A Girl On A Mission: How To Write A Personal Mission Statement!
[ 2 January 2012, 12:53 ]
“Now that it’s all over, what did you really do yesterday that’s worth mentioning?” (Coleman Cox)
Put this in your diary: “In 2012, I will write a personal mission statement.”
...But why would you want to do something like that?! Well, let me tell you a few reasons why writing a personal mission statement is important & useful. Firstly, it’s a fantastic way to figure out what your values are. This way, when you’re feeling bogged down with email, projects or meetings, you can quickly think back to your mission statement & be able to figure out whether what you’re doing today is relevant to what you want to achieve. The second reason why a mission statement is helpful is because it’s hard to make things happen when you don’t know what you really want! To get things done, you have to start with the end in mind, & a personal mission statement will help support your goals in a wonderful way.
If a “personal mission statement” sounds too heavy, you have my — our — your own — permission to call it something else. A statement of intent. A manifesto. Your quest, on paper. A vision communiqué. A declaration of fabulousness!
I know that the whole idea of this might sound incredibly serious & permanent. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, the best mission statements change & evolve as you do. The things that were important to you five years ago may no longer be pertinent, & that’s wonderful! (It means you are progressing & growing!) So don’t feel like committing something to paper means you are bound to it forever. You’re not.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to complete this in a day, or even a week. It might take you some time to put together your own mission statement. In fact, I’d be inclined to say that the more time it takes you, the better! Allow your brain lots of time to percolate & germinate the ideas! Start with a rough outline & fill it in over the rest of the month. Make this exercise something you create time for every day.
“A personal mission statement becomes the DNA for every other decision we make.” (Stephen Covey)
How to begin: Grab a piece of paper & your favourite pen. Get seated somewhere comfortable & write down some questions. I like these ones, but they’re just examples to get your juices flowing. There are no hard & fast rules with this!
I am at my best when… I am at my worst when… What do I really love to do at work? What do I really love to do in my personal life? My natural talents & gifts are… If I had unlimited time & resources & knew I could not fail, what would I choose to do? My life’s journey is… What would people say about you on your 80th birthday? What do I consider to be my biggest future contribution to the most important people in my life? Are there things I feel I should change or alter, even though I’ve dismissed these thoughts many times? What are they? Imagine you could invite to dinner three people who have influenced you the most. Write their names & the one quality or attribute you admire most in these people. Let’s think of balance as a state of fulfillment & renewal in each of the four dimensions: physical, spiritual, mental, & social/emotional. What are the single most important things you can do in each of these areas that will have the greatest positive impact on your life & help you achieve a sense of balance? What are your values? What is most important to you? What are some goals you’d like to achieve this year? What kind of image do you hope to project? Is it similar or dissimilar to the image you’re projecting right now? What are your roles in life? Are you happy with them?
Allow your mind to wander around these questions & scrawl down anything that comes to mind. It really helps if you can be open-minded about this, & not censor yourself. No one else has to see this, so please feel free to be completely honest!
Another great thing to add to this piece of paper (or multiple pieces of paper!) is a selection of quotes or sayings that evoke strong feelings or fan passionate flames within you. From doing this, you can start to see patterns around what is really important to you.
From here, you can pick key phrases as well as words that seem to keep coming up, & weave them together to make a first draft of your personal mission statement. There are no rules: simply put words together & see what appears in front of you.
“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” (Rumi)
Want more inspiration? Your mission statement doesn’t have to be straight-forward or plainly-spoken. It could be in the style of a haiku if you like! Erma Bombeck’s mission statement is written in the format of, “If I had my life to live over, I would have…” This site has a bunch of examples to look over. Debra Moorhead provides some more questions you can ask yourself, as well as some short & sweet mission statements to inspire you. Here are some mission statement sentence templates for fill-in-the-blank type fun! Work Awesome has a great piece about the art of the personal mission statement, too.
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.” (Carl Jung)
Alternatively, if you’d like to try an automatic personal mission statement generator (!!!), FranklinCovey has a free one you can try! (You have to give them your email address, but that’s no biggie.) It’s a fantastic way to get your thoughts going & investigate the truth of who you are, & who you want to be. I think the results are quite rad, too. Here’s what mine spat out:
“I am at my best when I am working on things which inspire, inform & excite others. I will try to prevent times when I feel confined or hedged-in. I will enjoy my work by continuing to create, dream big, connect with others, & share my vision. I will find enjoyment in my personal life through taking photos, travelling, having adventures & exploring. I will find opportunities to use my natural talents & gifts such as writing, creating, inspiring, uplifting others & speaking. My life’s journey is to love myself, & to inspire other women to love themselves too. I will be a person who has inspired countless others to take control of their lives, think big & live according to their own rules… My most important future contribution to others will be to show people that they can live however they want to, & that there are no rules. I will strive to incorporate confidence, creativity & chutzpah into my life.”
This was a great place to start from, but I wanted a shorter, simpler statement. Thankfully, I was able to whittle it down over the course of a few days!
Wild dreams & radical self love.
Curiosity, wonder & spontaneous delight.
Seek magic; adore the moment.
Dare to be true; dare to be eager.
Emancipate, & above all,
be a love letter to the universe.
I wrote my mission statement in big gold letters & stuck it to my wall, above my desk, where I can see it every day. I’m going to use it to guide my goals for 2012, to help keep me on task & remind me of my purpose.
It will help me navigate through the small day-to-day things, & give me perspective. A simple glance at my mission statement will help me decide whether to say “yes” or “no” to the opportunities that come my way. It’s the perfect way of distilling my ambitions & aspirations, of focussing my intentions, & manifesting my ideal future.
The fact that this piece of writing exists relaxes me. It reminds me that what I want is really quite simple, & to get there, all I need to do is be true to myself…
I hope you write a personal mission statement this year, too!
“To come to be you must have a vision of Being, a Dream, a Purpose, a Principle. You will become what your vision is.” (Peter Nivio Zarlenga)
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Summer 2011: An Adventurous To-Do List!
[ 10 May 2011, 14:16 ]
Summer is my favourite time of year. There’s nothing better! For a couple of years, while I was flying back & forth between America & New Zealand, I lived in perpetual summer, & it was wonderful… One day, I hope to make that a permanent part of my lifestyle!
I have a lot of goals this summer, but to keep it fun, I’ve added some frivolous things to my To Do list. As I go through them, I’ll report back! (Yes… I do plan on being busy!)
Use a Diana or Holga camera obsessively!
My somewhat excessive use of Vignette (an amazing Android app) has ignited my passion to experiment with different film formats! In fact, I am so obsessed with Vignette that I have been using my phone to photograph everything. I picked up my Nikon yesterday… & it was dusty!
The good news is that just a few hours after I wrote the above paragraph, I walked into a store… & walked out with a Diana F+ Parisian! It is so sassy (& striped!). I raced home & bought some film on Amazon, then waited impatiently all weekend for it to arrive… I’m really excited about having a new way to document my adventures! Plus, there’s something wonderful about actually using film, not knowing how things will come out & having to wait to get it developed. A great escape from our insta-culture.
I’m using this gallery for inspiration. I can only hope my pictures are 1/100th as good! (Oh, & if you’re feeling similarly inspired, you can buy a standard Diana here!)
Become a bicycle-lover!
The wind in your hair as you whiz down the road at speed… What could be better, right? After falling in love with bicycles a few weeks ago, I bit the bullet & bought one which made my heart pound. Now the challenge is just in getting comfortable on it.
It’s true, riding bikes makes me nervous. It’s a known fact that riding in NYC is insane, & I am usually a person who is pretty doubtful of her own coordination. Both of these things could combine to make for an ugly situation, BUT I choose to be daring & take a risk! A life lived in fear is a life half-lived, isn’t that right?
I’ll be writing much more about my adventures in cycling — & in bicycle chic! — as time progresses. I’m excited just thinking about it!
Ride a roller coaster!
I love roller coasters! I have always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie like that. I’m going to L.A. in June with Nubby, Amy & Kevin, so maybe we will head back to Disneyland like last time. (Tower Of Terror is one of my favourite things on the entire planet!)
If not, it’s okay, because Six Flags Great Adventure is only an hour or so away from NYC! I’ve never been to Six Flags but their crazy Batman roller coaster looks amazing, & Kingda Ka is the tallest roller coaster in the world, & the fastest in North America… Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn!
Go to a water park!
It has truly been too long since I slithered speedily down a watery slide & plunged into a pool below. TOO LONG! There are no water parks in NYC — unsurprisingly — but just outside of the city are plenty of options for thrill-seekers & water babies alike.
Water Safari: Enchanted Forest looks preeeeeetty rad, Splish Splash has a 40 foot drop (!!!) IN THE DARK, & Tomahawk Lake looks like a super-cute, low-key weekend getaway. They even have picnic tables!
I think it would be so wonderful to spend a long, hot day at a water park, rocking my cutest bikini (turquoise & black stripes? Black & white polka-dots? Fluorescent pink? Who can choose?!), & screaming with delight as I splash around. Then there’s that wonderful time at the end of the day when you’re so exhausted you can barely stay awake, heading home with the last of the sunlight leaking in through the windows.
I vote YES to water parks this summer!
Learn to kickstart & ride a motorcycle!
Just ‘cause it’s badass. Plus, there are plenty of grown men who cannot kickstart a bike, & it looks pretty awesome. I like having random skills under my belt!
I don’t know if I’d be keen to take a motorcycle out on the road in Manhattan, though. That is somehow even more terrifying than riding a bicycle… ! We’ll see how we go!
Climb trees!
It pains me to tell you that I don’t know when I last climbed a tree!
When I lived in Auckland, New Zealand, climbing a tree & sitting in it for several hours was one of my cures for a bad day. It’s pretty rad: no one bothers you, & you can just hang out & do your own thing until you’re ready to come down again.
I live near so many parks that there is really no excuse for staying on the ground all the time!
Stay awake all night & watch the stars!
Being an adult is a drag. Before you know it, you’re locked into some monotonous schedule & going to bed around midnight. Quelle yawn!
I remember back in the olden days, when I was crazy & irresponsible… I used to stay up all night ALL the time! Nowadays, I can’t even tell you the last time I did that. Maybe when I was on a plane to Paris & I couldn’t sleep!
Regardless, staying up all night is a fantastic, time-honoured tradition which I have abandoned. Chalk it up to maturity, overly vigorous workouts or just being an OLD BORE... Whatever the case, I’ve had enough! This summer I WILL stay up all night… & it will be fantastic!
Have a picnic!
People — generally — do not have enough picnics. Last year, Nubby & I threw the Virgo Birthday Extravaganza, which was picnic-esque, but I feel like in order for it to really be a PICNIC, you have to sit on the ground. (Am I wrong?) Anyway, picnics are something which can easily get away from you — the idea is always there, but somehow it just gets delayed again & again.
It’s so simple, all you need is a blanket & some nosh. In fact, here’s a really, really, really old article I wrote on the subject: How To Have A Great Picnic!
Catch (& let go of!) fireflies!
Fireflies are amazing, & before I lived in America, I had never seen them before. I’d seen them in animated movies, but didn’t believe they were real! Imagine my surprise when I saw my first one in Tompkins Square Park on a hot summer night in 2010! They are so incredible. (Did you know you can talk to fireflies?)
Last year, I was amazed & bamboozled watching Mike cup them in his hands, & to see their little lights flickering on & off. This year, I want to do it myself! Yay!
See a feature at a drive-in movie theatre!
I have NEVER been to a drive-in movie. They’re a very American phenomenon, & I’m pretty sure there’s never been a drive-in in New Zealand! Anyway, Grease pretty massively influenced my life as a child, & it bestowed upon me — as well as a love for diners, boys in motorcycle jackets, 50’s fashion & breaking into song — a major desire to attend a drive-in.
Thankfully, websites like driveinmovie.com exist, & incredibly, it appears that there are HEAPS of drive-ins within NY state! New York magazine also has a list of drive-ins near New York City, which is very helpful for people like me with little to no knowledge of American geography! The Warwick Drive-In is my pick! They’re even showing Thor!
Make an effort to dress up!
Honesty time: Sometimes I walk the dogs in my trackpants. It is so not cute or sexy. It makes me feel like I am letting the side down! That’s the problem with trackpants… They’re creeping & insidious. You buy them to work out in, & then you get home & they’re just soooOOOooOOoOOooo comfortable that who would want to take them off? Before long, you’re wearing Uggs to fancy dinners & chewing gum even in your sleep. It’s an ugly scene.
I’ve already started on this resolution, but I’m definitely making more of an effort in my everyday life. Just wearing a simple skirt makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER than a pair of trackpants! Yuck! Fanciness forever!
Go to the botanical gardens!
Everyone always thinks of NYC as being this crazy concrete jungle, with a total lack of nature. It’s so untrue! I mean, sure, there are a lot of buildings, & people are crammed in on top of one another, but the streets are actually lined with trees… & we have some of the loveliest gardens, parks & public spaces in the country.
In addition to our world famous parks — oh, you may have heard of this one, Central Park?! — we have the New York Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden & the Queens Botanical Garden, all free, huge & bursting with wonder. There are always events going on: the NYBG is opening an 11 acre azalea garden this weekend, & it’s Wildflower Week at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Getting out of the house & into the oxygen is so important. My goal this summer is to go & DO THAT, instead of staring at Twitter!
Go on a roadtrip!
I am SO EXCITED to actually do this… My best girl from Australia is visiting the U.S.A., so we’re going to meet in Miami (which I am totally rapturous about!), spend a few days there, then roadtrip around!
The best thing about hanging out with her is that we have very similar agendas: great hotels, vintage shopping, weird kitschy diners, sunshine & shoe shops! She insists that we must visit Cracker Barrel (I’ve never been), as well as take a ghost tour in St. Augustine. I’m SO in! I can’t wait to see her again!
Become awesome at the trapeze!
The more time I spend in the air, hanging from a bar, the better I feel about life. It’s true!
I have been loving my trapeze lessons more than you could imagine. It’s so much fun & it really engages a different part of your brain. When you’re up there, there’s no time for logic — you have to listen to the commands from below, & just do them. When you stop thinking about it, you’re amazed by what you can do.
I’m learning an average of two tricks per lesson at this point, with no intention of stopping! I want to go flying on Trapeze School New York’s outdoor rig next!
Fire a gun!
I am not really a gun girl. I never grew up with guns, & my first time seeing one in the flesh was when I came to NYC & they were attached to every cop. It kind of freaked me out, to be honest. The police in New Zealand don’t have guns, though some rural officers will keep a shotgun in the car, in case there’s like… a wild boar attack, or something!
But I like the idea of knowing how to shoot a gun, & being a good shot in general. You never know, right? Plus, it’s cool to be able to do unexpected things. Most people would not look at me & think, ‘Now, there’s a lady who knows how to handle a pistol’. That’s what appeals to me most!
Attend retreats & courses!
Retreats & courses appeal to me in so many ways. Firstly, there’s the “escape” portion. I have a Sagittarius Moon, so travel is always going to be a huge, magnificent, life-enhancing part of my world. Secondly, they help to quench my insatiable curiousity about the world. I love to learn new things, & a course is a wonderful way to do that.
I attended Veronica Varlow’s Danger Dame School of Deadly Charms on Sunday, & I absolutely loved it. It was magnificent, & it put me a little bit out of my comfort zone, & I came away from it feeling so reinvigorated!
On Thursday, I’m going to Danielle LaPorte & Marie Forleo’s Selling Your Soul, which I just know is going to be off the hook. I can’t wait!
Also on my retreat wishlist are Redvolution: Unleashing the Red Hot & Holy Feminine with Sera Beak (LOVE!) & Surf & Bikini Boot Camp in Hawaii. Yes! Please!
Stay at the Madonna Inn!
The Madonna Inn is the stuff of legend. Built in 1958 & located in San Luis Obispo, it has been an ever-evolving project, with more rooms being built all the time. It now has 110 hotel rooms available, each uniquely decorated. There is a room for every possible eventuality; you can take your pick from waterfall showers, psychedelic carpet & wild floral bedspreads.
I mean… will you just look at the rooms?! I am particularly obsessed with Vous, room 169.
Oh, & I didn’t even mention the best bit… They have a Barbie pink steakhouse. It’s simply fantastic. LET’S GO! (Bring your camera!)
Go to the Jazz Age Lawn Party!
I’ve been meaning to go to the Jazz Age Lawn Party for years — & in fact, even just to get out to Governor’s Island — but when I read Shilo’s post about the party, I knew that THIS year was going to be the year I did it!
1920’s & 1930’s style is not so much my bag, but I have more 1950’s dresses than I know what to do with! I want to wear a fabulous dress & a big hat, take a picnic & a blanket, & have a dance. I think these are modest, sane goals, don’t you?
Make more time for meditation & magic!
Enough said!
Images: Futurowoman, Let’s Explode, Lewisham Phil, Cuba Gallery, Cereal-Killer72, Masahiro Miyasaka, Kate Pulley, Disney Mike, Steven Klein, & Instant Satisfaction.
What are your goals for the summer (or winter)? Be sure to write them down somewhere prominent, so you see them all the time!
I’m planning to cross mine off during the next few months, & I’ll let you know how I get on!
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how to,
inspiration,
life,
productivityI Want To Be... A Lifestreamer!
[ 19 January 2011, 09:36 ]
Jessica & Kelly.
Jessica Mullen’s career path is purely her own: she’s a lifestreamer! What is lifestreaming? It’s an ongoing record of your life, stored online & made accessible to anyone who might be interested.
You might be surprised to hear that it’s also a legitimate way of making a living. (I know I was!) In this interview, Jessica opens up about how lifestreaming has changed her & what you need to know if you’d like to do it, too!
Tell us about what you do.
I am in the business of being. My business model is to figure out how to feel good, follow my inspiration, and share what unfolds. If it makes me feel good, you’ll hear about it.
My personal website, jessicamullen.com is currently home to The School of Life Design, an ad-hoc curriculum created to disseminate my lifestreaming research. The School follows principles similar to graphic design and promotes self-evaluation and self-actualization through iteration.
My Complete Lifestream is a real-time collection of what makes me feel good throughout the day. I maintain my focus on well being by taking special note of an obscenely gorgeous sunset or immortalizing an exquisite kale salad. I collect the most powerful of these thoughts, emotions, and adventures into long-form joy explosions. These rampages, in which I turn my attention towards gratitude, intentions, desires and love, are magick spells I weave to attract more good into my life.
The Popular Podcast is a video lifestyle podcast based in Austin, Texas. Co-created with my business partner and lover, Kelly Cree, in June 2008, The Popular Podcast boasts an over 300-episode (and counting) video archive of Kelly’s and my journey to $ustainable lifestreaming. Though it’s constantly changing, the present goal of TPP is to show others how fun and easy it can be to make your life your living.
I maintain an income stream portfolio as diverse as my interests. I make money through advertising, affiliate programs, donations, fan club subscriptions, merchandise, and sponsorships. Kelly and I also run a tiny vegan food business for our friends, sell underwater fetish videos, and peddle our wares on the bridges of Austin.
What does an average day at work look like for you?
There are three things that I MUST do every single day: write a “magick spell“ post, meditate, and exercise. I consider all of them to be my primary work, because without them I don’t feel right – I don’t get the inspiration to do good work throughout the day.
I wake up sometime before noon and immediately start writing down what I’m grateful for. This forms the beginning of a “magick spell” post. It’s how I line up my energy in the morning, almost like brushing my teeth – I make sure my emotions are all bright and shiny before talking to anyone!
I meditate to clean out mental cobwebs and forget about anything that’s bothering me. Then I go for a walk or a run for an energy boost and to feel good about my body.
After that, anything is possible! Often, Kelly and I will work on editing and publishing podcast videos for an hour or two, and I’ll spend another couple hours writing or brainstorming for the School of Life Design. Website design and maintenance takes up some time too, but we address those needs as they come.
The rest of the day is spent cooking, exploring beautiful Austin, making art and spending time with people I love. It’s almost all “work,” because the experiences inevitably end up on one of my sites in some form.
Do you work alone or with other people?
Kelly and I are partners in almost everything we do. We make the podcast together, and she’s the creative and communications director for the school. We spend all day every day together, so we are constantly brainstorming new business ideas and ways to have more fun.
Is this what you wanted to do as a child? Did you end up in this job by “accident” or was it a planned career choice?
I remember wanting to be a teacher and wanting to create constantly. When I first got access to a computer, I would color all day in a Sesame Street painting program. When I got Internet, I started learning how to make websites to promote my band. I didn’t have any solid plans other than knowing it would involve computers. Lifestreaming didn’t really exist when I was a kid, but if you had told me what it was I would have wanted to do it for sure!
How long ago did you start on this path?
I’ve always enjoyed making websites and online journaling, but it didn’t come together into the title of “lifestreamer” until graduate school in 2008. As a web designer, I was obsessed with bringing all of my online activity into one place. I heard of the idea of “lifecasting” from Julia Allison and found out what “lifestreaming” was through Mark Krynsky at lifestreamblog.com. It was like I found my holy grail and all my research became about experimenting with lifestreaming.
How long were you doing it before you made it into your career or primary form of income?
Luckily I was in school with student loans while getting started. Graduate school was a way to literally buy time to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life, and I got to focus all my schoolwork on what is now my livelihood. Kelly and I did lots of exploration into monetization and content generation. When I graduated in May of 2010, we began making it our business to feel good, and all our good business ideas followed.
Did anything significant happen to get you to that point, or was it a series of small steps?
I learned about the law of attraction last spring! The actual websites and technical bits were mostly developed as school projects, but it wasn’t until Kelly and I started focusing on feeling good that our business took off. All of those platitudes like “give what you want to get” and “you bring about what you think about” are true! When I learned to practice positive thought patterns all the time, my life became a lot more pleasurable.
What kind of education do you have?
I went to Catholic school through 12th grade, received my BFA in graphic design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005 and my MFA in design from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010.
Do you think official qualifications are important for someone entering your industry?
No! Anyone can be good at lifestreaming. After you do it for a while, your website becomes your credentials. People get to see what you do every day. They get to see what you’re working on right now, not a piece of paper saying what you used to do.
If you went to school, did you enjoy studying? Could you see where it might lead you at the time? What advice would you give to someone else who might be studying to get into your industry?
When I first got to undergrad, I studied computer science. I couldn’t pass Calculus II, so I had to find something a little more my style. I settled on graphic design because I loved making websites and figured the two must meet somewhere.
I began really taking interest in my studies after an image-making class where I got to make disturbing pictures in Photoshop all semester. Then I had a fabulous mentor, Jennifer Gunji, who showed me what it was like to feel passionate about solving problems with design. Once I became a good graphic designer, the next logical step was to get a job at a design firm in Chicago. I designed websites and print publications at my first (and only) day job, but realized very quickly I did not want to work for anyone else but myself! I freelanced and taught web design for a while, but then went back to school to figure out what I loved.
If you’re interested in getting into lifestreaming, just start doing it. Don’t go to school! Everything you need to learn is online. Your mentors don’t have to be university professors. I LOVED my education but if I had known about lifestreaming before graduate school, I could have saved a lot of money!
What do you think is the best thing about what you do?
I do whatever I want, every single day. No one ever tells me what to do.
What’s the worst thing?
No one ever tells me what to do!
Would you call yourself a workaholic, & if so, are you alright with that? Do you think that’s normal for your industry?
I am a workaholic in the sense that I love doing what I do, and do it all day every day. But it doesn’t feel like work, because it’s so integrated into my life and it feels so good to create. It’s quite normal–many bloggers are successful because they make doing what they love their living by putting it online for other people to enjoy.
What would your number one suggestion be for someone who wants to do what you do?
Love yourself unconditionally. If you don’t love yourself, it shows through. Major turnoff!
...How about number two?
Don’t care about what anyone else thinks. Comments, Facebook, and Twitter can make us a little dependent on external opinions to make decisions. But the only way to find what makes you feel good is to listen to your emotions.
What do you wish you had known when you first started out?
Life doesn’t have to be hard! If I just feel good and do what I’m inspired to do, everything works out!
Are there any major misconceptions about your job or industry?
Lifestreamers can be seen as very narcissistic. I choose to look at it as radical self love!
Some people think lifestreaming is too time-consuming, but it’s just a natural part of my life, like breathing.
Others find lifestreaming distracting from “living in the moment,” but it helps me slow down and appreciate more moments than ever before.
My father worries about my reputation and ability to get a “real job” because I’m so vocal, but the whole point is to be loud enough to never need a real job!
Do you ever have any ethical dilemmas with the work you do?
A few people don’t like being documented online, so I have to avoid discussing them or taking photos of them. I respect the privacy of others by request.
What is the best thing that’s happened to you as a consequence of the work you do?
I’ve learned how to love myself and enjoy life.
What motivates you to keep doing what you’re doing?
I can’t stop! I’m dependent on lifestreaming to help me focus on the good in life. It’s how I process the world around me. My lifestream functions as my memory, my magickal record, and a pick-me-up whenever I need it. It’s a way of life. If I got cut off from the Internet tomorrow I would find another outlet, but like a painter paints, the web is my artistic medium of choice.
Who do you look up to within your industry & why?
My biggest inspirations are successful web media producers like the extraordinary Gala Darling, Steve Pavlina, Penelope Trunk, and Dawn and Drew. My life philosophy of feeling good came from the teachings of Abraham-Hicks.
Rate how happy you are with what you do out of 100 (100 being the best, 0 being devastatingly awful) on an average day.
Every single day is a 100. Not only do I decide what to do with every minute of my life, but lifestreaming has really helped me see bad experiences as good ones, because I look to document the positive aspects of any situation.
Is there much career progression available to you? What would you like to do next?
It’s likely that I’ll always maintain my personal lifestream website in some form, but I continuously find new creative projects to pursue. Right now Kelly and I are working on a textbook for the School of Life Design, and I expect that project to continue flourishing. All I want to do next is make better and better work–meaning my life will get better and better too.
Do you think you’ll continue doing this for the rest of your life?
I’ll continue doing it as long as it feels good.
How did you find my article on Josh Harris? Is that kind of lifestreaming something you’d be interested in pursuing?
I watched We Live in Public a couple months ago and found Josh’s dystopian view of the future quite limiting. Technology is not good or bad, it just depends what you do with it. The Wired City sounds like the next logical step in reality television. The Human Chicken Coop is a fascinating idea, but Josh appears intent on taking away people’s freedom. Lifestreaming does not have to be about giving up freedom. But Josh’s vision is one possibility that will happen if enough people believe it will.
I do think he is spot on about the death of privacy. I come from the belief that we are all one consciousness, and the Internet is one way that is beginning to manifest in physical reality. When we collectively let go of our fears about privacy, things will be very different!
That being said, I have little interest in 24 hour surveillance. The beauty of lifestreaming is that it is edited–I take an active role in making my life into art. In that way I am designing my life experience, not living by default.
Too much unwanted surveillance can cause people to act out in destructive ways, like what happened in We Live in Public. It’s rebellion against having freedom taken away, or caring too much about what other people think. Surveillance can also make people all conform to the same behavior, like in Foucalt’s Panopticon. But if we’re all one consciousness anyway… it kind of makes sense.
Where do you draw the line?
I don’t complain. I don’t speak negatively. That’s the line. I have no desire to put any more negative thoughts or emotions into the universe.
Would you ever put cameras in your house?
I have lots of cameras in my house! But I choose when to hit record. I don’t think privacy exists on the Internet, but I still value my physical space and time alone. And recording everything can be overwhelming–I’m not interested in reliving every moment in the editing process–just the really good ones.
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i want to be,
life,
productivityObsessions In Overdrive: Pinterest.com
[ 12 January 2011, 11:34 ]
I have to introduce you to something dangerous! My newest compulsion: Pinterest!
Pin·terest (pĭn’trĭst): n. a social catalog to collect and share things you love
Pinterest is like Flickr or Tumblr with fabulous organisational sensibilities. It’s a place where you can gather visual inspiration & group it together to make vision boards, & little collections of graphic influence which go together.
I was sent an invite yesterday, & immediately got stuck in, creating vision boards, & obsessively curating pictures!
(A work in progress, you understand!)
style influences— Well-dressed dames & fancy fillies. Frothy tulle skirts, turbans, leopard-print fingernails & Lauren Moffatt (of course).
les interieurs— My dream home. Striped wallpaper, chandeliers, splashes of bright pink & long, long tables.
shoe pornography— Sparkly Louboutins, spikes, skulls, stilettos & glitter.
travel inspiration— Pictures to remind me of places to go. Hot springs in Iceland, Jacqueline Kennedy in India, the Greek Islands, & colourful streets in Brighton.
heroes and wisdom— People I admire & smart sayings. (Also, good typography!)
good— This is my hodge-podge pinboard; a good mix of art, ideas & celebrity photobooth strips!
birthday forever— Every day should be like your birthday, I think. Here are some ways to invite the party into your life.
underthings— I like knickers! Oh yes, I do!
girls girls girls— The world is full of good-lookin’ ladies.
heart— People in love, & heart necklaces which say let’s make out.
There are some screenshots of my boards below!
I’ve found some lovely other boards, too. Have a look at a rainbow of hair, typography & dream home for some ideas of how other people are using Pinterest.
As well as keeping track of things you like to look at, I think Pinterest has so much to offer in terms of helping you manifest whatever it is that you want. Sometimes it can be tricky to find pictures in magazines which really inspire you—this is such an easy way to do it, & you pull it up on your screen with just a click of the mouse. You could even leave a tab open all the time so that when you’re feeling uninspired or demotivated, you can go back to it, let your eyes glaze over & get deeply excited about the things you’re heading towards! I think that setting up a board which reminds you of your goals could be an incredible tool in helping them come to fruition much faster.
You can create shared boards, too—so if you & your best friend are going to start designing clothes, or if you’re decorating a house with someone else, you can both add bits & pieces to the board. It can be a collaborative project. I love this!
Pinterest is relatively new, so it’s in beta & is invite-only. Sign up for an invite! I think the turnaround is quite fast, & I would love to see your vision boards!
Hey, guys: There is big trouble in Queensland, Australia right now. If you’re able to donate any money—even just $5—it all helps. You can donate here. SO much love to everyone affected by the floods, you are in our thoughts & prayers.
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inspiration,
productivityNew Year, New Routine? 10 Things I Do To Keep Myself Feeling Happy, Healthy & Magical!
[ 3 January 2011, 09:11 ]
Scanned from Kate Spade’s Things We Love.
I’m fascinated by personal routines. The way that other people structure their day is completely riveting to me.
I obsessively read about other people’s personal systems, wanting to know what they do, how they do it, & the superhero-esque results they net from it. Leo Babauta, for example, wakes up at 4.30am. Go Leo go! Lifehacker’s top 10 ways to upgrade your morning routine is pretty great too. (Push-ups in the morning, YES!)
Sometimes I think, in some twisted way, ‘If only my routine was PERFECT, then my life would run 100% smoothly & flawlessly!’ Or you think that if you adopted someone else’s habits, some of their magic would rub off on you.
Of course, this will never be the case, but occasionally I allow my mind to go there. I think a lot of us do. ‘If only I could manage to go to yoga three times a week, I would become Gisele Bundchen!’ ‘If I could manage to meditate every morning before work, I would be sublimely happy always!’ You get my drift!
Getting your routine sorted out is not the be-all & end-all. But it does have benefits. I know that incorporating more positive activities into my life will make me happier & more productive. I recognise the power of ritual, & I acknowledge that when my day has pattern & purpose, everything else is more likely to go well.
In the spirit of the new year, here’s my routine. My patterns change regularly—I’d say this is due in equal parts to my extremely low boredom threshold & my ongoing & perpetual curiousity about how I can “improve” everything! So, this is where I’m at now.
Photo by Timothy Keen.
Waking up before the sunrise is my goal. It can be really hard, especially in winter, but it is always worth it. I can get SO much done in the hour and a half before the rest of the house wakes up!
This morning, for example, I was awake at 5am. I slid out of bed, washed my face, put on a peppermint face mask & meditated. Then I planned my day & wrote up this article, showered & dressed.
It’s really nice to get this stuff out of the way early on! I used to wake up at 7.30, walk the dogs, then sit around in my pyjamas all day writing! It’s ridiculous how much better I feel when I’m actually dressed! The rest of the world is clearly hip to this already, though! Haha!
I’m so pleased to report that I have recently returned to “the raw side”! Those of you who have been reading since the very beginning will remember that I ate raw—meaning I ate only uncooked fruits, vegetables & nuts—for about a year in 2007/2008. I often look back on those days fondly. I have literally never felt better in my life than I did when I was eating a high percentage of raw food. My skin was flawless (& it really did glow), I had energy to burn (I would often have to go & do a second workout at night because otherwise I couldn’t sleep), I needed less sleep generally, was insanely creative & productive, & I also felt totally euphoric a lot of the time!
Contrast this with how I feel when I’m consuming large amounts of processed foods, pasta, meat, dairy… blech.
This point was driven home to me when I started to come down with something around Thanksgiving. When I finally got to the point where I was bundled up on the couch feeling like death, I decided to DO something about it. So I ordered orange, lemon & grapefruit juices, coconut water + coconut meat blended smoothies, & drank them like my life depended on it. I chugged water. I ate vegetables & lots of garlic. I had a good sleep & stayed warm. I felt 100% better the next day! This is not a coincidence, & it reminded me how important it is to feed your body with wonderful food!
The only kicker with eating a lot of raw food is that it requires organisation. Your fridge needs to be stocked, otherwise you’re likely to just go for whatever is easiest. This is especially true if you leave your food choices to the very last minute, by which point you’re starving & ready to gnaw off your own arm. If you have your fridge stocked with fresh fruit & vegetables, it’s simple—if you don’t, it’s less so.
But hey! I live in America now, & there’s a legendary raw restaurant (Quintessence) two blocks from my house! My favourite juice bar (The Juice Press) will deliver to my door! No excuses Miss Gala!
So here’s my plan: at least one juice or smoothie per day. I like to set the bar really low, so it’s easy to succeed. My ideal situation would be a 60/40 raw diet, but I’m not putting any pressure on myself!
I also bought a Blueprint Cleanse ages ago through a Gilt sale… & I’m going to finally use it!
I bought a glass milk bottle a couple of months ago with the pronounced intention of upping my water intake. It holds a quart, which is almost a litre (946mL). I drink at least one bottle of water a day, & sometimes more. Is it weird to say that being super-hydrated feels really sexy?! It does! The more water I can get into my system, the better. Go team H2O!
I’ve started squeezing lemon into my water, too. There are so many excellent health benefits to doing this. Lemon helps to detoxify & purify the body. It’s also alkalising—which means that it lowers the amount of acid in your body. Drinking lemon water every morning is GREAT for your skin, wonderful for the digestion & the super-high Vitamin C content means it also helps to keep you healthy. In other words, it’s one of the easiest & cheapest ways to astronomically improve your health!
The best way to do it is to roll a lemon (or a lime, if you prefer, they have the exact same health benefits!) across the kitchen counter to soften it a little. This will help you extract the most juice! (It’s better to do this than to throw it in the microwave—when you do that, you alter the molecular structure, & it’s not as effective!)
Then, start your day with a glass of room temperature lemon water. It’s a fantastic way to hydrate (especially before your morning coffee, if that’s your style, because caffeine is tremendously dehydrating) & get your system kick-started!
Read Top 10 Benefits of Lemon Water if you want more info!
By the way, I also gave up coffee & soda in September. IT FEELS SO GOOD. Soda is disgusting (sorry—it is), & while I LOVE the taste of coffee—& the kick it affords me—it also makes me kind of nuts. I had been feeling much more aggressive than I needed to be, & the kind of work I do runs much more smoothly when I am not out grinding my teeth in a rage somewhere!
I know a lot of people said, “I could NEVER give up coffee!” when I mentioned it the first time. In my experience, where there’s a will, there’s a way! I don’t even miss it, & it hasn’t been difficult at all, even though I thought it might be! So if you want to give it a try… you should! (My skin looks way better too, if you need any additional motivation!)
My gym membership lapsed sometime back in September (!!!) & I was so busy that I kept putting off its renewal. Thankfully, I recently went back, & I’ve NEVER been happier!
I always thought that “exercise makes you feel so good!” was a lie perpetuated by athletic, sporty people to guilt slobs like me into going for a run every now & then. Turns out, it isn’t! I apologise, athletic, sporty people! It really does make you feel amazing.
When I leave the gym, I am floating on a cloud of euphoria. It is often my favourite part of the day. It’s not just the charge of endorphins from lifting weights for an hour, either—it’s that I left the house, I kept my promise to myself that I would go, & I did my absolute best.
Plus, my trainer is ace. We like to sing along to Kanye West & talk about our favourite rappers while he punishes me!
I go to two personal training sessions a week & I like to do pilates & yoga a couple of days a week too. I used to go to training at about 6pm, but I’ve since switched it up. I now go around lunch-time, which is really great for me—it creates an essential break in my day (something I used to lack), & when I go back home, I am jazzed & ready to work through the rest of the afternoon.
I’ve started dry-brushing my skin before I jump in the shower. It’s really easy & doesn’t take long, & it’s very tingly! By the time you get out of the shower & dry off, you wouldn’t believe how soft your skin feels!
The benefits of skin-brushing are many. Firstly, your skin is your largest organ! One of the most efficient ways for your body to get rid of toxins is through the skin, so when you stimulate it with a brush, it’s able to do this more effectively. It also helps to break down cellulite, cleanse the lymphatic system, aid digestion & strengthen the immune system. It makes your skin look & feel amazing, too!
It’s easy, it’s inexpensive (a long-handled brush with natural bristles is about $5), & it’s a brand spanking new part of my routine.
If you’re interested, you can learn how to dry-brush your skin here!
I’ve been meditating every morning since September, & oh. OH. I can’t even tell you how wonderful it is.
The length of time varies, but usually I just do five minutes. This is probably a teeny droplet, but right now it works for me because it’s not a threatening amount of time. Anyone can find five minutes, even, as it turns out, me!
I’m finding the process of meditating in the morning really restorative & positive.
I don’t know whether I can attribute this to meditation alone, but I can’t think of any other reason for this. Lately, my days seem very, very long—in the best possible way! I work all morning, & when I’m done with all my writing, emailing, photo editing, what-have-you, it’s only noon. Amazing! I have so much time, & the space it has created in my life is so wonderful.
I’d like to learn transcendental meditation sometime soon, but have a hard time justifying the cost. (A course is about $1000, & all I can think about is how many plane tickets that would buy me!) One day! For now, just sitting down & clearing my mind for a few minutes every day seems to be treating me very well.
(Cough, cough!) Most people don’t know this, but I used to be a smoker. A pretty heavy one. I started on Camels at age 12 (ohhhh, sad trombone for real), progressed to Marlboro Reds & eventually settled on my cigarette of choice, Lucky Strikes.
My smoking patterns fluctuated a lot over the years. There were times where I didn’t smoke at all, & times when I chain-smoked. The latter mostly occurred when I lived alone, & thus there was no one to disgust with my habits. Though I also dated smokers, which further ingrained the habit. I think I’ve only dated two non-smokers in my life.
Anyway—when I was 12, I told myself I would quit smoking when I was 26. In my infinite 12 year old wisdom, 26 was “old”, & I had decided that smoking past that age would be gross.
I turned 26 in 2009, & I quit smoking. I don’t have any tricks as to how I did it; I didn’t do the gum or the patches or the electronic cigarettes. I just decided I was done, & stopped. I wanted a cigarette a couple of times when I was drinking, but I didn’t have one, & the craving just went away.
I feel really good about quitting. Smoking is SO expensive (cigarettes are about $10/pack in NYC), it stinks, it’s gross, it makes you sick & it makes you look terrible! If you break out a lot or you’re seeing your first few wrinkles, remember that every puff you take is exacerbating the problem!
I don’t want to be one of those preachy ex-smokers (even though I am pretty sure I have become one), but if you make one change to your life this year, cut back on your cigarette consumption. Your body will feel—& look—so much better!
Photo by Amorette Dye.
The winter plays havoc with my skin! The heating in our apartment is really intense & it dries me out like mad, so in winter I have to be really careful to get enough water into my system! When you don’t drink enough water, you absolutely see it in your skin—it looks dry, thin, blotchy, etc., so it’s worth making the effort!
Another way to keep your skin in tip-top condition is to do regular face masks. I think this is especially important if you’re someone who wears make-up on a regular basis; you need to ensure your pores are getting a good clear-out!
My favourite face mask at the moment is Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque. I had heard about it for years, but wasn’t living in the U.S.A. so I could never get my hands on it. Flash-forward to a few years later, where I’m a recent transplant to New York City & I’m browsing around a Ricky’s store. (Ricky’s sells make-up, hair products & skincare… It’s a beauty superstore & they’re all over the city!) I saw a tube of the Mint Julep Masque on a shelf & it was love at first sight!
I’m STILL using that tube! It’s a wonderful mask, it really cleans you out & is great to use a couple of times a week.
Lush also do excellent fresh face masks, which need to be kept in the fridge. Catastrophe Cosmetic & Cupcake have always been my favourites.
If you want to indulge in an amazing scrub, but don’t want to go out & buy something expensive which may or may not make you break out, try this home recipe instead. Pour a little extra virgin olive oil into a saucer, & add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar. Mix it together, then take it into the shower with you & use it as a facial scrub. Rinse off with hot water, & pat your face dry. The olive oil works as a moisturiser, so you may not need to use your usual one, but touch your face to see how it feels. This face mask is DIVINE & works better than almost anything else!
Well! What can I say about bubble baths that you don’t know already?! I love them & am making an effort to have more of them!
A really great bubble bath, of course, hinges on the quality of the bubbles. Lush REALLY does do the best bubble bars—the scents are divine, they’re multi-serve & have minimal packaging. Oh, by the way, most of Lush’s products are vegan, organic, & made with fresh fruits & vegetables… Nice one. I used to manage a Lush store & up until I started this website, it was my favourite job of all! It’s a rad place.
My favourite Lush bath products are Flosty Gritter, Creamy Candy (back when I used to own a washing machine, I would throw a chunk of this in with my laundry!), Butterball, Honey Bee, FAIRY JASMINE (A+++++ best bath bomb ever), Something Wicked This Way Comes & MMM Melting Marshmallow Moment. Lovely.
Did you ever stop & think about how much happier everyone would be if we all took more regular bubble baths? Lead the charge, I say!
Other things I like to make time for every day: Opening fortune cookies (today’s: “Your present plans are going to succeed”) Vitamin obsession (Multi+ Daily Glow, Perfect Skin, O3mega Glow, Dermalipid & 5HTP when I feel I need it) Visualisation (I like to take a few minutes a day to close my eyes & “see” what I want to manifest) Writing down my top 3 most important tasks of the day, straight after meditating & before I even look at my email Reading my horoscope (hey, it’s MY routine!) Plenty of laughter Puppy cuddle breaks! One-person dance parties Cleaning my office Drinking a whole lot of coconut water… !
If you write about your routine, submit your link here & I’ll round them all up!
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life,
productivity,
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