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Where's Your Mess?

Welcome back, everybody. We are now going to go into a lesson number eight, which is where is your mess? We just finished up with lesson number, sir. Seven where we looked at our three fattest failures and the lessons we learned now we're gonna look at our mess so one of the challenges that a lot of artists, a lot of creative people talk about his ability to focus does anyone identify with that the ability to focus or lack of ability to focus right? Just feel this overwhelming state of lack of motivation or overwhelmed where do I start? What do I do? And I have a cure for you today. And, um, that is really about taking some action, the sub's very doable, right? And it's gonna actually clear up some space, some emotional space and physical space so that you can focus and it's going to be about cleaning up your mess where I suggest you start is your physical environment so it could be I don't know it could be your underwear drawer it could be your a drawer in your office. It could be a s...

helf. Um, it could be your back seat of your car. Where are you? Every time you look, you think what a mess right keeps it keeps distracting, you keeps taking your attention away from the present and, um if you don't know where to start with that like you can't even figure out what that is going to be, then here's a trick for you we think about the room that you spend the most time in it could be your studio over your bedroom it could be your kitchen wherever that isthe and actually get yourself situated stand there and start with this space it might be a shelf it might be a drawer I don't know what it is it could be a closet and start with that just commit to doing one thing at a time so about this is all about taken action everybody taking consistent action and work your way through the room so finished with this then go over here, you know, kind of like a clock and just actually work your way through the room now why? I mean, why is she asking me to clean my room? Like I thought this was about finding my creative purpose and about fulfilling that purpose by expressing my passion and hopefully making some profit well it iss but it is about focus it's also about managing your energy and your attention and there is nothing more distracting than being in a place of disorganization you can't find your tools, you can't find your files, you're scrambling for contact information, your books are a mess, your receipts are in a big heap you're afraid teo file your taxes like all of that stuff creates unnecessary distraction and everyone who does this exercise always feels better so we're gonna look at a couple examples on goingto ask the students to talk about just what that was like and if it initiated any clarity or or not um and um we well hold on a second I need some help. Mind everyone that you can also be a part of the in studio experience just like felix just like the rest of our students here by just going on creative live dot com flash front row right exactly and if you find yourself alone or trying to trudge through these experiments all right by yourself go to join that artists who thrive dot com and ass join the mastermind group or reach out to a friend to friend would be better you're not doing this by yourself because who wants to clean their room right now like it's? Not the first thing you're really motivated to dio right? So if you can actually check in with someone is going to make it a whole lot easier. All right, so we have an example here this is camp this was kathy kathy's nightstand all right, so kathy, this was the before um why did you choose your nightstand? Because I never give it any attention. I just keep throwing things in it like dental floss buttons you what do you have in there? Okay, so you got like, a lotion lotion should or something there's an article that my mom sent theirs article your mom sent what is that a hanger? Yeah. You know it's a cute article about what been wire hangers. Just a creative thing. Okay? Headlamp we've you know, we're in the country that have headlamps on every nightstand. Okay. Um p jeannie yeah, it didn't even work doesn't even work now, so if a robber entered your home, he wouldn't go with you. I throw it out. Okay? All right, there's, I think there was even a couple of dollars store I I masks that are so uncomfortable never wear them. But you know, I'm not going to throw him out. I'm not goingto stand. They go tonight, stay because that's where they go and you have to let go of it. Oh, and that things, that coaster it has a rooster on it like a drink coaster. Okay, I'm gonna give you another tip about get reading, getting rid of clutter. This one's works for me really well, so I think that's actually part of ah fung shway philosophy. So what you do is if you're resistant to throw away that that mask that sleeping mask because it has some sentimental value or you have some justification for having that taking up space you gotta ask yourself is this something that is of complete utilitarian value? I use it every night before I go to sleep I must have it yes or no no now ok, how would it goes so another question you can ask yourself is this the work of art? In other words, I would rush back into my house and make sure that I got my hands on that painting or that sculpture because it's so such a beautiful piece of our not a crappy poster but a beautiful piece of art is it that you're drunk for our your bedroom your nightstand for ok and then I mean, there were a few utilitarian pieces there's no there's no art in there. Yeah, right all right, I mean, this is like the criteria of, like, de cluttering and they're really little very little and then the other question would be, is this a really high sentimental value like it is? Thie it's your wedding photo? You're only one and you don't want you don't want that to burn in the fire, right? Right? Then you would hold onto it and you might go back in to retrieve that so if it fits in those criteria, then you can keep it otherwise get rid of it, make space for it, move it out um and reason I'm having you start with this exercises it is something everyone khun dio like if you don't have focus in your life you don't know what your purpose is yet you know if you're sick if your challenge with some other things this is something you can do that's actually gonna give you some breathing space something you can act on and feel good about and is actually going to serve a function at the end so that's why I'm having you do this exercise alright so cathy did this exercise and then look good thanks. All right, so you got yourself some you gotta have a headlamp because you live in the country's a live in the country you know, because she had a brilliant idea noah yeah gotta write stuff down nail file gonna keep a bottle of lavender could go I don't really use that I think I just like knowing that it's there if I ever need something susan idea but you never really use it exactly. So that has to go? Yeah what's that does your sweet little notes my daughter and, uh my daughters and I used to write to each other. Okay, well, that's just like hi sentimental value, right? Okay and you don't want to stay in your table e but I don't like having it out where you could see it's, okay but in there when I'm not using it so let's compare it's about feeling your physical environment absolutely has an effect on you can't argue with me on this when we know this one's like how you dress like how you like if you're wearing tatty closed and you had a hole in your t shirt and something is staying I'll feel so good great feels confident and it's the same of your physical environment, especially your studio space to the place where you're spending a lot of time so it's worth for it was worth doing it let's take a look we got he is so much better so much better how did you feel? I mean, it was like going to exercise it I mean, I get the exercise that everybody feels better when things are tidy. Um it was kind of embarrassed that I let something get so icky like that, you know, like because nobody else would see it on the on ly one who knows about that drawer? Whoever opens that drawer, whatever look in that drawer so it wasn't about anybody but me and just going I you know, having valley enough value on mated make it neat, right? It was good exercise, right? Some of, you know, like in my studio work very tidy everything's quite organized, overly organized in my own personal space where nobody sees it's it's, that seems to be more my my thing because I saw it's, it's, it's really about translating value over onto me and not so much just business. Does that make sense? Yeah makes complete sense I think that there's insight in your nightstand for it has uh, you know, maybe some broader meaning that because I deserve that I don't deserve the first picture, right? I have to remember that, right? You here's a thing as the as creatives as artists we are the factory were not just the boss and the employees were also the factory. Without us, nothing is going to be produced, so your overall physical wellbeing declare your clarity of your thought your your feelings, your ability to feel inspired versus depressed or distracted is incredibly, incredibly important. This isn't just a feel good exercise you are, and although it does feel good, you are the factory, you have to actually shut down for maintenance, you have to actually make sure that all of the working parts are, you know, oiled or whatever, I don't know car analogies or mechanic intelligent and really good at that, but you get the point right? So you take care of this so european, your personal well being is incredibly important it's going to affect your creative expression is going to affect the way that you interact with clients or prospects are new opportunities how you feel is how you're going to show up so we're just looking for opportunities to boost your overall energy level and ability to focus that's the point of this exercise so everybody at home please do this even though it seems like just a painful chore I'm assigning to you just do one thing you don't have to do everything else once you don't have to clean out the garage you know just do one thing all right let's look at another example what is that okay who owns this? John john there's the calm that you say comb you left behind it doesn't look like I use it what's in that bag I don't think anything is in that bag that's just the bag is just a bad yeah okay that there's the red thing is like an overnight bag toiletry type kid okay, so I just came back from my my cabin for a few days okay right. That is the couch that is in my office my home office I see and clearly I vomited the contents of that backpack onto it are these your neatly folded? Yes you're wearing my clothes and being wrinkled okay, so all right, so if we're from where that pictures taken that's my desk that's where I work oh and this was the most I was like, what is really messy oh, I didn't have to look far okay, so let's just pretend for a moment that you're an employee a creative life all right because you are your own employees and your own boss right? And you're walking into the your office and your boss came libby it's craig maybe it's you know who does right and they see this hotness in your office right it's not conducive they want to sit down have a meeting with you so this is your physical work space it's not in fairness it's not always like that well yes yeah that's where that's where I was working that day so however you did the assignment I did okay it took like two minutes to make it all go away great we on then there was light then there's light okay, so now when you work in this physical environment how do you feel differently or do you feel differently? Maybe you're not affected by it? No, I was affected by it and I noticed something right after I, um right after I clean that I felt like a surge of momentum and ended up right that was I don't know what time that picture was taken but it was some time sort of late at night right? And I worked for like a few more hours and got a lot of really focused work done, okay? Um so it was great, so it so is it fair to say it changed the energy in the room and the energy that you were generating? Yes, but I don't think it was a cz much about the mess as me just taking action on something that I had to do it. I think I could have paid a bill or something, teo, keep yourself like he took some productive action so you could have clean it, clean the contents off the couch, or you could have paid a bill or you could have sorted through your mail or whatever it is. So that's that's the point? So a lot of artists who I work with feel a bit stuck, they feel they get into procrastination mode. Does anyone here get into procrastination mode? So if you find yourself in that spot, um, what I'm suggesting is maybe you're not in the best space to start that writing assignment or maybe you're not in the best space to start that photography project. Um, so just pull yourself out of the hole a bit by doing something like john said paying a bill, cleaning off the couch and just train yourself to move in action so one of things that I used to dio um, was when I was working full time and I was starting to paint again and I was commuting and mind you is going to a job that I didn't like at all I mean it's an understatement african hated that job and until I make team leader either very much. S o I was pretty pooped when I finally got home, but I knew that I had to dig deep and find the energy to paint now I wasn't selling my paintings at that point, but I knew I had just make paintings and I had to make art so here's what I would do I would put on my painting overalls and it would set up my painting supplies and then at the end of that if I still didn't feel like I feel like I let myself off the hook but I would say ninety eight percent of the time just clearing like setting the table and putting the painting overalls on and keeping that small commitment to myself I was able to complete the task and actually finish a painting so these are rich jewel's and ways to orient yourself so that you can actually gather some energy and you can gain some focus and especially when you're in procrastination mode or I'm exhausted bowed just do one very small doable thing you don't have tio clean your whole house just have to clean your couch all right does that does that make sense resonate with anybody? Is it makes sense like tio it would it would taking this kind of approach help you get out of procrastination because felix you said that's one of your challenges don't it before I put I've cleaned out the big closet in the living room through stuff away so gave it away and it just gets back piled up again, right, right so I heard somebody saying for everything you bring in you know you have to give two things away or you have to throw two things away I have a lot to throw away then after this weekend yeah, yeah, but all that stuff has energy in meaning attached to it so you kept your daughter's sweet little notes because it has positive energy and sentiment attached to it and it gives I'm sure even though you're not reading them every night you're there there and there a beautiful reminder of something really positive so there it's you know it's who you have in that in your space and if you you know it's it's just you really have to just experience this exercise and if you just send does not theoretical you'd have to do it just pick a drawer, pick a shelf and bust yourself when you're in procrastination mode and bust yourself when you're in avoidance mode and just do something and clear your energy and your space so let's take this a bit deeper, okay, you're going toe the mess is physical often time this you oftentimes are physical surrounding is a reflection of our state of mind even, you know, it's it's it's in the contents of our home, it's in the contents of our clothing closet. I mean it's just really it's a big old mirror. Just like the mirror exercise. There are other areas where things might be messy and it could be it could be with thumb, your sales department. It could be with your marketing department or lack thereof. I mean, who knows? So I'm going to ask the students too. Talk to me about where there's kind of a mess. So, jen, you you already said your accounting has been out of date, right? Yeah. So is it still kind of a mess or you cleaned up? Where is that now? Well, so I mean, in the bigger picture, like, this is a huge transition, like I just moved house. So I have all these back boxes to unpack, like, I really am clearing everything out and creating a whole new space and energy. And so it's, the accounting is, like coming up with a new routine, or I sit down every week, right? And I really go through quick in and I really brushing your teeth exactly. Exactly because everything is in transition, right? I mean it's all sort of like every time I open the box it's like my god if I keep this or do I throw it out? All right? So I'm gonna just ask you to pick one thing, so I asked you guys to in this assignment everybody home to pick a drawer shelf but, you know, physical mess to clean up said she could gain some confidence in some feeling of control, but I'm also going now ask you to look at your enterprise or your budding enterprise maybe you're not in business yet or maybe you're just starting to do this on a part time basis, right? So wherever you're at, it doesn't matter as it pertains to your business what's the one thing that would be very helpful and you would feel quite refreshed if you cleaned it up. So john what's one area in your business or and it couldn't just maybe it's, not yours, just our existing business maybe it's with your monthly experiment project where you really want to be spending your time and energy what's one thing you could dio by the end of this week I mean one thing I already did over the weekend wass I had so many side projects going on, so I had a crazy amount of experiments that I've done that air published on the site and people can go do those experiments and sometimes I would create sort of an entire side project around an experiment and it would I would start to like go into because I build brands in my day job company so it's one thing you could do just I killed a bunch of projects off you kill us already done one thing yeah I literally deleted entire websites and killed them off so what's what's so that's what you did fantastic give me one more thing you're going to do by the end of this week and they're all listening so they're going to check in with you your classmates um and it's only has to be significant to you it doesn't have to make sense to anybody else just to you. All right, there's one page on my website that I need to organize badly. Okay, what is that it's the sort of library of all the experiments I've done okay said he went to organize a likeness. Yeah. Did everyone hear organize the library on monthly experience experiments dot com okay, you're next with the one thing you're gonna do to clean up a mess and whatever area of your enterprise you choose uh it's my iphone photo back up there I have I don't know how many ten thousand or something it's full and I need to move him off the phone and catalogue them okay all right everybody listening at home just think of one thing you know one thing it makes the next thing easier to do if you do that one thing is just that first step sometimes the harder step you having trouble get yourself a friend get yourself a mastermind buddy don't you know don't try to just tough it out so john when I said um your classmates are going to check in with you about this library did you feel like a better get okay and yoni um are you okay with people checking in with you chaps will ask if you've done this backup of all your art well it's not all my art but what's on there right whatever whatever is not being backed up yeah okay all right felix what's one thing you khun dio just one thing what I'm about to say is gonna change a lot for me but I need to say it because I need to be held accountable okay there's your opportunity I need to redo my website okay it is so outdated okay so you're not going so limit let's break this down into bite size baby steps you're not going to do your whole website by the end of next week so what's once within that big milestone of redoing your website what's one thing when action step you khun take towards that goal right new inspirational material okay all right can I suggest that maybe you work with an expert on that because the way that you write copy for online readership is different, sure and maybe you guys could have a conversation maybe that should be his task. Okay. All right, so maybe just why don't you just have the conversation with john is there you open to that like, just during lunch or something? Yeah. Could you mind helping each other out? Hold him accountable and hold them accountable? Okay. All right. Does that sound good? Sounds good. How does that feel? Just to know you're getting started and you got an expert in the room. He's an expert. It feels good now that I've put it out there, right? I know I'll do it right. He's built, um really, killer websites so you're in good hands. I have people I can talk to is just haven't wait me that time, right? Okay, so you're going to do that, you would have that conversation. All right? What's one thing you're gonna do, kathy it's the computer as well. But it's, um, I know that there's a lot of income to be made in passive passive income to be made with a lot of the digital files that I've created designs I've made, okay, I just need to get in there and start organizing and digging up and reviewing our and keeping and tossing and all right so that sounds like a big project so may I make a suggestion to make it maybe the same suggestion of people at home so if you got a big project like that to tackle maybe another way to slice it and dice it so that you can be confident you're gonna complete it by next week is say I'm gonna do it for an hour I will do it for at least an hour and if I want to keep going I will but I will dedicate at least one hour doesn't that sound seem more doable right or an afternoon it worked whatever you pick it but just make sure that it's something that you know you're going to accomplish it's working towards a larger goal but just one bite size action step so everyone heard kathy are you okay with having people check in with you and say how's it going okay everybody home do the same thing pick something what's one thing you know what you need to dio maybe you need to take maybe need to sign up for a class maybe you need to call on accountant I don't know what it is it's different for everybody okay jen what's one thing that you could dio gonna reconcile quicken you gonna reconcile and how long will that take that? Can you do that in fairly short order okay all right by the end of the week by the end of the week so everyone feels like they can do everything by the end of the week yeah okay now I'm gonna ask you how does it feel to make a bite size commitment to your larger success okay, so if you're consistent and you do this every day it builds on itself right? So one of the assignments that I give its isn't such a eso technique you know and I will talk about this later is like just picked like six things to dio six things that you could do every day and check him off her list or three pick your number but just be consistent with it and bye as time passes you will have made a major change you willbe earning passive income you'll be pleased with your website and you'll reflect um your your image in your brand much more effectively right you will be more at ease with your finances and be able to make informed choices not choices based on perceived scarcity right? You are not going to be felt overwhelmed with procrastination you're going to have like this right units search ease up on feeling overwhelmed because you're to start to make some really practical choices about completing things you know you need to dio I mean backup is essential for a photographer really really essential it's like maybe like if my studio caught on fire that would be like if you lost your backup well, it's backed up in the cloud but I like to move them off okay? Phone to ah hard backup to give additional safety net exact rate and done you're gonna obviously move towards a bigger enterprise and be able to take all your skills and talent that you now offer up and your consulting business and start to shift that towards something that has a deeper meaning to you and purpose and is actually really gonna have a big positive impact on a lot of people it already has so it's worth doing it right it's just worth starting the ball rolling so that was lesson number eight where is your mess? Okay, so start with your physical rome and then get into the parts of your business that also I'm kind of a mess we're going teo moving into lesson number nine which is your hero's journey before that let me give you some action items to take find your place in your workbook mark off your progress er in the do we call this our wheel of progress I love this thing color it, have fun with it, share it and speaking of sharing it go to join dot artists who thrive dot com and asked to join the mastermind group find somebody on facebook do not do this alone and do not forget to put this in your calendar either the work itself or showing up for the class. So I'm looking forward to seeing you all on our next lesson, which is called your hero's journey. Thank you very much.