Growth and Abundance

While I’m not one for resolutions, I’ve come to relish the quiet time for reflection that comes as one year ends and the new one emerges. There’s a lot to process. I know I’ve been incredibly fortunate during a time when so many have lost so much. Despite living a small and almost cloistered existence in what was a pretty tough year on many fronts, I feel richness and positivity emanating in my life.?

A lover of frameworks, I’ve been sketching, categorizing, and trying to make sense of what’s been working. With a backdrop of positivity and introspection, I’ve distilled four personal keys to abundance: curiosity, creativity, consistency, and contribution. These things have helped me flourish in the past year.

Curiosity: I’ve become more intentional about satiating my curiosity which means I read, listen, and learn less haphazardly than in the past. And I am more open about sharing my interests with family, colleagues, and friends - even in cases where things like my fascination with the Tik Tok algorithm becomes its own meme or my keen interest in the application of Amazon ways of working gets raised again. Discussing the things you’re curious about is a great hack and can result in a treasure trove of insights, a building of ideas, and new avenues of exploration. TBH, I consumed a lot of content last year;?some of the highest quality and filled with inspiration yet much of it empty calories. (An aside on empty calories - I don’t see this as wasted time.?Escapist reading can provide an unexpected spark or just give your brain the recovery time it needs.) The 105 books I read and countless hours of podcasts I listened to in 2021 served as fuel for the most significant period of creativity of my life.

Creativity: As a marketer by profession, I consider myself a creative. Creativity is core to being excellent in marketing. Business strategy demands creativity. In addition to my work at OJO Labs, writing, ‘making’, and design are other creative pursuits that fill me up. Many of you know that in late 2020, I leaned into my maker tendencies crafting finishing salts and aromatic bitters. Sharing the fruits of these efforts with friends and family, I had no bigger plans in mind. Reading Choose Possibility by Sukhinder Singh Cassidy was the singular inspiration that prompted me to take the leap in October 2021, launching House Arrest Goods as an online store. This little venture has been broadly demanding of my creativity including product development, brand development, labeling and packaging, product photography, content, merchandise development, customer acquisition, and development of my second Shopify storefront. (In July I stood up a print-on-demand OJO Merch Store as a passion project). I’ve always loved typography, and earlier in the year I started online classes to learn hand lettering with Procreate. For the past several months, I set aside a couple of hours every Saturday morning to learn and practice. Getting hands-on with digital design, then led me to explore NFTs and start investing energy in the space. While I’m a newbie approaching all of this with a beginner's mind, it's exciting to be partnering with my husband Paul in our own Web3 venture, Blk Sqrl Foundry, that provides another avenue for creation.

Consistency: As a runner, I’ve learned that consistency beats intensity. I’m pretty adept at dialing up intensity, so this is a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again. Consistency, for me, is when intention meets practice. An hour a day, 5x/week, or once a weekend - planned and executed. Establishing a rhythm and sticking with it means that progression will be a natural byproduct - something you can count on. Some days I don’t want to do the thing, and when I do it anyway, I’m always very pleased. On other days I don’t want to do the thing, and I might choose to skip it. When consistency falters, I remind myself that I can unapologetically start again. Re-commit. Impact and the ability to make a meaningful contribution rely on progress, not perfection.

Contribution: Both an outcome and a catalyst, contribution can be a challenge to pin down. I look at it in two ways. First, contribution is a product of curiosity, creativity, and consistency. A spark that is actioned and tended to can result in a meaningful contribution. That’s definitely how I think about my work at OJO Labs and how I consider the personal and professional impact of my House Arrest Goods venture. Yet there are plenty of examples of where contribution is the catalyst -- and the flywheel starts there. Being a lecturer at the McCombs School of Business, a Board Member of Miracle Foundation, and the leader of a working moms forum all started with the desire to contribute.

I’m barrelling into 2022 with enthusiasm and optimism. My sense is this mental model for abundance will hold true while the facets flex as an antidote to stasis and an accelerant for continued growth.

Wishing everyone a year of growth and abundance!