Free Spirits

Therapeutic sound in the community

Robert — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 09:45:00 +0000

We live in Devon and work with groups in 3 areas, doing soundbaths with himalayan bowls and gongs (passive), soundscapes (active, usually workshops) and drumming circles.

The soundbaths and soundscapes are one-off events in different towns and venues, the drumming circles are monthly – at the moment we have a women’s drumming circle on the first Wednesday of each month in Exeter and a parent/child circle monthly on a Sunday afternoon.

Juliet Hill

World Blessings – spiritual guidance

Robert — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:19:04 +0000

World Blessings is an online spiritual gathering place, dedicated to the unity of souls and to the creation of a sacred earth, infused by the Realms of Light. Our purpose is to offer spiritual principles and guidance for living a sacred life.

http://www.worldblessings.net/

Tiffany Kay

Robert — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:48:59 +0000

Biography

I am a coach, therapist, faciliator and trainer… working with individuals and organisations to create transformation. I am passionate about assisting people in discovering their authentic selves, finding their purpose, and becoming the person they want to be in the world.

My approach combines leading edge techniques to create a context for change… easily and effortlessly!

Interests

Coaching, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology (HNLP), Ericksonian Hypnosis, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Abraham Hicks, Byrom Katie, Wayne Dyer, Anthony Robbins, Gill Edwards.

Website: http://www.tiffanykay.com

The marks we leave behind

Robert — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:56:39 +0000

All you’ve got, all your brand has got, all any of us have are the memories and expectations and changes we’ve left with others.

It’s so easy to get hung up on the itinerary, the features and the specs, but that’s not real, it’s actually pretty fuzzy stuff. The concrete impact of our lives and our work is the mark you make on other people. It might be a product you make or the way you look someone in the eye. It might be a powerful experience you have on a trip with your dad, or the way you keep a promise.

The experiences you create are the moments that define you. We’ll miss you when you’re gone, because we will always remember the mark you made on us.

There’s a sign on most squash courts encouraging players to wear only sneakers with non-marking soles. I’m not sure there’s such a thing. If you’ve going to do anything worthy, you’re going to leave a mark.

New Year – new life !

Robert — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 16:33:21 +0000

So, what do you hope and plan to achieve
during 2011?

I ask this poignant question because, for many people, the
coming of New Year is the perfect time for taking stock of
‘where things stand’ in terms of their life balance: Career,
Family, Education and Opportunity.

===

Just looking

The problem with browsers is that they rarely buy anything.

The prospect who walks up to the salesperson and says, “I’m looking for a pinstripe suit in size 38″ is a lot more likely to walk out with a suit than the one who mutters, “No thanks, just looking.”

Which is relevant to your quest for a new product or business or job or mate or project worth working on…

If you’re still looking around, making sure you understand all your options, getting your bearings or making sure you’re well informed, you’re most probably browsing.

You missed the first, second and third waves of the internet. You missed a hundred great jobs and forty great husbands. You missed the deadline for that course and the window for this program.

Quit looking and go buy something already.

How much of human life is lost through waiting?

===

The first rule of doing work that matters

Go to work on a regular basis.

Art is hard. Selling is hard. Writing is hard. Making a difference is hard.

When you’re doing hard work, getting rejected, failing, working it out–this is a dumb time to make a situational decision about whether it’s time for a nap or a day off or a coffee break.

Zig taught me this twenty years ago. Make your schedule before you start. Don’t allow setbacks or blocks or anxiety to push you to say, “hey, maybe I should check my email for a while, or you know, I could use a nap.” If you do that, the lizard brain is quickly trained to use that escape hatch again and again.

Isaac Asimov wrote and published 400 (!) books using this technique.

The first five years of my solo business, when the struggle seemed neverending, I never missed a day, never took a nap. (I also committed to ending the day at a certain time and not working on the weekends. It cuts both ways.)

In short: show up.

===

A paradox of expectations

Better than expected might be the level of quality that’s necessary to succeed.

Of course, once that becomes the standard, the expectation is reset.

===

Everyone and no one

Two things are always not true:

Everyone likes this.

No one likes this.

Sorry.

If you try to please everyone, the few you don’t delight will either ruin your day or ruin your sense of what sort of product you should make.

And if you believe the critic who insists that no one is going to like what you made, you will walk away from a useful niche.

One other thing: Sometimes it’s easy to confuse, “the small cadre of people I want to impress because my ego demands that this ‘in’ group is important,” with “everyone.” They’re not the same.

===

What are you working on?

Robert — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:29:54 +0000

What are you working on?

If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer?

I hope so. If not, you’re wasting away.

No matter what your job is, no matter where you work, there’s a way to create a project (on your own, on weekends if necessary), where the excitement is palpable, where something that might make a difference is right around the corner.

Hurry, go do that.

( Seth Godin )

Lady Gaga and me

Robert — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:14:54 +0000

Lady Gaga and me

Do you think it bothers her that I don’t listen to her music and wouldn’t recognize her if she stopped by and said hi?

It shouldn’t.

Even if you’re a pop star, you don’t need everyone to be a fan or a customer. And especially if you’re not a pop star, worrying about whether everyone laughs at your jokes, buys your product or even likes you is counterproductive.

Unless you’re running for something that requires a unanimous vote, it’s a mistake to focus on the frowning guy in the back of the room or the dolt who doesn’t get your subtle references or the miser who isn’t going to buy from you regardless…

You’re on the hunt for sneezers, for fans, for people willing to cross the street to work with you. Everyone else can pound sand, that’s okay. Being remarkable also means being ignored or actively disliked.

BTW, I’m virtually certain that Lady (do her friends call her that?) doesn’t read my stuff, so we’re even.

(Seth Godin)

You will be misunderstood

Robert — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 20:01:44 +0000

If you want to drive yourself crazy, read the live twitter comments of an audience after you give a talk, even if it’s just to ten people.

You didn’t say what they said you said.

You didn’t mean what they said you meant.

Or read the comments on just about any blog post or video online. People who saw what you just saw or read what you just read completely misunderstood it. (Or else you did!)

We think direct written and verbal communication is clear and accurate and efficient. It is none of those. There is a huge amount of information communicated via your affect, your style and your confidence, but no, I don’t think humans are so good at getting all the details.

Plan on being misunderstood. Repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself.

Seth Godin

About The Domino Project

Robert — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:15:38 +0000

What happens when a publisher has a tight, direct connection with readers, is able to produce intellectual property that spreads, and can do both quickly and at low cost? A new kind of publishing, the brainchild of Seth Godin, and powered by Amazon.

The Domino Project is named after the domino effect—one powerful idea spreads down the line, pushing from person to person. The Project represents a fundamental shift in the way books (and digital media based on books) have always been published. Eventually consisting of a small cadre of stellar authors, this is a publishing house organized around a new distribution channel, one that wasn’t even a fantasy when most publishers began.

We are reinventing what it means to be a publisher, and along the way, spreading ideas that we’re proud to spread. Our core beliefs:

Exceptionally high quality ideas, created without regard for what bookstores and middlemen want.
Ideas packaged with cogency and urgency in mind, not a word wasted, no filler.
Permission at the heart of the model. Ideas for our readers, not more readers for our ideas.

Virality first. An idea that requires a direct sale won’t thrive in a world where the most powerful ideas spread from hand to hand. Create content that works best when spread, and then package it so it’s easy to spread.
Reward the sneezers who stand up and spread these ideas.
No patience for obsolete institutions. Bestseller lists are not worth compromising for.
Speed triumphs. Rapid time to market, rapid evolution, rapid response to reader feedback.
Format agnostic. Kindle, audiobook, paperback, collectible… all good.
Different products for different customers. A variety of price points and formats to match audience desires.

Find out more about Seth by reading his blog.

Some of Seth’s posts about the move to this sort of publishing are here, here and here.

What’s the news here?

To launch the Domino Project, a bestselling author is walking away from traditional book publishing and using the tools of new media to bring his (and his colleagues’) ideas to the world in a new way. Amazon is working with me to create The Domino Project, a new kind of book publishing venture, one that will redefine both what it means to be a publisher and what we think of as a book.

http://www.thedominoproject.com/about

Living with doubt

Robert — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 20:39:06 +0000

Living with doubt is almost always more profitable than living with certainty.

People don’t like doubt, so they pay money and give up opportunities to avoid it.

Entrepreneurship is largely about living with doubt, as is creating just about any sort of art.

If you need reassurance, you’re giving up quite a bit to get it.

On the other hand, if you can get in the habit of seeking out uncertainty, you’ll have developed a great instinct.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/