IN THIS ISSUE:

* Steve’s Field Note
* Idea – Start a Play Project
* Resource – Screw Work, Let’s Play!
* Resource – Tapa Palapa Podcast Menu
* Advisory Board – Spread the word!

Steve’s Field Note

I’ve been spending a lot of time “behind the scenes” lately. That includes learning how to set up the sign-up boxes for this newsletter and for my Demystifying Marketing fr*ee e-book. It includes adding code and pictures to the Tapa Palapa podcast site so visitors can sign up to receive the podcasts by RSS feed or by e-mail, and so they can learn more about me and my co-host, Life Coach Francie Cooper. It includes learning some editing techniques to clean up the audio recordings for the podcast and to add a little music at the beginning and end.

All this behind-the-scenes work is about creating nicer platforms for my teaching, including learning how to format the HTML newsletter template for this premiere issue of The Traveler. In content this newsletter is going to be similar to my last e-mail newsletter, but I want the design to be more interesting and appealing. I’ll be tweaking this template for a while and deciding if I want to keep it or replace it. You can help me by sending me your feedback and letting me know if something looks odd or if a hyperlink doesn’t work.

Enjoy the scenery on the Twisting Road!

Start a Play Project

“Find your calling” expert and Wishcraft author Barbara Sher talks about making a “temporary permanent commitment.” By that she means something you do with commitment and passion, as if it’s your calling, for two or three or four months. This helps you get started and get moving when you’re not sure what your calling is. You learn a lot about one of your interests when you do this. Maybe it’s harder than you thought. Maybe you get bored quickly because it was interesting but it’s not a deep passion. Maybe you realize you really want to be able to do it successfully and you get scared you can’t. That’s when you know it really matters.

Making A Living Without A Job author Barbara Winter regularly recommends planning 90-day projects. That’s long enough to get something important accomplished, but short enough that you’re not stuck if it doesn’t turn out to be as good an idea as you hoped. This gives you the freedom to include some things in your schedule of projects that you want to try out and explore, in addition to things you know for sure will move your business or your life forward. 90 days isn’t too much to invest in an experiment. Whatever the outcome, you learn a lot.

Screw Work, Let’s Play! author John Williams talks about the “play project,” a short-term project you plan in order to try out an area of deep interest or possible talent. This can often be accomplished in a few days or a couple of weeks instead of months. When you think you might enjoy building a small business or a profit center around something you love, he recommends you make a plan to do that thing at least once. Think you love cooking enough to learn to be a chef or a caterer? Plan a big party where you get to try out your recipes and your planning skills with a friendly audience. Think you’d like to lead groups on whitewater rafting tours? Organize a trip for some friends and be the guide. They pay, of course, and if you take the time to find good deals you might get to go for free.

Is it time for you to plan a project to try something out? Choose something you believe you would enjoy for your work, as part of a business, or simply something you think would enrich your life if you did it regularly. Plan the time and try it out. Don’t just dabble. Dig in. Take a test run or make a beta version or do one project – one gig – one show. You’ll find out if it’s just an interest or a real passion. You’ll find out if it’s something you want to do on a regular basis. You’ll find out what the hurdles and obstacles are to doing it regularly and doing it well. And you’ll find out unexpected things about yourself, like what happens to you when you commit to your dreams and take action.

Start with just one. Plan it, then do it. Play and have fun. Then let me know what you learned!

Screw Work, Let’s Play!

by John Williams

Time for an important disclosure. I make it a practice not to recommend things I haven’t tried out or previewed. So how can I recommend this book? I have not yet had a chance to read it because I’m waiting for my copy to be delivered. It’s hard to get in the US. You have to go through Amazon to find a bookseller who has copies because so far it has only been released in the UK.

However, I had the pleasure of meeting John Williams, the author, at The Joyfully Jobless Jamboree. I picked him up from the airport and talked with him on the nearly hour-long drive to the resort, plus I talked to him throughout the event and at meals and attended his presentation. I listened to audio recordings I downloaded from his web site when I found out he was going to be a featured speaker. I know his style and his perspective, and I can attest to the breadth of his knowledge and experience.

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Barbara Winter has read the book already and recommends it enthusiastically!

A while back I started using the concept of playing in the sandbox and creating in the playlab in my blog posts. This book digs in to the idea of exploring your interests by taking the time to play with them in small projects – play projects. Check it out.

Tapa Palapa Podcast

For December our menu theme is “Looking For Light.”
Join Francie and me as we discuss light…

… in ceremonies and rituals (Dec. 7)
… in a loving expression (Dec. 14)
… in the unexpected lamp (Dec. 21)
… in purifying fire (Dec. 28)

Click here to listen to the latest episode.

Advisory Board

That’s you. If you like what you read, please tell your family and friends. If you don’t like something, please tell me!

Thanks for Joining Me on the Journey,

Steve Coxsey

The Twisting Road Traveler is a publication of Twisting Road Press and Stephen Coxsey