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ABRAMS BOOKS - Cutruzzula Kara Cutruzzula

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124 pages

English

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A guided encouragement journal for anyone in search of creative motivation--why start tomorrow when you can start today?Do It Today is a guided encouragement journal for anyone in search of creative motivation. This is a journal for people who make things (or want to). People who have dreams (or want to find some). People who are seeking motivation in their daily lives (or want to shake up their routines and discover something new). We want to live fuller lives. We want to feel alive and as though we're spending our time on the people, commitments, tasks, and work that matter most to us. Now is a crucial time for this message of reinvention and possibility. Call it motivation, inspiration, encouragement, or a gentle kick in the pants, but with its mix of storytelling and service, Do It Today will act as an urgent reminder that new possibilities are open for everyone-and together we can map out a way to find them. Do It Today is a generous, empathetic, and accessible guide combining short essays, prompts, and open-ended questions that will inspire action, and is inventively designed to give the reader space to dream and plan. You will read, feel motivated, then put down this book and move. Why start tomorrow when you can start today?

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Assertiveness

Popular psychology

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	11 octobre 2022
Nombre de lectures	6
EAN13	9781647008598
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

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Do It Today
by Kara Cutruzzula illustrated by Tyler Spangler
ABRAMS IMAGE, NEW YORK
Introduction
What does a meaningful life look like to you?
Perhaps it involves being present for your family, friends, colleagues, or community. Perhaps it s a life in which you unapologetically move toward milestones and dreams that feel authentic and worthwhile. Perhaps it starts with casting off old beliefs, embracing new growth, and experiencing a sense of momentum.
A life overflowing with meaning is possible. We re going to get there-together.
***
I feel like I m wasting my life.
I can t believe I said that out loud. But I did. Multiple times. Over multiple days. To multiple people. Where did that thought come from? I would like to blame the ongoing pandemic, or grief, or a work assignment, but the truth behind this dramatic statement was much simpler: I was spending very little time each day doing meaningful work.
Let s define work , because I m not talking about the work that checks items off a to-do list. I m talking about any work that requires effort and motivation, whether that springs from your career, art, personal life, or all the above. Rethinking what work looks like can shift your perspective. The good kind of work can be going outside for a long walk or putting in hours on a project that is important to you, like nurturing a side business, going back to school, or learning a new creative practice.

So what makes work meaningful ? This work is the hardest and most essential there is, the kind you were born to do. Meaningful work makes your brain tired in all the best ways. When you re fully immersed, reaching the full range of your capabilities, all that time and energy feels worthwhile. It feels right .
That s what I wanted to find again: meaningful work; work that gave meaning to my days. I am a writer, for better or worse (writers love self-deprecation!), and I come alive when I write plays and musicals, poems and short stories. Taking a tiny idea from my brain, floating it into the world, and hoping it might reveal some truth to whoever finds it is meaningful to me. When I m doing this work, I feel more confident, funnier, happier, lighter. I m able to show up as a better partner, sister, daughter, friend, and collaborator.
So why is it extraordinarily difficult to find work that lights us up? And if we do find it, why do we resist giving it the time it deserves? Here s the truth: It s hard trying new things and changing our habits. Inertia is a powerful force, and it s disorienting to balance our current lives with dreams of what life could be. It s hard to be grateful for what we have while wanting something more. And it s hard to feel all these things at once.
Combine that with the urgent itch that you must figure everything out right now , on top of all your other responsibilities. Impossible! Finding the time to grow is almost as difficult as finding the work that makes you grow. Tomorrow always feels like the better, safer option, until tomorrow comes.
Maybe you feel like you re not in a space to begin-it s too late, you re out of options, or you re overwhelmed. Maybe you re tucked away in your burrow-that dark, quiet place where it s easy to hide from the future.
I feel those emotions, too. Sometimes they hit at the same time, and sometimes they re sprinkled throughout the week like existential confetti. I don t promise to have all the answers-I m still figuring it out with you. But I hope to share the lessons and observations I ve returned to again and again. When I remember and use them, I get closer to the person I see in the mirror on my best days.
Lately, it might feel like nothing has gone as planned. We have changed, mourned, struggled, and survived. Together, we have learned that tomorrow holds no promises. If ever there was a time to do something new, why not now?
There is no better moment to reinvent yourself or discover new possibilities. There is no doubt you ve changed in the past few years-perhaps in the past few days-and are getting serious about what the next version of your life looks like. You ve also probably had some ideas about what you d be happy to leave behind.
Look around. The people beside you are switching careers, embracing hobbies, and starting new adventures. While it may appear like everyone is uprooting their lives, they re actually growing new roots. They re digging deeper, and you can, too.

This is an unlimited space for your best days. You are someone who makes things (or wants to). Someone who has dreams (or wants to define them). Someone who is searching for motivation (or wants to shake up their routines).
You want to feel like you re spending time on the commitments, ideas, and people that give your days meaning. You care, deeply, about the work you do and what you are giving back to the world. You long to move toward the future with bright ambition and a sense of beginning.
You will follow your curiosity.
You will start before you re ready.
You will percolate your ideas.
You will find courage to fly.
You will show off your rejections with pride.
You will connect with your champions.
You will share your generous spirit.
You will cultivate optimism.
Look ahead. The space before you contains the blueprint you will create, the call to action that comes from your voice, and the gentle push that begins your most meaningful life.
Do it today .
CHAPTER 01
Go Toward Your Nerves
Why was there a notebook on my coffee table with the word LYRICS written across the cover in black marker?
I recognized my scraggly handwriting, but I didn t read music or play an instrument. I did take piano lessons when I was a kid, but quit when my instructor wanted to stick to basic theory and refused to teach me how to perform Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid . But now, I was thirty years old and I d never written a song. I had no idea how to write a song.
Still, something compelled me to try. Even the idea of trying was exhilarating, and I had decided that this notebook would hold all the songs swimming inside me-a physical manifestation of my unhatched skills. Over the months that followed, my attention was drawn back to those pages, and I d write a line or two, try to rhyme some words that definitely did not rhyme, and scribble phrases that might prove useful in some mysterious future version of my life.
I didn t realize it at the time, but I was experiencing the magic of the pull. An invisible magnetic pull happens before starting something new. When you re quiet and still, you feel the tug. Look over here , it says. Aren t you intrigued?
That s what the notebook told me: Follow the pull , despite that my past experience did not align with this action; the hurdles were high (I had no clue what I was doing); and nothing about it made sense.

Picking up that notebook made me nervous . What if I failed? What if my friends laughed at me? What if I wasted my time?
I would love to tell you that the first song I put to paper became a Billboard No. 1 hit, but that didn t happen. Instead, life took other unexpected directions, and I gained something even more valuable. I saw the power of following the pull.
Signs of the pull are often a sense of excitement, or simple curiosity. That s what my notebook gave me, and I recognized the same feeling a year later when I saw an announcement about a lyric-writing class. The class was at capacity, but I couldn t stop thinking about it-there was the pull-until I finally asked if there was a waiting list. There was. I got in. And on the first day of class, sitting in that room full of strangers, learning about song form and rhyme schemes, I understood why I created that lyrics notebook. This was where I was meant to be.
I left that class with a few songs-nothing set to music, but enough to apply to a prestigious musical theater workshop. I was invited to audition, which involved reciting my lyrics out loud to seven intimidating composers and lyricists sitting behind a very long table. I was nervous again, yet I felt the insistent pull to try anyway. I got in. After four years in the workshop, I ve bonded with new friends, collaborated on writing musicals, and am fully immersed in a new world.
I never could have guessed all this would happen from a notebook.
What s so exciting about being pulled forward is the chance to head down a new path.
Now, for every pull, you will probably experience its opposite: the push . Other experiences can repel us, often because they feel like a step backward, or a lateral move, or no longer offer growth. The spark is gone.
Have you ever been overwhelmed by this feeling? Perhaps you were reading a job posting, eyes dancing down the list of responsibilities, and your brain said, Run! That s an obvious sign of being pushed away. Sometimes the opportunity might look impressive on paper-it s hard to resist an ego boost-but the work itself sounds exhausting or soul-crushing. You think, Something about this doesn t feel right . That s an important feeling, too.