Hi Folks! Put on your snorkels cause this ones kind of deep…
Numero Uno: This week's wonder’ings
When it comes to temperament I am a through and through melancholic and on top of that extremely high in openness. Things really get me at a deep level, stories, movies, experiences, songs, even good commercials all seem to strike some chord of relevance and importance which I can’t really seem to control. It’s a blessing and curse because sometimes it’s beautiful and sometimes it's pretty ugly. The upsides are a beautiful and a wonderful way of looking at the world and life and all that goes along with it, and the downside is that everything just seems so existentially “sticky”.
What do you mean “sticky”?
Have you ever eaten pancakes and somehow gotten a little bit of syrup on your arm? It doesn't take much to really throw you off and feel like you are just sticky all over… it can be genuinely troubling and it can really throw off your day until you get it all washed off.
Well, I have always felt like this happened to me internally as well…
***This is part of a longer article which you can read in full right here *** Sometimes you can’t fit it all in one email…
Numero Dos: My Weekly Creativity Tip/Challenge.
Folks we are 6 days deep into the “spoke50” challenge and lives are being changed all over the place. As I mentioned last week the spoke50 is a 50-day video creation challenge that helps you get over your fear of being on camera, start speaking about your ideas and create something every day for 50 days in a row ending on new years eve day. It’s not too late to join, respond to this email and I will invite you into the slack support group. If you want to build something and you are stuck, now is your chance to begin, in the words of Chesterton “if something is worth doing it is worth doing badly” and that is what spoke50 is all about, quantity over quality to get you in the creative game.
Numero Tres: A side hustle idea you can start today.
Ok, I am trying to keep this to side hustles I have actually done... which so far seem to be the more unsexy ones…. but don’t worry when I crack the online passive income model you will be the first to know! But anyhow here goes.
What can you teach?
Teaching is a great place to start freelancing and you know what they say “if you can’t do, teach” well that sounds kinda harsh but sometimes it’s true and that's not a bad thing. Chances are you know something that someone else wants to know and they will pay you to teach them. The first time I did this on my own was with tutoring. What did I have to offer? Well, I was fresh out of my liberal arts degree so plenty! (on a more serious note I now think that a liberal arts degree is actually a great asset for building value in the long term) I threw up an ad for tutoring college students and the subjects that I had some grasp of and about a week later I was at Starbucks helping a young philosophy student make sense of her final paper for 25 bucks an hour. Not bad! Nothing like putting the students further into debt so they can get that degree… (but that's another topic) This was actually a super fulfilling thing to do and it helped me realize I actually knew more than I thought I knew which was cool.
What can you teach or tutor? Throw up an ad and test it out, or just tell your friends you teaching a class, this can be fun and but some coins in the ole piggy. So get after it.
Numero Quatro: Person or Thing That Inspired Me This Week
1. I had a chance to go to a cool conference at Notre Dame University in South Bend Indiana, the conference was awesome but it was the beauty of the campus that really inspired me (and the fabulous sports setup they have) Architecture is really powerful and sometimes just being in a place that moves you to feel a certain way can create huge positive shifts in your life.
2. I got a “Lyft” ride from the Chicago airport and I started chatting to the young driver. Turns out he is an amateur songwriter and artist trying to make in Chicago, he through on some of his music and it was pretty sweet. I asked him about his inspiration and given the genre of music was really intrigued when he named, Brian Adams, Celine Dion Hans Zimmer, and the Marvel Movies as some of his inspiration. So shout out to @SikkoMusic go give him a follow and a listen, super cool to meet a young artist getting after it.
Numero Cinco: Song I am loving right now (and always)
Into the West from The Return of the King ft. Annie Lennox, gets me every time and always reminds me where I am going.
Enjoy.
Well folks that's all for this week's edition of the Society for a Wonder’ing mind. Where nothing is off-topic and we chase meaning, beauty, purpose, and profit wandering and wondering the whole time.
What’s that? You liked it? Why not share it with someone else then, maybe they will like it too.
Yours, in the teaching, and the tears,
Ben