If last week in B-School was mile 17 of a marathon, then this week was a perpetual spin cycle in a washing machine. My brain felt like tasks and energy and bright shiny new steps to take were being tossed around amidst water and suds and dirt and steps I had previously taken that need to be revisited and focused. The load of laundry still feels like it is on the last spin of the cycle. Old things remaining on the list. New things creeping in and complicating life in general. A horizon filled with even more things to do. As the laundry spins, I need to reflect on what has been accomplished amidst the spin.

Week 5 Small Victories (that might not be that small in reality)

99 designs

I launched a landing page design contest on 99 designs last week. I have been giving feedback to designers before I make my final choice. To get more feedback, I decided to ask for opinions via a web poll produced by 99 designs. (The web poll had 14 respondents.) I have had a website, primarily for the purpose of blogging, since 2007. I have had designers create my last few designs. My last major overhaul was in 2013. It became clear to me during the website module, I needed to give my website, specifically my landing page, some attention. Thinking through the importance of building my email list this week (realizing I have an abysmal website conversion rate of .07, a 29% open rate on my newsletter, and 84 person email list after beginning my list a year ago), I am now redesigning the site, working on the content, and rethinking the timing and structure of the newsletter all together. Good things to address. Good timing to address them.

Foundation Support

I took a bit of the, “Start before you are ready!” advice this week. As a grant writer, I know that one of the funding streams for work can be foundation support. I have known for a while about foundations that support individuals that do the work that I want to do. I have known for a while that I am a solid grant writer. (I have raised lots of money for others over the years.) Thinking back on Big Magic, I decided to hug my fear and ask it to get out of the driver seat of my car. I wrote a Letter of Inquiry to the Knight Foundation to fund publishing the book that I have been shopping to agents and publishers for years, and I have just about finished a proposal to the Templeton Foundation big enough to fund the start of the Wide-Awakeness Project. A project designed to: 1. Maintain a website that curates and creates philosophically-oriented content. 2. Research wide-awakeness across contexts (such as classrooms, curricula, and organizations) and concepts (such as gratitude, imagination, and well-being). 3. Author public scholarship focused on policy and philosophy creating a world driven by gratitude, imagination, and presence. My next steps are to find more foundations and keep knocking on their doors.

The Power of Influencers

Thank you Team Forleo for getting me to think about how much I value the influencers in my life and for giving me an ounce of courage to thank them for their inspiration and continue to invite them on this journey with me. I love to reach out. A huge part of me has enjoyed asking questions, sharing my thoughts, and showing gratitude my entire life. Reaching out has been critical to my journey. When I think about it, the heart of everything I have been, done, and want to do has grown from reaching out. Choosing careers. Choosing places to live. Choosing how to spend my hours and days and years. Choosing from whom to learn. In many cases, my best choices have been made as a result of the power of influencers. Choosing to do B-School, after years of hemming and hawing, was a decision that I made after following (and learning) from Marie since her Super Soul Sunday appearance years ago. I asked Seth Godin, after taking part in his Udemy course, to take part in my gratitude newsletter. Here is a transcript of our interview, Getting to Cleveland. His “Yes” meant more than I can explain. I truly appreciate Marie’s advice about wooing influencers, it reinforces my belief in approaching others from a space of respect and gratitude, of love and abundance, of courage and humility.

As the list building, effective marketing, life-long learning thing tumbles inside the washing machine of my brain, I am consistently reminded that it all comes back to relationships. Seeking relationships. Building relationships. Valuing relationships. Reciprocity in relationships. Paying it forward when I am in a position to give to others.