Dreaming at the End of Your Pen
Hey friends,
Happy Sunday!
In today’s newsletter, I’m covering:
I mentioned in my first edition I was on a podcast talking about my experiences and transformational journey through a program called Project Hero. It was a powerful conversation and listening to it made me realise how far I’ve come. I was authentic and raw about my experiences in the hope that I inspire others that it’s never too late to Lead From Within. I hope you receive some insights from it.
You can now listen to this here:
P.S. Images in this article have been created using AI
Quote of the week:
Some people are so poor all they have is money
Bob Marley
My Fear of Posting on LinkedIn
I was in a corporate job where I felt stuck, unfulfilled, unmotivated and pretty much bored. So I decided to experiment with some creative things that eventually spiralled. Fast forward a year, I launched my own video production company whilst in a full-time corporate job.
LinkedIn was a platform I didn’t dare to talk or post about things I was doing outside of work because I feared there would be repercussions from my employer.
I was working remotely and I often feared that they’d think I was using my time at work to do what the hell I wanted. I also feared what my colleagues would say and it would find a way back to the people I tried to hide this from.
Whilst I’m no longer at that corporate job, I am embarking on a new journey at a start-up shortly and this time, I’m doing things differently. Last week something inspired me to start sharing on LinkedIn and I decided that I’d start posting my newsletter here too.
If you find yourself in the situation I was in, whether it’s a side hustle or something a bit more established whilst working a full-time corporate job, here are the steps I’d take if you wanted to start sharing:
Doing nothing isn’t going to help and is likely to slow your progress. You’ll always be living with some fear of hiding. I’m sharing this because I did nothing, and knowing what I know now, no one actually cared. If anything, when I told my employer and colleagues I was leaving and why I was leaving, my decision very much inspired them. From the feedback I received, it was clear to me that during the last year I spent there, I would have had their support either way.
A Path of Discovery
Have you ever had a single moment or turn that changed everything?
When I moved to the Northwood area, the surroundings were entirely new to me. I didn’t know where the alleyway on a few streets near us led to. I didn’t know where the paths in the forest led to.
With some exploration with my dog Nova, we experimented with different routes without looking them up on a digital map.
We embraced the unknown path.
We navigated ourselves through the forest and found that every route was connected to somewhere we’d discovered before. We thought we were lost but we kept walking and then bang, we knew where we were.
Recently we discovered a new path that led us back to the entrance of the forest. How did we miss that? We’ve been walking past that alley for almost 2 years.
Walking up that alley now connects us to an entirely new space of adventure.
This is exactly what happens when we experiment with things we like doing.
In last week’s edition, I wrote about doing more of what you love by simply noticing what resonates with you and doing more of that.
领英推荐
This connection made me think about the paths of discovery I’ve been on and how one path leads to another and why it’s important never to shut the door on it.
I said yes to a friend who wanted some help to shoot some photos at a party. This was the first time I picked up a camera. That led me to pick up an e-book about photography which led me to watch some YouTube videos. The YouTube algorithm then introduced me to video and filmmaking. After watching a few more videos, I was inspired to purchase an online course on filmmaking. The course helped me develop skills, which I practised and soon gave me the confidence to approach businesses and shoot videos for them, which then led me to work with more clients. I’m now about to embark on a new path working for an AI start-up doing something I enjoy.
It was one path after another that opened doors but there was a moment when I closed the door and was fixated on money, that’s when everything changed.
I look back and there were paths that I could have taken but I chose not to because I was fixated on making money in the short term. I’m not saying this was wrong. I was excited by it all at the time, but what I realised was that I closed the door on other opportunities and experiences that could have served me better long term. Just like that alley that we ignored for almost two years.
The lesson here for me is that I can always keep the door open because things can change very quickly. It’s important to expand my boundaries on what’s possible. There are paths of discovery and endless possibilities for all of us.
We can experiment more and walk different paths to find what we love doing.
We could even look at it from the perspective of topics like relationships, fun and creativity.
There are default paths like going to school, college, university, getting a corporate job and settling on a default path. For some people that might just be enough to be content and fulfilled. For others, it may feel like their suffering in silence.
So I guess a question for you here to reflect on is where have you closed the door and what could you create by opening it?
Dreaming At The End of Your Pen - Crash & Burn
I’ve often guided clients to share their own stories through content by identifying moments that changed the trajectory of their life or business. These are often powerful moments that others find relatable and as a result of sharing, they are able to build deeper connections with their audience.
This can be achieved by telling stories and I believe it is a skill that we can master as creatives.
Whilst writing is an experimental new form for me, I’ve recently been more intrigued by storytelling and becoming better at it myself. So I picked up a book called Storyworthy this week and wanted to share with you an interesting exercise called “Crash & Burn”.
The author Matthew Dicks describes Crash & Burn as stream-of-consciousness writing. Think of it as dreaming on the end of your pen (or keypad/keyboard).
Stream of consciousness is the act of speaking or writing down whatever thought that enters your mind, regardless of how strange, incongruous, or even embarrassing it may be.
The exercise can help generate new ideas and help make the process of finding moments of epiphany easier.
There are 3 important rules:
Rule #1:?You must not get attached to any one idea.
If a thought crosses over another one, move on and keep writing, don’t get attached to one idea!
Rule #2:?You must not judge any thought or idea that appears in your mind.
No matter how crazy the thought is, don’t judge and keep writing!
Rule #3:?You cannot allow the pen to stop moving.
Just keep writing, don’t pause. If you’re stuck on a thought, begin listing colours on the page until one of them triggers a thought or memory. Here’s an example from the book:
Red, green, blue, black, brown . . . I tell kids that brown is my favorite color, and it makes them all crazy, which makes no sense, but in truth, I have no favorite color, which makes them even crazier . . .
You could even write numbers in the word form until it jogs a memory.
You must continue writing words even when your mind is empty.
The idea behind this is to do this often (every day if you can for 10-15 minutes) and you can keep looking back to pull out threads that are worth saving. There will be story ideas, anecdotes for future stories, epiphany moments, new ideas and interesting thoughts that you could share in future.
Creativity at its finest?
If you read my newsletter last week, I’m using an app called Day One Journal, so I’ve literally just built a template for this, set a reminder and I’m currently inspired to give it a go daily.
Let me know if you give this a shot!
That’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed the newsletter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
If you found this useful or inspiring in any way, I’d love it if you could share this with anyone that you think might receive value from it.
My intention for this newsletter is to inspire others through my experiences, and the more you can help me spread this newsletter, the more people will be able to receive insights from it.
Speak soon ??
Milesh