The themes for last week’s prompts in my journaling community were success and failure. On day one, I happened to be reading an interview with Julia Jacklin on The Creative Independent and because it was front of mind, these sentences stood out to me:

One of the hardest things… is trying to retain your own definition of success when so many people around you are feeding you their definition bit by bit. If you’re not careful, it’s going to chip away at your definition of success until it’s completely replaced by theirs.

I think this is as truth not just in the world of musicians but more broadly for freelancers and other independent workers.

Leo Baubuta’s what to do when you’re feeling drained includes a set of questions he asks himself when he doesn’t feel he has the capacity to do much. They’re similar to questions I ask myself when my energy is low, which has been frequent in these weeks post Covid. Perhaps they’ll help you too?

I consider my daily walks essential to my thinking process, so obviously I was drawn to this article about the thinking path and the creative benefits of walking.

David Cain’s refresh of Monk Mode is something I might try to pick up some important habits I’ve been neglecting lately.

We don’t do that here (via University of Winds) is a useful opening gambit when you want to challenge someone’s behaviour in your community.

My current approach to taking notes from books I’m reading is to sticky note everything as I go and then review after I’m done. I’m not sure it’s really working for me so I’m keen to try out Doug Neill’s bookmark you take notes on.

And finally, I’ll leave you with this post on low tech from Scott Nesbitt’s weekly musings.