Do the things you’re vain* about, that if they weren’t very good, you’d feel ashamed. You’d even feel ashamed for other people’s work in your field of expertise — if it’s really not good.

Don’t do things of which you think that the idea of you being that person would be nice. It’s not about being it, but doing and enjoying it.

For my person I would say that the thing I’m vain about is writing**. I couldn’t stand if people told me it’s a piece of garbage – and they have good arguments to prove that. Don’t get me wrong. I’m able to receive negative feedback but my vanity with this creative pursuit makes me want to become exceptionally well. I’m envisioning myself dominating my field of writing. That’s how much I’m convinced.

And yes I do design as well and I enjoy it. I do it because I’m hungry for variety in my creative output and I’m applying my writing principles to design. In short: I design how I write. I write how I talk. Short. Focused. Straightforward***. And from the hips.

The take-away from today: Observe yourself continuously, constantly and find out what vanity is driving you. If you just like seeing yourself being someone/something, that’s not your vanity. Don’t pursue it. If you can’t stand bad output of something, there’s a good chance that you found your vanity.

This was episode 12 of the #weekdaykickoff. Every Monday-Friday morning. Colombian time. Until episode 5 I also audio-recorded on Anchor, you can find me there as “Alexander Kluge”.

Footnotes

*I prefer to use the German “eitel”

**After high school I desperately wanted to become a media designer. I applied for many companies. I never made it. Instead I chose to do an apprenticeship as a salesman for two years followed by 7 years of studying Int’l Media & Computer because it was the most adequate replacement for a direct media design apprenticeship – and actually pretty close and I got a degree which can help me in some cases although I’m not super enthusiastic about it.

With that big amount of time studying (yes 7 years is a lot, I know) I almost had a career only by studying. What’s your career? I’m a student – long term *hahaha* And in that time it became clear that I didn’t enjoy designing anymore.

So, after my studies and the short film I made for my Master’s thesis I found that something’s wrong with me and designing. I didn’t feel fulfilled anymore with it. It took another year and a half until I saw what I am and want be: a writer and creator of authored experiences with pieces that start with writing and sometimes end with it 🙂

***I prefer to use the German “Schnörkellos”

You can drink water to hydrate, go for a walk to change scenery, do sports to sweat, take a shower, dive into your nearest lake or ocean, do this ice bucket challenge that used to be a thing (in the past).

Pay a visit to Alaska, Greenland or Russia in winter, dress up, get new clothes, do peeling for your skin, use these icy wake-up gels or creams that make you feel you were in Alaska, go on a retreat or on self-discovery.

Do it to refresh yourself, to feel reborn, rejuvenated. Simply make an effort to change things from time to time.

You need sports for your mind. You need mental challenges for your body. And vice versa.

The take-away from today: Drink enough, walk enough, keep your mind and body refresh so that your soul can shine and attract soul mates.

This was episode 11 of the #weekdaykickoff. Every Monday-Friday morning. Colombian time. Until episode 5 I also audio-recorded on Anchor, you can find me there as “Alexander Kluge”.

The end of week 1 of the #weekdaykickoff has come. Let’s sum up and wrap up this week’s lessons.

Your stage, your world, your people

You learnt to picture your life as a stage in which you’re the actor playing the role you prefer. Starting is one thing, continuing the other one.

In this world you curate who enters and who becomes actually important and meaningful. In order to create excitement you go into the scary challenges, those will also make you feel alive, your real lived reality.

You’re independent

Also, I wrote you that you don’t need me, and I don’t need you – in terms being dependent from each other. You are a complete person but decide you want to read the #weekdaykickoff as a deliberate choice.

You don’t need to read it but you want to because it benefits your life, it enables you to become a better person. This is how every relation to a partner in business, love and friendship should work. Enable one another.

Go step by step

You’re interested in many things and want to accomplish a lot in your life. Still you move one foot at a time. Keep that in mind, and don’t stop. Always move forward because not moving means moving backwards.

What keeps you moving is your overall life goal and the mini goals that help you reach the big one. This is why it’s important to organize yourself: make a list, create tasks out of it, schedule and execute them.

Stop getting inspired before you want to get it done

In my creative projects I always encounter the same pattern: I start a project with a deep immersion focus. I’m all in for that project to guarantee to best goal-driven outcome. My senses are channeled to a tunnel with to goal to make the project a success. I finish the project and my senses open again.

I’m now again open for new sparks, new inspirations, new ideas. I’m filling my creative mojo / juice / magic liquid. This guarantees that I won’t burn out — sometimes very hard.

The take-away for the weekend: You create a world  where you are an independent player. Because of the goals you set, you know your general direction you generally know where to go. Since you don’t want to exhaust yourself on the way you take regular breaks and time-offs. When projects are over or milestone of long-term projects have been accomplished, you use the time for inspiration and refreshment. You combine this ideally with your break time or create separate retreat time.

This was episode 10 of the #weekdaykickoff. Every Monday-Friday morning. Colombian time.