I thought I would share these simple steps, I use this formula when creating in general and projects, camps, workshops, life, art, etc.
Amazingly simple step are both brilliant and effective. They have staying power and make sense across the board. For me, simple is powerful.
I was honored to be given a similar soulful guide like this many years ago and yes, it altered my entire life. There was such an awakening of what I truly wanted to accomplish in my life and a huge wave of passion and adventure began. My sense of life direction like the tides turned, I so love the ride and am so very grateful.
So, ask yourself: “What Will YOU Create that Will Make the World Awesome?” Lovely steps below..
The link to the full article where these steps originated is below, mahalo Greg McKeown. Though I brazenly did a bit of my own edits….everything brilliant is Greg’s.
Step 1: Sketch Your Career. It is so easy to get consumed by activities in our lives and careers. We get so caught up in living our lives that we don’t stop to think sufficiently about our lives. We are reacting instead of being strategic. When I find this happening, I use this simple tool to get a broader perspective. You start on the left at the beginning of your career and end on the right hand side (today). You draw a single line up if you were enjoying the experience and down if it was unfulfilling for you. Write down where you were working, what you were working on, and any other factors that shaped your experience. It also works if you paint, or make a collage, or write a song, or a poem!!!
Step 2: Connect the Dots. Use the sketch from Step 1 as a launch pad into being an anthropologist of your own life. Go somewhere quiet. You might think of it like a strategic offsite for your own life and career.
Ask: When was I truly happy and why? What activity or theme do I keep coming back to? What is my gravitational pull? When was life and work effortless for me? What isn’t working for me? When do I seem most like myself? When was it meaningless and why? When was work meaningful and why? Don’t rush the process. Pause long enough to really listen. Write the answers down as they come so you can reflect on them later. I am visual so I started a simple collage to represent these happy things and ended up doing THREE monstrous collages that blew my mind. It not needed it!!!!
Step 3: Ask, “What Will I Create that Will Make the World Awesome?” This is WONDERFULLY wild question ( I LOVE IT!) but an essential element of strategy is, to state the obvious, thinking about what we want to create in the future.
Ask: What would I do if I could do anything? What would I do if all jobs paid the same? If I could only achieve one thing in my career, what would it be? What do I really want? Again, these are big questions. But my experience is that people spend far more time worried about their job than in creating a vision for their career and how they can uniquely contribute to the world.
(If you are looking for a pep talk, this three minute video from “Kid President” does a brilliant job challenging us to figure out what we can do to make the world awesome). Brilliant!!!!
From Greg: Many years ago I followed a process not at all unlike this one and, without exaggeration, it changed the course of my life. The insight I gained led me to quit law school, leave England and move to America to start down the path as a teacher and author. You’re reading this because of that choice. It remains the single most important — and strategic — career decision of my life.
It’s a simple process. But it can help us to break down some complex questions. Like the poet Mary Oliver’s beautifully haunting question: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Laughter, smiles, tears, ocean, Hawaiian style goodies, sustainability and ohana, all part of what Ocean Girl Project is all about! Oh and all kines of surfing!!!!
We spent the second day surfing near bowls. Some of the surfer girls were rippers, some intermediate and some first timers. Thanks to Pro Surfer Nancy Emerson’s School of Surfing for donating use of the boards, all the girls were safe and did outstanding.
I got a picture of Donna!!
Beautiful pictures done by Donna Welch Photography and in da water photos by Ryo, outstanding work, mahalo again for all your hard work Donna.
The third day was learning stand up paddling and a cool introduction to canoe paddling, plus we played a lot in the ocean.
Colleen, our fearless leader!
Billie one of our terrific volunteers playing with the girls!
The girls LOVED the SUP demo and Jeannie came for a second sess!
Jeannie Chesser teaching SUP! Thanks Surf Tech!!
Hey, a mermaid!
Alanna and Roclynn sharing Hawaiian style canoe paddling.
What can we say, our volunteers are awesome!!!!
Leenie and Billie did this cool sustainable time line and also a circle of life demonstration, we had a terrific discussion on our sustainable responsibilities to the island, ocean and each other. Even Faryn got to join us, congrats again our fabulous official Ocean Girl Project surfing masseuse!!
Our fourth day, more reg-u-lar type surfing at the famous bowls, it got big and we let the rippers go wild, well not too wild, Auntie Colleen wouldn’t let them out to the way over head sets. We had one girl scared to death in the ocean and she rode her first wave thanks to encouragement and help from volunteer Keli Rae, it was inspiring to all of us!! Every one of the newbies rode waves, they were stoked!!!
In-between was more fun and more playing..
We had a wonderful time surfing, beach cleaning, loving, learning. singing and by the end of the week we were ohana.
more soon…Day 5
Our first morning at surf camp was incredible, we began in a circle with a Hawaiian blessing, and ten super excited surfers.
We got all mixed up at first, which was really funny and knot easy!
After a heart pumping beach stroll, we got a terrific ocean/water safety lesson by Lifeguard Helene Phillips, assisted by our personal water patrol surf dude Dustin. I love seeing our surfboards in the back!
The girls swam, did rescues and some had their first paddling lessons. Leia came on the atv and talked to the girls about the importance of what they were learning and how we can use this to better our confidence while surfing.
