Joy Ride
Brainstorm Road’s Friday dose of fun, inspiration and action
Welcome to Joy Ride, Brainstorm Road’s Friday email for kicking off your weekend with a dose of fun, inspiration and action. Brought to you by Margo + Kristin (pictured below)
On Tuesday we talked about how moonshots cause paralysis. Grand gestures are cool, but it’s small steps over the long haul that make big things happen.
And we had one more thought on moonshots…
A moonshot isn’t doing the unthinkable and unattainable because no one does the unthinkable and unattainable. We do what we can imagine. We do what we think and believe we can attain.
Steve Jobs didn’t think what he was doing was crazy, the world did. Kurt Vonnegut didn’t think his books were unconventional, the world did. Serena Williams, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Spike Lee, Tiffany Hadish – they weren’t doing the impossible and unattainable. Society believed that about them. They didn’t. Somewhere deep down they knew who they were, what they wanted, and what they were capable of.
It’s hard to stand up in the world and declare who you are and what you want without facing ridicule. It’s easier (we tell ourselves) to just fit within what society deems “acceptable” to want.
The hard thing is showing up in your quotidian life and declaring: This is who I am. This is what I want. And this is what I am going to do.
I love improv and will do it every Wednesday, sorry I can’t make poker night.
I will wear this hot pink jacket I designed and sewn myself because this is who I am.
I will enjoy this documentary instead of getting wasted because that’s what I want.
I will spend 30 minutes a day doing oil painting because it lights me up.
I will spend time at my daughter’s soccer game and not at that late night meeting because that’s what brings me joy (and not because I feel I “should”).
Chasing joy, following your curiosity, and deigning to be yourself in a world that wants you to be someone else - that is the brave hard thing.
Giving yourself permission to want what you already know you want – that is the Moonshot we’re going after.
Three Things Worth Sharing
Watch: Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Letter from Sol de Witt to Eva Hesse (it’s hilarious)
Follow @brainstorm_road on Instagram and check out Cute Animal Friday (we post cute animals on Friday because who doesn’t want to see a fluffy bunny chase a turtle??)
Prompt
What do you already know you want to do?
It doesn’t have to be impactful, noble, or big. Just a thing. A thing you care about and want to do.
Give yourself one minute to listen to the voice of desire.
Set a timer for one minute. Ready, set, write.
Extra Credit
Share this prompt with a friend, type your answers below in the comments, and then HYPE EACH OTHER UP. Or we will :)
Happy Friday.
Margo + Kristin
Great pic of you two!
Prompt- I already know I want to be a writer who writes everyday and readers resonate with joy and delight...
"We do what we can imagine." Margo and Kristin of Brainstorm Road have demonstrated this mantra. Their brainstorm has ignited many a brainstorm within the souls of imaginative people. Others may misunderstand us imaginative types, but we are giving them permission to imagine and then to take the necessary risks to do...