From Here to Autonomy

Passing the Gymboree Test

Jory Des Jardins — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:08:51 -0800

Last week I signed up Olive for Gymboree; actually I guess I signed both of us up. Weekends have become my time with Olive, given she's with Daddy full-time during the week. He gets on his new custom cross-bike, helps me tuck Liv into her stroller and sees us on our way. Previous Saturdays I followed her around the house, took her to the park, ran errands, read to her and tried to coax her into taking a nap. I craved more structured time with her, where she could be around other kids, where she could play age appropriate games...

The Disappearance of Downtime

Jory Des Jardins — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:42:34 -0800

Before becoming an entrepreneur, I set out to write for a living. This sounds like a fantastical existence, but it was actually hard, even if joyous, work. I woke up early in the morning, walked to a coffee shop, and started reading--anything. It didn't matter what I read; the process of focusing on something unrelated to my writing task and caffeine constituted the formula required to tap my creative well. After 45 minutes or so thoughts would bubble up, and my only job was to collect them. Editing would come later in the afternoon, when my mind was tired out...

Acknowledging the Professional IS Personal

Jory Des Jardins — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:14:19 -0800

"We Are operating above the neck whenever we assume that what we think is more important than what we feel. We are operating above the neck when we emphasize data over personal experience. We are operating above the neck when we deify logic and denigrate intuition." --Maggie Craddock, The Authentic Career I was introduced to Maggie Craddock by a mutual friend. We hit it off immediately, and she send me her latest book, "Power Genes" which I ate like it was chocolate mousse. I saved little bites for plane rides and hotel stays and ended up reading tub-fuls in a...

Am I about to end the season of my discontent? Working at 40

Jory Des Jardins — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:21:54 -0800

Like a moth to a flame I clicked to a story on Knowledge@Wharton Today entitled "The Discontented Thirties." I didn't do so because I consider myself discontented, but like any type A about to turn 40 (I have a few months), I question. I look at all that I accomplished in my 30s, like turning a life passion into a business, getting married, and having a daughter, and I say to myself "why couldn't I have done that in my twenties?" Of course reading stories like this about young media influentials in their teens and twenties doesn't help to contain...

Do Nice Girls Self-Promote?

Jory Des Jardins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:55:49 -0800

I got to see a ton of bloggers I haven't seen in a long time at the BlogHer Holiday Party. One, in particular, inspired a post. She's one of the "old-timers", meaning she's been blogging for more than five years. And like many of the women I met in the early days of BlogHer, she sticks to her knitting--posts a few times a week, uses Facebook and Twitter as tools, is adept in audio and videoblogging. And she considers herself a "professional who blogs," not a professional blogger. There's a big difference here: Some bloggers put a good deal of...

The Imperative of Being Uncomfortable

Jory Des Jardins — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:08:13 -0800

I've always ducked into and out of my yoga practice as I've made time for it in my life. It's one of the few things about which I'm not ambitious. I don't do it to get to level three, or to one day stand on my hands with my legs crossed. I do it because it's one of the few things in my life that has grounded me. And when I lose grounding I seek it out. I've been threatening to go to the yoga place in my new neighborhood, which isn't so new anymore. I'd taken a very practical...

Rituals

Jory Des Jardins — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:31:53 -0800

When I was a kid, we had a post-Thanksgiving ritual of setting up the Christmas decorations. This had to occur the Friday and weekend after Thanksgiving. My Mom is a pack rat so this was no small chore. The kids had to cart huge boxes in from the garage and storage room; boxes full of tcotchkes--Christmas tree ashtrays, red and green felt wall-hangings, macrame santas, and ornaments. Hundreds of ornaments. Ornaments were Christmas currency in my extended family. No adult walked into a family gathering without ornaments for the kids. My aunts were very craftsy and often made our ornaments....

Baking Meditation

Jory Des Jardins — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 09:32:38 -0800

I've been on vacation all week, spending time with family, doing not much. Wednesday I embarked on baking a pie. I was proud of myself. I spent time researching recipes the week before. I prepped ingredients in advance, which I've never done in the past. I took more than a second to think about things that have gone wrong in previous attempts--I have chronically weak pie dough--and chilled my ingredients accordingly. I even bought a Kitchen Aid mixer so that I could better beat the dough. As I was peeling apples I realized I had been spending hours working on...

The Artist as Entrepreneur

Jory Des Jardins — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:52:08 -0800

Apologies in advance to Lisa Milgram, who told me this parable. I have embellished a bit: There was a man who used to love to fish on his boat. It was a small boat--no frills, a rowboat. He fished every day for his supper. And every day, he caught something to feed his family. One day, an Old Man floated by on his rowboat and observed the first man fishing. "You know," The Old Man said, "You're really good at fishing! Have you considered starting a fishing BUSINESS! You could buy three more of those boats, train some fishermen, and...

On being a content creator

Jory Des Jardins — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:49:59 -0800

Due to a confluence of blogging events of late, I've been around a lot of digital influencers, online platform builders, content creators, call them what you will. "What is your blog URL?" I'm asked, and I reply with my boilerplate response. "My blog is old as the hills; I never write anymore. The irony, I suppose, of having co-founded a company by and for bloggers." This is meant to somehow prequalify me as a card-carrying blogger without actually being one. A friend's wife started a blog and sent me a link to promote, which I was happy to do--she wrote...