Mrs. Potter Regrets.

A friend of mine Homer H. Hillis sent me the most wonderful book a while ago called Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads by Roy Williams. I read and re-read and re-read it whenever I need a fresh perspective. It's effin' brilliant. Life changing. Get a copy. Seriously.

In one of the essays the author suggests that you do not have to answer every email. In fact, he only answers a small percentage of them. That is something I really took to heart. We don't owe everyone our time. In this age of hyper connection it can be easy to forget that. Our time belongs to us. We can spend it as we see fit. We can give back in a myriad of ways without compromising our ability to make the money to pay the rent.

If we spend hours every day answering every email, text message, phone call, Facebook message, wall post comment, blog comment...where is the time to do the thing we love? The thing we love feeds our soul and more importantly pays our bills. We can give back by doing what we love with passion and joy. Then others will see that it is possible. If they want to see you as a bad guy because you won't stop working and devote your attention to helping them figure out how to do what they love and make a living, that's their problem.

Six years ago I was a woman at the end of her rope. I had lost everything. I had tried everything. I was completely and utterly out of answers.

I sat down at my little crappy computer in our tiny kitchen between the refrigerator and the stove and I began creating a new reality. I barely knew how to use my email. I was completely computer illiterate, but I learned. I didn't have money, but I knew I was smart, creative and tenacious and I believed in myself. That's what it takes to succeed. I'm still not rich, not by a long shot. We still struggle to make the bills and there are often things that knock me to my knees, but I know I'm on to something here. Something I made all by myself. I'm proud to say that. I had no road map or compass or guide or sherpa, I just got up every single day and made it up. I'm still making it up. So can you.

If you want easy answers, you'll find them hard to come by. If you want success, you're going to have to work really f*&%ing hard. There will be days you feel like folding. There will be days you feel like crawling into a cave and never coming out. But then there will be days it all comes together with such total serendipity you'll feel like you won the lottery, but you'll know it's because you dreamed big and you worked hard. That, my friend, is a mighty good feeling.

The more you expand, the more other people who live in a state of lack and fear will be threatened. I can't believe how crappy people can be when you start to create success. It's sad, really. You may find yourself with a lot fewer 'friends' as they drop away as you ascend. So be it. They weren't your friends anyway. You'll also probably find yourself with a lot of new friends, but unfortunately many of them will have an agenda. Just remember that. Everyone has an agenda. Your real friends are the ones who are there for you when you're soaring high and when you're down and out.

I am out of time to answer every email or message or question. I am sorry that I can't do that anymore, but I have to pay my bills. I've answered most of these questions again and again here in my blog and on my website. My best advice is, stop looking for magic beans and start making your own magic. It is entirely up to you. I wish you joy and success and most of all I wish you love. That's what's real. The rest is just what we do to pass the time.

If you want it badly enough, you will make it happen.

Love
Madge

Madge Muses

Image Copyright Rodney White

Did you know it was THURSDAY?!  All day today?!  I could swear it was Monday yesterday.  Did anyone see Tuesday or Wednesday?  I seem to have misplaced them.  Maybe they're in a drawer somewhere or perhaps they've run away to parts unknown.  I'm sending out a search party as I type.

An invisible search party.

A party of one.

Okay there really isn't a party.

Never mind.

I've been thinking a lot lately about who I am, what I do, why I do it and where I'd like to go.  This is an accidental career. I saw a pathway and a small sign and I decided to follow it because it made sense and it made me happy and the pathway I'd been on became impassable.  So here I am in the thick of things and because so many people in my industry are asking some rather big questions...so am I.  What is a 'designer.'  What do I do and why does it matter?

I had an illuminating conversation recently with someone who revealed that they and their colleagues had an absolute distaste for the entire craft industry based on a series of incredibly negative experiences with a group of 'designers' who apparently acted like spoiled divas in a professional setting and created such a shipoopystorm of bad blood, that the people in this professional setting are thrilled to be completely finished with the craft industry.  Wow.  That's pretty dang sad, isn't it?  In fact, this has rippled outward and affected the craft industry in a myriad of ways.  I honestly had no idea this had happened until I had this conversation.  So let me state for the record, I do not delude myself into thinking that I am more important than anyone else or that I should be treated differently than anyone else.  In every professional setting, I treat everyone with whom I am working with respect.  I try to keep things in perspective and not to take myself too seriously.  I'm just a part of the total equation and therefore it's imperative that I honor the other folks involved.

In point of fact, I don't even think actual celebrities should be treated differently than everyone else.  No one is more important than anyone else.  Period.  Doesn't matter what you do, where you work, how many awards you've won, how much money you have, what your bloodline is, where you live, what car you drive, how fancy your clothes are or how many people tell you that you're the shiznit.  We're all just humans on the planet doing whatever we do and most of what we do is of little consequence to the greater picture.  Even the stuff that seems really, really important. 

So does what I do matter...at all?  I think so, yes.  If I have to label what I do, I'd say I'm a visionary.  I'm a possibilitarian.  I'm a pied piper of creativity.  I get paid to forge new creative pathways, to see things from fresh perspectives, to dream big and make those dreams real. I'm inspiring others to do the same.  So what I do has measurable impact and value.  What all of the creative professionals in my industry and in all creative industries do has measurable impact and value.  We are idea people and we've got a lot of big ideas.

What is important is that the people in my industry remember to respect ourselves, each other and our clients.  When some of us act badly, it reflects on all of us.  When some of us work for peanuts or for free stuff, it makes it tough for others to be paid fairly for our work.  When some of us get hyper competitive and forget to pay it forward and to be kind, it makes all of us seem petty and self absorbed.  When some of us undervalue ourselves, we all become undervalued.  There is room for each of us to shine and the more we do so and encourage each others to do so, the brighter we all become.

I think it's good for every one of us to take stock of what we do and why it matters.  I also think it's imperative to remember that what we do does not define us, how we love does.  Everything we do can be done with love and compassion. 

Love
Madge