This past Monday we kicked off the first Writer’s Workshop with a group of 22 participants from more than a dozen states and countries around the world. I’m so impressed and inspired by the talent and hard work coming from the group already—and we’re just in week one! Writing is a journey into yourself, your ideas, and your memories—and taking the time to create something in words is a beautiful (albeit intensely personal) exercise. Several people have emailed me to ask if I’ll be teaching the course again and the answer right now is more than likely yes! I’ll be teaching the class as a summer session in mid-July, with details for signing up coming in mid-June. Sign up to get notified via weekly blog updates or send me an email if you’d like to join. Speaking of creating… is this something you’re dreaming of doing more of? Keep reading…

Building your voice on the internet: is it time for you to join in?

Have you been thinking about joining the online conversation? Have you been dreaming of starting a blog, website, or writing more?

By far, the most frequent thing I hear in my coaching and teaching is a remark that seems on everyone’s mind:

“I want to start a blog, but I’m not sure where to start.”

“I have an idea, but I’m not sure anyone wants to read it.”

“I have too many ideas, so I end up never writing them down!”

The internet can be an intimidating place—we see people who seem to write effortlessly, and publish often; they have crowds of people gathering and listening, and it seems like that’s something you’ll never get to—so why bother? Should you join in at all?

These are my arguments for why YOU should speak up.

The goal isn’t to have the loudest voice on the internet. It’s to have a voice. Your voice. The internet is a gold-rush right now, as people create content and the connections and communities born are exploding and multiplying faster than Google’s Spiders can crawl them. Should you join the conversation? There’s already enough noise and buzz anyway. What would you have to offer?

The point of writing isn’t that it’s for anyone else, at least not at first. (If your goal is to attract fame and fortune immediately, examine that desire and assumption. What is the deeper root? What are you hoping for?)

Writing and storytelling are about developing a relationship with your voice and ideas; it’s about finding (and practicing) ways of expressing them to yourself and others.

Carve out a home on the internet.

If and when you DO want to connect with others, however, it’s important to carve out your own “home” on the internet. In the world of Google-ability, we are quickly researching each other in order to learn about their skills and talents.

What do people find when they put your name into the Google machine?

The good news is that you can own this answer pretty quickly. If you want to craft three articles on a particular topic that’s interesting or a hobby to you (ideally something you’d like to be known for), you can start a Tumblr, Weebly or a WordPress domain for free or almost free (less than $50, max, if you want to own a domain name and buy a theme) and post three articles under a header with your name and contact information on it. This can be done in as little as four weeks. All of a sudden, when someone types in your name, or better yet—the topics you’ve written about—you can now be found. Your ideas can be known.

Resumes are static, and we’re searching for ideas through our web-maze of online information. Make yourself “findable.” Put your information onto the web so that search engines–and people, and serendipity–can stumble across it. Without putting yourself out there, it’s a lot harder to be found.

I get so many emails from people that say, “I was looking for an article about how to improve my writing, or how to write a thank you note, and I started reading your blog and sat down with you for an hour lastnight. It was so fun to read your thinking. Thank You.” 

By putting my words and ideas into a space where other people can find them–I’ve let myself be found. I can become known for my ideas. If you have an idea and it’s stuck in your head, there isn’t an easy way for anyone to know that you have it. Serendipity comes through connection and collision, and when people can find you and your ideas, possibility sparks.

Now – these interactions didn’t happen right away – I definitely blogged for at least six months with only my mother commenting, gently correcting most of my typos and spelling or grammar errors. My sister discovered Grammar Girl and gleefully pointed out my mistakes as well, which, as a younger sister, I’m sure delighted her. (I then hired her as my editor for my print projects, which probably made her happy as a clam–she got paid to point out all of my mistakes. Oh, life).

Starting small: creating a project, not a life (for now).

The other thing to remember is that some of my favorite websites aren’t by people who show up every week. You might not have the stamina (or the resources) to enter into a writing relationship that’s indefinite in its time frame or scope. In fact, I think that’s a terrible way to start. For people starting a blog, I recommend thinking of it as a “Project” and not a “Indefinite Relationship.” When you commit to a blog and say to yourself that you’re going to write every week for the next two years, the minute you mess up or miss a week, you’ve essentially failed the project. Who wants to be disappointed that they tried something?

The alternative is to create a project that you can do well at, by changing the parameters. Instead of promising an indefinite relationship, drastically reduce it in scope and start with a reasonable project that has a defined ending from the beginning. When you can close a project successfully and complete it, you’re much more likely to continue on to a phase two or phase three of a project, rather than let it taper off into the land of incomplete projects. You also change the feeling relationship you have with yourself—instead of creating an inevitable failure-situation, with resulting disappointments and twangs, putting pressure to show up in a way that might not be reasonable for you because of all of your various commitments–you’re creating a success situation, where you can end the project within a concrete time frame and still be very happy that you did it at all.

I recommend creating a project that says, “I’d like to talk about _[topic]_ in 4 posts, within the next two months.” Give yourself a start time, and end time, and a quantity. Specify a topic. Perhaps you want to blog about four fabulous meals that you cooked and created. Maybe you want to chronicle your science journey behind the lens of a microscope. Maybe you want to document your notes on a new class you’re taking. You could start a Tumblr with your favorite photos of doorways in your quirky city. The possibilities are endless, but you must pick one small one (and only one).

Don’t believe me? Blake Master’s compilations of Peter Thiel’s lectures is one of my favorite sites to read and there’s a fixed (static) amount of content – 13 lectures – accessible indefinitely for those that want to self-teach and read the series. He’s not adding more content. He’s creating great content and sticking it up in a place for people to find it.

What I find with myself–and others–is that if we start too big, we actually fail to start at all. When we dream the big dream of master projects and hundreds of photographs and best-selling books, many people fail to start because the dream is too big. I’m all for big dreams and goals–and relish in them, dance in them, and visualize them–but when it comes to the implementation, start with something small enough to do in a day or a week. Want to write a best-selling book or post? Start by researching your ideas, one at a time, in short posts. You can collect them later. In fact, the short pieces will serve as your building blocks for the bigger pieces.

Almost everyone I know that’s created something big started one, small, tiny step at at time.

Bottom line recommendation? Create a fixed, small project that’s do-able within a time frame of less than 3 months.

What about creating a community? How do you get people to read your stuff?

What is a community, anyways? Traffic is a collection of people “listening” or knowing how to find you and your new internet home. Traffic is built by pointing people, one by one, to the content you’ve created. Without arrows pointing in your direction (and that comes from giving people a way to find you in the form of an email, tweet, verbal share, facebook post, or link from another site as some examples), you won’t have very many people who accidentally stumble across your site. If the content is good, each person that sees it might share it with a few more people, and the site will grow slowly over time.

While I believe you should begin by sharing directly with your immediate colleagues and friends–emailing them to tell them you’ve written something; the absolute best way to grow traffic to a website is to write a guest post or article for a website that already has a built-in community or audience. It’s far easier than trying to coax one person at a time to your site. Scavenge the web for places that accept guest posts in your topic or area of interest, and spend time writing 2-3 posts that could be submitted at these places.

How big should your desired community be? Does it need to be a big community?

Before you jump into needing more traffic, however, I have many thoughts on how big a community needs to be.

The simple truth is that your story is important even if only one person hears it. Even if you’re the one who needed to write the story in the first place. We tell stories and share information to connect with other people, and your experience may mean the world to someone else, even if there are only a handful of people reading the site. Maybe the one person who reads your story desperately needs to hear that there’s someone else in the world like them, and you’re that person. Never underestimate the power of a small audience.

The best way to share your stuff is to think honestly and authentically about the work you’re creating and who you’d like to read it. Then, select a couple of friends and colleagues and send them an email that says, “I just wrote an essay about my experience with ____, and I thought you might find it useful or enjoy reading the story. I’m building my writing craft, and I’d love it if you would take the time to tell me what you think or if you thought the story resonated with you.”

Why traffic is not the same as community.

There’s a bit of pressure to garner a lot of attention and traffic to a website, and I think that only looking at the raw numbers misses the bigger picture. A lot of people get frustrated when their traffic count doesn’t seem as high as they’d like to be. While more can sometimes be better, it’s not (to me at least) about creating a site or a post that millions of people see. It’s about creating a post that resonates with a group of people that want to see what you’re writing about.

When you think about traffic, I believe that you first need to start by understanding your own personal goals. What do you want to achieve? Why is traffic important? What are your aims?

Why are you building your site, and your community? Is it documentation, analysis, understanding, connection? Who do you want to connect with? What are you hoping to achieve?

Does it matter if 20,000 people visit your site or that 2 people “convert”? Conversion is a term that indicates when someone has behaved in a way that you want them to–often measured in sign-ups or purchases. In the case of Landscape Architecture, where I work on projects that have 10-, 20-, or 30-year time frames, many developers and architects are clients that work with us on projects over many years. What this means is that we don’t need hundreds of thousands of people visiting our site (although that’s fine that they do)–our desired conversion (our want, our outcome), is getting the people who visit the site to connect with us and hire us to do incredible urban design projects around the world. If only ten people visited our website–but ten of our right people, developers or architects who want to hire us for multi-million dollar city-design projects or urban landscapes, that would be 100% a win.

For me, on this website, I am intentionally creating a space where first and foremost I get to learn and practice the craft of writing out loud. I simply LOVE storytelling and describing things to people. I enjoy it immensely when people enjoy what I have to say and engage in conversation about ideas or questions that I’ve presented.

I have grown this site by developing relationships with people one by one, and I’ve tried to take the time to answer almost every email that comes my way via this blog. Sometimes it takes me a week or two, and some weeks I have to shutter down and I miss a few – but for the most part, I cherish the interactions that have come from two years of blogging and getting to know people around the world who are interested in similar ideas. I believe strongly (and think we should all remember) that everyone on the other end of these fiber-optic cables is a human person and should be treated as such. Even in my writing, it’s not “my readers,” but lots of individual people forming a relationship with me (or my writing). A relationship involves two people! The more you can connect on a human level, the more you resonate—as a friend, as an author, as a creator, as a business person, as a marketer.

What does success mean for this blog? I started it as a space where I could think (through writing) about particular ideas I love–philosophy, psychology, motivation, storytelling, entrepreneurship and innovation, strategy. It became a place where I could connect (via ideas) to souls around the world who found resonance in what I was saying (and vice versa). I’ve met thousands of people through this blog, taught workshops across the country, found homes to stay in while traveling abroad, and had morning after morning of delightful coffee conversations with hundreds of people who reached out just to say hello.

I’ve built a small side business around this internet home, specifically by teaching writing courses both online and in person, coaching and consulting with people looking for someone to reflect and analyze their ideas or projects, and doing high-intensity work with folks who sign up for the Start Something Project that I built last year. One of the things people ask me for the most is to be their buddy while they build a project, and coach them along the way as they build their first project–I get it. It’s helpful to have someone there who can show you some of the ropes while you figure out what you’re doing. (Don’t worry–I take the training wheels off pretty quickly after one or two calls). But to be fair: I think you can do this all on your own.

Knowing your “right size.”

Interacting one on one, for me, also gives me huge value: I learn what people are working on, I develop new ideas for posts, I have “ah-ha!” moments where I understand how to describe something, and I get better at crafting things that are actually helpful. This post, in fact, is largely born out of a long conversation I had with a recent client developing her own blog and writing practice (thank you, for inspiring this post!).

One of the reasons I’ve been trying to “grow slowly” on the internet is because I want to develop real relationships with people, give myself space to breathe, learn and mess up, and also because it’s not about mass quantity. Do I want to be on the New York Times within the next few years? You bet. Would I like to write stories for the New Yorker? Absolutely. I also know that the best way to get there is not through a magic wand or sudden change, but through showing up, practicing, and moving forward on a consistent basis.

The other fallacy is that you need to have an audience of tens of thousands to make a viable business work. The reality is that the business you’re running might only need a handful of clients or customers. In fact, I might argue that having 10,000 people look at your stuff and only 10 people “convert” is poor efficiency.

To make a business work, you need to offer something of value to people who are interested, want, or need what you’re selling. I believe in business relationships that are highly satisfying to all parties involved—you learn, you grow, you get attention, mentoring, ideas, strategy, advice, review—and I also learn, grow, and cherish the working relationship and enjoy the service that I’m giving. To do my client work, I only work with two or three people a month as my “side hustle,” that is second to my full-time day job. In my recent writing course that I built, I’m not looking for 500 people; I’m looking for a small community of 20-30 writers interested in learning and writing in community.

How many people do you need to reach to make this business work? You don’t need 10,000 readers, you need the right amount of the right people–the ones who find high value in what you’re offering. To develop a community, you need to build the right audience for the product or service that you’re creating.

Perhaps there’s something to developing medium-sized communities or “tribes,” as other people call them. I love and cherish the people that I’m getting to know—and I’m constantly in awe of the talent, ideas, and personalities that cross my radar just because I happen to write stuff on the internet. I thank you.

As You Grow

Things change. As you build a space for yourself on the internet, everything will change, as things tend to do. I’ve always said that the first 1000 people will get a response, and as the community and shape of my work changes, I’ll shift my strategy to create a strategy that’s satisfying and pleasing in service of my best work for the most people that I can reach.

But before “growth” in the numbers or traffic sense comes growth as a person, and growth in your skill sets. Just as I’m trying as a novice in dance class each week, a tall gangly female of all legs who keeps moving in the wrong direction, building a writing practice and a craft takes practice. It’s okay to start small, and it’s okay to have just one essay at a time. Start with the right sized audience and a single essay, and go from there.

Resources I love:

There’s a whole world of amazing people and products on the internet, and you don’t have to start from scratch if you don’t want to. For an investment of $100 to $2000, you can find someone (or a couple of great lessons) to show you what steps to take and how to move forward. $2000 may feel like a lot, but most people who went to college spent about $5000 per class, as a point of reference. I’ve taken probably thirty-odd classes from $25 to several hundred dollars in order to learn more about all of these. (You get to keep the skills you learn, by the way.) Here are some of my favorites:

Enjoy:

• Jenny Blake’s May Mastermind For Side Hustlers and Solopreneurs–If you’re curious what a mastermind is or how it works, her May “sampler” is a month-long mastermind group that focuses on creating optimized schedules, financial roadmaps, finding your ideal client, and building an action plan for your business. Priced at the ridiculously low $75, she said she’s offering this alternative class as a way for more people to access her programs (and to make it “impossible not to sign up”). Speaking of amazing content, Jenny’s Behind-The-Business blog updates are one of my FAVORITE things to read. She shares her process for building, creating, and all of the nitty details you wish someone would talk about, but rarely do. Not publicized as a blog, it’s probably better than most blog posts.
• Think Traffic, by Corbett Barr, a website with tricks and tips and ways to build a blog (with traffic–if that’s your goal!). His product, Start A Blog That Matters, has been well-received and I’ve heard rave reviews.
• Fizzle, another product by Corbett Barr, Caleb Wojcik, and Chase Reeves is an online community of business training and video training for $35 a month ($315 for the year).
• Anything Danielle LaPorte, but mostly her latest, The Desire Map, as a way to discover your true desired feelings and help create a new way to think about goals and desires.
• Tara Gentile’s MasterMind Group, 10 Thousand Feet–a coaching and mastermind group to “pull you out of the trenches and give you the big-picture view on your business.” Creator of the ‘New/You Economy’ movement, Tara gives wonderful no-nonsense business advice and I’ve treasured her speaking events and engagements. This one clocks in at her early-bird $1800 price, and it’s a 3-month intensive for people with new/early businesses who want a summer of focused, personalized work to build their work to the next level. Most small-group masterminds are at least $2000 or more, so this one’s a great value for those initiating businesses or in the earlier years.
• The Live Well Space, by Suzannah Scully–I met Suzannah via Twitter (after a very public swim) and we realized that we were walking down the same street(s) in San Francisco. We both had heard of each other and wanted to know more. After a long and lovely morning laughing with tears streaming down our cheeks, we convened a fast and cherished friendship. Her blog channels yoga + philosophy + movement + strategic wisdom, and the focus of her work is on living, working, and loving well. Her coaching work builds 3-month relationships with clients to unpack and restructure your life’s focus towards greater clarity and happiness.
• New Minimalism by Cary Fortin–another soul sister whose creation rocks my socks off — Cary’s work looks at how less clutter and fewer things can bring more freedom and happiness to our lives, but takes the edge off of the extreme nature of many minimalist movements that trends towards absolute nothing. Believing that enjoyment and luxury can also be a part of simplicity and specificity, her new blog is a delicious discovery.
• Hannah Marcotti’s Community Grace–I’m a few days late in sharing this, but Hannah’s lovely, raw, real community for women has periodic 30-day group sessions for a $49 registration fee to join in learning about blogging, growth, and community-building. I love and admire her work, and think you’ll love her blog if you haven’t seen it already.

My takeaways for you? Build yourself an “internet home,” even if it’s only to enjoy making something by yourself.

I’m biased–I think we should all participate in this new form of community space, this digital world where we can place our creations. If you’re wavering about creating something, let me be clear: I think it’s time for you to join in.

To make it easy on yourself, start small. Pick one topic or project that you’re interested in, and make a small commitment to create a collection of pieces–drawings, ideas, words, notes, stories, essays, paintings, photos, or other–around this topic.

Give yourself a deadline of 3 months or less (ideally one month). And finish it.

What happens? It gives you something to point to. It’s a reference point for the future. It’s a means towards executing your projects. It’s a way to start a conversation. And it’s a way to do the things you’ve been talking (or thinking) about doing.

And best-case scenario? You get to meet a few people along the way who like talking about what you’re doing.

It’s an incredible place. I hope you’ll join in.

Bravery.

Bravery is showing up.

Bravery is saying what you believe in. Out loud. To the people who need to hear it. Even if that person is you. 

It’s having honest communication with your self, your teams, your communities.

Bravery is saying no when you know you need to. It’s saying no to the wrong things so that you can say yes to the right things.

Bravery is having the courage to quit when you know you’re on the wrong track, even if hundreds of thousands of people are headed in one direction. It’s knowing when the path you are on isn’t the one for you. It’s taking that scary leap, swimming upstream, or wandering down unfamiliar trails.

Bravery isn’t fun, macho, or full of gusto. It’s not always done in one big sweep.

Bravery is all the heroes in Boston, visible and invisible, local and global. 

Bravery is having the courage to stand out on social media and remind people to collect the dots, not connect them too early.

Bravery is saying something different and showing empathy for our peers around the world. It’s not jumping to conclusions too quickly. It’s remembering what we stand for and believing in the best of us.

Sometimes bravery is remarkable, unfathomable courage by the youngest and oldest of human souls who rush forward to help everyone and put their lives on the line to save others. The runners in Boston who kept running to the hospital to donate blood were Remarkable. Beautiful. Stunning. Incredible.

Other times bravery is calm, methodical. Sometimes it looks quite peaceful. Sometimes it’s shaking off the noise and clamor and distraction and realizing with simple focus that your next steps require you to take those steps and walking forward is the best and happiest way forward.

Bravery might not be visible to anyone else at the time that you’re being brave. Bravery might be broadcast on national television (but that’s not the point).

It’s showing up, little by little. 

It’s putting yourself out there, even if “out there” is pushing past your own mental barriers.

It’s deciding that now is a better time than later.

Bravery is bravery, even if it doesn’t look that remarkable to anyone else. You are still brave.

It’s continuing to press on, even when your stomach drops in fear, your hands shake in nerves, and you collect sweat in your armpits faster than fog droplets in a San Francisco “summer” day. It’s taking a step forward in the midst of whirlwind gusts of wind and shouting into the windstorm, I’ve got this, dammit! I’m still going to do it! I have to! 

My soul tells me I have to do this, and I have to listen.

Start small. (It’s okay to start with a bang, too, but small is still very brave).

Watch for the mental overwhelm, and give yourself kindness and space to freak the heck out (although maybe not publicly just yet).

Be very kind to yourself.

And also, remember,

in your quest for bravery:

In order to do something new, you often have to let go of something old.

The trouble with starting something is that it requires a different behavior than what you did before.

We are creatures of habit, yes, but we are also creatures of continuous change.

Spring is the perfect time for creative bursting, for unfolding, for the skin-shedding, cocoon-bursting metamorphosis that transforms you towards your next self.

The world is waiting for you to grow into the next version of you. 

Bravery doesn’t always feel like bravery.

It can feel like whirl-wind, mind-bending, all-changing upset, filled with unpredictable whims and whammies, stomach upset and nervous twitters, body aches, starts and stops, trial and error, and a whole lot of messy.

Sometimes bravery feels nauseating, overwhelming, scary, and downright hard.

It’s still brave.

A little insider’s story–my story:

When I opened the doors and launched my writing class last week, I was terrified. This was my brain:

What if I wasn’t ready? What if no one showed up? What if nothing worked? What if this dream of mine, that I’ve been working and crafting and creating for so many months past, resulting in a big giant internet wall of silence? 

Intellectually, I know that I can do this. I’ve been ready to do this for years. I’ve taught workshop after workshop and coached folks for years. I have a chart on my wall of the things I’m leaning towards this year, and the one big thing not lined up for the longest time was creating a course for writers. I can’t confess to understanding all of the reasons that I’ve avoided doing it, but I can speculate.

It means so much to me.

I knew deep down that I would do it even if only one person showed up. I would do it even if no one paid me the first time, and I would keep honing my chops and my offerings until I found the right fit.

That still doesn’t mean I’m not incredibly terrified. I get scared! Scared SHITLESS. My brain, many weeks ago:

What if no one shows up? What if I’m a terrible teacher? What if I can’t get it all done? What if it doesn’t work? WHAT IF NOT ONE PERSON SHOWS UP? What it I can’t do it on top of the work I’m already doing? What if this isn’t what I’m meant to do? WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF EVERYTHING???

WHAT IF IT’S ALL JUST WRONG?

So scream the fear-monster voices in my head.

Yes. They are there. I have them. 

When you get close to your dreams, fear can rage like a giant monster. Every thing that could go wrong seems to loom large. The website broke. I stayed up all night, nervous about prepping the materials. Funky characters showed up across my website. More things went wrong. Before launching the program, I waited for months. I studied stacks and stacks of books, compressing more knowledge into the course documents in order to make it even better. I stalled. And then stalled some more. I thought about not doing it at all. I almost said to myself, “Nah, one wants this. It’s not worth trying.” 

And then someone thanked me. People went out of their way to reach out and tell me how excited they were. 

Several more people signed up. The class started filling up before I had all my ducks lined up and my posts ready to go. (I have so much more promotion I’m planning on!)

In the form: “Yes. I’ve been waiting for this. This is exactly the class I want.” and “I’m so excited I cannot WAIT until the 29th!”

Holy shit. I’m so excited. And thankful. This is going to be good.

Today, with the class more than half full already, I could laugh away those fears and pretend with a big shiny smile that everything is all and well, but it’s not the truth. I’m scared, too. The fear monsters hit everyone. I don’t know all the answers. But I do love writing!

I’ve learned, slowly, over and over again, that the scariest part of doing anything is not doing it and wallowing in thought. 

And wrapping your thoughts around all those fears? That’s a scary space.

Be brave. Get started.

The best way to do anything is to do it. If you’re afraid of starting, make it smaller and simpler. Want to have a conversation with your boss about something you’re frustrated about? Don’t write a big report or delay on it. Write a quick, simple email that says: “I’ve got a couple of items I’d really like to talk to you about–including a couple of frustrations I’d like to work through. When’s the best time to chat, and is there a format that’s easiest for you?” Do it as soon as you know that you have to have this conversation. Stop by and say what you think. Look for solutions.

And be brave. I know it’s terrifying, I know it’s not easy, and I go through it all the time.

Be brave.

With big love this week,

There has been such an incredible response to the writing course! Here are some of the main questions so far and feel free to reach out on twitter if you have any other questions. If you’re thinking of joining the course, registration ends this week. 

I love the idea of a Writing Course! But who is it for? How do I know if it’s the right fit for me?

This course is designed for people who want to get better at writing but aren’t ready to commit to a full-time program at a University, or want to increase their writing habits by doing a 3-week course. If you’re a professional, creative, or have a personal writing hobby and want to step up your game, this course will help you improve your writing and teach you fundamental skills and lessons in storytelling and narrative.

How does it work? What does the class consist of?

The class is broken down into three weekly themes:

• Week One looks at Visualization and Imagination – we’ll talk about crafting our ideas, shaping them, using different methods for imagination, and exploring each of our writing dreams.
• Week Two is on Storytelling, where we get to dive into specific frameworks and structures for creating stories, and practice writing many of our own.
• Lastly, Week Three focuses on Persuasion and using writing to get more clarity in what we want and communicating with others.

Every weekday during the course, there’s a core lesson followed by a writing prompt for you to start your creative writing. The core lesson is a teaching example or a short story to get you thinking and learning about new ways to consider your writing and narrative–on average, it’s about 1-2 pages of reading with examples and links to further resources for you to dig into. At the end of the lesson, there’s a prompt for your daily creative writing exercise–a series of thoughts for you to respond to.

The prompts will get you into the habit of writing each day and putting words onto paper.

It sounds like a lot of content. I work during the day – how will I get it all done?

It is a lot of content! I cover a lot quickly, but I don’t want you to get overwhelmed. In the beginning we’ll work on framing your personal writing goals, and you can pick how many days you’d like to practice. For some people, just writing 3 days a week is an ideal goal, so they can save the Tuesday and Thursday lessons for later. Each lesson is designed as a complete package, and the more lessons you do, the more you’ll learn.

Do I get to keep the course materials?

Yes! Each day you’ll get a PDF of the course lesson for you to keep. At the end of the course I’ll send you the complete digital document (it’s nearly a book!) for you to keep as well.

What if I while I’m taking the course I come up with a great idea and I want to take my writing in this new direction — what should I do?

The biggest goal of this class is to help you get started with your writing craft and to unlock your creative vision. If you get a great idea, run with it! The people I work with all have lots and lots of creative ideas–but haven’t found a consistent way to get their ideas on paper, and tend to feel “stuck” in some way or another. To that end, I encourage everyone to follow your instinct and intuition. You can save the lessons for future prompts and days when you’re looking for a way to start. The most important thing is that you take the time to write and explore your ideas. Everyone has a story to tell–scratch that, everyone has lots of stories to tell, and this course is about exploring your narratives and stories and putting your ideas into words.

How big is the class?

The target size is a group of 20-30 people so you can find and meet great peers and start to connect with your classmates, but we’re still an intimate group so that I can interact with each of you. Depending on how many people sign up, we may be a bit smaller for this pilot group. Registration closes on Friday, April 26th.

What’s your teaching style? Do you have a teaching philosophy?

Absolutely. I work under several premises that create the foundation for the work I do with my clients, on this blog, and in my life.

• Get Started. I believe that one of the most difficult things for each of us is the “getting started” part of any habit. We spend so much time locked in our heads and minds and not enough time actually doing the things that need to get done. By setting up a three-week course with daily prompts, the goal of this course is to get you started on a writing habit, and build up a positive association with opening your writing document and letting your heart out on the paper.
• You Need A Team. If we could each simply “motivate” or “do” everything we wanted to, life would be great–but it doesn’t work like that. We need community, coaches, friends, mentors, teachers, and a whole crew of people to help us walk (or run!) towards our dreams. This class is designed to help you unlock your creativity by adding structure, mentorship, teaching and accountability to your wonderful burgeoning creative talents. 
• Positivity. The next premise is one of positivity. I believe we need to be very kind to ourselves about our progress. In my experience, a lot of folks engage in a dialogue about why they’re not accomplishing or achieving what they meant to do yet. I like to re-frame this, and instead talk about all the good things you’re capable of doing, and be positive about whatever level you can achieve. Signing up for the course and taking the steps towards being a more prolific writer is huge! Congratulations to you on that! And once you’re in the course, –the course can be taken at different paces, so that if you want to write only 2 or 3 times a week, that’s just fine. Everyone’s definition of success is different, and the most important thing is creating space and time and a community for writers to connect and create.
• Intuition. I believe in honing your relationship with your intuition–your instinct, your gut. If you’ve spent years in academic or work environments with a particular rigor or structure, it’s highly likely that you’ve lost touch with your base creative intuition. The good news is that each of us can build and strengthen our relationship with our instincts by getting out our tools and “exercising” our intuitive muscles daily.

Are you giving feedback to everyone on their essays?

While I won’t be reading everyone’s essays every day — that’s far too much for me to take on (30 essays every day for 15 days is a LOT of essays), but I will be reading at least one essay by each person and giving thoughtful suggestions and feedback and answering your questions each evening in our online community. We will use the Facebook group as a place to have conversations and talk about common threads, themes, and questions. I’ll be online a couple of times per day (usually in the evenings) to go through and answer each of your questions and add thoughts and resources for your consideration.

Is this a technical class?

This is not a technical class. I’m less concerned with a typo or proper sentence construction, and much more excited about getting your ideas out onto paper, quickly. You can always polish something later (and I recommend Strunk & White’s Elements of Style if you’re interested in this). This course is focused on dreaming, scheming, imagination, and building your writing practice and craft.

I can’t make this session–I’m so bummed! Will you be offering this course again?

Yes. I’ll be offering a similar course either this Summer or Fall.

I don’t have a Facebook account. Will that affect my ability to take the class?

One of the ways we will interact with each other is a small, closed Facebook group that lets us meet and discuss on a forum page. I’ve looked through several alternatives and this is the best one to date. If you don’t have an account, you can still do the prompts and learn from each daily lesson and get a great class out of it. You might also consider creating a temporary account for the duration of the course if you’d like to be a part of the community conversations.

Are there any surprises?

Of course there are surprises! :) I have a couple of additional tricks up my sleeve that I’m working on and can’t wait to share with you. Sign up and you’ll see!

Where do I register?

Class Description: Start Writing | Digital Writer’s Workshop
Course Cost: $300.
Direct Registration Link 

I hear from so many folks that want to write, but haven’t started yet–or don’t know where to start. Individuals with a developing writing craft who want to get better at storytelling, narrative, and online writing. People who have been writing for a while–and are ready to share their work with other people.

“The act of starting something is powerful.” - (Tweet this)

I’ve been working this past winter and spring to develop a course just for this purpose: a 3-week digital writing workshop with daily exercises and a private, shared community of colleagues to converse with and learn from. I’m excited to share it with the world and invite you to participate!

Join me.

The Details: Spring 2013 Writer’s Workshop

A digital writer’s workshop: A 3 week (21-day) adventure course on creative writing, storytelling, and blogging. Monday through Friday weekday essay prompts, 3 live calls and Question/Answer sessions, and a small, private group to meet fellow bloggers and community members interested in the same thing you are – writing.

Course Dates: The program starts Monday, April 29th and goes through Friday, May 17th.

The Goodies:

• Fifteen introductory essay prompts and thoughtful phrases sent each weekday morning, plus a reading/thought reflection question. Each question will be a short exercise to stimulate your thinking, teach you a new writing skill, and (optionally) extend into a longer essay (if you have the time).
• Live Q/A group calls every Wednesday at 5 PM PST (and recorded so you can watch later) to ask any questions you have about developing your writing, to ask questions and share experiences, and to talk about all things writing, blogging, brainstorming, storytelling and internet.
• Weekend optional/alternative assignments to “catch up” on missed weekdays or do bonus writing (not required). Take the time to expand, re-write, edit, and hone in on one of your favorite ideas from the week.
• A private, closed Facebook page for the group to talk to each other, share tips and ideas, and form connections with other writers looking to expand their practice.
• A chance to submit your writing for review or feedback through a weekly “featured essay contest,” where I’ll be giving feedback directly to you on your essays and questions.
• The choice to go at your pace: while prompts will be delivered daily, you have the option to select anywhere from 2-, 3- or 5-times a week writing (although I encourage at least three per week to help set the habit!). Pick what feels right for you and select your personal writing habit.
• At the end of the course: a bonus pack of 15 essays prompts and ideas: an extra three weeks of self-guided writing after the three-week course. Would I send you off into the woods alone? Nope! I’ll give you more exercises for you to do at your own pace.
• If you complete all the prompts and ideas (including the bonus pack) you’ll finish the workshop with 30 essays—enough for a year’s worth of blogging!
• Crafted with love, design chops, and a desire to make an impact on your writing. Let me help you get started writing in this Spring Writers’ Workshop.

Learn About:

• The power of great storytelling, and how to improve your storytelling.
• Narrative Arc, storytelling formation, and writing structures including Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey.”
• How to add color, texture and detail to your writing;
• Finding your own voice and story.
• What to do when you get stuck and how to develop great habits for great writing

Explore:

• New topics to write about and prompts for you to pursue
• Thoughts and ideas from writers across multiple centuries.
• Resources and tools to teach you more about storytelling, writing, and communications.
• The psychology behind habit formation and building a writing practice.
• The brilliance of your brain–you are already a wonderful thinker!–explore ways to let your voice come out on the page.
• Engage in feedback and conversation with other writers, and get direct feedback on your questions, ideas and concerns.

“Writing is essential to our creative self, our soul: write to learn and to live.” - (Tweet this)

This course is perfect for:

• People with aspiring creative writing dreams;
• Professionals looking at improving communication skills for day job;
• Bloggers who want to improve their craft;
• New writers who want to get started on a writing project;
• People with a writing practice who want to meet other like-minded people.

Registration details:

THE SPRING 2013 WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT.

Register here. Registration opens Monday, April 15th and closes Friday, April 26th (or when spots fill up).

If you’d like to join for a Summer Workshop, sign up to be notified of blog posts and future classes.

COURSE COST: $300.

• Registration closes April 26th or when the class is full ~ whichever comes first!
• The course is $300 for three weeks, 30 total essay prompts, daily inquiries, three live calls, and a closed community of like-minded writers.
• Miss a day? Exercises can be done throughout the week, before or after work, or you can catch up on weekends if you miss a day along the way.

I hear from so many folks that want to write but don’t know where to begin, or haven’t carved out the time yet. Many people are also writing but haven’t formed a community online. This course is designed to help you do both. The course will combine several of my teachings from the Storytelling workshops I’ve taught at World Domination Summit, Bold Academy and at General Assembly — as well as detail new processes and resources for your use.

Let’s get started – a 3 week digital course focused on getting better at writing.

Want in? Join me!

With (writing) love,

A few weeks ago, I was teaching some of Spring’s early-season open water courses down at Aquatic Park near Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. A group of new swimmers stood, shivering, outside of the water while the coaches and I explained the process of getting acclimated to cold water temperatures and critical things to know about the differences between pool swimming and open water swimming. With a temperature of 52 degrees in early March, the sting upon entering is brutal and shocking: it takes every swimmer’s breath away, leaving people with the feeling of hyperventilation for a minute or two before you acclimate to the temperatures.

One of the things I notice with both myself and with new swimmers–particularly talented adults who are very competent in other areas of their life, but new to swimming–is how quickly our thought processes jump from an observation to a secondary judgment.

In open water swimming, one of the many difficult things to do is swim in a straight line, and also to sight–to spot off of a land mark in the distance to help guide your course. With your eyes at the water line and waves chopping up around you, it’s easy to get disoriented or confused or not see something the first couple of times you take a peek up at the horizon line. Add a group of swimmers surrounding you, and it’s easy to get lost or confused pretty quickly.

“Be present as the watcher of your mind — of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations.” - Eckhart Tolle (Tweet this)

What happens, however–and this goes beyond swimming–is that people will take a stroke, try to sight off of an object–and for any number of reasons, won’t see the thing they are looking for. A wave, a swimmer, a mis-calculation, some foggy goggles–all of these make the chances that you’ll get that perfect “sighting” on one stroke very small. I often have to sight three or four times before I get any information that’s helpful to me. So, I put my head back down, take a few strokes, and try again. After a couple of tries, I get the information I need, or at least partial information. I can begin to piece together a map of my environment over time with lots of additional clues that I keep looking for.

What happens to new swimmers, however, is that when they miss that first sighting–and they don’t see anything–they start to judge themselves. “What the heck! Why can’t I see anything?” The self-talk pattern happens pretty quickly (and believe me, I know this because it’s true for me, too)–“I’m such an idiot! Why can’t I get this right? Why is this so hard? What am I doing wrong!”

We–capable, smart, talented adults–are very quick to collapse a judgment on top of a behavior almost immediately after something goes wrong.

I encourage and coach my swimmers to adopt an “observational” philosophy and to leave the judgment part, or analysis, until after we get out of the water. “Just watch what goes on, and state it as a fact, and leave it there for a bit. Practice letting your thoughts come, but don’t be hard on yourself about them,” we’ll tell the swimmers before we get in the water. It really is okay if it doesn’t all go perfectly.

When I breathe while swimming out doors, I often don’t get a breath every time I take a stroke. Often the elements–waves, wind, timing–slam water in my face or make it hard for me to get the air I need. I keep going, without skipping a beat, working into the rotation. Head back down, spit out the water, roll over to the next breath cycle, and try again. After years of training, missing a breath doesn’t phase me–I know that a couple seconds down the line, I’ll grab some air and it will all be fine. As a newbie, however, this is both terrifying and also unknown territory. While breathing is perhaps the most extreme of examples, if it’s possible to stay relaxed and calm even amidst very scary things happening, chances are you’ll end up just fine and you’ll get another chance to improve (or breathe) a couple seconds down the line.

“It doesn’t always go right the first time. Remind yourself that that’s okay.” (Tweet this)

In another, non-athletic personal example, the same “observational versus judgmental” tack came into play. A while ago, I was struggling with an overwhelming amount of lethargy and exhaustion, and I wasn’t able to do all of the things I normally do. I found myself arriving at home, exhausted, and falling asleep by 8 or 9 PM at night–and sleeping straight through until 8 or 9 AM. All of the time I usually spent working on side projects, training, or working with clients was gone. There were a couple of months I didn’t get my regular workouts in, and I had to take some time off of work to stay back at home, and I didn’t take on any new clients or projects. In a conversation with my roommate (and dear friend), I sighed and said,

You know, I’m going to have to be okay with just watching this. Observing. I don’t fully know what’s going on, or why, but I don’t have the energy to be mad at myself for not being able to do everything right now. I think I just need to be patient and observe what’s happening. I can’t collapse judgment on this and be so hard on myself about not doing everything I had hoped I’d be doing at the point in the year. Something’s going on, and I’ve got to give it some space and time. All I can do right now is look at my behavior and actions over time, and look for patterns. Before I jump in and get really hard on myself, it’s worth being gentle and asking myself why I think this is happening.

It’s not easy–so often I find myself discouraged on top of my failure, adding judgments on top of my already unexpected performance. For people who work really hard, especially exceptionally talented people (and I know many of you out there are like this), being able to pause and “just watch” yourself and suspend the early judgment can be tremendously difficult. Sometimes I think of it as a moment, or a pause–time to stop, observe, and try to understand. Give yourself a couple of days before you get on the analytical bandwagon.

What about you? When you find yourself trying something new, or doing something differently than you expected, do you jump in and criticize yourself immediately?

As Eckhart Tolle so eloquently writes, “Be present as the watcher of your mind.” When I’m in the open water, I let myself watch my thoughts roll in and out, seeing them as pieces of neural firings and slowing down from collapsing judgment on them. This meditative, gentle attitude can be practiced. Start with watching (and don’t judge yourself if you find yourself judging!). When, over time, you find the ability to separate from your immediate thoughts and see them as streams of information and not actually constructing your reality–it’s a very powerful moment. As Tolle writes:

“Be present as the watcher of your mind — of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations. Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react. Notice also how often your attention is in the past or future. Don’t judge or analyze what you observe. Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction. Don’t make a personal problem out of them. You will then feel something more powerful than any of those things that you observe: the still, observing presence itself behind the content of your mind, the silent watcher.” - Eckhart Tolle

When someone offers you criticism, look at what they say (no need to internalize it immediately; instead observe it and ask yourself if the critic-giver is an important person or voice in your life, and how valuable it is); then: ask yourself if it’s coming from a place of love or a place of hurt.

If it’s coming from a place of love, they want the best for you and are telling you an honest opinion. It may sting, but it’s good for you.

When someone comments on your work or character from a place of pain in their life, it’s not actually about you. That person is hurting in some way, and lashing out. The issue is not about you. Bless them, wish them well, and realize that the commentary you need comes from a place of love.

Like it? Tweet it: “An overwhelming number of human reactions come from a place of love or pain.”

I was sitting at a restaurant not too long ago, reading through another incredibly long list of options, both overwhelmed and exasperated by the choices in front of me. I just want something good to eat! I thought. I don’t want to read everything and choose. My analytically-focused brain, however, often prompts me to read every single option before making a decision, because I want to be sure that I’ve made the best decision.

This got me thinking, however, about how we make decisions, decision paradoxes, and how to design menus that are easy for the user, not the sender. It’s not enough to put all the information onto a page. What if we designed a menu that took into account the psychology of how we make decisions?

A quick sketch later, and my sister and I brainstormed a menu that presented only binary options. You decide between a series of two choices, until you arrive at three or fewer options for what you might select to eat. For example, look at “start here.” You have two options — deciding between the “vegetarian/fish” side and the “meat” side. Once you pick a side, go up if you want fish, down if you want veggie. Then continue to select until you pick what you want to eat. Check it out, above.

Restaurant menus, like many, many other consumer interfaces, are typically designed with the first intent of giving the user all of the necessary information. Secondarily, a higher-end restaurant might layer in sophisticated-looking fonts, higher-quality papers and other polishes that make the menu look and feel in accordance with the brand. But what about a menu that understands the way that human brains work? That understands–and incorporates–human psychology and decision-making into the design itself?

This probably goes for other menus, too. (Such as the menu on your website, or the number of options you give people in company packages). Apple is well-known for making decisions simpler (at least they were).This menu was also inspired by a brilliant waitress that was able to nail what I wanted by closing the menu in front of me and asking me three questions (Meat or Veggie? Sweet or Salty? Carb side or veggie side?) and proceeded to give me two options for things I thought were delicious. Yes, please!

I’d love for someone to riff off of this, too. Take it–and make a better one. Make it more clear. What would you change? Would this make your decision-making easier?

A few months ago I was typing notes furiously into the tiny screen of my phone, my go-to source for dumping ideas when a pen and paper isn’t handy. I pushed “new note” as the ideas flooded out of my mind that morning; suddenly, as the program opened up a new screen, it stalled, paused for a long time, and then flashed and wiped clean.

I scrolled with my finger. That’s strange, I mused. Nothing was there. A flash of panic coursed through my mind.

What the…<

I closed the program and opened it again. Nope, All gone. I was standing out in the middle of the marina waterfront in northern San Francisco, in the middle of a long run that takes me out and back to the base of the Golden Gate bridge on one of my regular routes. I had stopped to catch an idea that had popped into my head, and I was standing, writing, by the side of the bay, tapping furiously into my phone. My note was lost. Worse than that–there didn’t seem to be any notes at all.

Oh, shit…

Strangely, however, I also felt an immediate sense of calm. A wave of nerves passed through me, and then continued on. I felt the angst and also let it go. In an instant, it was okay. My ideas–well over 200 notes, written to myself in various moments of inspiration–weren’t physically present, but it was okay. I had created these thoughts. I could create more. The notes in my digital archives were lost to time, but the act of taking the time to write them down in the first place was not lost. You can’t erase showing up every day, even if the product disappears. You can’t erase the knowledge in your head, the mind that’s changed because of the practice, the way you now think because of the work you’ve put in.

My dad says the same thing about jobs—even if you lose a job, or walk away from one, or if you get bought out—they can’t take what you’ve learned away from you. You get to keep what you’ve learned. The ways you’ve changed aren’t erased.

I never recovered my 200 notes. The good news is that in the time it took me to write them down, I’ve cultivated a practice of creating ideas, and I can hold onto the confidence that I’ll keep showing up and keep creating new ideas. Perhaps even revisit old ones, with more sophistication. Even if we lost everything–all of the physical things we use to string our lives together–we would still be fine.

More than fine.

Some other fun + miscellaneous updates: 

• Friday, March 22 is World Water Day, so now’s a wonderful time to consider donating your birthday as a way to bring clean water to hundreds of people if you’re looking for a new project or adventure. I did it last year for my 29th birthday and had an absolute blast (and made fun of myself along the way, among other things…).
• I’m in love with Adventure Sandwich, a new project to back on kickstarter that builds an imaginative children’s world out of cardboard. The world needs more of this! 
• While I’ve been a bit quieter-than-normal in blog world (I’m actually surprised that so many of people have noticed and reached out to say so; I thought I was doing such a good job of keeping up with posting! Honestly, however, I’m deeply thankful to you for being a part of my internet life and this community of ideas and for all the wonderful spirits and minds I’ve met through these various journeys) — While I’ve been laying low, whoever, in the interim I’ve been enjoying wonderful conversations via the growing Facebook community of wonderful minds + ideas. Come say hello! 

Sometimes the answer is just doing it.

Not thinking about doing it. Not writing about doing it. Not talking about doing it. And not waiting on it, or giving it more time.

Sometimes you just need to do it.

Anticipation can be deadly. Every time I have to jump into cold water or a cold pool, I can’t think about it too much. The more I think about it, the longer it takes to do it. The longer I think about it, the harder it gets to pull the trigger. The longer I think about it, the less time I spend actually doing it, and the more time I spend lost in thinking about it. The worst part is always the first three minutes as my body acclimates to the change in temperature from the outside air to the colder pool. And magically, after those three minutes, the sting wears off and I even begin to forget those moments pre-cold. Adaptation happens quickly. We forget our fears the minute we go ahead and get started.

The worst part is starting. Scratch that. Sometimes the worst part is the anticipation of starting. Sometimes the worst part is all that dang thinking you do before you start doing what you really need to just be doing. It’s all that thinking about starting that can paralyze you.

Quit that thinking.

The antidote to anticipation is action.

The hardest part can be just getting started.

###

Other News & Sneak Previews: Two big announcements coming soon! At the end of March I’ll be launching a 3-week, digital Storytelling & Narrative Writing Course for a private community of writers, bloggers, and individuals who want to improve their narrative and storytelling skills. And in late April/early May, I’ll be opening up the next two spots for the Start Something Project for select folks who want to make massive, extraordinary change in their lives and need an Accountability Coach + Experienced Hustler + Strategist Extraordinaire to kick them into action. Watch for it!