And what it can teach us about how and when we feel creative. — I’ve been thinking a lot this year about Taylor Swift. Now, this is a fairly new development. For some of her fans, her evolution from country sweetheart to sequinned pop icon to her look what you made me do rebellion has tracked the course of their own lives too. They’ve…

How I published and distributed a short run, high-quality hardcover about my time living quietly by the mountains. — I’ve always thought of myself as a writer. It’s just what I do — and what I’ve always done, really. I grew up sitting on my bedroom floor making magazines about animals of the world or writing stories on whatever my imagination had conjured up that day. Despite feeling like…

Freedom drives so much of what we do. We want the freedom to live the lives we dream of, create what we want to exist in the world, enjoy our bodies, and step up to be fully ourselves. It also influences why we spend so much of our lives doing…

To achieve big things, begin by not sabotaging yourself. — Sometimes it’s much more comfortable to stay where you are than to succeed. You can be given everything you’ve been dreaming of for years, all packaged up on a beautiful silver platter with a bow. And you’ll politely respond, thanks, but no thanks. This can be without even realising that you’re sabotaging your success. You might come up with some beautiful excuses, such…

Instead of just feeling guilty about it, think about how you can use your privilege. — In my two years of working for myself, I’ve often thought back to my favourite quote from Derek Sivers: “When you make a company, you make a utopia. It’s where you design your perfect world.” He adds: “Making a company is a great way to improve the world while improving…

It’s also more difficult than making it happen. — Here’s the thing: you can do whatever you want with your life. Your life is yours to design and you can choose the ingredients: hustle, slowness, minimalism, adventure, family, wealth… whatever you want. But the hard part is actually working out what you actually, truly, wholeheartedly want. …

We kill the joy of creativity by expecting it to bring us an income. — “I was committed to living a creative life not in order to save the world, not as an act of protest, not to become famous, not to gain entrance to the canon, not to challenge the system, not to show the bastards, not to prove to my family that I…

I learned how much my income correlates with my self-worth. — When you’re self-employed, it’s easy to put your success down to factors outside of your control: the economy, your clients, how much people pay for your area of expertise. You might believe that because you’re a writer, you can’t be a six-figure earner. You might think you’re too young, too…

Freedom equals time plus money. — “Many things are indeed more important than money,” agreed the Wealthy Gardener, “but overcoming the ‘money problem’ allows us to focus on those important things. Without money and time, we wield little power over life.” – The Wealthy Gardener: Lessons on Prosperity Between Father and Son by John Soforic To…