Why playing small is your success strategy

Why play small?

I recently shared why playing small with not a great career option. But here’s the thing. All advise can be negated!

Especially when it comes to going on a Play Date…

Create something small just to play and see if you enjoy it. I set my timer to twenty minutes, sourced some paper from old romance novels and had a play with paper collage. The image above is the result. I’ve called it “Sweet Tart” (read the insert from the novel and you will see why!) Sweet Tart is a collection of original collages combining used and found papers as well as whispers of original paintings.

I loved it. It was very meditative, quiet, and completely absorbing. Best of all it has sparked a desire to explore this further (also fitting unexpectantly with my paper butterflies.) From my initial unstructured play, I am now going to explore how to bend paper gently, and how to fix and frame these delicate pieces. And guess what, creating this project only took 12 minutes.

I also created these two artworks – again, in less than the time it takes to buy a coffee!

Here’s Angela inspiring career change story…because sometimes small ‘aint where your joy is at!

Playing small? Angela’s story- moving from boredom to career fulfilment

Angela was 41 and a single parent of two young daughters. At the time she came to see me she was working as an air hostess, a job she had been doing for over 10 years. She was feeling stressed by the shift work and her inability to care for her daughters as much as she liked. Her self-esteem and confidence were also suffering. She had been adopted and never felt she had achieved anything significant in her life. This was especially the case when she compared herself to her siblings who had done well academically.

The desire for a better future for herself and her daughters spurred her on to make some dramatic changes. “I went back to school and retrained to be a counsellor because I wanted to do something different and to truly help people. I wanted to be a specialist but I didn’t feel like I had any skills because I had only been an air hostess for the last 10 years.”

Helping Angela to visualize her preferred future was an important step in preparing her for the challenges of going back to study as a mature student. “I am nearly finished my diploma now and so many times I felt like giving up. My vision for the life I want both myself and my children to have has helped keep me on track. And I have surprised myself with how well I am doing academically. I’m feeling nervous but excited about what the future holds,“ she told me.

I reminded her that she is the creator or her future and that as she nears the end of her study now is the time to revisit her life and career goals. Together we agreed that the following strategies would help her stay on track as she moved toward her preferred future:

Write her ideal job description, including hours of work (flexible and part-time so she could drop off and pick up her children from school); benefits – including ongoing training; work environment – supportive and friendly

Updating her passion journal and dream board with inspiring pictures, quotes, affirmations, feedback, and looking at it daily to keep her passion alive

Continuing to gain work experience in the industry of her choice and cultivating helpful networks and alliances

Setting mini regular goals to break her future goals down and plan out each day

Scheduling ‘me time’ and looking after herself, including using stress management techniques

Talking to people who are already living her dream and asking her way to success

Collecting positive feedback and surrounding herself with positive role models

Actively working on building and maintaining high self-esteem and confidence, including actively challenging her fears and unhelpful beliefs such as “I’ll never be able to find the perfect job,” and “Nobody will hire me when I am finished studying.”

Happily, Angela found a full-time job working for a family-friendly, government agency, providing career transition support services for the unemployed.

How could you move toward your preferred future?

Work with me! I’m taking last calls for 2020 and scheduling bookings for the New Year. Get 2021 off to a flying start. Book today.

Gift yourself or your loved ones some visionary art

Simply email Cassandra@cassandragaisford.com

xxx

p.s.

PLAY DATES

Would you love to explore a new hobby or resurrect one you’ve neglected? Is stress draining your joy? Would you love to do something—just for fun? Or are you a pro who has lost their mojo? Whatever your reasons, whatever your motivation, no matter how experienced or inexperienced you feel Play Dates is perfect for you.

Would you love to embark on play dates with me?

I’m Cassandra Gaisford—an award-winning artist, bestselling author and creativity coach. I love painting in the style of abstract expressionism inspired by nature. I create flowers and landscapes using acrylic paints, watercolours, encaustic, pastels and pencils (and other art-making tools). I am fortunate to live in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

Follow all my creative adventures on Instagram or Facebook (links below). Feel free to ask questions below and let me know what part of this blog was most helpful to you.

JOIN ME FOR PLAY DATES – online, anytime..totally self-paced

Discover more, and join here: https://www.thejoyfulartist.co.nz/play-dates/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cassandragaisford (this is the best place to see all my artwork and behind the scenes videos, etc.)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Powerful-creativity-135671939933468/

Posted in: Art, Art & Creativity, Career & Happiness, Career Change, Client success story, Latest News, Play Dates, Stress less

Tags: play dates