What do I mean by an "extraordinary life"?
Moving from The Small Things to An Extraordinary Life.
Here I am! I’m back!
I’m writing to you today from the beautiful, overcast Yarra Valley where I am for work (a whole new business since I’ve written to you last!).
Goodness me, I’m happy to finally be back in your inbox/Substack app – now with a slightly new direction. It’s taken me a lot of thinking to come to this point, but I’d love to share it with you if you’ll spare me a few minutes?
It’s funny how sometimes an idea seems new when it’s been there all along.
The tagline for my original Substack, The Small Things, was:
An extraordinary life is created in the small things. Find a curated selection of things to do, make, watch, listen and read to make the everyday special.
But I felt like, after two years, The Small Things needed a bit more soul. I also felt like the newsletter I sent through my business was missing something too. I loved writing a round-up of things to read and watch and cook – and I loved writing about business – but both were missing something a bit deeper. Why? Why should you bother to do any of these things?
Parallel to this, I was coaching clients and noticing that most of the creative freelancers I knew where holding themselves back in their business because they were actually unsure if they were working on the right thing:
“I love photography, but I’d also love to have an online antiques shop…”
“I’m a copywriter, but I’ve always been obsessed with coffee and have all these ideas of working in that industry…”
And then more generally, from family and friends, I was hearing this:
“I know where I want to be long-term, but not sure what to focus on now to get there...”
“How am I going to fit everything I want to do, everything I want to be, into one life, let alone one career?!”
Do you relate to any of these? If so, please stick around ‘cause this is exactly what I want to talk about!
What do I mean by an “extraordinary life”?
The people I love to spend time with are, in their own ways, building extraordinary lives. This is the delicious venn diagram of The Small Things subscribers and Build The Right Business clients. These extraordinary lives look completely different to one another – as they should – but this is what I want to consolidate and finesse.
For me, an extraordinary life is simply one that feels special to you.
It’s designing a work life that complements your dream life.
I do recognise the privilege of being able to design life and work; many don’t get the opportunity to be so “fussy”. But an extraordinary life isn’t necessarily spent on yachts or travelling to international destinations. It can be spending an evening rethinking your workweek, or listening to Bach’s B-Minor Mass on YouTube as you do your weekly clean.
It’s about intentionally drawing in all the things you want in life “inch by inch”, as the poet Victoria Erickson would say:
If you inherently long for something, become it first.
If you want gardens, become the gardener.
If you want love, embody love.
If you want mental stimulation, change the conversation.
If you want peace, exude calmness.
If you want to fill your world with artists, begin to paint.
If you want to be valued, respect your own time.
If you want to live ecstatically, find the ecstasy within yourself.
This is how to draw it in, day by day, inch by inch.
And that’s what we’re going to be doing here.
What can you expect from here?
To start, a weekly newsletter looking at ideas, personal reflections and tools to design an extraordinary, multi-faceted life – with the much-loved Life Curriculum links at the bottom of each.
My initial focus is on how we can use our careers as a vehicle to achieve these extraordinary lives, and I have plenty of ideas in the pipeline for this. It’s not just going to be about business – I’m going to be talking about work and purpose more generally.
Here’s the current plan:
A weekly newsletter about designing a life full of multiple passions – topics such as: where to find clarity; how to choose a focus; how to structure your weeks to fit everything in; specific tools to help find clarity and inspiration; how to prioritise certain projects over others…
Life Curriculum – the much-loved Life Curriculum – ideas and links for you to try over the coming week – will move to the end of the weekly newsletter. Although I’m thinking of renaming this section “The Small Things”. What do you think?
Project People Profiles – interviews with people who are living multi-faceted lives; an inside look into their career paths, how they work best, their tools and tips, and most importantly, a reminder that it’s possible.
An idea for later maybe?
I’m also playing around with what it would look like to do a live online apéro hour together each month. We can pour ourselves a drink and have a chat about all the things we love and I can share my thoughts on managing a multi-faceted career, and juggling all the things I want to fit into my life.
Maybe as a test for catching up in real life one day?!
So that’s it – that’s the new direction!
If you’re into these things, I hope you’ll stick around:
designing an extraordinary life
using work as a vehicle to build your extraordinary life
understanding how to manage multiple interests and paths in a world that tells you to just pick one
As well as links to books, movies, and other bits and bobs, of course.
Thank you for reading, thank you to those who are new, thank you to those who have stuck around for years.
I look forward to checking in with you again next week when I’ll be talking about the need to have one more than one plan for your “dream life” (a controversial take, I think!).
– Phoebe
Here for all of it, always. Speaking to me on every level!
Love the new direction, Phoebe! Have the champagne on ice!