Reflect and dream [the inspired that was… and the one that will be]

I was exploring treasures on an exotic island, and I came across this diamond in the rough… 

Uh… wait…

that wasn’t quite how it went.

I wasn’t quite on an exotic island…

I was in Haga Haga [which is in the Eastern Cape] although it was quite remote, and because I was at the beach, it did have a bit of an exotic feel to it…

I was exploring, but not Lara Croft style…

more “Ooh look at these pretty shells and stones”

…and the diamond that I came across, wasn’t actually a diamond…

it was the “almost” clarity I was starting to get as I reflecting on where my business will be going.

This is me [Where I actually was, captured by my cuz], as I’m taking a moment… strolling… and reflecting…

and yes… I am in shorts… in the middle of winter!!!

We were blessed with some awesome 25 – 30 degree days… an incredible treat!

So… back to my story…

I had done a decent amount of reflecting on the last year [and shared a bit in this note]…

I have been working through how Inspired should look, what it could look like… wondering which option would work best in practice [because I really care about the experience you have here]…

… I have shared with my inner circle [aka: those who get my weekly emails] about my thinking so far [Ps… thank you so much for all the feedback and thoughts – I really value each of you], and eluded to some changes.

So what is changing?

The first point isn’t really a change.

It was there all the time I’ve just always battled to tie it neatly together, it was my diamond in the rough [that I eluded to earlier], my brilliance hiding in the everyday!

But boy has it changed my outlook!

…and that little nugget was my Essence [in both life and business].

Prior to going on holiday, I met with Robyn [from brandheart] to chat through my ideas, and thoughts…  wondering what shape and form the business would take…

What I left with… was a really wonderful nugget of information…

My essence.

Between researching me, and our interactions, Robyn was able to distill that the essence of what I do, is “unlocking creativity” [which after a bit more percolation time – became: Discovering Creativity].

All the various aspects of what I do, are all pulled together into two words:

Discovering creativity…

We spoke about how I discover creativity for myself,

How I want to help others discover their creativity on a personal level, and

How I discover creativity and use it in business.

It make so much sense… those two words… pulled all that I did ever so neatly together [like when I discovered how awesomely olive pesto finished off a blackforest ham, rosa tomato, and gherkin panini]

So now I had a great thread… that was woven into everything I did… it was my foundation [the olive pesto that just added the right amount of flavour to what I do].

The next question was…

To Split… or not to split?

This was a tough one.

Do I keep everything under one website / business name? Or do I split them out?

Currently there are two aspects to what I do:

1. There is stuff that I do to help corporates, and
2. There is stuff I do to help people discover their own calling in life.

I wasn’t completely keen to have two separate blogs [double the work], but I was also finding that keeping everything under one roof wasn’t really working so well either.

So I took them apart… then I put them together, took them apart again and tried to work it a different way, and tried putting them back together again… basically, I let the whole bunch of ideas stew [and they managed to consume quite a bit of thinking time too], and I ultimately decided…

[insert drum roll here…]

It made a lot more sense to move all my corporate work and thoughts to a special place of their own [I resurrected my other “business / HR” blog FreshSage]… keeping this blog [inspired by emma] focused on inspiring you to your life calling, and discovering creativity along the way. Whilst some of my clients may enjoy both of my corners of the blogosphere… the reality is that I was not giving either of you a decent experience by keeping the two aspects under one roof… whether you chose one [or both] to spend your time in, I’m trusting that my decision was the right one for both of us!

So… moving on to the dreams for 2014…

Now that you know why I’m making the changes, I also thought I’d share how I see that working [at this stage]… I’m also pretty mindful that this is an evolutionary process.

 

So… in the spirit of dreams, changes, and reflecting… I’d like to know from you:

* What are your goals for 2014?

* If you set them in the beginning of the year… how are you progressing towards them?

* Haven’t set goals yet? What’s stopped you?