further: possessing a vivid imagi-
nation requires a defiant expecta-
tion that life as we know it could
be different, not just some day,
but ASAP. If you practice building
this kind of imagination, before
you know it, you'll start making
realistic yet bold demands from
yourself and the people and sys-
tems around you. Those demands
will exude a defiant expectation
for your life and your business to
be more efficient, more profit-
able, and all around better for your
world!
In taking a stand for this kind of
imagination you will have no choice
but to change the activity in your
bank account. For example: If your
life and our global environment
would be so much better without
the necessity of doing 4 loads of
laundry in the water-wasting ma-
chines 8 floors below, go make
plans for your business' first hire to
be a laundry service, not a social
media assistant!
3. Practice Improvisation
As you guessed, it's not just about
making plans and imagining your
life could be different. That sounds
a little too good to be true, yes?
Bravery is about *acting* on those
desires. Use the friction of your
fear to make different choices. I'm
not an advocate for the "feel the
fear and do it anyways" as I'm a
firm believer our fear exists for a
reason, it's important to listen to it.
However, the reactions created by
all that friction are from your im-
provisational skills.
We practice using fear’s friction by
actively working within our lim-
itations and constraints. Again, to
practice this with the intention of
building your bank account we're
not talking tremendously huge
feats of improvisation. Asking for
help after practicing vulnerability
is a perfect example of how natu-
rally (or unnaturally) improvisation
can play out. Or maybe after tak-
ing a vulnerable look at your bank
account you can sense that your
"scraping the bottom of the bank
account barrel" has inspired you
to improvise with your constraints
by making bean soup with home-
made bone broth for dinner! (Deli-
cious and super cheap!)
Eventually, those of us skilled with
improvising within our limitations
will see the results of this practice
appear in your bank account. May-
be it'll be a spontaneous product
announcement, or a last-minute,
insanely successful product upsell.
How do practicing these skills
equal dolla dolla bills? Those tiny
acts of vulnerability, imagination,
and improvisation add up. If you
commit to practicing these skills
everyday, eventually you might
find yourself making a spreadsheet
with a honest financial forecast.
You'll have a presence of mind to
pull together the scary numbers.
Vulnerability combined with imag-
ination will have built up enough
fortitude to read the numbers that
foretell of your business' demise if
you wait too long to launch your
next product.
My hope for you is that you'll have
the vulnerability, imagination and
improvisational skills to make that
brand new book/product/course/
client package appear out of
seemingly nowhere and -- BOOM
-- land in your bank account.
In 2013, Emily Ann Peterson was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological
hand tremor, which forever altered her two-decade livelihood as a cellist/cello
teacher. Refusing to lose her life's love of expression, she knew she’d have to
be brave. In an act of neurological defiance, she expanded into wider medi-
ums and broke through her creative glass ceiling, opening the door to limit-
less possibilities through songwriting. Her book Bare Naked Bravery: How to
Be Creatively Courageous helps people from all walks of life understand what
bravery really is - allowing them to step into it by creatively using vulnerability,
imagination and improvisation. Her podcast, Bare Naked Bravery, features con-
versations with everyday heroes and creative entrepreneurs about the quiet
successes and loud failures required to do the brave things for which we know
and love them. Alongside the podcast, Emily also facilitates a Facebook group
that offers a welcoming, safe community for creative misfits to finally find be-
longing and acceptance.
Emily Ann Peterson
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emilyannpeterson.com