Category: Publications and Writings

How to tell the difference between cheerleaders and cheerloafters

We all have people in our lives that propel our mindset to positive heights.

Sometimes it is the offering of helpful advice, a pat on the back for an accomplishment, or even a simple smile with a “thumbs up” to encourage you to keep going. I have people like this in my life, and as a result I always try to be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud. I consider myself to be a cheerleader in the non-traditional sense. I may not have the outfit and pom-poms, but my spirit is one who sees immense value in those around me, and I thrive when I can help bring out the potential in others.

Are you having difficulty figuring out who the cheerleaders are in your life? Take a look at my list to help you understand the difference between the cheerleaders, and the cheerloafters in your life…

 

 

Cheerleaders will…

  • Ask you questions about your passion projects.
    They ask because they want to stay up to date on your work; and they will ask without YOU having to bring up the topic.
  • Will offer to buy or to display your projects.
    They help you promote your passions to the world without asking for anything in return.
  • Will tell others about your accomplishments.
    Cheerleaders always have your name on their lips because they enjoy telling their friends about how great you are. These people always recommend you as well.
  • Will offer you advice, or materials for your upcoming work.
    Cheerleaders are often thinking about how to help you try new things and deepen your exploration of the pursuit of your passions.
  • Will attend your shows or exhibitions.
    Cheerleaders always show up in person. They recognize the importance of being present at your achievements.
  • Will say positive things to encourage you.
    Cheerleaders believe in you, so their words will reflect the same.

 

Cheerloafters will do the opposite of everything listed above and…

  • Will never ask about your passion projects, unless you bring up the topic.
  • Will make jokes about the people who like your work, or about your projects. They will accomplish this by comparing your passion to things and people that have little value to them.
  • Will call you stupid or generally imply that you are foolish for pursuing your passion. This can happen covertly, or in a blunt manner. It will usually occur when many people are around so that they can say it was just “a joke”.
  • Will ask you to betray trade secrets or guarded techniques in a clandestine way. They will accomplish this by asking you how you did something in a passive way, as if they don’t care. Meanwhile, they will take the information you provided to make their own version, or simply tell others as if it was their own idea.
  • Will ask you this dreaded question: “How much money do you expect to make by doing this?” This question is usually unfair for two reasons:
    • The people who ask this question are rarely responsible for your finances or your survival. It makes no difference to them how much money your passion will make.
    • Placing a financial value on something you have only just begun to explore will weigh heavily on you. It may even make you feel guilty and want to stop pursuing your passion because you begin to call into question the validity of doing something you love that has an unqualified financial validity.

Do you know anyone in your life that falls into the category of a cheerleader or a cheerloafter? What are your examples of people who have helped you find success in your pursuit of you passions? Leave comments below, and thanks for stopping by.Stephanie

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com
by @Lillybochic

4 Quick Tips to Motivate You to Stay Focused and Reach Your Goals

If you are like me, the fun of summer weather can be a distraction from wanting to work towards your goals. Finding your motivation is nearly impossible when sobering up after a long weekend of fun in the sun.

Those long weeks of working on your passion projects must not go to waste! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the light occurs when you finish your project!

Here are my…

4 Quick Tips to Motivate You to Stay Focused and Reach Your Goals

  • Remove acquaintances who don’t build you up or add to you life. This includes takers, users, and enemies disguised as friends.
  • Learn how to recognize good ideas from bad ones and save your time.
  • Plan rewards for yourself to motivate your actions.
  • Tell loved ones about important milestones reached- make sure the people you share with are cheerleaders, and not just lumps of coal.

 

What are ways that you stay motivated to reach your goals? Leave comments below and thanks for stopping by.

 

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

8 Ways to Keep Ideas Fresh and to Keep Creating

Taking the first step to living the life that you want, and pursuing your passions is monumental. The decision is one that asks of you: “Can you sustain these changes? Will you give up and go back to your old way of living?”

These are questions that can keep you awake at night. For me, the best way to get past those moments is to focus on day-to-day tasks. Focusing on keeping the creative juices flowing is what shifts my focus to things that are within my locus of control.

Here are my ideas for how to keep your fresh ideas flowing, so that you can further the continuation of your passion projects:

8 Ways to Keep Ideas Fresh and to Keep Creating

  1. Reproduce an old project in a “look how far I’ve come” retrospective work. As an artist you can showcase how well you have improved in your artwork with an update of something completed earlier on in your career. By incorporating your new techniques, you will surprise yourself.
  2. Re-post new angles of existing work. The fresh idea is in the perspective provided by taking new photos. Utilizing new media and technology can also help to refresh existing work.
  3. Try a new setting for characters in your writing, painting, or illustration. Circumstance change when settings change.
  4. Listen to inspirational speakers on Youtube. My recommendations for speakers to watch video of would be: Maya Angelou, or Simon Sinek. Your mind starts collecting new ideas and mixing it with your existing thoughts immediately. Your creativity gets boosted when you expose your mind to new concepts.
  5. Read something!
  6. Watch a documentary.
  7. Follow a person on social media who has views that are the opposite of your own. Read a few posts. If you feel annoyed or angry, then concentrate (with that fire burning) and get those fresh ideas written down!
  8. Go outside and rest your mind by trying a new activity. A new flavor of ice cream is my suggestion!

What are ways that you keep ideas fresh when you feel overwhelmed? Leave you comments below, and thank you for stopping by.

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

4 Observations of the Creative Process

The creative process is one that can be piloted with ease by some, but prove to elude others. There are times when the end of a project cannot come fast enough, and the creative process drags on and on.

Here are four observations about the creative process that will allow you to see things in a different light, and hopefully to improve in the way that you start and finish your passion projects.

 

5 Observations of the Creative Process

  1. When you watch something that makes you cry, use it!

    Don’t push the things that elicit strong emotions out of your mind. When confronted with stimuli that causes you to feel a strong emotion, harness that feeling to dive deeper into what is making you react that way. Delving to the core may be the inspiration you have been waiting for to create new work that is unlike anything you have ever done. The raw emotion exists for a reason, and by dealing with it, you may discover unimaginable benefits in your pursuit of your passions.

  2. When you are confused about something, find out more.

    Use that spark of curiosity to find out more information on a subject. You are curious about it for a reason, so why not give your mind the information that it craves? Once you have taken a few moments to gain a  more fulsome understanding of a topic, you will be able to incorporate what you learned into having a positive impact on your work.

    anonymous person with binoculars looking through stacked books
    Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

  3. Revisit your old projects.

    Sometimes new ideas can emerge when you look at old work. You might have a hidden idea somewhere in the fabric of an old project that opens an undiscovered realm of possibilities to you.

  4. Creativity almost never happens in a vacuum.

    Make a positive move by trying new things. New experiences give birth to creativity and new work. Expose your brain to new concepts daily to avoid the dreaded “shrinking of ideas” that can occur around the age of 30. Try something new, and you will have more to share with the world.

 

If you would like to find more inspiration for your passion projects, browse my earlier posts, and don’t forget to subscribe! Thanks for stopping by.

 

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

5 Signs that You Are Working in the Wrong Industry

We have all been in a similar situation: having a summer job that you hated, but was necessary to keep your parents happy. While we are young, these jobs are about doing as little as possible until the end of the day. The way we got through it all was the knowledge that the job would end once school returned in September.

As an adult, there are a lot of similarities between your attitude to that past summer job, and the one you have now. You hate your work environment, do as little as possible, and at the end of the day, you can’t get out of the building fast enough. Unfortunately the main difference is that there is no longer the definite end date that you can count-down to, because you don’t know how to get out of the wrong job or industry that you are trapped in.

 

5 Signs that You Are Working in the Wrong Industry

 

You hate Monday mornings almost as much as Sunday night.

As the weekend approaches, Friday is your best friend. You love the end of the week with an intense passion because it means that you will not need to go back to work for 48 hours! What a way to live your life on the installment plan! As a result, by Sunday night you are depressed: only to become full-on catatonic by Monday morning on your way back to work.

 

You fantasize about your boss being fired or discovered to be a monster.

Sometimes we imagine the worst about other people because we are so deeply unhappy with the circumstances that brought us to that person. Do you hate your boss? Would you feel the same way if you met them in a different set of circumstances? Probably not, because you are trapped in a job/ industry that you are not right for. This is likely a friction that can be solved by making a plan to pursue your passions. Focus your energy on something else!

 

You fantasize about revenge on people who have wronged you.

Holding on to anger and resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Let go of the things that are keeping you in the past. If you must leave your job/industry to properly pursue your passion in order to fix your life, you have to take positive action to make it happen or else you will be adding names to your list of enemies for a long time to come.

 

You spend your free time doing hobbies that have no link to you job/industry

When we align ourselves with our purpose, we tend to do things for work that are related to things that we are passionate about. If you work in a law firm pushing paper around Monday to Friday, but give guided walking tours of the city’s food district on the weekends, then I would suggest that you are working in the wrong job/industry because these two areas have very little in common. My guess is that your work in a law firm is simply for a paycheck, and not because it feeds your soul.

 

Your ideas are not valued in your job/industry

Do you often feel like your ideas are dismissed by others in your workplace, yet outside of work people usually respond positively and with intrigue? This is a phenomenon that I have identified as being part of a bigger problem; say it with me: You are working in the wrong job/ industry!

I have had personal experiences where my ideas were dismissed and trivialized by the people I worked with, especially when it came to things related to technology (because why would I know how to connect an Ethernet cable, right?) I realized that the reason why my ideas were dismissed was not because they were bad ideas, but because the people I worked with did not have a high opinion of the person who the ideas were coming from. Basically, they didn’t see me as a person who they believed would know the right answer. I was working in a job/industry where people like me were rarely in positions of power or seen to hold value, and so, my ideas were judged as the same.

 

If you discover that you are working in the wrong job/industry, do not wait too long before you make the changes necessary to start living the life you want. Time is our most valuable resource, yet so many of us fritter it away while waiting for an opportunity to come to us. Don’t wait too long to pursue your passion and make a fresh start.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Stephanie

 

by @Lillybochic

5 Ways to Balance Your New Life

Making the decision to pursue your passions is not an easy one. Many people go back and forth for years, or even decades before nailing down the elusive “Start Date” for their dreams to begin. Some people never take the jump, and continue on with the monotony of life until it is too late.

When you make the big decision, it will seem overwhelming at first. You may feel consumed by the desire to “do everything at once”. You may even enter a manic state just trying to organize your thoughts. Until you are properly prepared, you will have to balance your priorities with family life, and your boring day job (until you can escape it!)

5 Ways to Balance Your New Life

photo of woman wearing red boxing gloves
Photo by Jermaine Ulinwa on Pexels.com

Exercise regularly

Exercising regularly allows your brain and body to work at high efficiency. Physical exercise increases your ability to remember things, and plan upcoming events with your family. Regular exercise will also add stamina so that your mind can be stronger for longer.

 

Eat Properly

Eating healthy and nutrient-rich food will allow your brain to stay in top condition. Trying new healthy foods will also expose your brain to new flavors and textures that will encourage balance in your body. Avoid feeling sluggish by drinking Kombucha to to boost your gut health.

 

photo of woman in gray tank top while sitting on bed
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Wake up earlier

Wake up 1-2 hours early to have solitary time to work on your passion projects. If your project cannot be accommodated by waking up earlier, then you can try to reconfigure your schedule to allow 1 or 2 hours during the mid day or on weekends. One hour devoted to your passion each day adds up to over 30 hours per month. That is time that can be spent unproductively if you allow it. Consistency is key, so carve out the time required to develop yourself, and you will see improvements quickly.

 

Keep visual tabs on your ongoing projects

Allow your progress on projects to stare you in the face. Take photos and share them with friends and family. Allow the visual representation of your ongoing project to inspire you to keep going! Look at it every day. Use the time spent looking at it to explore ways you can improve.

 

Involve your family

The best way to balance your new passion pursuit with your family life is by incorporating the two together. Ask you daughter or son to watch you as you set up stages of your project Take your spouse with you to learn things about your passion. The important thing is the time spent together with loved ones. Show them how much you care by involving them in your life as it evolves.

 

The transition into a life where you pursue your passions can be difficult. These 5 ways to balance your family life will assist you in overcoming the growing pains with these changes.

Thanks for stopping by,

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

5 Reasons Why I Save My Old To Do lists

5 Reasons Why I Save My Old To Do lists

One of the ways I like to stay organized in life and professionally is by writing down everything that I need to remember. My to do lists are no exception. I love to do lists because of the endorphins I get from crossing the completed item off of my list. I also save my to-do lists once I have completed them, and here are five reasons why…

  1. I am able to track what I have completed- the completed list contains an itemized description of what I have accomplished during the time period.

    woman in front of her computer
    Photo by Retha Ferguson on Pexels.com

  2. I am able to highlight my accomplishments-I can own the feeling of progress! Yay! I’m getting stuff done!
  3. I am able to make new goals for the future- You start to think “If i just did all this, I can surely move on to…(insert bigger plan).
  4. I am able to remind myself of how amazing I am- Give thanks to the greater self image and bigger story of your life.

    man with fireworks
    Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

  5. I can follow up on anything I was unsuccessful with or unsatisfied with- What you failed on, you will prevail on! Keep going.
    Have you tried this? What are your thoughts? Thanks for reading, and please subscribe for more!

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

Three types of people you will lose when you start to pursue your passion

Three types of people you will lose when you start to pursue your passion

As a person growing into your chosen life, it is important to understand that some of the existing structures in your life are based on what was prescribed FOR you by others. To achieve the life you want you will need to consider the changes necessary to get to where you want to be. This includes thinking about the type of person you want to be.

Some relationships in your life will be like branches on a tree. The strong and important ones will grow with the tree; while the less important or unbalancing branches will need to be pruned, or worse yet- will get destroyed by a lightning storm.

3 People You Will Lose When You Start to Pursue Your Passions

Illustration by Stephanie Konu of Three types of people you will lose when you begin to pursue your passion
Illustration by Stephanie Konu

  1. The Becky’s and Tatiana’s

    These are the flaky friends who would often share in your misery when life was not as good. They usually spend more money than they make, and live their lives in bank overdraft. The world exists to give them things (in their minds only of course) and they frequently fail to follow through on anything.

    How to know if you have a Becky or a Tatiana?

    Set up a mental test for your friendship. When you see them next, suggest a S.M.A.R.T goal (Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time Based goals). This could be something like asking them to meet you on Saturday to take photos at the park. These photos would improve your friend’s photography portfolio, and ultimately help them book more work as a photographer. If your friend initially agrees to the plan, but cancels or flat out flakes on the date without a very good excuse, then you know you have a Becky, Tatiana, or Tom or Billy on your hands!

  2. The people who boo you from the cheap seats. Alternate alias: the Haters.

    These people have a very negative outlook on life, so they are easier to spot from farther away than the earlier category. They are fueled by a negative and self-defeating mindset. For them the question is: “Why bother? It won’t be any good” for pretty much anything in life that doesn’t serve an immediate survival need. Fun and enjoyment only exist within their narrow purview of life; so if you look to them for validation in your pursuit of your life passions, you will be very disappointed.

    These people do not want you to succeed for a simple reason: misery loves company, and why should you accomplish what they never could? Do not pay attention to them because they will soon become your supporters when they see how well you will emerge from your transition into the life you want.

  3. Time Wasters

    These people can have similar traits to the previous categories. Becky and Tatiana waste your time by never following through. Haters also waste your time when you focus on their negative energy. This specific type of time waster is a person who will want to associate with you because of reasons that add to their own self-esteem. These people will ask for your time, and favours in exchange for some far-off reward (large gifts, promising to promote you, etc). When you give them what they want, all you end up with is a bill for your expenses and time lost from pursuing your passion.

    These people are dangerous because of one main reason: time is the only resource that you can’t ever get back. You really don’t have much of it to spare on meaningless associations that lead you nowhere. Spending too much time with these people will never lead to new opportunities, or to new ideas. Just to dead end nights where the only thing you have time to do before bed is to look longingly at your projects and sigh. Wasted time. Take back those minutes.

Living the life you want is not impossible, but it takes work and conscious observation of who you are. Keep going. You will get there. – Stephanie

Thanks for stopping by,

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

10 Ways to Become Inspired

Creative blocks can occur at any point in the process. Whether you are writing a thesis, painting, or have to perform, you may suffer from the ability to become inspired.

Inspiration is one of those elusive things- we know that inspiration leads to creativity; but what are things that spark that fresh and new idea?

Here are my ideas for:

 

10 Ways to Become Inspired

 

 

  1. Go for a walk in the great outdoors. It doesn’t have to be a perfectly orchestrated event. If you live in a safe neighborhood, grab your keys and take a stroll outside.

    photo of woman wearing yellow dress
    Photo by Taryn Elliott on Pexels.com
  2. Visit a friend. Go and check in on your friend who lives up the road. If you haven’t seen them in a while, bring a small token to renew the friendship.
  3. Drive or ride your bicycle to a body of water nearby. If you are lucky enough to live near a lake or an ocean, take advantage of how fortunate you are! Go and see it!
  4. Purchase a small item from an independent retailer. “Mom and Pop shops” and other small businesses need your support. Without them, the world would be full of stores like Target and Walmart. We need to support the originality of the dreamers who dare to do something different. Kind of like you, right?

    man standing beside man holding gray club
    Photo by Jopwell on Pexels.com
  5. Make conversation with the cashier or salesperson the next time you buy something. Be friendly. You never know what you might learn from someone else!
  6. Clean every reflective surface in your home. It sounds weird, but follow me on this one. Reflective surfaces will usually allow you to see yourself when you polish them. If you focus on cleaning and polishing all of the reflective surfaces in your home, what you are also doing is spending time looking at your own reflection. What better way to become inspired, than by practicing positive self-talk in a mirror? You go and you get it!
  7. Empty the junk drawer in your house. You know the one I am talking about. Take the contents out to sort and organize. Something could pop out at you that is unexpectedly inspirational.
  8. Review calendars from previous months. Highlight your accomplishments. Own those moments of achievement.
  9. Clean out your Gmail inbox. Delete those email offers from Hello Fresh. Enough is enough already!
  10. Read an article about an upcoming holiday or event. The more obscure the celebration, the better. Learning about the customs of other people will spark creative questions and make you want to understand more. The more you understand, the more inspired you will feel to try other new things.

 

Finding that spark isn’t easy, but once you have tried these 10 Ways to Become Inspired, you will have a fresh set of eyes and a rested mind feel your inspiration come through.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Stephanie

 

by @Lillybochic

Illustrated Poetry

Greetings from the void!

I am continuing to create illustrations of my early writing. I used to write poetry daily, often during times of boredom or stress at work. Since beginning this recent project, I have found poems written as far back at 2011- one year after finishing university and starting my life in the working world.

I once promised myself that I would publish a book of my poetry, and now that I am adding illustrations, I feel like they are more “finished” when paired with imagery.

When I wrote this poem I was very occupied with the concept of love and longing. My early post entitled “The Sun Who Loved the Girl” touches on this subject. I think it is an area that I would like to further explore for future writings.

Right now, I am working on illustrations for a book that my company is publishing. I did not write the books, but I have created unique illustrations for the cover art. I will post updates when the books are released on Amazon.

The following image is an illustrated poem that I wrote in 2011. It is entitled “Yearn”. I hope you enjoy it.

 

an illustrate dpoem featuring a woman drinking from a glass in a seductive manner
An illustrated poem written in 2011.

Thanks for stopping by, and please leave comments if you like my work!

 

-S

by @Lillybochic