CW #81: A short list of creative gratitude

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Happy Thanksgiving Sunday to everyone celebrating!

I had a great holiday with Kelly's family in Texas. In my first American Thanksgiving experience I even managed what must surely be a Thanksgiving right of passage by splitting my pants...

To clarify, it was before the meal and happened practicing handstands with Kelly and her 6-year old niece. Regardless, it feels like a milestone.

Alright, after a tiny bit of further ado, let's get into this week's issue, a special, Thanksgiving poetry edition.

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📣 Community Shoutouts!

💌 Welcome to the 3 new subscribers to the newsletter this past week. Whatever you're creating, you're in wonderful company and I'm grateful to have you here!

💌 Thanks to Dee, Ian, and Ashley for the shoutouts, shares, and retweets on Twitter this week!

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A Short List of Creative Gratitude

​[Read in your browser]​

I'd like to say I come up with it all myself.
The ideas
The words.
The work.

But I know as well as anyone who's ever created anything
That singular creative ownership is a construct
That every idea, word, and expression of the work is a joint effort
A partnership with everything we come into contact with.

And so,
Here's a short list of gratitude
For everything and everyone
Who has co-created alongside me.
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I'm grateful for the quiet hours
When it's just me, the blinking cursor, and a fresh cup of coffee
Exploring and uncovering the hidden world together
With a sun that always seems to rise too quickly.

I'm grateful for inspiration, sought out
On cold, biting mornings, face buried from the wind
On hot and sweaty afternoons, route picked by hopping from shadow to shadow
On the oft-traveled sidewalks into which I've worn grooves.

I'm grateful for inspiration, stumbled upon
In birds, clouds, and bits of fuzz on the breeze above
In graffiti, discarded trash, and cracks in the pavement below
In the endless, protracted conversation between all of it, ripe with nuance, meaning and memory.

I'm grateful for the path itself
With its ups and downs, twists and turns
For all that lies behind me
And all that lies ahead.

I'm grateful for company
Guiding stars to show the way
Co-creators & commiserators to help bear the weight
Fellow travelers in the fog, blundering forward together.

I'm grateful for the challenge
Every hurdle that forced me to dig and discover new depths of myself
The unending, setbacks, failures, and near-constant confusion
And the rare victories that make it all worth it.

I'm grateful to you for reading this
Me for writing this.

Mostly, when I stop to think
I'm just grateful.

I should stop to think more often.

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Take 3 seconds to let me know what you thought of this week's essay:

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​(Or hit reply and let me know directly. I love hearing from readers 🙂 )​
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In keeping with this issue's theme of gratitude, this week, I'd like to share 5 creators that I've been grateful to learn from this year through their content both free and paid.

Following any one of these people might just change your life.

Each of them has changed mine.
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1 // Seth Godin

There’s no one I’ve learned more from in the past couple years than Seth when it comes to marketing, creative productivity and using your work as a vehicle to create a better world. His podcast is one of only two shows I listen to with any regularity, and I also love his daily blog posts.

👉 Learn more about Seth​

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2 // Krista Tippett

The host of On Being, the other podcast I listen to regularly. I love Krista’s personal perspective, but even more her curatorial ability to highlight people that we as humanity need to be hearing from at this point in our history. This show regularly brings me to tears and often introduces small moments of awe, wonder, heartache, despair and hope into my days.

👉 Learn more about Krista​

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3 // David Hieatt

I’m a big fan of pretty much anything David touches, from the DO Lectures, to Hiut Denim, and beyond. There’s no one I’ve taken more online courses from and I admire his ability to build brands filled with heart, honesty, and purpose.

👉 Learn more about David​

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4 // Louis Grenier

On a more practical level, I’ve learned a ton from Louis over the past year about differentiation and positioning, two essential marketing skills that often get overlooked. I appreciate Louis’ transparency and generosity in all that he shares, and I’ve benefited from it immensely.

👉 Learn more about Louis​

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5 // Wes Kao

Wes is the Queen of cohort-based courses and is helping to lead the charge when it comes to the future of education (specifically online education). If you create courses or workshops, you need to follow what she's doing.

👉 Learn more about Wes​

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If someone sent you this newsletter and you want shiny new issues of your own, you can subscribe here.

As always, thanks so much for reading, it truly means a lot.

If something in this issue struck a chord, please hit reply and let me know. It helps.

Til next week,

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This week I’m grateful for: Getting to connect 1:1 with a couple readers of this newsletter on calls this week and brainstorm ways to collaborate.
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Win(s) of the week: Being able to take Thursday and Friday off and really unplug, without checking on email or work stuff.
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I’m currently excited about: We'll be heading to Mexico City for a couple months in a few weeks and I'm getting excited to be back in Mexico three years since my last time there.

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