Stepping outside of what we know

Hey 1,000+ friends, it’s Hannah here from Quoted Visually!

Welcome to another issue of Floating Thoughts. There are a lot of you here now which completly boggles my mind.

Thank you for coming along for the journey👇🏻

We’re all trying our hardest to make progress with what we are working on.

But sometimes all it takes to move the needle is to move away from the needle completely.

To step away from the confines of what we know and the comfort of what we call home.

To explore unknown places and introduce fresh faces.

This may take many different forms:

• Taking the day off

• A weekend trip

• An extended break

• Moving to a new place.

Going near, going far.

Whatever it is for us, creating that physical distance can create mental space.

• Between us and our work

• Between us and our life at home.

It can allow us to slip outside of our daily routines and habits and ~ actually ~ look at them to review and evaluate what is serving us or blocking us.

If we invite this deep reflection in, we can think critically about our lives, and be in the position to make bigger strides towards our goals.

We are the artists of our own lives

When artists paint, they don't just sit close. They stand back, they sometimes paint with mirrors behind them, or they even turn their paintings upside down.

It’s clear – they do this to gain a different perspective on their masterpieces.

But the same applies to the projects we are all working on and the life we are building for ourselves and our families.

If we are always inside the project, we cannot see the project or experience it from the outside.

The pursuit of getting outside helps us gain clarity on what we need to do to move the needle - for me, this was taking August off to travel.

Taking the time to stand back and evaluate does not mean we are going backwards. Instead, it informs our path forward.

• We realise the things we want to change

• We gain clarity on where to spend our resources.

💡 Inspiration

I listened to a handful of podcasts on the road. I think you might enjoy this one from Ryan Holiday.

Ryan talks about the importance of keeping commitments that we make to ourselves. This allows us to build the muscle of “I do what I say I do” and in turn, become more disciplined.

Thus, we gain freedom. We gain the ability to do hard tasks that we don’t want to do, which benefits us later down the line.

“If you break the little promises, you’ll break the big ones”…

🗞️ Update

Adventuring away has given me new energy to drive Quoted Visually forwards, further than I could have done if I just kept going without taking a break* 🏔️

*Note: whilst it is a huge privilege to travel further afield, we don’t have to go far.

But there is a little bit of a cost as a creative when taking extended time away, because, when we come back, we can feel out of practice.

Without the near-daily efforts, we become ‘rusty’ at our craft.

But just like riding a bike, we know that we're not going to forget how to do what we do.

I’m in this weird phase of feeling motivated but also out of the ‘natural flow’ of things.

For example, I did sit down to write this newsletter on Friday, but I couldn’t get anything out. Here I am, the day before and managing much more.

We need to allow time to adjust.

We talk about taking time to zone out of work mode when we are travelling, but it also takes time to zone back into work mode when we get back.

We can manage our expectations instead of beating ourselves up ❤️

That’s a wrap. This newsletter was created with BeeHiiv. Thanks for being here!

Feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions, requests or feedback. I will respond at my earliest opportunity.

Big love,

Hannah aka Quoted Visually x

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