I’ve been reading the War of Art.  Here’s something that struck me today…

“Fear is good.  Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator.  Fear tells us what we have to do.”

“Reistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of resistance.  Therefore, the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul.  That is why we feel so much resistance.  If it means nothing to us, there’d be no resistance.”

I like this way of looking at fear, but it still feels hard to face fears and move forward!  What fears are you facing?  What enterprise are you pursuing?

My friend and favorite entrepreneur did an inspiring interview that I want to pass on.  Every time I hear Debra Searle speak I come away with new ways of thinking and am inspired to be more adventurous, brave, creative and positive.

If you haven’t run across her before, here is her bio from her website, http://www.debrasearle.com

The Official Biography

Debra Searle MBE had achieved more by her mid 30’s than most people would dream of achieving in a lifetime: she has been awarded a first class honours degree, launched two companies, won World Championship medals for GB, presented over 40 programmes for the BBC, had two books published, become the youngest ever trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and successfully rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  In 2002 HM The Queen awarded Debra an MBE for her achievements, and in 2014 she was appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) for her work with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Her inspiring book …

I am enjoying enjoying another Austin Kleon book.  He gives such great advice about sharing your work with others.  Today what stood out to me was the importance of words.

“Words matter. Artists love to trot the tired line, ‘my work speaks for itself,’ but the truth is, our work doesn’t speak for itself.  Human beings want to know where things come from, how they were made, and who made them.  The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work.”

“If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller.”

I read this book a few years ago and was really inspired to have an ongoing creative project.  It was a little overwhelming for me to create something every day as the book suggests so I thought of a project that was more suitable for me at the time.  I chose to start a blog called 50 Words where I combine graphic design and photography to create 50 postcards.  This project worked pretty well for me to keep my creativity flowing.  I could work at my own pace, but there was a finish line.  I slowed way down at certain points so it took me longer then I thought to actually finish the project.  It was interesting to see how the project changed over time.  I started hiding words in the picture or making it look like a natural part of the picture which was a fun challenge.  I am now starting to think about a new creative project, but I’m not sure what it will be yet.  Let me know if you have any ideas or if your working on a creative project yourself that I can be inspired by!  Here’s the link to my fifty words blog if you want to check it out….

http://myfiftywords.wordpress.com

I have been enjoying reading this book.  “If I’d waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started ‘being creative’, well, I’d still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things.  In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.  You’re ready. Start making stuff.”  -Austin Kleon