This contributor post was written by Tiffany Moore.
In my last post, I offered 3 quick ways to set yourself up for success in 2012. Warning: in this post, I’m going to completely contradict myself.
Here’s my question to you as we step into the new year: how can figure out a way to do less, to take things off your to-do list to actually create some space for new things and blessings in 2012?
We are all so task-oriented. I often work with clients on building their businesses and they all start off wanting the same thing: a checklist. A list of all of the magical elements of business-building, a tried and true, “do this and you will succeed” index of tasks.
I can’t offer them that. Sure, there are certain things that are really helpful in business building. There are definitely people who have proven their own success that can be our role models as we grow our own businesses. However so much of growth has to do with the “being” and not the “doing” and that is the easiest thing to forget.
There’s a feng-shui principle of the empty drawer. It’s said that you need an empty drawer or empty shelf or empty something in your home to make space for new things to come in. I think that we all need that in our lives too, but that’s counter-intuitive to our tendencies to fill up our time/lives/heads with everything else.
So here’s my challenge to you as you kick off your 2012: what can you do to create some space in your life? What can you let go of to create some emptiness for the sake of flow and new things?
PS. This isn’t easy stuff. If the idea of downtime makes you feel panicked, know that you aren’t alone, but starting small is the first step to finding success with this. Trust me, I won’t let you down!
*image via Georgianna Lane Photography: Paris Dawn
Tiffany Moore, co-founder of Teahouse Studio is an artist, life coach, change agent and magic maker. She helps creatives live their happiest, most sparkly lives (starting NOW) and thinks that everyone in the world is beautiful, including you.
4 comments | Click here to reply
Great post, I definitely needed that advice. Today I will be organizing my sewing room, which I have been dreading because it is such a disaster right now. I have so many ideas and new patterns I want to try out this year, and I think I need some empty space for “new idea supplies” is just what I need.
Crsiti Martini love the empty drawer idea! i need more time that is unstructured to develop artistically, without judgement (ie. me judging myself ;)) and i think that idea will help me to let myself make that time. my graphic design background has taught me that structure is important and can take the fun and play out of creating. 2012 is a good year to get that back!
amy - thank you cards shopHey Sierra. Thanks for stopping by. Getting your blog noticed is tough for many people out there so don’t feel discouraged. You’ll get there eventually. I took a look at your blog and have a couple quick suggestions for you…Hope these help
papernstitch1) You mentioned that you make a lot of crafty things and have an eye for fashion. I would recommend that you start taking pictures of the things that you make and displaying them on your blog so that visitors can get to know you and your personal style better.
2) Post consistently and fairly regularly. I didn’t notice many posts on your blog, so I am guessing that you recently started it? You’ll want to have a good chunk of posts up before you reach out to other bloggers and sites to tell them about what you are doing. Once you have more posts under your belt, you can start approaching like-minded bloggers and introducing them to your site. If they like what they see, they might be up for doing a link exchange or a feature about your blog. That’s how you can start to get some exposure at the beginning.
Of course there are tons of additional things that I could recommend, but I don’t want to make this too long. So I’ll leave it there. Good luck with everything! And if need additional advice/feedback you can always email me at brittni(at)papernstitch.com.
-Brittni
I am a tween trying to get my blog more noticed to have more of a business. I am a user of bloglovin.com. I really do work my tail off to make crafty things. I am a big fashion designer. I was leader in my art class for a fashion project. Every month I have a to-do list for my fashion and crafting stuff and every time it always says” get blog more noticed” any ideas on how to do that? – Sierra<3
Sierra