Build your practice.

Lawyers have a practice.

Doctors have a practice.

Practice:

Perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to acquire, improve or maintain proficiency in it.

Actively pursue or be engaged in (a particular profession or occupation)

(Oxford Dictionary)

Entrepreneurs have a business?

I have a business, and I am doing everything I can to make it better every day. But regardless of the state of the business, I am “practicing” my skill and profession of entrepreneurship.

I want entrepreneur to be a long term identity piece for me. I love it, but I know I can be much better at it.

That’s why I practice.

Want to get good at art? PRACTICE

Want to get good at golf? PRACTICE

Want to get good at friendship? PRACTICE

Want to get good at marriage? PRACTICE

Want to get good at speaking? PRACTICE

Want to get good at entrepreneurship?

PRACTICE.

I don’t just have a business, I have a practice and I’m determined to grow every single day through the “failures” and “success.”

Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does make better.

-Jason

Wabi-Sabi

I like to collect words. Sometimes they are English, but more often or not, a concept or word from another culture speaks to me like a lightning bolt, hitting on something I haven’t really had the ability to understand in English.

I will be writing about a few of these in upcoming posts, but the first one that I came across i wanted to share with you is as beautiful and simple as its definition.

Wabi-Sabi

It’s a word I came through by the route of a design magazine called Wallpaper (article here). I have had an increased interest and appreciation for Japanese culture and design recently and this word captured one aspect of it’s beauty and depth.

In the 'wabi room' at Vervoordt's castle, 'Yuboku II', by Kazuo Shiraga, 1989. Photography: Frederik Vercruysse

Now that I know Wabi-Sabi, I see it everywhere.

Wabi: rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object.

Sabi: beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs. (source)

Leonard Koren puts it this way:

"Wabi-Sabi is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete, the antithesis of our classical Western notion of beauty as something perfect, enduring, and monumental."   - Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers

How incredibly beautiful. This is not just an aesthetic I love, but a worldview that speaks to my life and work deeply.

This concept speaks directly to what I think most people are longing for and longing to bring to the table.

Authenticity.

The imperfections, the quirks, the wear and tear on your life is kind of what makes it beautiful. Be careful not to iron out all your wrinkles and oddities, lest you lose your wabi-sabi.

We ask this all the time with our clients. What makes you, you? What makes your idea, business, or life one that is unique? It’s why we named the company “We Are Curio.” A curio is a something odd, one-of-a-kind, interesting, or rare. We help pull that out of you, help you leave your individual mark in your work.

So here’s to our imperfections, our wabi-sabi, our “curio-ness.”

It’s what makes you, you.

P.S.: We just built a our content cottage with Wabi in mind. And it is becoming our little sanctuary for ideas. Check it out!

G.I.G.O

Garbage in, garbage out. We have probably all heard this sentiment and there is a powerful truth that lies in it.

Eat crappy food, feel crappy.

Get no sleep, get no energy.

Use Comic Sans, look like an clown.

G.I.G.O puts its focus on negative inputs. But the opposite is just as true. I like to call it G.I.G.O (clever right?)— Good INPUTS, Good OUTPUTS.

Change your inputs and you will change your outputs. Willing yourself to change is not typically very effective. I am going to give you 1 powerful tip that you can do in the next 20 mins that will help you change your life…just by changing your inputs.

So what are inputs? Inputs are your friends, influences, people you follow, rhythms and rituals you have created, books, movies, media, disciplines, food, etc that affect your wellbeing.

Most of us are on social media way to much. Me included. This is a post for another day. But one thing you can do to make social media a more enriching experience is THE FOLLOW AND UNFOLLOW BUTTON.

I actually like my Facebook news feed. It isn’t filled with conspiracy theories, alternative facts, or jerks. I actually get a diverse group of opinions and thoughts from my Facebook feed. This is actually possible. The reason it is possible is the little unfollow button in the right corner. You don’t even need to unfriend them, just never see them again!

The same for Twitter, the same for Instagram, the same for every other social media you use.

So here is your challenge:

Do a Social Media Input Audit:

Take 15 minutes to unfollow at least 50 people, and add at least 10 new, healthy challenging voices to your feeds. And keep doing this! Keep curating down your inputs to ones that are life giving, thoughtful, challenging, and diverse.

Pay attention to what you are paying attention to, these inputs will shape you.

12 of my Suggested inputs:

Seth Godin

Nicholas Kristof

Diedra Riggs

Vox

The Economist

NASA

Brene Brown

Parsons

Hank Fortner

Tyler Huckabee

Dwell

Fast Company Design