How to stay creative when life throws curveballs

Give me three minutes to show you:

📣 Does shameless marketing work?
⚾️ What happens when your life gets a curveball
💻 The golden age of gadgets

At 1:30 pm on Monday, I got a call from my wife.

“We’re having a baby today.”

Minutes before, I had just wrapped up two calls with clients and had the rest of the afternoon free to start working on a new course idea. (If you’re a coach or creator missing opportunities because your website needs some love or is too embarrassing to share, ​let me know​)

This week was crucial because she was supposed to arrive in 18 days later.

I am in the midst of three new projects consisting of complete visual brand redesigns, and a B2B website. Not to mention plenty of new content for my other projects, ​Hey, Good Game​, and ​Fresh Prompts​.

I was also scheduled to speak to ​Paul Millerd’s community​ about my own Pathless Path.

I have heard all the stories about expecting early, but I don’t pack umbrellas for rainy days. (Or sunny days in LA).

I prefer to live by the attitude of Ram Dass: Be Here Now. Or, any philosophy that requires very little future planning.

Thankfully, due to a suspicious ultrasound code cracked only by mothers, my mother-in-law changed her flight and decided to physically Be Here Right Now. As if there was an entirely different birth plan I wasn’t aware of, she landed Monday afternoon ready to take the baton handoff of our two-year-old.

Seven days in, four postponed client meetings, and a course yet to be named, I’m writing between a nap and mother-and-daughter time.

I don’t know what the design of my new schedule will allow for, but I think often about those who inspire me. It’s not the 20-something-year-old entrepreneurs with more time than money talking about how to be more productive.

It’s the prolific designers like Khoi Vinh and Cameron Moll who each have between 3-5 children. It’s my entrepreneurial friends who have launched and sold companies with strong family foundations.

Now, it’s about layering on more personalities and constraints that add value to my existing free time.

With my first daughter, I thought I was losing my free time. But instead, I just had to reprioritize my Netflix and chill schedule.

Now I may need to adjust that schedule again to free up even more time. But with more constraints comes more creative firepower.

🎨 Better Design Decisions

​Who chooses the color of the year?​

​Why world building is the new web design​

What do ​top creator websites have in common​? (I currently showcase 27 of my favorite personal websites in ​The Design Vault)

📸 Make It Yours Moment

​The golden age of gadgets​ never looked so beautiful. (via Cabel Sasser)

Remember, if you’re a coach or creator missing opportunities because your website feels incomplete or is too embarrassing to share, would you ​help me by clicking here​?

Thanks and I'll see you next Sunday!