How to do twice as much with half the effort is a reframe on the idea that black folks need to work twice as hard to get half as much.
It’s like companion planting.
Growing corn, squash and beans is three times the work of growin just one of those, right? Except, no. The corn provides a frame for the beans to climb, the squash provides ground cover that reduces the opportunity for weeds and retains moisture, and the beans provide food for the soil by fixing nitrogen. That’s the Three Sisters.
As I’ve long liked to say:
How bisexual & polyamorous of me… 😜
And all that without mentioning ‘synergy’.
So, that’s why this week I started the Earnable business course ($2000), having already started the Amplify creative flow course ($300) four weeks ago.
Table of Contents
My challenge: Do another course, or nah?
Earlier this week, I was soul searching about starting yet another async course. Fear around not finishing because I find async learning a challenge, fear around not getting value from the course (and so wasting money), fear of failing, basically.
- Fear: Worrying I’ll be wasting my money
- Failure: Worrying I won’t finish the course
- Fraud: Worrying that it’s ‘not for me’ and that I’m an imposter
Reframe: ‘It’s only money.’
That’s the thought that helped me in the end.
Sounds pretty flippant, but what I mean is that I realised the risk of wasting the money was less than the risk of missing out on the value of course.
I guess I’m learning how to gamble. Not for money, but for learning and experiences.
Feels good!
Scary too. Which is good. Because that’s how I know I’m practising courage. Which is one of the 3 values I’m taking into Q2 as my focus: Compassion. Courage. Curiosity.
This one ticks the curiosity box too.
And practising self-compassion is what makes it possible to take risks and practise facing my anxieties & worries.
Seeking adventures: Leap, and the net will appear
Using Compassion + Courage + Curiosity to practise overcoming these challenges, taking risks and facing my anxieties & worries. Something about the courage to be uncomfortable, how curiosity helps to dispel fear, and having compassion for myself during all of this.
Leap, and the net will appear
John Burroughs
Ask for help: Get support
I realised that what I need is community, and that’s where doing the two courses at the same time helps, I hope. More social learning, more inspiration, more feeding the well.
I’m intending to join the Conscious Growth Club ($2000) when it opens at the end of April, and I expect that will help too.
It feels uncomfortable to pay for these things, and/but I have a gap in my connections. Most of my friends are artists, and many of them are freelancers, and yet I don’t know many people who are running their own businesses or owning their own homes. And that’s what I’m aiming for. That’s all stuff I don’t know how to do yet. I want to broaden my circle of friends & acquaintances, so that I can broaden what I’m able to learn from them and share with them.
The 5 People You Need To Be Happy by Stacey Flowers
Remembering this awesome video:
- Cheerleader believes in you even when you don’t believe in yourself
- Mentor points you in the right direction
- Coach takes you out of your comfort zone so you can reach your potential
- Friend listens to your dreams and truest heart’s desire
- Peer keeps your head in the game, someone in your industry
So, using this frame, I’m looking for peers.
Sometimes, more is less
Less is more, sure.
I’ve been overwhelmed. And I know what to do when burnout is an issue: Reconnect with goals & priorities, Get support, and Do less. Good. Great.
But, sometimes it’s easier to do two courses than one. I don’t think this is workaholism.
Cross-pollinating is a huge source of motivation, opportunity and inspiration for me. One of my strengths is problem-solving by smooshing ideas together from multiple sources.
What makes success more likely with async learning, for me, is adding synchronous + social + support. That’s an example of more is less. More work makes it less work. I get the external motivation or social ‘pressure’. I find it easier working 2 hours, with 1 hour async + 1 hour sync, than just working 1 hour async.
More is less.
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