other places this week.  I’m trying to listen!  I’ve started using the task list in Google Mail, not as a permanent solution but as a way to keep track of the myriad things I need to get done this week and next.  It’s everything from jewelry design to digging up the irises so they’re definitely not stored in the same part of the brain.

Another place this hit home was in  reading on writing – being a better and more complete story teller. I find myself feeling like I should be good at that before I start drafting my book project (it’s a delaying tactic that I recognize) but there’s only one way to improve writing skills and that’s by using them.  Luckily there are all kinds of places to put that into practice. Thinking is certainly part of the process but doing is the only way to get there.  I’ve realized that I don’t tend to describe my surroundings very much when I write and yet surely that’s a huge part of the picture, even in non-fiction writing. Of course now I’m self-conscious about it and think that if I do it now, it will seem forced! I’ll sneak some in next week:-)

On the business front I have a meeting with a gallery next week so have been busy figuring out new beach glass jewelry designs.  I have to say it’s an incredible amount of fun to slide frosty pieces of glass around the kitchen table late at night.  They’re like fat puzzle pieces; eventually a few settle out to be the perfect match and arrange themselves into a design.  While I was doing this it started to seem like brown is the underdog glass color  – most people don’t even bother picking it up on the beach.  I’m finding myself feeling like it needs a champion and keep looking for ways to make it the ‘it’ color.  I may just have found it by pairing with clear pink quartz – the one that is the color of strawberry juice.

I’m so glad to be back home and trying to get back into my routine. Although I haven’t yet found the perfect place for my Dad’s alien suspenders (I bought them for him in Roswell.) They were the topic of our last conversation and he was thrilled with how much attention they drew!  His death feels like an elevator door closing; it’s change that requires some adjusting but it also feels okay – you can only hold that elevator door for so long before alarms start going off.

It’s more of the same for the coming week – making jewelry, writing, marketing and tying up loose ends.

Technorati Tags: getting organized, Health and Happiness, solopreneur, synchronicity, taking action, the way to happiness, thinking isn't doing

A year to do something

For some yet-to-be-ascertained reason, Julia Child has been on my mind for the last few months. It could be that her career transition from secret service to chef  could teach me a few things about making major changes or maybe just that I’ve been self-analyzing too much and the fact that we have the same initials is enough.  In any event, when I saw the movie trailer for Julie&Julia coming out this summer I paid attention.

The premise is based on a book which is based on the blog, The Julie/Julia Project, of spending one year cooking everything in Julia Child’s book, presumably with some expectation of great insight or achievement.  It occurred to me that I’ve passed this theme, ‘a year doing ____’ several times in the past six months. From Judith Levine’s year without spending to the blog, The Happiness Project , a continuation of a year studying happiness. And these are just the ones that garnered book deals.  There are photographers who have spent a year taking a picture of the same tree or scene every day for a year and people that have taken off for the wilds of another continent for a year, some getting book deals, but most not. These kinds of experiments aren’t really all that new; Henry David Thoreau’s Walden was in the same vein although he hung out at Walden Pond for 26 months and I don’t believe he had a specific calendar in mind when he started, although he did see it as an experiment.

So is this synchronicity or a delaying tactic for not getting other things done?

While my ego would rejoice in a book deal, I find that I’m more intrigued by the thought of trying to stick to something every day for a year.  There are plenty of things that I’ve done for longer than that but none that I can say I touched on a daily basis.  Just as there are projects that I’ve started and completed in far less time.  I’m doubtful of my ability to carry through on a year’s commitment to a project that isn’t work related.  Mostly because my bookshelves are riddled with blank books, each purchased with the intent that this was going to be the one that started the diary I would keep up. But also, I think I feel a little intimidated at the thought of ending something. In some ways it seems easier to contemplate a project that goes on forever, like that work-out routine I keep trying to implement, or moving somewhere exotic for an unspecified number of years than it does to set the end date before I even begin.

And then there’s that big problem of what the project is.  It wouldn’t be much fun to be a copycat and it’s not a good time for me to be taking off for Borneo anytime soon. Nor do I have money or time to spare. So what I need is a project that doesn’t take up much time but could last a year, doesn’t cost money, can be done locally and hasn’t been made into a book  yet. And that I’m interested in doing and that won’t turn into a job…  Maybe I could take a year thinking up ideas for how to spend a year? Yeah, maybe not.  I guess I’d better go off and think about this some more. Maybe inspiration will strike!

to be continued…

Technorati Tags: synchronicity, year-long projects

Subtle synchronicity

I suspect that the last day of March is going to turn out to be a pivotal one for me.  In trying to follow my own advice on problem solving, I was researching in the ‘people also bought this’ section of Amazon for potential expertise. I saved off a couple of interesting books, one of them being Barbara Sher’s Refuse to Choose, but I was a little too impatient to wait on shipping.  So while I was out running errands I stopped in at the local used bookstore just to check.  They had it in stock.  Another book practically leaped off the shelf at me, This Time I Dance!, by Tama Kieves, a recounting of how she stopped being a lawyer and started being a writer (and she’s upfront with the bumps in between.) Getting them home, I poured a glass of wine and read, and read, and read.

I found myself described in both books, pretty much on the first page. One described my personality and the other my journey.  Wednesday and Thursday, I finished my first go through and then re-read certain chapters of each all the while wandering around the house feeling like someone had pulled about the half the stuffing out of me.  I didn’t feel sick; just weak.  I’ve been introspective enough over the years to have spotted my pattern of indepth obsession with a topic or career only to find that I had absolutely no further interest in it about ten years later.  But I’d subconsciously classified it as a character flaw and a case of bad choices combined with poor analysis.  Seeing it all described in Refuse to Choose as normal, predictable, and something to be celebrated instead of fixed was a shock – so was letting go of that internalized profile. Seeing my very same dilemmas and self-doubts described in This Time I Dance! was comforting and encouraging, maybe I’m not doing it wrong after all… I’m very curious to see where that takes me next.

Technorati Tags: self-doubt, self-perception, synchronicity

What does ‘a sign’ really look like anyway?

It’s just been one of those weeks.  No major catastrophes, but plenty of frustrating distractions – starting with the squirrel setting up housekeeping in the attic and a minor case of bronchitis or something similar that is making me feel like I imagine pack-a-day smokers feel when facing a StairMaster,  further derailing my stab at a fitness plan.  And yet the latter encouraged me to take a mid-afternoon nap in the winter sunshine, and the squirrel is reminding me that diligence and obsession really are two different things.

And somewhere in there I’ve managed to get enough website stuff done to be ready next week to start telling the world that they’re here (this site and www.nurdle.net) .  And along with all that, a little bright point of happiness; an email inviting me to display three photographs in a hospital’s changing  exhibit.  A small but great step towards getting more visibility as a photographer. The funny part is that I had visualized this very hospital and event in context with meeting ‘the guy’ a psychic predicted two years ago.  I’ll have to wait until April to find out that part, but I’ll let you know if it happens.

Some would say there were no signs here and this is just life as usual. They could be right, but I’m more inclined to see intent and tailored lessons on flow, patience, and not obsessing.  I’m trying very hard to pay attention.

Technorati Tags: encouragement, Importance of Motivation, intuition, synchronicity