Some ideas you know for certain. Other ideas need to gel. They need to penetrate into the psyche of your soul to make sure that you understand. After moving to the West coast and questioning everything, I needed a reminder that yes, I Choose Myself (no matter which coast I’m on). Here’s why:
- You will view success as your responsibility
I talked about how you can skyrocket your brand to success in a previous post. I described how the challenge is with keeping the faith when things are not working out. Instead of wallowing and finding a million excuses why things are not working out, realize that despite any of your circumstances, you always have the ability to create. The blessing and curse of being a creator is that you can create, create, create as much as you’d like! And I’m choosing myself to operate from an infinite, creative place!
I am telling you this because I was not creating for a while. I was wallowing for far too long. The bureaucracies of moving to a new state without a car, without friends, and without family here was almost too much to handle. But I’m no longer making excuses. Who cares that I lost nearly all of my clients the same week that I moved here? Who cares that it didn’t stop raining in California for the first four months I moved here? Who cares that I experienced some of the weirdest, most unexplainable technology glitches since moving here that make zero sense? And who cares that the world is changing?
It’s a test.
Deep breaths. Perseverance. Positive mindset.
I can still succeed regardless of the many changes and challenges.
To quote TuPac: “That’s just the way it is. Things will never be the same.” The difference is now I’m taking decisive action – like putting my value out into the world. See look! You can book a call with me here.
Use minor setbacks as major fuel for your dreams. This will help you to see the difference between art and entertainment.
2. You’ll experience the difference between art and entertainment.
LA dreams look different than New York dreams.
And I temporarily forgot where I came from.
I’m living in an entertainment-driven social-media-fueled dream world. It’s easy to forget that you are art when you are surrounded by other people’s entertainment. And I was taking other people’s “entertainment” much too seriously.
Self-expression in marketing can develop your art and writing skills – but only if you experience life as art: It’s the new way to move through the world.
Less advertising. More art. More authenticity. According to my spirit animal, Father John Misty:
There’s a difference between art and entertainment. Entertainment is really about forgetting about your life, and art is about remembering your life. Sometimes remembering your life involves stronger emotions than the narcotic glow of entertainment. What I’ve set out to do is more than to just entertain.
I want to feel my life. I so feel ya, Father.
3. You don’t care if others choose you (or like you).
This is one of those lessons I need to keep relearning. I have been interviewing at tech startups for Content Marketing Manager positions in both Los Angeles and San Francisco (and whoa has it been a refreshing eye-opener for what is really going on in the marketing industry). One of the first questions that I get asked is: Why do you want to stop doing your own thing? The thing is, I will never stop!
That’s the beauty of Choosing Yourself. You choose you, first and foremost. And then if others choose you, you’re that much more valuable. Yes, I’m putting my value into the world for other companies and humans to choose me. But just because I’m pursuing other ideas does not mean I’m not choosing myself. There’s a balance. As James Altucher writes in his new book The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth (the inspiration for this post):
“Everything in life is about having as many options as possible so you can maximize your freedom. “Options” are not the same as “money.”
I am listing my options. But I am not allowing myself to become trapped into linear thinking.
The beauty of not being trapped is that this blog post may not be B2B or B2 freakin’ C, or any of the crap that companies tell you that you need to exclusively “be.”
I am me.
I write for humans who want to connect. This helps to create something larger than ourselves. We are not here to be put into a box and told to “be this” or “be that” so that someone can see us in a different light.
We are pure light.
And while my light may shine differently than you, at least I now have a West coast view.
What about you?
Looking for a no nonsense approach to branding, marketing or podcasting to grow your business? Email me: hello@jessicaannmedia.com