I went camping last weekend.? I left right after lunch on Friday, and came back Sunday night – to an overflowing inbox.

I did scan it for emergencies – if my students can’t access my classes or if I screwed up something for my clients or students I want to fix that right away.

But everything else can wait.

Because if I jump straight into my inbox then I’m allowing other people’s demands to shape my day.? Which means I’m giving up my power/ability to create.

Not that I never want to jump into my inbox – it’s that I want to go in with a plan.

So, I got up early Monday morning and went to the park. I sat down with a coffee and just appreciated everything.? This beautiful day, the amazing weekend I just had, how free and happy I was feeling in that moment and how free and happy I’d been feeling all weekend.

I breathed into all the places inside me that had softened and opened after a weekend away from other people and electricity and the buzz of the city.

I felt into the week ahead – all of my hopes and wishes and plans for what I’d like to create, experience and explore.

I did a Creative Genius Planning Session in my journal to pull out the qualities that are important for me to work with this week and I breathed them in.? (Circle members: there’s a Creative Genius Planning Kit with videos/meditation/worksheets in the Tools + Classes section)

I set my priorities.? I planned my schedule.

I got clear.

And then it was easy to zoom happily through my inbox and take care of what needed taking care of.

You create your life from the energy you carry.

If you don’t take the time to deliberately choose what energy you’re carrying, the outer world will just bulldoze all over your beautiful intentions.

Years of practicing being intentional about the energy I carry has led me to a pretty peaceful place where I have what I need to create what I want.

In my business, I get to do the work I love, share my ideas in meaningful ways and make the money I need to live the life I want.? Most days it feels like I am living a miracle when I think back to how I used to struggle as a starving artist, and as an office worker dreaming of a more creative life.

But everything in my outer is going so well because of how I put the inner work first.

Everyone wants to know what tools to use as though the right tools will guarantee success.?? The most important tool is the energy you’re holding and how you’re holding it.? It’s how you approach your work.

You are infinitely powerful.

You are infinitely creative.

When you work from this part of you – you work differently:

• You set things up to be truly sustainable.? You don’t take on more than you can chew, you don’t leave things to the last minute and you look for ways to keep things simple.

• You take responsibility for everything. You remember that your life is a mirror so you don’t waste your time cleaning the mirror in the hopes that this will make it reflect something more beautiful.

• You use setbacks and obstacles as growth opportunities. Everything you need to learn about how to get to where you want is right there.

• You’re really honest with yourself about what you need in order to be full, inspired and happy.? You understand that this is where your best work comes from and this is what fuels the whole thing so extreme self-care becomes non-negotiable.

• You treat every part of your work with love, care and attention.? This is your heart and soul and purpose brought to life so you treat it as the precious thing it is.

• You remember the true aim of your work: to serve.??In order for your business to become sustainable it’s got to meet your needs but it’s not ABOUT your needs.? This one is more important than it seems, really look at where you’re hoping that success in business will help you to feel better about yourself and do the inner work to clean up your energy .
  

Everyone wants to gloss over the inner growth that has to happen before you can have the business that you really want.

You can’t be all frazzled and disorganized and expect your business to run smoothly.

Yes, you can follow all of the rules and use all the right tools and you can make money but until you clean up your inner patterns more money is only going to magnify them.? So: more stress, more chaos, more self-doubt, more fear.? Not fun.

(I cover this at length in the Creative With Money kit in the Creative Dream Circle)

Focus on the inner stuff and allow the inner to lead.? When you’re clear in your inner world, when you create space inside of you for success and joy and living the life you want – then your intuition can easily lead you to the right steps in the outer world.

That part is the easy part.

For me, this means using smart + helpful apps that save time and keep things running smoothly with as little effort as possible.

Inside the Creative Dream Circle you get my Creative Business Incubator e-Course where I share EVERYTHING I did and learned in building my business – seriously, hours and hours of videos and links to resources.

Today I thought I’d just share the three tools I’m using the most these days.

Simplero for my Creative Dream Circle

After years of running my classes online, finding Simplero has been an absolute miracle for me.? The Creative Dream Circle memberships are 100% automated which means new members get what they need exactly when they need it and my time is free to participate and play in the Circle instead of managing memberships and dealing with problems.

The site is fast to load and members can download their videos, mp3s and workbooks easily and I never have to worry if everything is working right.

The price tag seems high – but this replaced some other apps I was paying for before – for email and the membership site – so in the end it’s not a lot higher but it takes a lot of work off of me.? Plus there’s a free trial so there’s no reason to give it a try.? (Just remember that there’s a steep learning curve to learning any app that’s going to do this much for you)

Zendesk for making email better

With 6,000 people taking my free course this is a necessity because it means those people can get the help they need with the course without me helping each person individually which would be impossible.? It took a lot of work to get it all set up, but it’s been totally worth it.

Asana for keeping everything I’m doing? ridiculously organised

Because being ridiculously organised helps me not fill my inner world with stress.? When my brain doesn’t have to hold the details it’s free to do more important stuff – like dream and be happy.

I love the feeling that Asana is holding everything for me.? I get notifications on my phone every morning of what’s up that day, but it’s much more than a to-do list, it stores all of my ideas and projects in ways that are easy to access when I need them, but don’t clutter up my calendar but still lets me see everything that needs to happen in the future.? And it’s simple to use.? And free!

I believe that you can succeed.

It’s never been easier for creative spiritual people to create their own empires.

Just don’t short-change your possibilities by trying to skip over the path.? You’ve got to grow into your most successful self on the inside, first.