So many people are in this space to build their dream, certainly a lot of the people I know are. And I am well aware that it takes dedication, determination, hard-work, skill and a lot more to succeed. The thing is, I don't want this to be the corporate world. I don't want the ideas we are fleshing out, the pressure of social media and a space that can feel relentless to stop me enjoying myself. I am not turning my time here into an extension of a life I don't want to live. That corporate life is not for me anymore and I believe there is a different way to do business.
One of my regular Spaces this week was about exactly this. I title it Enjoying Your Craft. Or how to make the grind not a grind. There are a lot of reasons this topic should be discussed and I will get into that shortly. First, we spent the first 60-75 minutes of the Spaces chatting about this, with some jokes and a couple of other interruptions that is exactly what our Spaces are about. You can find the recoding on the post below.
The Blockchain, Crypto, NFT or Web3 Industry feels like it moves at the speed of light. The technology can move that fast that what was a known fact yesterday could be false tomorrow. There is a pressure from within the industry that you have to work fast and be doing many things at once. Social media amplifies those feelings. If you are a one man band, or a sole entrepreneur than you wear many hats. It's a lot of pressure and it can be overwhelming. It can become a grind.
For people that do want to build their dream, how do we make sure it stays fun? How do we stop ourselves from feeling resentful? How do we find a smile when it feels like we have ran into thousands of brick walls? How do we make sure we get up and go again and take the next little steps to making our big dreams a reality with a smile on our face and spring in our step?
We talked about a lot of things on that Spaces and it is conversational. People share thoughts about how they lost their smile and what they did to get it back. And I want to summarise some of them, then I have a little space to chat about them and how I make sure I have fun. And how I pull myself back into that mindset when it starts to slip.
Here are 5 things from that Spaces that I think are huge.
Set, or Reset Expectations
Book Time Away from The Space
Turn Off Notifications
Find and focus on the things you enjoy doing, or realign with them from a creative output perspective
Build connections and build a trust circle/find an accountability partner
You can take a lot from each individual point, and as ever they wrap into other things as well. All 5 of those things will improve your mental health in general, not just help you manage your mindset in this space. They take work and practice. It is hard to change habits. If you have got yourself into a resentment cycle and you are in this space because of your passion, lets break that cycle!
Set or Reset Your Expectations. Take time to remember your why. Why you are in doing what you do. Why you are in this space. Work out which of those expectations are internal and external. Work out which of the eternal ones are needed to push yourself forward and read last weeks blog - Our Expectations of Ourselves - for more of my thoughts on expectations.
Book regular time away from the space. Whole days as well as time in each day. Block book it in a calendar if you need to. Use that time to get outside, spend time with friends or family, pick up an old hobby or relax. This ties into turning off notifications. Noti's will put pressure on you, you will become addicted. They will distract you from important things, like quality time with your family. Turn them off. Anything that buzzes, beeps or flashes. Turn it off. And do it yesterday.
Doing those things above, will help you with focusing on the things you enjoy. You are here for a reason, a reason that excites you and lets you explore your passion. Do not become resentful of that. I cannot emphasise this enough. Resentment kills relationships, spirit and opportunities.
Building connections. We are people people, for the most part. Humans are also sociable creatures and our own company can irk us, well I know mine can! Don't pressure yourself but keep connected. Aside from that, find a trust circle or an accountability partner. Someone that can hug you, lift you up when you are beating yourself up, pull you down when your ego won't fit through a door and slap you when you need it. We need mixture of all 3, we really do!
A Taste of the Metaverse event, by The Diner Studio, was a live event that crossed over The iMAGINE Upstate STEAM Festival in Greeneville, South Carolina and Spatial. A metaverse, or a Virtual Reality, environment. The Diner Studio have been supporting educational opportunities in the Web3 space for over a year and this is just their latest endeavour. Go check out the Spatial environment below.
A little about the festival. The iMAGINE STEAM Festivals are designed to showcase PreK-12 education and career pathways in Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEAM) through fun, hands-on learning for families. The festival is a highly visible street festival that engages companies, schools, and non-profits in providing exciting, interactive STEAM learning exhibits for PreK-12 students and their families. The purpose of the festival is to ignite the interest of students in STEAM learning and career pathways.
Being able to interact with young people in the Metaverse and upload over 100 pieces of their art and their 3d Scanned models was a fantastic experience that fully fits in with my goals. The technology we use is exciting, fun and offers opportunities. Myself, and Jay Stansfield & Vans, where lucky enough to be able to show our tech and space to the next generation of dreamers and entrepeneurs.
Unleash your creativity with Spatial! Explore worlds, create characters, play games and connect with millions around the world on web, mobile, and VR.
I am going to end this with a short bit about losing consistency on a couple of things and what I am doing to regain that. After I have chatted about how I make sure I keep having fun in this space, whilst I chase some pretty big dreams.
I keep myself motivated, smiling and having fun in all sorts of ways. I remember that I am here because of what this tech could be capable of. I embrace opportunities like the one above. I seek them out for myself and others. I work hard on communication, relationships and networking. I remember my achievements like building a global community that has just raised $6,000 for LetsFCancer. And recognise the growth, last year we raised less than half of that. That's insane growth and I celebrate it. That's another important thing.
My blog has been irregular and that will continue. I may move it too a weekend release, I may try and keep it on a Friday. Blogcast plan is similar. Catch up and then release every Monday or Tuesday. Other things are moving and we have regular content planned for Polygon Alliance. I am looking forward to being able to release that, including dedicated space for young people and mental health/wellbeing.
I am going to give this article to Chat GPT and Bard to summarise and then use one of them for the write up for X. It's going to be interesting and the first time I have trusted AI with written content on X. Lets see what happens... I may edit it and add a human element if needed!
Thank you for reading today, I hope you found some use from it. I certainly did. These things are often not focused on as much as execution and delivery of plans. Or the pretence of it at least. Hype can be fun, but it is intense. Remember to Enjoy Your Craft. Cath you next Friday/Weekend, take care.
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Nice blog Dave!
Thank you :)