F is for Flow

If you haven’t joined our newsletter, you really should; because it’s the only way you will ever find out we aren’t actually pyromaniacs obsessed with fires. Regardless of whether you are ready to grab a full time seat, let’s give you a pulse of what fire really does mean to us.

For those less inclined to play with matches, fire needs 3 things: Oxygen, Heat and Fuel (go ahead; ask your favorite AI tool if you don’t believe us). Transferring that fire fact to finding everlasting success in life, you have to have the following:

• Oxygen: You must take time to understand who you are, what you are good at, and what you were meant to bring to the world. This element is also about remembering to reflect and assess those times when who you are and what you are passionate about might have changed. The other thing about oxygen is that you just have to breathe now and then, friend. It’s ok that you don’t have it all figured out yet as long as you have a goal. 

• Heat: Whether it’s rubbing together two sticks or striking a match. It’s really easy to take that oxygen and rest, but at some point you have to stop planning and start doing. If you don’t get off the couch or move away from your desk to start something, you will never take off. You can plan, you can research, and you can dream - but if you don’t bring the heat, it’s a stack of wood gathering ants. 

• Fuel: If you aren’t continuing to build your success and adding more to what you’ve built, your success will dwindle. You have to not only get it started, but you have to evaluate now and then and decide if you need a little oxygen to take it up a notch or if it is time to stamp it out and try again. If you aren’t continuously thinking through what works and doesn’t and evolving over time, things just get out of control or burn out.

In this newsletter you will often hear us talk about success in the frame of starting a side hustle, but we hope you realize all of these steps work the same regardless of your end goal. Whether it’s a side hustle, a new job at your current employer, a new job at your past employer or a completely new adventure, we’ll share plenty of tips and tricks across what we call our FIRES Cycle. This week let’s cover the “F” of that FIRES Cycle: Flow.

Flow is knowing what you want, why you want it, and some semblance of how you’ll get there. This includes a few critical components:

• First and foremost, take a minute, friend! If you are in a place of “I Can’t Even”, you can’t start a fire. Said another way, you are never going to light FIRES on a patch of ICE (seriously, we have puns to last at least the rest of the year). Drink some water, go to bed early, meditate, read a book; whatever you need to relax and be in a place to think and plan. The only trick is that you have to actually set a date for how long you will take this break and when you start making that plan. Is it a day? a week? a month? Okay; a month might be overdoing it, but nice try! And remember this is time you are going to totally unplug. If you have a rich uncle with a cool secluded cabin, even better! 

• Block your calendar for the next 6 months with a title of Campfire...at least two 60-minute blocks and one 90-minute block that you will actually schedule as three consecutive 30-minute blocks. You can honestly call it whatever you want, but we’re sure you know by now we are on a theme here. The important thing is that this is time you agree you can reschedule later in the week if needed, but it can not be cancelled. It’s no different from having a meeting with your manager or leader. The only difference is that this is time for your internal boss man or lady to figure it all out or take action.

• Understand your niche - which equates to figure out the exact blend of:

  1. What you like to do

  2. What you are good at

  3. What people need from you

  4. What people will pay you to do

Okay, okay…that’s enough F talking for now, Fire-starter!

This week, we hope you take some time to think about what it is you want, schedule your blocks in advance, and use the 3.5 hours this week to think a bit more about what brings you fire by jotting some notes down about how you would answer those niche questions. We will see you back on Tuesday to talk more specifically about using that information to find your niche with the help of our friends Gemma (Gemini) and Chad (ChatGpt).

🔥 Deb and Donna