Creating a body of work - by Rob Lambert
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A Cultivated Life Newsletter
Hi,
Sorry for the radio silence the last week or so (I seem to be starting too many newsletters with that this year!) but I had COVID. Not too bad thought, all things considered.
Whilst isolating though I got to work creating some stocks.
In fact, I created a couple of stocks (and we’ll come to stocks and flows in a minute).
Firstly, I created an A-Z of business agility poster and associated blog post. I’m learning design techniques and I feel like Im getting a little better each day. I’m still pretty useless, but we all have to start somewhere. And if you’re in the business of agile and agility I hope the content hits home too.
Secondly, I created a small poster and article explaining how to improve performance in your work place.
Thirdly, I set myself a challenge of creating a new “free” eBook for the Parent Brain community. I set some constraints, chiefly these being:
It had to be created in under 24 hours (this last Saturday)
It had to look and feel pretty interesting - as in, not just boring word documents turned into a PDF.
It had to have some meaning. To me, for my kids, something, so it's kind of personal - a little.
It had to be created in CANVA. Why? Because I spent two hours reading about the "best way to create a design / photo / eBook" and got overwhelmed. So, I just picked Canva.
It had to be fun to do, which it was BTW :)
It had to use some of my own photos
I will launch that book tomorrow and probable drop a few flows out to Instagram and LinkedIn.
Rob, why are you talking about stocks and flows?
Well, I’ve talked about stocks and flows before in this but I didn’t explain what stocks and flows are in service of - at least from my own personal perspective. They are all part of my life plans for 2022 and beyond, in which I'm getting a little more serious about creating a body of work.
A Body of Work
I’m looking to create a Body of Work. No, not my own body, well - I am trying to do that also, but this is about work.
Creating a body of work isn’t purely for artists. I believe anyone can create their own body of work. In fact, each of us creating our own body of work every day in our lives and jobs. Sometimes, this is more obvious and intentional than at other times. It's a lot harder to point at a body of work as a consultant though :) than maybe an architect or designer or marketer.
So, 2022 and beyond is about getting more intentional about this in both work and my own creative life.
People often ask why I’m not doubling down and focusing on just one of my projects. I’m fairly certain I’d do better with Cultivated Management, if I didn’t also commit energy and attention to Parent Brain and Stationery Freaks too.
But for me, that would go against who I am and what interests me. It would feel wrong.
You see, I’m trying to create a body of work, or, as Todd Henry put it, to Die Empty. In that, when that fateful time arrives, I don’t want to regret not creating the pieces of work that sing to my soul. The things I wanted to created when I was younger. The books I said I would write. The films I said I would make. The work I said I would do. And not just because I said I would create them but because they call out to me. They gnaw away inside me. The older I get, the stronger the internal nudge is to just ship it. To do it. To put away the fear and do it, or feel the fear and do it anyway.
Of course, there will always be something left not done, but you get the idea. Create whilst I can.
It’s important for me. And no doubt you have things you'd like to do too. Projects you'd like to pursue, businesses you'd like to start, or great value work you're enjoying delivering. All of which are part of your body of work.
Being a management consultant doesn’t mean I don’t have creative projects to pursue. In fact, I often describe myself as a creative trapped in the corporate world. And so I divert my time towards creating a body of work that I’m proud of. It’s why I record videos for Cultivated Management, and am re-launching the Parent Brain podcast later this year and why I ramble chat with Helen Lisowski on Stationery Freaks. They are scratching an itch.
To create a body of work it would seem like there needs to be a common theme. Something that brings it all together and defines it. That’s certainly what I’ve seen in the art world. Art galleries don’t have random pieces stuffed together. They have a narrative. It’s called a body of work and there is a thread between the pieces.
This thread is the same in our work.
For me, I've tended to stick in the same industries, or do similar jobs - kind of because I felt I had to. We tend to assume our thread must remain somehow confined. I'm always in awe of people who jump industries entirely. They seem so rebellious. But they are merely building stocks in things they enjoy.
Well, I’m not entirely sure what the golden thread is that weaves my work together.
Surely, if I just keep creating work and art and business value that interests me and pushes my skills - then I’m fairly certain a thread will emerge. A little like Steve Jobs stating that the dots only make sense in hindsight.
Or maybe there is no thread across all of the projects. I’m cool with that too - maybe it isn’t a body of work. Maybe I don't need a thread. Maybe I'm trying to create something that doesn't exist.
I think we all have a body of work we’d like to create, whether that be writing, films, art, photography, creating a business or simply delivering good business value. I think we all want to feel proud of what we’ve done. To feel like what we’ve created has some meaning. Something we can point to and say I did that.
But how do we create a body of work? By creating what sings to us - that’s how. It’s not easy. In fact, bringing anything new, creative and personal into the world is not easy. In fact, it’s really hard. Emotional. Raw. It makes you feel vulnerable. I did a whole guide on Creativity in the workplace that’s free to download here - it’s hard in our personal lives, it can be even harder in our workplace.
But I think for many of us, those fears of acceptance or rejection about our work (either in or out of work) are nothing compared with the fear of never having tried to create our art or work in the first place.
The best way to learn how to create a body of work is to create it. To learn from the last piece of work. That’s how we learn about us, our method of work and it’s how we get better.
One of the best ways I’ve found to focus on my work is to look at our work and creative world in the model of stocks and flow.
Stocks are the things that add value long term. They still remain in 6 months or 2 years or 10 years. These are the pieces that will form your body of work. Blog posts, good work done in business, books, videos, art, photos, films, businesses. Things that hold or at least at some point, held, value.
Flows are social media. The ephemeral flow of updates and information. It’s here, then it’s gone.
It’s easy to get dragged into the flow. To be swept along by status updates and endless scrolling. To tweet more than we create. To photograph everything for Insta. To update our flows rather than building our stocks. The lure of the “like” or “re-share”. It’s addictive.
But flows flow and are soon gone.
The stocks last through time though. They are the body of work. We can point at them. Sometimes we can hold them. Not only are stocks a catalogue of your work, but they are a constant reference for yourself. About how you grew, changed, got better. They become a source of reference and inspiration.
And the same idea painted above is true in work.
At work, our stocks are the things we’re paid to deliver. The value we release. The work we do. The flows are the emails, the community sessions, the arguments we get into, the yammer feed, the water cooler conversations. All potentially useful, helpful, sometimes enjoyable, but often not helping us leave a trail of stocks. You know how I feel about how much wasteful, pointless work goes on in many businesses. I sometimes feel like companies are paying for the flows and not the stocks and people are more than happy to provide that.
When I’m working with a client, there are stocks I need to create to keep getting paid (and to learn, and grow, and deliver value).
Outside of work my stocks are mine. They are for my kids to enjoy in years to come. They will outlast me. They won’t be swept away when a new manager comes in and undoes everything I have done. They are my own little place on the internet, or on a shelf, or on a wall, or in a notebook.
Focus on stocks, not flows, and you will start to see your body of work emerge. In work or outside of work. It doesn’t matter. When you look back on your body of work I hope you see the thread that ties it all together. I hope you look back with pride. I hope you have stocks that last and that other people can grow from.
The trick then is focusing on stocks, not flows, and letting the golden thread reveal itself over time.
Go forth today and create stocks at work or stocks at home or stocks in your creative life. Play around a little with the flow but create a body of work through stocks.
And if you're in a workplace, check whether what you're doing is adding to stocks or flows. Adjust accordingly. And of course, if you're a manager, help people do more work on stocks.
Until next week (I hope)
Stay safe
Rob
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