Today is one of those days that looks jaunty when you write it out:

1-20-2020

If you haven’t already, it’s a good day to get clear for your year.

Mine has been a hodge podge, the on ramp to Vision 2020 has been chaotic. It’s not that I’m not trying things, it’s that I haven’t been able to winnow the hours in my days down to…

The. Most. Important. Things.

So — are you with me? In the remaining hours of Day 20 of 2020, let’s try one more time.

There’s no shame in missing the mark.

A forever friend frequently uses the whole freaking month of January to try things out — to deliberate — to hone what he thinks is really essential for the coming year.

And then he recommits in February to his now-refined program.

So we’re getting a jump on him : -)

(Really, every day is a brand new reality beckoning for clarity — this one just has a cool sequence of numbers attached to it — why not use it as a new starting point?)

If your year has gotten off to a maddening start — if the holidays whirled you around and dumped you into the new year with vertigo-inducing suddenness — if you feel like sneakers in the dryer — today’s your chance.

Rather, tonight’s your chance — there are only a few hours left.

I’m going to finish everything up early and go to my favorite spot — which is anywhere I can sit and be silent.

I’ll have a pen and pad with me.

I’ll ask Clarity in — Clarity likes that, a playful request — then I’ll let Clarity crackle — I’ll let Clarity channel herself through my fingertips.

One thing might get written down.

Maybe two.

But — heaven forfend! — never more than three.

Because this:

If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.

~ Jim Collins

Have fun with it.

That what life mostly asks of us anyway.

. . . . .

Be clear in your vision —
Be clear in your purpose

#NotesForCreators

(That’s the first principle in Burn Baby Burn.)

(You won’t be surprised to hear there are only three principles in Burn Baby Burn.)

(#I’mWithJim)

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For insights and stories on the connected creative life, check out these bookitos:

The Creative Morning Challenge

Burn Baby Burn: Spark The Creative Spirit Within

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— My bright eyes

— My keen mind

— My schedule

— What I thought I could accomplish

— The people I expect to meet

— What exactly I’ll be doing each day

— What I’m eating

— How I’ll feel

— When I’ll stop each day

— When I’ll start each day

— What a cool traveling creative I’ll be each day

I’m on an art trip, in the second week. Last week I left South Florida, today I nearly kissed Canada. Tomorrow I’ll be in Minneapolis. A couple of days later, Nashville.

Man, the visions I had for this trip!

Like every other trip, I’m high on imagined reality before I leave.

On this trip, I was laid low by actual reality before leaving even — had to embark with sore throat, fever and congestion laying siege to my expectations.

Hell, I had to load up with a fever. Sculpture, paintings, boxes.

Kris, who loaded up with me, I’m pretty sure was feeling worse.

Still — even so — by Day 3 I was coming out of it. By Day 4 I felt like Mary Tyler Moore throwing her cap in the air!

(Minneapolis reference for Boomers.)

For Millennials:

I felt like Thor when he was worthy of Mjolnir once more, and his Hammer flew back into his grasp just when he needed it most!

(Thor I reference.)

I was feeling low today — so far from those I love — so far from the ideal trip I’d imagined.

I had to give it up. What I thought was to be . . .

. . . And then really embrace what I’ve actually experienced.

There’s been a lot of cool shit!

With my sister’s family and my niece.

With artists, toe to toe with Creators in their studios.

Moments where I was agog by clouds in the crystalline blue sky.

I’d like to say it took minutes. It took an hour or more. Once I realized I was playing a disenchantment loop in my head, it took me an hour to overwrite it.

More.

(!)

Doesn’t that feel like a long time? It does to me — I should be accomplished at this kind of spirit pivot.

But noooooooo.

Still — you know what?

This happened — this little writing jag here. To you.

Something else is happening too. It’s the anticipation of not knowing what is going to happen next! Something subtle, something rich, something thoughty, something experiential.

Who knows?

I’m here, open to whatever unfolds before me — that’s deliverance from bondage — that’s a kind of magnificence.

. . . . .

What can you let go of today?

#NotesForCreators

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For insights and stories on the connected creative life, check out these bookitos:

The Creative Morning Challenge

Burn Baby Burn: Spark The Creative Spirit Within

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The other day I was stymied. Thwarted. There was nothing there but blah.

You know that kind of morass — you reach for your phone because you’ve become so unmoored from what is meaningful that you seek random spasms of the mildest interest in your feed to fill the void.

That’s when I should have gone to zero. When I should have renewed my vision for my day and life.

It’s not like I don’t know what it is. I’m the kind of guy who has that in an Evernote, for feck’s sake.

Every time I do — renew my vision — that tingling of life wanting to be lived resurfaces.

All it takes is going to a quiet place in my head — I don’t even have to be in an actual quiet place — I could be in a food court — I could be at my desk at work with hustle and bustle all about —

A pen and a piece of paper helps. You just spill out what you really want.

Till it activates you. Till you feel some kind of kundalini propulsion winding its way into your body. Till you feel animated by what really matters to you.

Wish I’d remembered that the other day — I could have saved myself scrolling fatigue.

. . . . .

Renew your vision

#NotesForCreators

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For insights and stories on the connected creative life, check out these bookitos:

The Creative Morning Challenge

Burn Baby Burn: Spark The Creative Spirit Within

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