Life
Sarahmae
Last week I lost my Great Aunt Sarahmae. She gave the best hugs in the world and loved Louis L’Amour. She carried the Olympic Torch when she was 80 years old, made awesome doughnuts and had words of encouragement for everyone she met.
I am so sad to lose another member of this generation of my family. My grandparents are all gone and my great aunts and uncles take with them little bits of history that I can’t get back.
They knew my grandparents and parents when they were young. They know who they were before my siblings and I came along.
My grandparents and their brothers and sisters kept things close to their hearts. They didn’t have Facebook or Twitter to share every detail of their day with the world. They had secrets and heartaches that I could infer only from offhand remarks and conversations. They didn’t feel the need to talk about sad things. They kept on keeping on.
I find their lives fascinating. The hows and whys that moved them across the U.S. and back. I am amazed by their resolve. I am amazed by their ability to keep moving forward. I am amazed by their ability to give.
For more than 94 years Aunt Sarahmae focused on comforting and encouraging everyone who crossed her path. She did so with a smile and a hug and unconditional love that will be with me always. She’s a hard act to follow.
Little Bits of Focus
I have a confession.
I’ve been telling myself that I don’t have time to write a blog post, or take a walk, or sweep the kitchen floor because I’m just too busy.
Busy isn’t the problem. The problem is focus. Somedays it’s a lot easier to switch over to check Twitter, or see what’s up with my cousin on Facebook, or check my email, than to focus.
Here’s the thing, I know when I focus, even for a few minutes, I can get a whole lot of work done. What I can accomplish when I’m completely focused on the task at hand is amazing.
So I started challenging myself to focus using an online timer called e.ggtimer.com.
I simply put in the number of minutes I want to focus on whatever project I’m working on, press GO! and I’m off.
Just doing this switches my mind into work mode. It brings out something so deeply engrained in me from my days as a magazine art director. I’m racing the clock to meet a deadline. Must. Meet. The. Deadline.
The timer goes off, time has flown by and I have accomplished so much just by giving myself a little bit of time to focus.
What works for you when you need to focus?
Why I Love What I Do
Everyday I get to meet people like you.
People with a story to tell. People who are doing their own thing.
Business types who are launching out on their own after years of working in a corporate cubical. Entrepreneurs who’ve never even set foot in an office. Moms who are starting something up on the side so they can be at home full time with their kids.
I get to be a small part of your life story. A dot along the path to making your dreams come true.
I don’t help you come up with your big idea — that’s all you. I refine that big idea, and translate it into a logo, a tagline, a website, a brochure, a marketing strategy.
I do this by helping you get out of your own way.
How many times have you said to yourself, “There’s no way I can look that profession, I don’t know how.”
I want you to stop saying that to yourself. Stop limiting what your company can look and sound like.
You may not know exactly how to make your website look professional, but you can certainly find someone who can help you do that.
That’s why I love what I do. I get to meet and help people like you.
I do this by pulling your vision for your business out of your head and putting it down on paper. Photoshop, Illustrator and WordPress are just the tools.
The real work is in figuring out the best way to tell your story.
In doing this work I get to be a designer, writer, investigative reporter, editor, marketer, publisher and cheerleader.
I get to watch you become even more than what you thought you could be.
What’s your story? What’s your big idea? Where are you going? Comment below and if you like this post share it on Facebook and Twitter.