In Your Success Zone Blog

Venturing into the Dark Forest - and Back Again

About 4 months ago, I embarked on "discovering my brand" so that I could serve more Creative Entrepreneurs with my services and products. I began working with a brilliant small business and branding consultant named Whitney Greer. Little did I know what a creative and confronting process this would be!

To me "discovering my brand" is another phrase for going into the "Dark Forest of the Unknown". There are reasons that I haven't gone there before.

Thank goodness Whitney HAS been into the Dark Forest with others before and knows how to get me back home at the end of each conversation. She gives me exercises to do each week and helps me see beyond my blind spots into clarity.

She recently described her process as helping people realize what they do well and talk about it clearly so that it communicates effectively to others. What a gift it is to be seen and valued!

Now that we are fairly deep into the branding process and my "core messages" are becoming clearer, I am stepping up to owning them. I have faced challenges of 

• the fear of being seen and known for my true self,
• clinging to limiting definitions of myself from the past, and  
• judging myself for past disappointments.

As I face these challenges through working with Whitney and on my own to reprogram my limiting beliefs, I find that I

• know more about myself and my work,
• feel more confident about sharing my work with others, and
• am developing some good ideas about how to go about doing that sharing. 

My branding journey perfectly describes the process of being a Creative Entrepreneur - setting off on a journey into an unexplored land; facing challenges with creative instincts; experiencing confusion and doubting success, but perservering anyway; and finally seeing the end goal within reach! 

Here's to each of you who uses your creativity every day in your work and life. I salute your courage, strength, and stamina. Journey on, Creative Entrepreneur!

What Do You Value? [FR*EE TELECLASS]

You are invited to explore what you value - about yourself and your work - in this month's Fr*ee Teleclass on Thursday, April 9th at 12 noon EDT. In this 35 minute interactive class held on a teleconference call, you'll learn

• where you may be misjudging yourself
• how you can acknowledge your value 
• how honoring your gifts makes them more valuable to yourself and others

If you are interested in learning how using the wrong measuring stick sabotages your success in business and in life, REGISTER HERE!

If you find yourself caught up in measuring yourself and your work against impossible standards and always coming up short, you may want to read my article entitled, "What Do You Value?" HERE

  

Architects Take Flying Leap of Creativity

 

The principals of DillerScofidio+Renfro, an innovative and "in the news" architecture firm in New York talked recently to Charlie Rose about their creative process. 

They have completed the Instititute for Contemporary Art on Boston Harbor, a redesign of Alice Tully Hall and the Julliard School at Lincoln Center in New York, and a portion of the new Flyway Park on the Hudson River, also in NYC.

When talking about the Blur Building (pictured above) which the firm designed and built in Switzerland in 2002, principals Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio admitted that they wanted to build a cloud. They didn't know how to do that but did their research and eventually built a building "without a skin" (no walls) and 35,000 water jets that disburse fine water spray to create an "inhabitable cloud" on Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland. They also designed a "Braincoat" to help visitors navigate the cloud of fog.

Scofidio explained that they come up with the idea of the space and impact they want to create and then figure out how to execute it. Diller says that it's like jumping off a cliff without a parachute.

Obviously, they are doing something right because not only have they won the first MacArthur (Genius) Award for Architecture, they are becoming well known in international design circles as creative thinkers who use space and building materials to make a statement, create a mood, and invite people into conversation.

In this interview these audacious creatives have described the creative process perfectly - having a vision, taking a leap, figuring out "how" by fits and starts, and landing on your feet in a brand new place. Brava!