Putting yourself out there
I got the opportunity to go to Beyond Tellerrand and it was wonderful so I'll definitely be going back next year! And hopefully as a speaker one of these years.
The people were amazing and the talks were inspiring, hopeful, and helpful. I noticed a couple threads throughout many of the talks that got me thinking about my own work and how I spend my time. So many speakers talked about self-promotion. They didn't call it out explicitly, but their work was extremely public. Not just learning in public, but actively positioning themselves as someone who was worth listening to, worth hiring, worth watching. It was inspiring to see how well and consistently this worked for so many people, and overall gave me a "what do I have to lose" kind of mentality as I walked out of the talks.
Focusing on building out work was also huge part of what people mentioned. Paddy Donnelly talked about switching his career from UX to book illustration meant spent a lot of time building out his illustration portfolio and drawing images that meant something to him. Jessica Hische said something similar about doing one letter illustration a day and 12 alphabets in a year. This dedication to improvement mixed with play was another undercurrent through many of the talks.
It seemed like there was this idea of intentional play, where the person found something that sparked their interest, played around with it for awhile, and then gave themselves some type of informal challenge to work on a specific thing every day for a certain amount of time or until they had a stack of work built out.
But maybe the most important part of this was sharing it, and sharing it repeatedly. By doing that, people started to see their work more and more frequently. They saw this person's name on a regular basis, and ultimately made connections with how their work could be used in different projects. In that way, the projects came to them. Of course you'll need to seek out work and show people what you do, but it seems like once you really get going you become a gravitational force where people come to you. I for one would like to have a bit more gravitational force.
I realize I'm probably not telling y'all anything that you don't already know. But the thing that was so interesting to me was that almost every story was similar to this:
- Notice when something sparks curiosity, joy, or play
- Do small projects of that thing that you find enjoyable
- Improve your craft by repeatedly and consistently doing that thing
- Share that thing on a regular basis
It sounds so simple, so why is that so hard for some of us (looking at myself here), to do? I think for me it's a fear mindset. I worry about "wasting" time on one thing when I "should" be doing another. Just that one sentence tells you a lot about the stories I tell myself. But our mindset, a reframing, can change everything.
Maybe the place to start is being thankful that I have the time to do things that interest me at all, and then actually spend the time making and creating and playing. I've forgotten how to play, and play is an integral part of learning and creativity.
This conference inspired me, again, to focus on what makes me happy, and focus on it consistently. I don't know where that path will lead, but it will be a joyful walk.
If you want to watch the conference talks from Beyond Tellerrand, check them out on their YouTube channel. I think they're still adding the ones from last week, understandably, but there are some really wonderful speakers from past years as well!