What Would You Do With All That Money?

I've been thinking about money lately. It's not coming so easily these days, is it?

For those of us experiencing job losses or shifts, or a drop in business and earnings it can be a pretty scary time. And a redefining time -- which can be fruitful and exciting. (And again, scary. Uncertainty.)

Here's my current money story in a nutshell: I was kicked out of a corporate writing job. This freed me up to pursue a path I'd been dreaming about because I had nothing else to do. It was time, and I pounced. I signed up for a coaching course which led to commit to starting my own coaching and writing consulting biz. This led to a goal set on making a business that can sustain me financially for years to come (don't even ask me about my non-401k). In short: I'd had enough with the swinging pendulum of In Job/Out of Job/In Job/Out of Job. Time for something new.

This led to me ask: When I say I want financial freedom, what exactly does Financial Freedom mean? Better yet, what does it look like?

So I started making a list. And a fun list. Like that beautiful To Do list I wrote about a while back.

Here's a bit of it. (Warning: Once you start on a Cool Moneyfied To Do List, it really gets going):

* Be able to buy a plane ticket, last minute, to anyplace in the world, at any time.

* More specifically: buy more plane tickets  to Colorado to see my niece and nephew. I'd like to be able to plunk down money on last-minute high-fare tickets to fly out and see Campbell's play or a Taya's skating competition. And I want to not even flinch at the cost.

*Swim Trek International. Swim island to island through the Greek Hebrides.

* Get massages often, once a week if I feel like it. And from Ruth who will be starting her new massage biz soon.

* Hire my wonderful cleaning ladies, once a week and increase their pay.

* Buy paintings from local, up-and-coming artists.

* Get myself a sunny lovely office space. With a plant. 

One thing that arises from my list is a new-and-improved value: How much I want to pay for products and services that support other small biz owners. Which leads me to ...

It's not always about getting a deal Just as I want to make a comfortable living, I want that for others as well. This means choosing my time to be thrifty and getting a good deal appropriately. Like a giant retail store sale or steals on travel. But don't be a cheapskate with the small biz owner. That's just wrong.

And now, a story about pajamas and making more money A small biz owner friend of mine recently told me how much she loves pajamas. She especially enjoys working in fresh new PJs at her stunning home office. I said it would be fun if she rewarded herself with a new pair of pajamas with every new client she retains. And so, she can frame her goals as such: "10 new pairs of pajamas by the end of the year."

So, what would your life-enhancing, good-time, Beautiful Money To Do List look like? It would be great to get some more ideas to add to my list.

What's Better: To Overcome or Become?

To overcome a challenge is a wonderful American act. Impressive, filled with fortitude and perseverance.

Or is there a better, easier way to move through challenges? Today in coach training class we talked about our thoughts on becoming vs. overcoming.

Most of us agreed that to overcome something in life sounded really hard. I got the image of Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill over and over again. Pretty joyless, too.

But to become sounds like creating, and enjoying the process.  Becoming focuses on a solution, something positive; overcoming focuses on the problem, aka. a big, fat bummer.

Then there's the totally un-fun image of  overcoming: I see a clenched jaw, pursed lips and my eyes closed while I walk slowly against high winds and bad weather. It's just struggling, struggling to go through. I am enduring.

I hate the act of enduring. It feels like a duty, without a trace of creativity or imagination anywhere. (Although some periods of life do call upon enduring skills.)

The act of being, or becoming feels like living from a space of inspiration: putting my hands together to see who I can call on for collaboration or wise words and what I can create to move through a time that's filled with stupid challenges luscious new opportunites. One small cool-ass step at a time.

If you're one of the new masses who's chanting: "Enjoy the process" -- then being rather than overcoming can be your ticket to the enjoying part.

With all that in mind: Who would you be if you focused on the thrill of becoming rather than the agony of overcoming?

Friday Quickie: Money Fears

Some days money fears have me by the balls.

And this week I was reminded of the best way out of this place: just do something.

By doing something I mean taking the tiniest bit of action that moves me in the direction I want to go. Simple things like: reaching out and talking to someone. Sending out an email to announce coaching offerings. Reading a blog or listening to a lesson on how to market new products. Or writing my blog. Emptying the dishwasher. Going for a run. Taking a walk to do some creative brainstorming. Looking at a piece of art, like the Rothko "No. 13," above.

My 2c is this: Action is the best way to work through fear.

When you're living in the space of creation, there is no room for fear. So ask yourself this:

What am I going to create today?

And sometimes a great salve is connecting with another human being that says: You're not alone. You can do it.

You can do it! Happy Friday.

Any comments on how you stare down fears, especially money fear$, let 'em rip.

What's Your Story -- In Six Words?

Hemingway allegedly said his best work was this six-word story:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Here's one by Margaret Atwood:

"Longed for him. Got him. Shit."

Which makes me think about other ways to use a six-word story.

And when I say "story" I mean anything.  Your life story. Your state of mind; your work-life manifesto; a new-biz plan. 

The six-word story of who you are, what you're doing,  what you're trying to create, or what you've been up to for the last six months.

So what would a series of six-word stories say about your life?

OK, I'll start:

Fired! Now I can be me again.

Just launched biz. To be continued ...

I coach. You can do it.

People say they can't write. Bullshit.

After my heart broke, compassion entered.

How to start writing? Move fingers.

Time to write blog. Aaaak! Done.

Why go walking? To see herons.

So those are some of my six-word stories. How would yours go?

Drop off any of your stories in Comments.

Thanks to Sonya for inspiring the post of Six Word Stories.

Why I Think Writer's Block is Bullsh*$

The fabulous sustainable arts designer Dinah Coops recently asked me about writer's block. "Is it a myth?" she asked.

For some writers it's very real.

Personally, I don't buy it. Which means I'm bound to get a big fat case of it next week. Ahh, no I won't.

So here's why I think Writer's Block is bullshit:

I think the act of writing, like much of life, is a decision. A choice. 

And, I think of writing as a physical act. It is physically putting fingers to the keyboard or moving pen over paper and then opening up to what comes in: images, characters, words. And pushing through the desire to look out the window or get up and clean out the fridge.

I believe in "writer's block" as much as I believe in exerciser's block or eating-healthfully block or kind-behavior-block or listener's block.

I do believe in not writing, though. And being stuck. Or in a rut, or just in no mood to write. But that's life.

Sometimes you're just depleted. There have been a few times coming off a huge writing rampage where I'm on Empty and I need to fill up a bit. Usually I'm just on Empty in the big scheme of life. Or I can feel something shifting and changing inside me, wanting to go in a different direction. So it's quiet time for a while.

A lot of writers, like me, don't work really well when we don't write. Or exercise. All of us, I believe, have things we need to do in order to work properly as human beings. Gardening, taking a stroll through the woods, running, playing music, reading trashy novels, having sex, helping others, cooking, traveling, praying, making jokes ...

Writers write. And sometimes they don't. But why do we have to give it this sickness called Blocked?

I asked my design friend Dinah about "visual artist's block" and she sings pretty much the same song as I do. Dinah believes it exists, but she's personally never bought into it. Some artists, she said, "just need to take a little vacation from their art work."

In the meantime, here's a beautiful book on the subject of making art in the modern world, Art and Fear. It's not as scary as it sounds, really.

And just to cover my ass: Every writer has a different take on Writer's block. I'm sure it's hard to face the beginning of a new novel after you've sold a trillion copy and became famous and everyone's eyes are on you to see what you'll do.

But for today, I don't believe in writer's block.

Artwork: Gratuitous shot of my chapbook cover, artwork by Darwin Yamamoto.

Friday Quickie

What are you going to create this weekend that will make a good story for friends and co-workers on Monday?

A To Do List for Visual People

I came up with a new way to Not Forget Things today.

While working on a coaching tool called a Life Wheel, I saw a way to unlock my recent state of overwhelmation -- aka, being pummeled with wordy to-do-lists.Like many 21st-century multi-taskers, I have this ongoing worry note that important items I need to attend to will be forgotten and will drop through phantom cracks.

And with 10 million word docs and zillions of pieces of papers and a bajillion notebooks, I am almost up to here with words that represent a reminder to do anything.

So I put my Major To Dos in a Wheel and added color. Something about the roundness softened it too.

It's simple:

*Get a piece of paper. *Draw a big circle. *Divide it into eight sections (pieces of pie). *Name your eight areas of To Dos. *Colored them in with pastel crayons, if you'd like. *Itemize each section with some of the most immediate To Dos (or Get-to-dos). *Don't forget the fun stuff that feeds you. (e.g., one of mine was Creativity). *Put it somehwere you can see it. *Throw out old To-Do list that has been up on fridge for past month.

Have you noticed?

The wheel also looks like a compass. I find I can look at this Visual To Do list as: forward motion or a directional. Both, very comforting and encouraging.

My To-Do list doubles as a guide that says: do some of these and you'll get there.

No longer an admonishing finger telling me what I again didn't do.

So, give it a whirl?

And if you have something to add on the subject of To Do lists, let 'er rip.