002 : FOCUS

Welcome, old and new!

Subtle format change. Why? Monthly emailing limits. And we were one biweekly post away from hitting it. Reaching 106 people twice a month is too much it seems!

Anyway, here's what happened since the last update:

• developed most of The Quiz™

• drafted The Four Worksheets™

What have we learned?

How will we move forward?

Let's see.

Messiness & Completion

One often forgets that the way to start anything is rarely ever elegant. That sort of thing is reserved for the ones that have started the same thing about a thousand times.

I've been living this oft forgotten fact while working on the quiz and the worksheets.

There are people that embrace the mess and will tell you to do so, too.

I am a voice of the ones that have idealistic visions that are far too vivid, too loud to quell.

Wash it away. Erase it.

Erase as much as of the mess that you're able to notice.

You're going to miss some of it, you always are.

Humans are more adept at making messes than our ideals could ever possibly try to correct.

Mess is far, far older than refinement.

Refinement has much to learn.

For those that currently enjoy messiness, you may consider the work complete when your attachment to the work has dwindled and your attention splinters and darts away to the next thing.

For the ones that currently despise it, perhaps your attachment to the work only fades when the mess, as far as you can tell, has been eradicated.

This may be your marker of completion.

This might be how you know your work is finished.

And this could be your sign.

When you know you can finally let go.

Getting Mad

Self-exhaustion is usually how I fall behind on projects.

I want too much. Demand too much. I create these gigantic hurdles for myself and find myself needing to throw myself up to the top. Sometimes, I just can't bring myself to do it.

Then I get angry at the situation I created for myself.

Specifically, angry about how much time this thing is threatening to steal from me. The sheer possibility that this "void of non-creation" will absorb days or weeks of my time makes it a great evil to be slain.

Or at least, it must be fought with every fiber of my being.

Irritation and the threat of loss is channeled into anger, and that anger is channeled into the drive to banish the void.

I sit there. Striking, bombarding it.

Until it is done. Until it is gone.

Parting Questions

1. When do you consider something finished? Do you ever return to something you've put down? Do you try to recreate it in a new light?

2. When you find yourself exhausted, either by your own hand or the hands of the world, what do you do? Is your way of handling it serving you well? If not, what do you think could refine it? What alternatives could there be?

I was going to make a new ad banner.

But then I saw that the one from the last update (this very one) has a typo.

And so its lifespan has been increased by another two weeks.

Long live the typo.

Anyway, check this out.

A year ago I drew up 48 cards (and a few design elements like the logo and a cover that isn't shown here) for a client's oracle deck.

This is what she sent me yesterday. It took a while, but the deck finally has a successful test print, and she is very pleased with the results so far!

The project went from being a (very literal) set of sketches and sometimes scribbles on index cards, to a deep, reflective journey that helps others through the parts of themselves that they're too afraid to reach on their own.

And she is just one ongoing story out of several others.

All, very similar. Each more transformative than the last.

Do you want a creative partner that can create worlds that inspires growth, reflection, and change within yourself and others?

Reach out: branden@nexumorphic.com

And we'll see what we can make together.

That's all I have for you today.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Next update on the 7th, barring emergencies.

Until then,

👋