Over the past few years I’ve worked for many companies, altering my offerings left and right.. telling myself it’s “time to lock in” and thinking that my north star is me working very hard and with an extremely stoic demeanour.
Looking back, all of what got me those gigs wasn’t a series of late nights or any of the examples of working hard you’re thinking of.
It was always small simple adjustments, and let me give you some examples.
Example: I was trying to get work doing motion design and brand work, which I thought I had to re-create everything from the ground up.
The solve: I created 2 small 15 second videos for make believe brands in ways I thought was cool. When it was time to show my portfolio for this freelance client they saw both of the videos an immediately knew I could work for them.
Reflection: I didn’t have to complete a 30 hour course to gain the grasp of the tools to complete what I needed to do, I just gave it a shot.. not thinking too heavily of it all. Just spun up after effects, had my small board of inspiration and chopped it all together. No it wasn’t some agency level piece of work but it was good enough to keep me afloat for freelancing.
—
Now sitting here at my desk, and just finished reading a bit of the Tao Te Ching realizing most of the actions that pushed me forward were always so simple.
They never were the convoluted plans about learning this and that.
Simply just do, and always aim to learn a little while doing so.
Take care,
Small Dialogue on Purpose
Been a long time since I've written to you, and so much has changed for the both of us. I wonder how you're doing, I wonder what you're interested in, and how's your sense of purpose?
Hey
The last time we spoke, this was mid 2020 — the biggest conversation topics were around “how can I stay productive?”, and random things to learn to keep ourselves busy. Nowadays most of us are back outdoors, honestly just doing the usual again.
Some of us are back in office.
Some of us are still at home, kinda just figuring it out.
Personally, I’ve been just figuring it out as well.
I quit my full time job, which led to me looking for freelance gigs to pay rent in the meantime - I’m insanely grateful for everyone who pulled through and the big lesson from that was you’re probably ready before you know it. The results of freelancing made me realize I could make around 50k more in salary compared to what was my current salary at the time 75k.
To be transparent with you all, I just recently landed a full time at 120k. Which coming from a household that we’ve never really had it all.. I’m shocked.
But moving forward.
The question of purpose has been on my mind quite a bit.
What sort of imprint do I want to leave on this world / my community.
Do I want to be known as a great up and coming designer?
Do I want to be known for sharing my perspectives around spirituality?
Or do I just want to be?
I want to share a quote.
As long as you are unware of Being, you will seek meaning only within the dimension of doing and of future, that is to say, the dimension of time. - Eckhart Tolle (New Earth)
When I reflect around this quote, I realized how much of my life and goals revolve around having this and making in impact here or there.
And with that being said, I realized how much of me being in the moment isn’t there.
So focused on goals, and just improvement I lost myself in the process.
I want to send out this email as a reminder
A reminder to step into your being today.. to realize you are everything in every moment.
Most likely if you’re reading this email right now.. all needs are met.
How much, is enough?
To conclude.
Thank you, and sending you so much love to start off this week.
favorite links:
Alan Watts x Endel - Wiggly Wisdom Soundscape
I’ve been listening to a lot of Watts lately just whenever I need to slow the world down.
A lot of inspiration to be found within all of this brutalist websites.
Right Now is the Time to Rest and Reflect.
We're told to reflect at the end of every day right? Well this is the end of the year.
Reflection.
This year I’ve been pushing hard, just experimenting with different mediums: newsletters, instagram posts, random youtube videos, and now tik toks.
I believe I was just trying to find myself — or create that new “brand”, something that everyone would just love and I could show my “true” self.
And it’s been hard.
I don’t think I’m at a place where I can say I have it down packed but I’m constantly working through it.
I noticed that there needs to be a moment of reflection 🧘♂️ (daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly).. in order to pick up on habits or redirection towards where we want to go.
And that’s what I’m working through — I’ve shared quite a bit of my Notion dashboards and content on how I’m just tracking everything.. from my physical exercises to creating content. Which I’m eager to share more later but just wanted to touch base on what’s going on.
Incoming Goals.
The top 3 things on my mind that I’m working towards.
I. Finishing up my portfolio V2 (documenting this process on twitter)
II. Creating TikToks (getting used to making video content)
III. Handling dealing with car paperwork and getting it ready for the Boston winter.
Personal Takeaways.
I wanted to share a quote I shared in my slack group.
Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth.
- Rumi
I can speak for myself, whenever I see success stories on twitter or IG I’m eager to find out how they accomplished that. Looking for the recipe to emulate — just spending time looking over and over again.
While spending so much time always looking, guess what?
I’m not unfolding my own myth.
Let this be a call to action for your week, let’s focus a little bit less on what others are doing and how they’re gaining success and focus on the life we have today.
Hand and hand,
Micah.
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