Saurabh Mithal

Writer, Teacher, Career Coach, Mentor. Work website: passionatelycurious.in I write a daily blog at https://blog.passionatelycurious.in

Closing time.

War of Art by Steven Pressfield teaches us that a professional works on a schedule while an amateur works when he feels like it. The point that Pressfield is making is that the professional starts at the same time each day. However, it may be even more important as a

When things don't work.

When things don't work, it's a sign that we showed up, we took a risk, we put ourselves on the hook. It's a sign to embrace that we are on the right track. In creative work, things will never be perfect and the way

Glass half full.

The water in the glass is real. The empty space is a story. Which one do you choose to see: "the way things are" or "the way they should be"? “Often, the person in the group who articulates the possible is dismissed as a dreamer or

Infinite and finite.

Human creativity engages with the infinite in order to create something finite, whether it is a movie, a book, a painting or a product. As creatives, we engage with both the infinite nature of inspiration and the finite nature of resources. Every project we commit to requires a certain amount

Writing is a privilege.

It gives you space to express and share your ideas. It helps people connect and learn from you. It doesn't need to be hard. It can come from a place of curiosity and play if you allow it to.

Finding your work.

What is the work that others have done that you are grateful for? That has mattered in your life, that has changed your life significantly? That if it was not there, your life would not be the same? Now, what is the work that you can do that would mean

Letting go.

What's on your plate? Would you put it on it now if it wasn't there already? If not, how can you get it off the plate? Sometimes, it might even help to start with a clean slate, rather than making space on the already cluttered one.

One change.

What is the one thing that you want to change in your life, one thing that matters to you right now? Before thinking 0r rather than worrying about the how, make the what clear. Once the what is clear, the how will become clear. Mostly, we end up not being

Unblocking abundance.

Emotions and fear make us create blockages in the flow of abundance, whether it is money, love, or anything else. These blockages lead to artificial scarcity, although it feels quite real. It might take tremendous courage to take action which can help us unblock the flow, but once we do,

There's all the time in the world.

When we are aligned with abundance, there's no rush, there's no fear, there's no hustle. There's all the time in the world. Our smile comes back, our shoulders drop, our mind relaxes and we stop inventing scenarios in which we don'

The beautiful person within.

She pushes us to be generous, to be happy, to be kind. She pushes us to smile and make others smile. She makes us feel seen and heard. She makes us know that we're okay and that we matter. She encourages us to be courageous and vulnerable and

Inconvenient.

Changing the status quo requires inconvenient action, action that requires a pattern interrupt. Resistance doesn't like that and it uses its most cunning tool to stop us from taking action: rationalisation. The voice of rationalisation speaks like a friend, telling us why it would be smart to put

Work that matters.

School taught us how to do the work that doesn't matter. And cookie-cutter jobs want us to leave logic out of the door and spend hours doing work that don't make sense. But, we do have a choice. And the choice is to do the work

Finding "people like us".

The world is full of "people not like us", people who'd like to share their opinion whether we ask for it or not, over how we look, what we do, what we should do, and whatnot. And these opinions have a strong tendency to become overbearing.

Learn from success, not failures.

"Learn from failure" is one of the most unhelpful advice we have received. When we try to learn from failure, we learn "what not to do". That doesn't give us any idea about "what to do". And so, the pattern repeats. It&

Two ways to grow your business.

The difficult (almost, impossible) way to grow your business is this: * let your imagination/intelligence/muse come up with a product/service/idea. * let that idea become as large as possible in your head. * imagine who this idea would help and how. * try to convince (read: force) these people that

Burnout.

You can ask your body and mind to push through and, despite needing rest, they will trust you and do that. The deal is that after the push-through, you take a break and help them rejuvenate. When we have an external boss, it's easier to negotiate a vacation.

Getting out of a funk.

“What does Resistance feel like? First, unhappiness. We feel like hell. A low-grade misery pervades everything. We’re bored, we’re restless. We can’t get no satisfaction. There’s guilt but we can’t put our finger on the source. We want to go back to bed; we want

Getting creative work done.

Pick a priority creative project. Break your creative project into sub-projects. Identify the priority sub-project. Write down "what done looks like" and fix a deadline for it. Focus on delivering a "good enough" version by the deadline. Once done, pick the next sub-project. Repeat. That'

Emotional or Strategic?

The one big challenge with solopreneurship is that it is a "person-business," and it is difficult for us to separate the person from the business. With this, emotions often interfere with our business decisions, leading at times to stalling growth or even worse consequences. Emotions can make us

Creative camaraderie.

We are more likely to go to the gym when we have a gym buddy to go with. We have an implicit desire not to let our friend down. And it works both ways. When we try to do creative work on our own, we might find it difficult to

Even if no one reads it.

What would you write even if no one reads it? What would you do even if no one pays you to do it? What would you learn even if no one else cares about it? Creative work is a privilege. It's what we get to do.

It's all invented.

Excerpt From The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Ben Zander “A simple way to practice it’s all invented is to ask yourself this question: What assumption am I making, That I’m not aware I’m making, That gives me what I see? And when you

Reminders of positivity.

As an artist, I seek to access unseen powers. Evil forces are out there—Resistance, self-doubt, self-sabotage. How many other malign entities are hovering each morning over me and my huevos rancheros? Then there are the good forces. Inspiration, enthusiasm, courage. New ideas, brilliant breakthroughs, insights, intuitions. Where do these

Getting things out of your head.

Ask a friend to sit with you, whether in person or online, and make notes while you talk things out. In your head, everything is entangled, but for the friend, it isn't. Neither are emotions coming in the way there. So, when they make notes, they are able