Motivation – Page 7 – Sarah K Peck

There’s Someone I Want You To Meet. (LAC Book Review and a Free Book Giveaway!)

Posted on March 23, 2011June 7, 2011 by Sarah K Peck

I want to set up a match.

You know, a little blind date. The one where your friends find someone for you that they KNOW is perfect for you.

Yes, you.

I want you to meet Jenny.

ABOUT YOU.

YOU: are insanely talented, fresh out of college or somewhere a few years into a job (or maybe you’re transitioning to a new career), and you are deftly maneuvering your way through inordinate learning curves and figuring out what life entails post-school.

Perhaps you feel as though your potential has barely been tapped, that there’s something unsettling about your current situation. Maybe your job isn’t quite the right fit. Maybe you tap your feet at the end of the day, itching for more to do, Maybe you’re not satisfied yet with the status quo and you want more. You know you want to figure out your life and your game plan, but you’re just not sure how.

You are somewhat stressed from time to time, wondering how to figure it all out. Perhaps you’re sometimes in need of a hug (I won’t tell anyone).

As with most people, parts of your life are amazing, but you need some help figuring out the other stuff. (Hello, Budget – what are you?). When your friends talk about 401K’s and BMW’s, you think, Holy Shit, I have debt – will I ever make it? Or perhaps you’re just unsure about making new friends and you’ve moved to a new city and you’re not sure what’s next.

What is next?

Have you figured out your own road map?

MEET JENNY.

About Jenny: Jenny’s story is pretty well-known (it’s really hard for famous people to actually go on blind dates, after all), but if you haven’t met her yet, start here. If we describe her in words, let’s put a few big ones up there: Googler. Entrepreneur. Author. Friend. Personal-Development Guru. Cupcake Fanatic. Yoga Teacher. Vegas Heartthrob. (What? Who said that?). Yes, that’s right. She’s a Googler and Author who also takes Vegas by storm, her book and highlighter tucked away somewhere in her wonder-woman outfit and killer heels.

Jenny is a rockstar of our generation, and the author of a well-known blog, Life After College. And now, she’s the author of a book by the same name: Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want. (Available on Amazon – launching March 29). To read the story of the book development and Jenny’s documentation of writing, pitching, editing, and publishing a book, check our the book website, LAC Book.) And check out the book trailer if you care to.

WHY I THINK YOU’D BE A GOOD FIT.

Okay, but let’s focus on this date I want to set you up on.

When life hands you the hard stuff, what do you do?

Jenny Blake makes cupcakes. Actually, she’ll do more than give you a cupcake. She’ll give you a worksheet, cheer you on by the sidelines, dig deep for the good stuff, and then hand you a cupcake at the end with oodles of frosting that’s inevitably decorated as one-of-a-kind, just for you.

THIS BOOK IS YOUR PORTABLE LIFE COACH. This isn’t a book or a manual – it’s a friend in your pocket. Jenny’s heart and soul – and intricately connected network around the world – is layered in bite-sized information that’s enriching, captivating, and more importantly, eminently approachable. Jenny pulls you into her book by virtually sitting down at a cafe with you, chatting with you and making you feel right at home within the first few pages. The book weaves her stories and anecdotes with powerful (but beguilingly simple) templates, tips, tricks and tools for you to use to start changing your life – right now.

YOU DON’T NEED TO GO TO COLLEGE TO READ HER BOOK. she could just title her blog “Life and everything in between,” and you’d probably find something you liked. A hundred somethings. Life After College is basically just Life. Anyone looking for guidance, coaching, or advice in creating the next big steps in life should check out this book.

THE LIFE PATH. For people in college and earlier, the life checklist is actually fairly straightforward. Go to school. Attend classes and do assignments. Make friends, maybe join some clubs. At 16, you get your license. As a senior in high school, you apply to colleges or get a job. As college winds down, you collect your accolades, craft your resume, and crank your way through some interviews. And try to land a job.

And then what? For many – if not almost everyone – the life checklist sort of fades after we finally “get a job.” We’ve made our lists up until this point, and then the list gets fuzzy. For some people, they know they want to “move up” the career ladder, but they’re not sure how to do it – or, after they’ve worked for a while, why they want to do it at all. Other people want to get married, have kids, — but this too, is something seemingly unattainable and dramatically harder in practice than in theory.

AFTER COLLEGE IS HARD. If you’re a twenty-something and you’re struggling through your first or second job, floundering in figuring out what you want to do, and generally having a lot of trouble making it through what was supposed to be ‘the best years of your life.’ – don’t worry. You’re not alone.

Once we extricate ourselves from the cushy educational systems that provide for us, once we flee the nest and leave our parent’s homes, there isn’t really a good rulebook or toolkit that tells you how to get things done and where to go next. After college, there’s just an uncharted path, and not much in the way of support or guidance. Many people stumble along the way, overwhelmed by the enormity of all there is to figure out: from money (how much do I make? where does it go? how do I save? what should I spend it on?) to friends (wait, we don’t all live together anymore!) to the “big picture” of your life (what are my goals? what are my values? who do I want to be?) .

So, insert Jenny. Life After College – both the blog and the book – give you organized, practical tips and tricks for navigating your way through Life after college, and figuring out the steps you need to take to master money, happiness, friends, career, among many other ideas.

AND THE BEST THING? YOU CAN WRITE IN THE BOOK. It’s been many years (for me) since I graduated college, but I found myself writing all over the book as soon as I got it, filling out the notes and ideas I had for my life and realizing how much this organization system can apply to anyone, at anytime. Jenny’s next move should be making a set of books that records these processes over time – so that I can do these exercises every few years and map my progress over time! The book is easy to use because it is so wonderfully organized – and you can start from anywhere, reading whatever chapter calls out to you.

SO GO ON A FIRST DATE. (And the Giveaway!)

And by first date, I mean, read her book. Take the book out to lunch (What did you think I meant?) To make it easier, I’m giving a free copy of the book away to a lucky reader, to be randomly selected on April 3, 2011.

Here’s how you enter: Leave a comment before April 2, 2011, with the answer to one of the following questions:

What was the hardest moment for you after college?

If you could do ONE BIG THING in the next 2 years to change your life, what would you do and why would you do it?

What The Middle Looks Like (and Happy Saint Patty’s!)

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Sarah K Peck

I’ve been running pretty thin lately – it’s an exciting Spring, with several new projects under foot. I’m really excited to finally take some time to share some great news with you. At the same time, it’s been a challenge to make it all happen – and I’m at work, late nights galore, trying to figure out a way to get it all done and maintain the “Sarah sanity” that I so desperately crave.

Happiness and a quick celebration!

For those of you who don’t know, I’ll talk briefly about some exciting news:

1. New Job! I started a new position on March 1st. I’ll be coordinating the communications strategy + marketing at the international landscape architecture firm that I work at. (Whew! That’s a mouthful.) So what do I do? I write, design, and build. I combine business + strategy insights to deliver powerful messages about the meaning and need for landscape architecture and spatial design throughout the world. In the broadest sense, I tell stories about the world we live in – and I love it.

Many of you know that here on this blog, I write about about strategies for work success, staying sane, creating the type of work you want to do, entrepreneurship, and life. I’m very happy to be able to transition to a new position where writing, storytelling, web design, and board layout design are the focus of my job. (As for sanity and balance, sometimes I feel like a terrible example of that – but more on that, below).

Wahoo! Time to do some handstands! :)

2. Also: A REALLY exciting project! One of the projects I’m working on – that I started in early 2010 – is the building of a new website for a hot topic in the architecture world, landscape urbanism. The website is taking shape, and there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to the work we’ve done so far. (If you want to check out the website, take a look at this page). This is my HUGE project that’s finally becoming real.

After work closes – and the new job has started up at high speed! – I’m up late to work on this project: I’m writing, emailing the team, interviewing new writers, talking to contributors, and poring over the web design with a red pen and making changes to the layout and back end before the launch in 2 months (holy shit! so soon!) – but I’m so excited that this project I’ve dreamed about for (now 2 years!) is finally on it’s way to fruition. It will launch in phases this summer.

I am unbelievably thankful and happy to have such great opportunities in front of me so quickly.

Each project is a hundred different, layered lessons in project management, communication, coordination, execution, design layout, user interface, editing, and ultimately, shipping great ideas and products.

The work effort as of late, however, has been immense. I say this not to complain – I can hardly complain about being busy! – but as a means to talk about how difficult it can be to persevere during the really hard moments.

It’s not always easy.

In fact, it’s hardly ever easy. These past few weeks have been exceptionally rough, as I test my limits and mental capacities, my organization skills, my ability to press on, my systems of time management.

I’ll be honest, it gets really hard.

Notes on Loneliness and Sometimes Wanting to Cry

There are nights, like this week, that I get home from work very late, and I open up one of the three (do I admit this?) computers I have at home (multi-browser and computer testing for macs and pcs, they are all OLD!). I’m up late, writing, and I close a browser, pace the house, try to sleep, and then I come back to the little office closet in our apartment and I start writing again, this time polishing up something else new, trying to figure out how I’m going to execute all of the tasks over the next few months.

My brain is a series of multi-layered Excel sheets.

I dream in G-Queues.

My email inbox overflows with hundreds of ‘urgent’ tasks that seem to each yell at me to work more, to work better, to work faster.

I wake up in the middle of the night, teeth grinding, trying to figure out how to get it all done.

Tonight, I sit behind the computer, terrified that I won’t make my next deadline, exhausted from the effort, again skipping an event I’d love to attend and missing my friends.

In the dark moments, in the despair, I sit, unshowered, my back hurting, and I want to cry. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it. I also don’t know if what I imagine will work. I can’t tell yet if any of these projects will be successful.

And I’m really, really tired.

There’s no guarantee that it will all work out. I can try it all and work my hardest and these projects could be ephemeral efforts, lasting less than a few seconds in any memory.

And that’s okay.

At least I hope that it’s okay. That’s what I tell myself.

In these moments, in these wander-through-the-city-I-can’t-sleep-moments, I do wish there was someone could tell me that it’s all gonna be okay. When I was younger, my mom would run her fingers through my hair and she was the one who would tell me would all be okay.

And now we’re twenty, thirty-something, and our parents aren’t there to tell us what’s exactly what’s right and wrong and when to work harder and when to chalk it up to a learning experience.

You just press on, do your best, and figure it out as you go.

Because that’s what it looks like.

Making things happen takes energy, toil, and it tests your patience and endurance. Even if you fail a hundred times before you get there, you will get there. I’m in The Middle somewhere, and I don’t know what the end looks like.

But I know what The Middle looks like.

It’s not the fuzzy good feeling of the beginning, when you’re still high on the adrenaline of starting. And it’s not the calm of the finish, when you’re done and you’ve done the best you can do and you’re proud of your efforts. The Middle is the struggle, when most people give up, when the test between the do-ers and the quitters really takes shape. The Middle is the part, in marathon training, when you have to get up and run again even though your whole body is exhausted and you want to just sleep or stop.

The Middle is the space where your demons come in and question why you’re even doing it, anyways. And sometimes it’s lonely nights, late nights, cereal dinner in hand, falling asleep on my bed so late in the night that the San Francisco skyline has turned pink from the fog’s misty glow. Sometimes it’s a presentation due in 6 hours and only you to figure it out.

Sometimes, my Friday nights are filled simply with books. I sit in my reading chair and I study one of the 12 books my new boss has put on my desk, on advertising, management, business, positioning, branding. I’m scrambling to figure out what I’m doing while implementing new processes and the pace of change is sometimes maddening. It’s like an MBA in the making – and I love it – but learning and doing all at once feels something like balancing two intense full time jobs.

The Middle is hard. There’s no way out but through.

I have the blessing of having been through this before, something inside me that knows that The Middle is the hard part and is able to trust in the process. My experience tells me that I won’t be in this hustle forever. The cyclical nature of production will yield a few moments of respite, hopefully soon, hopefully sometime midsummer, post launch.

And for my own sanity’s sake, I have to carve out moments of escape, rest, and a break – in order to do my best work.

But tonight, it’s the grind. Because that’s what The Middle looks like.

So, reader, have a beer for me tonight. And enjoy your wonderful St. Patty’s day. I’m somewhere in The Middle, working.

One Year From Today.

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Sarah K Peck

March 10, 2010.

One year from today. Not a year from now, in the future. A year before today. March 10th – last year. What were you doing?

More importantly, what were you planning on doing? Take stock in your actions. Have you made changes? Have you made progress? Are you on your way towards your goals?

If you haven’t made progress, then the things you’re doing each day aren’t adding up.

So you’re going to need to make your day look a little bit different.

What does change look like? What does it look like to reach your goals?

If you’re not there yet, then something different needs to happen.

*** *** ***

A year ago, today, I didn’t have a blog. I had a different job. I hadn’t run a half marathon or done a triathlon. I’d never swum across the Bay before, and in fact, had only started open water swimming in 2008. I joined the SF Tri Club and I started track workouts with great people – one of whom became my new roommate in San Francisco. In May this last year I moved back to San Francisco. I traveled to four new cities. I signed up for a new class (which I’m nervous about admitting on here just yet) and I’ve learned a lot about myself and other people. I’ve met dozens of fabulous people and I’m thrilled about the potential for change.

Change.

Things change, whether we like it or not. Are you making changes that you want to see happen?

If you had told me last year what today would have looked like, I would have laughed. Me, write a blog? Get out. Run a half marathon? In my dreams. Move – again – and risk being called out for my wanderlust? Yup, guess it happened.

But I also see the flaws of the last year: I’ve barely made the dents I want to in the student loan debt that I have. I bought a car that I’m not sure that I want. I applied to dozens of fellowships and grants – and even a teaching program – and heard back negatively for most of them. I had doubts and fears about my abilities and my progress and what I’ll ultimately end up doing and being. And, I wrote less than I wanted to – a lot less. I went through paralysis, writer’s block, and insecurities.

But nothing really stayed the same.

The constant is change.

*** *** ***

What about you? What is the most significant thing that you’ve done or changed over the past year?

What does 1 year from today look like, for you?

What do you want to do differently?

What will be different, one year from today?

And how are you going to get there?

A Short Note on Determination and Persistence.

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Sarah K Peck

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

~ Calvin Coolidge (1872 – 1933)

It Starts With Small

Posted on December 28, 2010March 12, 2017 by Sarah K Peck

It starts with small.

Sometimes the smallest, most insignificant changes are really the most important.

Not all good things start with a bang. This reduction of things in my life – saying yes and saying no – is a bit of a bang. Although I’m trying to keep it reigned in, a bit. Small changes, small days at a time.

Not all things happen with a bang.

Sometimes the best idea begins with a kernel.

Sometimes that kernel comes from a place of dissonance or discontent. Something’s out of place. Something’s wrong. You notice that something is off. It’s just not quite right.

Changes happen slowly. Today, one thing, one small, very small thing, is all you need to focus on.

Perhaps you get into bed 15 minutes earlier. And you wake up 15 minutes earlier.

What is the cumulative affect of this small change, daily, on the next three weeks of your life? Perhaps in 3 weeks, you’re getting up 2 hours earlier every day.

Perhaps you want to be a runner. Think and dream big, but start small. Today, just walk. Today, just put the sneakers on. Today, just go for a short jog. Put the shoes on, take a few small steps, and then get home quickly and shower.

You did it. That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Small steps.

It starts with small.

Small is better than nothing at all.

*** *** ***

Photography by Alexandra Sklar, on her blog Bancroft & Ivy.

Read the first post, “Yes + No, More + Less” about my decision to give up digital communication (for a short time), and give up a few other things in order to make more space in my life. I did this so that I can say yes to the things that really matter.

If you’d like to join me on the ride, or need help figuring out where to start, feel free to send me an email. You can also find me on twitter (soon! I’m taking a break right now), like this on facebook or subscribe to new posts.

Motivation: surprising truths about what motivates us

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Sarah K Peck

What motivates us? Why do we do what we do? Do you do what you do for money, fame, notoriety, or general good will? (As a blogger and a landscape architect, I can tell you that neither of the things I do are for the big buckaroos. So why do I do what I do? And what motivates us to work hard – or other times, not at all?)

RSA, an organization for arts and “21st century enlightenment,” puts together fabulous videos and graphics about motivation, education, arts, and teaching – among other topics. Below is a link to their well-animated video about what movitates us and why we do what we do. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly), autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the three most important factors that drive worker productivity and success, not necessarily monetary incentives or higher pay (sorry, but bonuses just don’t cut it!). Based on research done by MIT and other economics and motivation schemes, this video tells a story about why we do what we do – and what to do to motivate people (and employees).

Here’s what they found, in a nutshell: “Once tasks go beyond rudimentary cognitive skill … larger rewards lead to poorer performance.” In contrast to what fundamental economics principals will tell us (higher rewards = better performance), this finding is somewhat strange. They tested it in multiple countries with different relative incomes (such as rural India versus the United States), and consistently found that higher incentives led to poorer performance. Thus, it’s not how much you get paid for the tasks you do — but whether or not the tasks involve appropriate levels of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. For tasks that are complicated, innovative, and require conceptually-based critical thinking skills, people’s performance is consistently better when they can work on what they want, how they want, whenever they want.

Google offers their employees 20% time to work on their own research projects of their choosing. Supposedly this is how gmail and other applications have been developed – by allowing the employees time to use creatively in their own way. Tell me what you think. Do you get free time at your work? Do you have autonomy? Do you work in an environment that allows you to create – and address – your own challenges, ideas, and inventions?

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Like what you read? Like this on facebook or subscribe to new posts. Got a question or a comment? Leave it in the comments below. This blog is a work in progress and I appreciate any and all feedback.

Also, you can find me on twitter.

W. O. R. K. (It’s not a dirty word!): Ten good things about work

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Sarah K Peck

Well, it’s back to the grind – and unfortunately, I won’t be able to post as often as I’d like over the next few weeks as I wrap up some exciting research and writing projects elsewhere (more on that to come, soon!). Here’s a post I wrote about the grind of work from late last year, before I started this website. When the days get long and the work is intense, here are 10 reasons why we do it. Stay motivated and keep up the hard work, everyone!

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W. O. R. K. (It’s not a dirty word!) Ten Good Things about WORK.

First of all, we all say it: work sucks sometimes. So many of the common complaints are about work. Work is hard. Almost everyone utters the phrase “I hate work” at some point or another. It’s easy to sit down and list the bad things about your job – but often it’s hard to remember the positive aspects of working. Believe it or not, there are positive aspects to having a job and doing work for someone else. Perhaps it’s time you changed the mantra from “I hate work,” to something like, “work wasn’t so bad today,” or, “Man, I’m tired but I certainly did work hard.” Here is a list of things that are good about having a job – and ways to stay positive when you’re having a rough week. Ten valuable things about work

1. A steady paycheck. Let’s be honest. Money is nice, and receiving a regular paycheck is an excellent way to be rewarded for what you do. Money gives you flexibility, power of decision making, the ability to consume, and it sets you on the path towards financial security. Of course, if you’re spending all of your money, or haven’t learned how to invest wisely yet – you probably owe it to yourself to learn a bit more about what to do with the money you have once you earn it. Still, having an income is a nice perk.

2. Meeting new people and making contacts. Throughout the course of your job, you will meet people inside and outside of your profession. Depending on the type of job you do, you may connect with the three people in your adjacent cubicles, you may be out giving client presentations on a daily basis, or you might be traveling and handing out your business cards left and right. These people are the foundation of your work life, and they are the network that you will establish yourself in. Enjoy meeting new people, finding out what they do, and staying open to the possibility of future interactions.

3. Learning new skills and professional development. Most careers today offer some form of continuing education, professional development, or on-site learning. Just by working – that is, showing up every day to do a task – you are probably accruing a valuable skill set. Keep your mind open for new opportunities to learn and ways to stay fresh in your field. Your investment now will pay off later – perhaps in a new task, a new set of responsibilities, or even a new job opportunity in the future.

4. Benefits, bonuses and perks. Your office comes equipped with many little perks that we quickly take for granted. Even the morning coffee is a perk. If it’s an especially rough day, remember that the papertowels, the kleenex and the hand lotion in the bathroom are all small joys in today’s world – you just saved $15.79 at Walgreens because your work provided these small tidbits. Maybe it’s time to smile because your boss bought you lunch again! And beyond the little items, your employer may be contributing to your 401K, stock shares or other investments, yearly bonuses, paid days off, holidays, and sick days. Take a peek in your employee manual and review all the perks that you take for granted in your day-to-day work life. These are things you’d be missing if you were without your corporate job – even that morning coffee.

5. A sense of accomplishment and pride. Work gives you something to do, and no matter how long or arduous the day, you’ll get to the end of it with a sense of accomplishment, frustration, happiness, or exhaustion. Congratulations, you have just done something, and you’ve probably done it fairly well.

6. It’s what you do – a sense of identity. How do you describe to someone who you are? By telling them what you do. For better or worse, work is something that helps shape who you are – both for yourself and to other people around you.

7. Being part of something bigger than yourself. Work is about being a part of a larger group (or company) that together accomplishes something individuals probably cannot do alone. Being part of a business involves teamwork, collaboration, and communication. It may take as long as 2 to 3 years into your job before you see the payoff from your daily grind. At one point you will have a day where the project or task you’re working on gets done and you can look back and reflect on all of your hard work and contributions. New employees often jump right into the middle of a project and don’t have the long-range view of what it takes for a project to reach completion. Achieving that first milestone – and begining to see your work have an impact – can help get you out of the “I hate work” rut. If you’re still in the early months at your job, look around at your peers. Take a look at the work that’s being done in your office or with your company, and realize that no matter how small or trivial the day-to-day tasks, you are a part of a larger office that’s accomplishing a great deal of work.

8. Providing a valuable service to someone. When you walk into the office today, remember that you are doing something that somebody wants. As a lifeguard, for example, you’re protecting and potentially saving lives. As a waitress, you’re catering to someone’s pleasant experience and evening out. As a green services consultant, you’re helping “Mr. Smith” contribute to a greener, more sustainable world. Every time you perform your service – no matter what service it is that you do – you are doing something that someone else wants.

9. Helping capitalism – and the economy – go ’round. If it’s macroeconomics that really gets you going, perhaps you can stay motivated by knowing your work efforts – your daily spending, the tax dollars the government takes out of your paycheck, the miles you drive in your car, and the work you do for others – puts money back into our economy and funds government services such as infrastructure, education and unemployment insurance. So, congrats! You just helped build a road.

10. Work gives you something to talk about. If nothing else, work gives you something to talk about. When you leave at the end of the day, whether you hit up a bar, head home, or meet up with up with folks, you will eventually talk about the things you did during the day. “What did you do today?” is one of the most popular questions in our country, probably right after the famous “what do you do?” question used between people who are being introduced for the first time. Whether you talk about a boss you hate, a silly co-worker, or the dreadfully boring task you’re assigned to, you’ll probably spend a lot of your time talking about your job. The good news? At least you have something to talk about.

Happy working everyone! and 10 cheers for work.

What are your favorite things about your job? What are your least favorite? If you’re new to water falling upwards, and liked this post, you can subscribe to receive new posts here.

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Also, you can find me on twitter.

Four Ways To Tap Into Your Own Creativity And Inspiration

Posted on November 18, 2010August 12, 2015 by Sarah K Peck

Creativity, innovation, and brilliance: why do some people have it and other people don’t? Creativity and innovation are the source of new business ideas, excellence in entrepreneurship, and talented individual success stories. It would be nice to assume that creative people are “just talented,” and fall back on the assumption that “you either have it or you don’t.”

The truth is, the most creative people understand what it takes to be creative – diligence, persistence, hard work and perhaps a bit of a struggle – and tap into various sources of inspiration and known methods for productivity.

Behind every success story – from Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft, to Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook– there is an individual or a team working hard and following these three tenants of productivity: they understand sources of inspiration; they know how to create moments where creativity can flourish, and they certainly understand that behind every creative idea is unwavering determination, productivity, and a whole lot of hard work.

Look around: there’s inspiration hidden in the people you surround yourself with.

My number one source of inspiration? The people and the networks around you. If you want to be inspired, just watch interesting people, follow talented businesses, engage in new activities, and commit yourself to learning something new.

Become a student of what you want to learn. People are inherently fascinating. Bruce Desilva, a novelist who teaches part-time at Columbia University, describes people as “endlessly interesting.” When asked what inspires him, he replied:

“People do. Human beings are endlessly interesting if you just learn to pay attention.”

In business, most successful ventures start with simple ideas about how to improve upon something that already exists. Red Box and Netflixtook movie rentals to the next level by changing the way that movies were delivered to the customer – offering an additional layer of convenience. The idea of renting movies was not new; how they were made available was changed in a way pleasing to more people.

Paypal and Ebay took the sales and exchange of goods and items to a new front by opening up a virtual marketplace and reconfiguring how we exchange money. Facebook and other social networking sites reconfigured how we think about networking – replacing excel networking spreadsheets with a system that manages our networks and allows “friends” to update and exchange their personal information with us – for free.

Pete’s Coffee and Starbucks Coffee are profiting wildly from the sale of a cup of joe mixed with varying amounts of sugar – not a new invention. Want to make a few dollars? Bottle some water or brew some coffee. Hundreds of companies are doing it. The premise is the same: people and businesses are inspired by the world around them. Each of these ideas began with several concepts that weren’t “new.” Most complaints are actually opportunities to make something new and better by fixing or improving upon something that’s existing.

Cultivate Great Moments for Inspiration.

How do you get that “ah-hah!” moment? In each human mind, we revisit our understanding of the world as it exists from time to time. The mind is the most creative during sustained, semi-focused activity. Here are a few moments that creative people use for cultivating great thinking:

Drifting off to sleep: the mind, as it settles and unwinds, often is the most creative during this “unplanned thought time.” Many artists and writers keep notebooks by their bedsides to capture these moments.
Meditation. Practicing putting the mind into a relaxed, free-flowing state has been shown to induce more creative thinking.
Exercise. Many marathon runners and elite athletes describe exercise as a “sense of focus beyond everyday thinking.”
Walking. Some of the greatest philosophers were known to have many of their conversations while walking.

On a more personal level, here are a few more things that help me to be creative:

Driving. If it’s not in traffic, I find that driving, out on the open road, particularly scenic drives or roads that are familiar to me — can really be a place to let my mind wander. I’ve taken to carrying a tape recorder in my car, to “write down” the thoughts as they float in and out of my brain.

Swimming and running help me think by reducing the amount of ambient noise and clutter surrounding me (can’t carry an iphone in the water just yet!), and letting me get into a different rhythm of thinking that’s more in tune to the strokes of swimming or the pounding pavement of running. Sometimes I carry my “dumb phone” with me while I’m running, so I can stop and send a short text message to myself if I figure out a new idea on the way.

Sitting outside or walking through quite, green spaces. Being in a garden or an outdoor setting is lovely. It helps me think. Finding the parks and spaces to think – in your city, rural area, or suburban area – and changing it up from time to time – can really help kick-start your brainwaves.

Watch Out For Places and Spaces That REDUCE Inspiration

Just as there are activities that are conducive to creative thinking, there are also sustained activities that are not advantageous to free-form, imaginative thinking. Activities that are over-stimulating or entertaining by their nature (watching television, spending time in front of a computer) can, depending on how and how often they are used, reduce the creative impulses.

Unfortunately, I don’t always think in the same free-flowing way when i sit behind a computer. (The irony is, that i’ll sit behind the laptop screen, wordpress framework in hand, trying to come up with a post, and these are usually the worst posts. )

Furthermore, interesting research by Modupe Akinola, a professor at Columbia Business School and Joe Forgas of the University of New South Wales, Australia, suggest that our dispositions and our emotional framework can influence our creative impulses. In “The Dark Side of Creativity,” Akinola finds that being somewhat melancholy can actually improve your creativity. The research suggests that a sad mood can make people better at judging, accuracy, and observing the world around them.

Our creative challenges need diligence, persistence, and focus. Sometimes struggling through an idea — and working consistently on a hard problem, absent from distractions, despite being tired or frustrated — can be when we find the best insights.

Finally: Putting the work behind the inspiration.

Not every moment of brilliance comes during a casual stroll on a beautiful sunny day without any effort. Creative people don’t sit lazily by a lake, waiting for the next great idea. Most great inventors and thinkers toil away at their ideas, producing new iterations daily, until they figure out something that works. Perhaps hard work facilitates a sense of angst or anguish – stimulating further creativity through some emotional strain, as suggested by the research of Akinola and Forgas.

Even the most creative people forget about the anguish of the process – how difficult it can be to create – after they’ve arrived at a solution or design that works. When the inspiration doesn’t come — and sometimes we have to create even when we’re not in the thick of inspiration — get outside, talk to other people, throw ideas around, read, look, question, and wonder.

And above all, iterate. Iterate, iterate, iterate.

People that are productive, putting their ideas to work, find successful ideas over time – through careful consideration, reflection, and hard work. Robert Sutton describes it well: “The truth is, creativity isn’t about wild talent as much as it is about productivity. To find a few ideas that work, you need to try a lot that don’t. It’s a pure numbers game.”

Staying Motivated

Posted on September 27, 2010May 22, 2015 by Sarah K Peck

How do you stay motivated? Motivation – the energy and power behind any project, task, or achievement – helps us stick to our goals, make progress during the hard times, and keep us moving forward.

But motivation can be fleeting. When I find myself in bursts of activity (usually at the peak of my motivation on a project), I like to prepare for the months ahead by setting up ways to keep myself motivated. It’s a like a plan of attack, if you will, but for my psyche and mental preparation.

When the inspiration hits (and I NEVER know when I’ll get a creative urge, so I try to let myself get sucked in and follow the pulls whenever I find them, devoting a few hours to the immediacy of the inspiration), I have a handful of tricks, tools and great quotes that inspire me during the “slogs in the trenches” — the time when you have to grind, work, and stay committed to your project.

First: I whip out my notebook (or a napkin and pen; or the back of a grocery bag; or I write myself messages on my phone. Sometimes I even call myself to leave a message with ramblings of an idea, if I don’t have any other means to record the thoughts). I write down every possible idea and phrase related to the project at hand, and even draw graphs, maps, dotted lines, or whatever else illustrates the idea I have. I like to carry a graph-paper notebook around with me to record my ideas. When I get home, I have a large binder that I keep all of these random ideas in (backs of receipts included!) so that in the future, when I’m trying to remember my amazing insight from the day or week before, I can recall these thoughts while leafing through my binders.

I jot down a top ten list of reasons why I like the project. My “Top Ten List” is one of the best ways to keep myself going during the dreary days. The top ten list is a quick brainstorm of things I like about the idea, what the next steps might be, who I might call or contact, and what directions to take next. Mapping out the project as early as possible helps progress the ideas beyond an initial “napkin sketch.” I find that brainstorming early and extensively as possible is the most productive.

If the project looks like it will pencil out, I then spend time creating a solid project manifesto. Before I embark on any project, I like to spend time writing down the “project manifesto” and answer basic questions about the project: What is it for? why am I doing it? how will I measure accomplishments? This is a great way to test out the idea, quickly: imagine it as much as possible and try to flush it out into it’s layers before actually taking any action towards completion.

This is the project manifesto: the reason for being, the rationale behind the project. For any project to pencil out, it’s important to answer questions such as: “who is this project for?” “why is this project useful?” and “why am I doing this project?” In the future, as I get bogged down with the details and minutiae of the enormous task I’ve mapped out in front of me, I’ll need to look back on the large ideas to remind myself of my initial ambitions and goals.

Next, I have a handy list of motivational phrases and quotes: I repeat these quotes like a mantra to keep me going during the tough times (sort of like listening to Tom Petty’s “I won’t back down” during a flat stretch on a run or “Uprising” by Muse while training for marathon hills). Because, let’s be honest: Not every day is filled with the excitement and energy of the initial project phases. There are really tough days. Days when you’re not sure if you’ll be able to finish, when you doubt your own abilities and wonder whether or not the work you’re doing is useful.

If looking back at the project manifesto isn’t cutting it, here are some of my favorite quotes for working hard:

“Excellence rarely exceeds expectations.”

“If not you, then who? if not now, then when?” (For more on this topic, see “Jump start your next project”)

“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”

“If you don’t want to do something, any excuse will do.”

“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ~ Mark Twain

“It’s my conviction that slight shifts in imagination have more impact on living than major efforts at change…deep changes in life follow movements in imagination.” – Thomas Moore

“The truth is, creativity isn’t about wild talent as much as its about productivity. To find a few ideas that work, you need to try a lot that don’t. Its a pure numbers game.” – Robert Sutton

“You have thousands of excuses to stop. But really, what excuse do you have not to do it?”

And when the going gets tough(er): Fill yourself up with knowledge and seek inspiration from other people who have worked hard to achieve great things. My bookshelves are near and dear to me, as they hold countless stories of inspirational people doing unbelievable things.

Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Nonconformity: “Unless you set aside dedicated time to produce your art, the art will not get made. There are some times when making the art is fun, but other times it’s not — so if you want to build something sustainable, you have to find a way to keep making the art during the not-so-fun times.”

Haruki Murakami, What I talk about when I talk about running: “I’m struck by how, except when you’re young, you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance.”

Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: “This is the most advanced weapon in the ultrarunner’s arsenal: instead of cringing from fatigue, you embrace it. You refuse to let it go. You get to know it so well, you’re not afraid of it anymore. … the only way to truly conquer something, as every great philosopher and geneticist will tell you, is to love it.”

Surround yourself with great people. The best asset you have towards your own success are the people around you, cheering you on. If you’ve told people of your goals, your visions, and your dreams, then let them know of your progress, your hard times, and your struggles. Some of the best feedback can come in the form of really great mentors and I’ve been lucky to have a few along the way. (I’m also always searching for amazing mentors, especially as I embark on my new writing career!).

Find a way to make yourself accountable. Ideally, we’re all accountable to ourselves, but sometimes we need external commitments to keep ourselves accountable. Publish your commitment. Write it down, and make it a measurable goal. (For example, my goal for the first year of my blog is to post once weekly, without fail. I want to build content and grow as a blogger without missing any weeks). These specific goals keep you accountable, especially when inspiration gets thin or the workload starts bearing down during the tough times.

Create a calendar and check list of specific, measurable goals. I like to set clear, precise goals that outline the project from start to completion. I frame out a goals’ list with achievable, measurable goals with a target date. I make both long term as well as short-term goals. Setting measurable goals allows me to frame out later stages of the project. The best way to set great goals, for me, is to start by asking good questions:

Why am I doing this?
What is my end goal?
What tools will I use to evaluate my progress?
When I’m swamped, how will I know I’m making progress?
Who around me can give me good, positive, and critical feedback?

Having checkable, achievable goals, no matter how small, can keep the train moving forward. In order to track my progress, I set up a calendar with interim deadlines. “Completable deadlines” that you can check off, cross off, smile and say “YES! I did that!” is a way to keep yourself making progress during the tough times. There’s nothing like a bit of deadline pressure to keep your butt moving.

Remember, no one can achieve your goals but you. You are the only person capable of fulfilling your dreams – and the bigger the dream, the scarier it is to fail. How do you stay accountable to yourself and track your progress?

Losing my rib, rehabilitating my body, and doing my first triathlon.

Posted on August 12, 2010September 23, 2013 by Sarah K Peck

This is the story of meeting an accomplishment. Achievement is one stepping stone in building career and self-confidence.

Many people reiterate the importance of a “life goals” checklist – a list of things that you hope to do, by a certain time or year, in your lifetime. This summer I accomplished a huge life goal of mine: I completed an Olympic Triathlon. It may seem like a a regular goal to some, and it may pass off the radar screen for many. My family and friends know me as an athlete; then why is one triathlon such a goal for me?

When I graduated from college, one of my life goals was to do a triathlon in my years post-college. Instead, I got wrapped up in the hectic late night schedule of graduate architecture school and made a mess of work-life balance while trying to learn how to design. Three years went by, and it seemed I would never really be an athlete in the way I was in college. It was physically and mentally depressing – the lack of endorphins, the lack of adrenaline, of competition. I missed it.

In 2008, I finished my Master’s program and, re-energized, I moved to San Francisco and quickly signed up to do a triathlon relay with friends on the SF Tri Club. The swim leg was amazing, but I still couldn’t run or bike – and I didn’t own a bike to ride.

I spent 2008-2009 training for a half marathon – running 5K’s and training in the foggy cold morning hours and trying to figure out how to make my legs move faster than an 11-minute-mile pace. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I had my sights set on one big goal: the July 26, 2009 SF half marathon – my first half marathon. I wanted to focus on running training, and work my way up to a triathlon for the end of the summer 2009. I splurged and I bought my first road bike – a Fuji Roubaix Pro. The rest of my pennies went to a bike pump. Biking shoes would come later. Three weeks until the half marathon!

On July 4, 2009, I stopped by the doctor’s office to figure out a problem with tingling and numbness in my right arm. I walked into the facility with my work clothes on and only my wallet and keys in my pocket – expecting to leave a few hours later. Instead, I was transferred to the ER and later the ICU for 5 days to undergo an extensive set of tests that revealed a 3″ blood clot inside my chest (blocking blood flow to the upper right extremities in my body), and it required immediate action. I was hooked up to a drip line of TPA (one of the most deadly chemicals available) to “melt” the clot and monitored on an hourly basis for vital signs and breathing. I was a test case for intervention radiology – a series of “living x-rays” – that show the movement of blood through your body after injecting dye into the blood stream. (There were some really cool pictures from this process).

Ironically, I had a rare condition in which my rib and collarbone were too close – nearly touching – pinching the vein and nerves in my thoracic outlet and creating a blood “traffic jam” in my body. After removing the clot, the UCSF hospital cleared the cardiovascular operating room for the whole day to remove my first rib and examine the extent of vascular surgery required. Thankfully, they did not have to cut through my breastbone and open my chest cavity – I was under for only 3 hours and left the hospital with a 6 week no-arm movement prognosis (and no yelling/talking/couching/sneezing or moving my chest, either).

My 2009 Fall season was filled with yoga, gentle runs, and working my way back into swimming – 300, 500, and 800 yards at a time. In January I did a 1500-yard swim that didn’t hurt my shoulder or neck – because in the process of removing a rib, the doctors also cut out some of the upper chest muscles that hold your ribs in place – making it really painful to reach, stretch, or put any weight or pressure on my entire upper body post-surgery. Sneezing, talking, coughing, and laughing were excruciating. Fortunately, the recovery time went quickly and by March, at 8 months, I swam 3000 yards. I got out my bike from Sports Basement and started going on short 5 and 6 mile rides. I started riding to work (8 miles each way) and felt my legs getting stronger.

In late March, 2010 I renewed my tired inspirations to actually *do* a triathlon (now a goal over 5 years in the making) and signed up for SF Tri Club’s track practice and Wildflower Training Weekend. At the training weekend, I did my first 25 mile bike ride (which left me panting, sweaty and shaking all over.) The swim was excellent, but the run sub-par (I ended up walking the last 4 miles of it).

And then, the summer of 2010. This summer was absolutely inspiring. I met triathletes who finished half ironmans and full ironmans and watched my friends use their bodies for 9, 12, and 17 hours without stopping. I ran my first 9 mile race and coastal trail runs and began to fall in love with running, especially through wooded, dense, forested areas. I went on a 57-mile bike ride and waddled for days, but still came out grinning. I went to track practice enough times to make some new friends in the city, and swam with USF Masters many more times. I tried out my new tri-fit and wetsuit in Aquatic Park and got shiny new clip-in pedals (only 2 days before the race – whoops – never a good strategy). Each day I get to run, race, swim, or compete makes me incredibly happy. I can’t take a day – or a race – for granted, and I’m so lucky to be able to live in beautiful San Francisco, spend time outside, meet fabulous people, and train and compete.

On a sunny, clear-skied early morning, I drove down to San Jose to do the Silicon Valley International Triathlon and complete my first triathlon. I was incredibly nervous and really excited. It was my first time doing a brick, my first time doing transitions, my first time in the tri-fit in a race, and my first time racing with clip-in pedals. I took it out smooth and long on the swim; negative-split the bike trying to keep a little energy in my legs (upon reflection, perhaps I could have gone faster), and ran the entire run course without walking. In the end, I was hot, sticky, sweaty, and unbelievably happy. I did it: 2 hours and 55 minutes of pure glory. I came out fast in the swim and was passed continuously on the bike and held on at the end of the run. I made it.

I can finally check off the beginning of my goal to start doing triathlons. I am now a triathlete.