Category: commitment

commitment, creativity, determination

Beginning: Creativity Needs Conviction

Christa Avampato

Last week I read a reprint of an article from frog design that originally ran in Fortune. It nailed a tiny pet peeve of mine in the world of creativity. Companies and individuals often trumpet themselves as innovative, out-of-the-box, creative thinking “idea people”. It sticks in my craw a bit because there is nothing remarkable about having creative ideas. We all have them. ALL of us. What I think is rare, and much more extraordinary and ultimately valuable, is to be a person of conviction, to be someone who believes so much in a creative idea that she is willing to do whatever it takes to bring it to life and share it with others.

Creative folks get a bad wrap, too-often characterized as lazy, unfocused, and spacey. The most successful creatives I know – meaning their ideas are out in the world and people are benefiting from them – are nothing of the sort. They make a plan and drive to completion. They work hard, have laser-beam focus, and an unbelievable degree of attention. When I’m in their presence, they are there with me 100%. They’re present, aware, and relaxed even under great pressure. Those types of people are the ones I hold up and say, “Yes, that’s it! That’s creative living at its very best.” Conviction is required.

Creative ideas are all well and good. I want something more. I want more creative ideas out of our heads and onto the page, screen, canvas, pottery wheel, and stage. We don’t need permission, a business plan, or even funding to take action. We will figure it out as we go. So much creation is free or close to it thanks to the ludicrous amount of open-source tools that are literally at our fingers. Our only barrier is us. 

Creative ideas stuffed into someone’s mind without an outlet for expression are just clutter. And quite frankly, it’s selfish to keep our ideas to ourselves. If ever the world needed more creative doers to fix the complete wreck we’re making of this world on every level, now is the time. Act, act, act!

career, change, commitment, courage

Beginning: Tear Down The Walls to Your Potential by Commiting to Your Own Road

Christa Avampato

Leap of Faith from liz-green.com
“The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating — in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.” ~Anne Morriss

MJ, one of the very loyal and resourceful readers of this blog, sent me this quote a few weeks ago and its been milling around in my mind ever since. I’ve been thinking a lot about boxes – the ones we put ourselves into, the ones we put other people into, and the ones others put us into. I’ve been thinking of taking a more freelance approach to my life and work, and this potential is causing equal amounts of anxiety and excitement. I feel like I’ve got one foot firmly planted on a ledge and one hanging in mid-air. To combat this feeling, I focus on my breath until the anxiety passes.

And then this quote by Anne Morriss will pop into my mind. Perhaps a commitment to this new road is what I need to put the fear to rest for good. Rather than going round and round about the possibility, what I may need to do is stop waiting and just leap. What I’m doing now feels akin to holding my breath, freezing so that I won’t slip or stumble. We exhibit the freeze response when we encounter fear that we feel like we can’t fight or flee. The fear is all around us and so we hold, hoping it passes us by without seeing us.

This fear I have at the moment is different. It doesn’t really ever subside because it’s in anticipation of a step I know I must eventually take. Just today, I spoke with 3 good friends who have come to the realization that they need to have greater control over their careers, and that means taking their careers more into their own hands rather than leaving their promotion entirely at the hands of others. One just joined a start-up, and two are considering their own ventures entirely. All came to this conclusion: they are their own best bosses.

Not perfect and certainly not without its own challenges, but as good as it gets.

What entrepreneurship gives us, as Anne Morriss so brilliantly gets at in her quote, is the removal of walls and barriers to our potential. So long as we allow someone else to put us in a box constructed completely of their goals, performance reviews, rules, and visions of success, then we give someone else the power to define our future. The only box I’m ultimately interested in is the box I put myself into because I always have the option to break out of that one and redefine its boundaries. Perhaps its time for some re-imagineering of just how my time is spent, with whom, and for what.

commitment, courage, creative process, creativity

Beginning: If You Don’t Like a System, Tear It Down and Start Over

Christa Avampato

“For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.” ~ Sir Thomas More, Utopia, Book 1; English author, courtier, humanist, & saint (1478 – 1535)

My friend, Moya, sent me this quote after reading my last few posts about empowerment and forging our own paths forward. In light of those posts, she thought I’d love the quote above (and I do!) She went on to say, “To me, it’s not about crime but a more general life lesson. If you create a system that encourages a certain outcome, then expect that certain outcome to occur. [If you don’t like a system], tear it down and create a new one – emotionally speaking.” Truer words have never been said.

Helping returning veterans, their families, and caregivers
There are a number of systems that I want to tear up. One of them is the way that we treat, or rather don’t treat, returning veterans. 1/3 of them never receive any kind of care at all, while an additional 1/3 receive inadequate care. Families and caregivers of returning veterans have an even lower rate of care. I’m focusing Compass Yoga‘s efforts on returning vets, their families, and caregivers because of the tremendous need and because I personally understand how PTSD effects an individual and an entire family. I’m not out to help a handful of vets; I’m in this to build an entire system of wellness across the globe for them and the people who love them that provides preventative care and treatment after they return from service.

Traditional yoga studios
Another system that really irks me is the traditional yoga studio model. I’ve written about this pet peeve of mine before, and it’s such a big problem that it’s worthy of repeating. Yoga studio expenses are high and fixed, while the revenue is entirely variable from day-to-day. To compensate for a broken economic model, many studios have started teacher training programs that cost an average of $2500 – $3000. This is the bread and butter of their business. Would-be teachers trustingly hand over that money without full comprehension of how difficult it is to teach yoga as a full-time job, particularly in a city as expensive as New York. The yoga studios know this of course, but most (not all) don’t pass on the information honestly because they don’t want to scare away people from signing up for teacher training. It’s a sick cycle.

In part, this system led me to go in an entirely different direction with Compass Yoga, focusing on its therapeutic application in mental health and incorporating medical research. It also led me to explore nonprofit incorporation and to pursue several other avenues that I’m still doggedly working on. I’m not out to just build a nice little sustainable organization. I’m in this to build out a new business model for delivering wellness for the whole person. This wasn’t the only path I could have taken, though it is the right one for me.

Some things need tearing down
Moya’s thoughts on Sir Thomas More are right on target. If we allow a system to persist, or worse yet – knowingly participate in a busted system, then we are to blame for the disappointing results. System building is difficult work, though the alternative of working in a crummy system with equally crummy results is much harder to live with. Destruction is often the first step in the creative process. Tear down what gives you pain, and start fresh.

change, childhood, choices, commitment, goals

Beginning: Striving By Settling for Change

Christa Avampato

<a “Something has always come along to shake things up just when I am feeling settled. Maybe this is the fate of a striver, someone always trying to be ‘twice as good’.” ~ Condoleezza Rice

A few months ago I read the book Extraordinary, Ordinary People by Condoleezza Rice. It tells her own personal story prior to her very public life by paying tribute to her parents. Despite the fact that I was confused by nearly every foreign policy call she made while servicing in President Bush’s administration, I was enormously impressed by her personal story and the candor with which she told it. She’s also an incredibly likeable person.

Shake it up, baby
Of all the sound bites in the book, this one about the life of a striver has stuck with me. I regularly go through this same roller coaster. Just when I think I’m settled and I’ve got it all figured out, my reality gets turned on its head. This has happened to me enough times that I have learned to just roll with changes, big and small. And while this constant change may appear unsettling on the surface in actuality it’s made me so grateful. Because I know that everything will change, I appreciate each moment, good or bad, more fully. I’m reminded of my mother’s mantra, “This too shall pass.” Everything passes.

On disappointment
Another happy side effect of the acceptance of change is that disappointment has less of a sting. My friend, Sara, recently asked me how I manage to work on so many projects at once. For better or worse, I was raised to be productive. My father’s one ask of us is that we never do anything to embarrass him; ironic given all the times he embarrassed us. Still, that stuck with me and to me meant that if I attempted to do anything it had better be done well. It was made very clear to us that we are here on borrowed time and that we were expected to make a contribution to humanity.

My father’s life was tragically cut short at age 61 with most of his life’s work left unfinished. The lesson of how fleeting life is sticks with me; I think about it every day. The most enlightened point-of-view of this lesson is that I have very little time to feel badly about disappointment. I have to pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again. In many ways, to keep going is the only way I know to deal with disappointment.

A belief in karma
I’m a walking contradiction, and truth be told I like it that way. A big believer in free will, I’m also just as passionate about the concept of destiny, karma, and a predetermined path. One of my favorite quotes came from Steve Jobs when he told a group of graduates that life could only be understood in reverse because it’s only in reverse that all of the seemingly disparate pieces of our lives fit together. As I work on the direction of Compass Yoga, I realize why I need all of my life experiences, good and bad, big and small.

Welcome, Change!
In an effort to make all of these experiences worthwhile, to make them mean something in the grand scheme of life, I’m glad to put myself in the camp of strivers. In the end I want to be able to look back on my long life and realize that it was twice as good as I ever thought it would be. This is a tall order given that I have very high expectations. And if change is the linchpin that makes that dream possible, then I welcome it with open arms and often.

China, commitment, friendship, teaching, writing, yoga

Beginning: Commitment Gives Rise to Capability

Christa Avampato

“Capable people carry two brushes.” ~ Chinese Proverb

My friend, Allan, recently asked me to review an email he was sending off to an alumni contact regarding his job search. Allan had a lot of wonderful content in the email and I just brushed up the grammar and phrasing a bit. Allan’s response: “Brush is important. In Chinese, we call capable people someone with two brushes.” I’m guessing that this proverb must come from Chinese art in relation to calligraphy or oil painting. I love the elegance and power that it packs in a few simple words. All of Allan’s communications are like that – he is a product of his culture.

Work ethic
Allan is job searching after recently completing his second masters degree. I think of myself as productive, though his diligence and work ethic put mine to shame. I’ve never seen someone be able to sit and study for such a long stretch of time. He literally boggles my mind. I’m certain he is someone who always carries two brushes, and perhaps a third, just to be on the safe side.

Beijing to Charlottesville
Allan landed in scenic Charlottesville, VA directly from Beijing, China in 2005 when he started business school with me at the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He’d been to the U.S. for a few days once before (Chicago, if memory serves), and beyond that had never lived in an English-speaking country. His bravery to leave behind everything he knew to pursue his education and career aspirations (in a foreign language, which he speaks better than many Americans I know!) is a constant reminder to me of the power and magic that is born from commitment. We were in the same section at Darden so he was one of the very first people I met in Charlottesville. We were fast friends and remain so 6 years later despite hectic careers and lives.

How I started writing every day
I’ve actually never given Allan the full credit he deserves in my writing life. 3 years ago we went to dinner and Allan pulled out a copy of an excel chart that he had created that tracked the productivity of my writing on this blog as a percentage. During my first year of blogging, I posted often but not every day. Allan was really excited to see my productivity consistently around 90%; I was not. If I could be at 90%, then why couldn’t I be at 100%? Seeing those numbers in black and white spurred me to commit to writing and publishing every day for a year, just to see if I could do it. I’ve been writing every day for the past 3 years and now I couldn’t imagine not writing every day.

Embracing commitment
This was a poignant example in my own life of the power and magic of commitment. Practice made me a stronger, more confident writer. I used to think of being committed as being tied down, as being unable to change and grow. I was worried that if I committed, I’d regret the choices I made and then be trapped with a life I didn’t want. Now, I realize just how freeing and joyful thoughtful commitment can be.

Once I saw how much I gained from being a committed writer, I started to make other commitments in my life that have yielded amazing transformations. I committed to my yoga practice, which led to the creation of Compass Yoga. My relationships became more profound. New York City became my home. I adopted my rescue pup, Phineas. All of these changes gave me more happiness and they all found their roots in commitment. Doubling down on what mattered and letting go of what didn’t serve brought so much joy to my life that my only regret is that I didn’t learn this lesson sooner. It took me a long time to be ready for this truth: the right commitment breeds happiness.

I guess it is really true that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. My thanks to Allan and to commitment itself for serving as 2 of my greatest teachers.

change, choices, commitment, determination, Fast Company, impact

Beginning: Be a Positive Disruptor

Christa Avampato

“Look back and say, at least I didn’t lead no humdrum life. ROAM FREE.” ~ Wyoming Office of Tourism

The technology field helped restore dignity to the word disruptor. For too long “disruption” was equated with “distraction”, “bother”, and “nuisance”. Now the title of disruptor is sought after by every entrepreneur out there. They are upending markets and industries in the name of innovation and giving the people what they want. Authentic, creative, and endlessly optimistic, disruptors are the people whom I want to surround myself with; I like to think of myself as one of them.

The key is to be a positive disruptor with a focus on making everything you touch better than it was before you showed up on the scene. Luke Williams put together this piece for Fast Company on disruption that creates positive change. He implores you to become a part of it. Here are a few of his steps that particularly resonate with me, as well as some of my own personal examples in relation to Compass Yoga.

1.) Figure out what you want to disrupt, meaning what do you want to fix. Take a look around you – what gives you pain, what makes you angry, frustrated, sad, and confused. These emotions are great motivators to spur you to work for change. I was motivated to start Compass Yoga because so many yoga studios are inaccessible to people with serious health concerns, physical limitations, and little disposable income.

2.) Discover the clichés in your chosen area. This requires the ability to go from asking “why?” to “why not?” Why did yoga studios have to be so expensive? Why couldn’t people with physical limitation, the very people who need yoga the most, have access to top-quality classes? And why do so many yoga studios and instructors focus on exclusivity instead of acceptance?

3.) Bust up every cliché in your area. Now, the fun begins. This is your chance to be and build the change you want to see. Why couldn’t yoga be made affordable to everyone who wants to try it, whether that’s in a group class or a private session? Why couldn’t people with physical limitations take part in a comfortable setting? Why couldn’t yoga return to its roots of acceptance, generosity, and support for all people regardless of where they are along their own paths?

4.) Now scale. You are rare; so rare that there is no one else exactly like you. Your gifts and talents are incredible, valuable things. And honestly, you owe it to the rest of us to share them with as wide an audience as possible. Figure out how to get your work, products, and services to as many people as possible. You never know what it will inspire in others. The more people you can inspire, the more change you can create, and the more this world will begin to be a place you are abundantly proud and grateful to live in.

And here’s the best part – being a positive disruptor is a blast. Truly. You’ll have so much fun crafting your own path forward and you can revel in your own unique perspective. You’ll meet and connect with amazing people who will spur your creativity. You’ll do things you never even imagined were possible. Your energy level will go through the roof. As a positive disruptor, you will know how it feels to be truly alive.

choices, commitment

Beginning: Where to Begin Healing and 3 Ways to Focus on the Long-term

Christa Avampato

The Healing Mandala
“Treat the fire, not the smoke.” ~ Dr. David Perlmutter

Getting to the root of an issue is so much harder than we’re willing to admit. We throw that phrase around as if getting to the heart of the matter is child’s play. It’s a difficult, trying task. Treating symptoms of a situation is the easy way out, in the same way that doing what’s modeled instead of what we know to be right is an easier path. We can see and feel symptoms. They’re real, tangible, and can be masked. Treating a root cause of a challenge is a longer term bet, and yet it is the very best use of our time and energy. It’s a slower but more sustainable process. It requires us to take the long view.

If we are truly interested in healing, in getting to the heart of a matter and building from there, how do we bring that about? How do we maintain our belief in the long view when short-term gain is the easier road?

3 ways to focus on the long-term:
Meditate on reputation – Buddha said, “What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” The reputation you have now is largely based upon what you’ve already done. This means that the actions you take today, tomorrow, and beyond will be the basis for your reputation in the future. What do you want to be known for? To make that happen in the future, you can start to take action against that today.

Chart your progress – what gets measured gets done. When you begin a new project or make the decision to take your life in a new direction, track your wins both big and small. This will also help you identify patterns of success that you can repeat.

Look to the stories of others for inspiration – the stories that stick with us are those of perseverance, those that describe how someone overcomes a great obstacle that seemed impossible. Nelson Mandela said that, “Everything seems impossible until it’s done.” Take heart that everyone whoever began any kind of healing, any kind of challenge faced odds that seemed insurmountable. You are in good company.

calm, care, clarity, commitment, community, healthcare, meditation, silence, simplicity, yoga

Beginning: The Moment We Miss

Christa Avampato

“The moment we most often miss is this one.” ~ Robert Chodo Campbell, HHC

My heart is still singing from the Integrative Healthcare Symposium I attended on Friday. It felt so good, so nourishing to be in the company of so many people who think about health and wellness as a spiritual and a physical journey. I found confirmation in my beliefs that have largely been from my gut as medical doctors from the world-class medical facilities such as Beth Israel and top research universities presented their research and advocated for a more holistic approach to heathcare in the US.

We started Monday morning with a presentation by Robert Chodo Campbell and Koshin Pauley Ellison, two Buddhist Monks who co-founded and co-manage the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. We did some meditation exercises that have given me weeks worth of material for this blog and for ideas for my SXSW session that is coming up in Austin next week. They shared stories about their work as the co-directors of Contemplative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center, where I’m hoping to do some type of volunteer / intern work.

One of the lines that really hit me was Chodo’s quote above. We are constantly trying to get somewhere. This is not a new revelation. They actually joked about the idea that nothing they teach is revolutionary – it’s ancient wisdom. And still, as often as we hear it, we don’t always take the idea into our hearts. There is still so much opportunity to improve our awareness, to cultivate more gratitude.

They counseled us to take a breath, a full, conscious, beautiful breath several times throughout the day. When we finish a phone call, take a breath. When we complete a task we’ve been concentrating on, take a breath. And when our thoughts are racing by us, close the eyes and count 1. No complicated mantra needed. Just focus on counting to 1, over and over again until the racing mind, the monkey mind, calms down.

There’s a lot of beauty, a lot of blessing, right now in this moment. In every moment. Take it in; it’s yours.

I love the beauty and simplicity of the image above. It appears on the NY Zen Center’s website.

This blog is also available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

commitment, creativity, imagination, inspiration

Step 353: Clearing the Mind for Creativity

Christa Avampato

“Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.” ~ Dee Hock

A few nights ago I was having trouble falling asleep. It’s a condition I used to be very used to having had insomnia for so long but now I’m closing in on a year of relief from that condition. Now a minimum of 7 hours is the norm for me and I never let myself get up out of bed anymore should I wake up in the middle of the night. So the lack of sleep a few nights ago was a surprising and disturbing event. Something was bothering me. There seemed to be no good solution to the situation I was grappling with and no matter how many times I turned it over in my mind, I couldn’t find my way out of that rut. The worst part was that it wasn’t even my problem to solve; a friend of mine is struggling with a personal issue at the moment and I was trying to think of an encouraging plan to pass along that might be helpful. No luck, and it really irked me. At first, I didn’t understand why.

I’ve read stories that say Isaac Newton did his best work by thinking of a problem and then promptly taking a nap. Einstein used his music and water-color painting to take his mind off of physics. Thomas Jefferson believed that having a lot of interests, and creating his own productive distractions actually made him even more productive when he focused on one specific task. E.B. White commented that walking away from a piece of writing for at least 24 hours before doing any editing aids our perspective. All of these methods help us find fresh eyes.

So to get myself to sleep and hopefully help my friend simultaneously, I made up my mind to forget about the problem. The moment the thought entered my mind, I said hello and promptly showed it the door. I was determined to do whatever I need to do to make the situation blur out of focus in the hopes that when I came back to it, I would have a better understanding of it.

The next morning, I realized why I was so stuck: 1 or 2 different turns about a year ago, and I would have found myself in the same situation as my friend. I would have made some very rash, heady decisions and felt crushed by the consequences. That fear mixed with relief, and the accompanying guilt and sadness for my friend, was clouding my vision. I couldn’t provide any help because the thought of being in the same situation myself scared the daylights out of me. Once I separated myself from the situation by taking a break from it, I was able to more creatively and compassionately assist my friend with some honest, actionable advice.

The next time I find myself turning a predicament, I’m taking the same course of action. I’m clearing out the clutter before I even attempt to focus. I’ll write down the problem and then immediately take it off my mind, letting it rest in the background of my mind. We want quick resolutions and immediately, correct answers but creativity doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes we have to take the counter-intuitive approach and let it go before we can really embrace it.

I didn’t create the cartoon above but it made me laugh out loud. Truth in comedy. Find the image here.

books, clarity, commitment, discovery, dreams, encouragement

Step 293: Call Off the Search for Certainty

Christa Avampato

“We search for certainty but it certainly doesn’t exist.” ~ Kristen Moeller, author of Waiting for Jack: Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie

This recession has caused a lot of us to delay their dreams, or change them altogether. We believe we have to stay at a job that’s safe, where we believe that we can stay for as long as we need to stay until things get better. Kristen’s simple, powerful quote reminded me that we don’t need to delay the life we want, that safety and certainty are things we have made up. It’s understandable to want certainty. I want it all the time, for every decision I make. The lesson of yoga that’s been the most useful to me is that certainty is not coming, but there are so many things that we just can’t know for sure. Nothing is permanent; the only certainty is change, in one form or another.

This can be a frightening revelation. We like the idea of certainty being out there somewhere because it helps us to get from day to day. It keeps us searching and hoping and wishing. But if we can grapple with it for just a moment, recognize that certainty isn’t coming, and embrace that idea, we can find a power within ourselves that is unshakable. There is no need to say some day – the life we want can start today.

Follow Kristen on Twitter and visit her site.