Creative Inspiration - The Real Sam Bennett

We Fell Asleep

In March 2020,
I had a dream
that we all fell asleep for three years.
When we woke up,
we remembered that not all of us woke up.

Our friends had slipped away in the long
grey night
down a hidden staircase and across
A deep lake.

They are dancing now.
A disco on the head of a pin.

Now we are bestirred
illuminated
and
uncomfortable.
Missing that which escaped through locked doors
masked like a thief.

The normal pace of days –
we just can’t seem to get the hang of it.

Lost in a wood where the trees have leaves of silver.
Snap off a twig.
Could be useful later.

Disoriented
and as tired as a child at the fair.

So tired
and afraid to fall asleep again.

With the masks I could see your eyes smile,
but not your mouth.
Now I see your mouth smile, but it does not reach
your eyes.

Let us wander a bit further along
where the trees have leaves of gold
and the faint thump of the dance floor is heard.

Let us say the name
of each one we have lost
or lost track of

Let us say the names of those who suffer
riddled with fatigue
unable to stand up for themselves
laid off
laid down
laden down.

And now I say
your name.
To honor you
and your sleeping
and your waking
and your smiling
and your tears

And the crumpled up bit of ambition that’s still in your pocket

And the loud thump of your endlessly loving heart.

We are here to learn a new way
maybe gentler
Maybe hungrier.

We’ll travel together to where the trees
sparkle with diamonds
and we’ll wear out our dancing shoes.

©Sam Bennett

More Poetry and Creative Inspiration

Are you good at too many things?

My bio could easily read: “Sam Bennett is an accomplished teacher, bestselling author, career coach, producer, actor, businesswoman, meeting facilitator, improviser, sock-monkey maker, playwright, decoupage artist, popular LinkedIn Learner course creator, chronic over-thinker, amateur systems analyst and professional organizer, and she delights in cheerfully mentoring creatives and frustrate over-achievers on their way to great productivity and success.”

You see, who I am is not singular. The bio above is simply me turning my multiplicity of talents and skills into a statement that ***demonstrates*** that I am a multi-dimensional, Creativity and Productivity Specialist.

So here’s my #1 tip for multi-hyphenate people like you and me: Go with it.

You shine brightly in so many ways. So quit thinking that you need to “narrow down” and “just focus on one thing,” and start thinking about what the cumulative effect of your body of experience and your many skills and talents might mean for you then, please, share with us in the comments.

Ode to the Busy

I see you

Making life easier for everyone else.

The way you are patient with the clerk

Pick up yet another errant sock

Get another mostly homemade meal on the table

Plus extra in a tupperware for the ailing neighbor.

“Busy” is a word you left behind long ago

Because it implies that there is a world – or a day –

In which you are not busy.

In every moment you are working, planning –

Juggling –

Giving your warm-hearted attention to this issue and the next

To this needy person and the next.

And it seems like being strong and capable is

Its own punishment

Every moment a sharp-toothed hydra, growing two heads for

Each one you think you’ve handled.

Everyone turns to you.

Every problem is yours to solve.

And you still feel as though maybe you are not

Doing enough.

The painful fear of failing is

Worse than the fatigue

So you keep going.

Luckily, you have an excellent sense of humor

And a love of long walks

And three close friends on speed dial.

And you are excellent at counting your blessings.

Blessed are those in back-to-back meetings, for theirs is the patience of mountains.

Blessed are those who are annoyed by willful ignorance, for theirs is a righteous fury.

Blessed are the uncomplaining, for theirs is a peaceful surrender to the inanities of the world.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for carbs and wine, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are those who dance in the kitchen

Make time for family game night

Say, “I love you” at every single opportunity

Ignoring the eye rolls of the young ones

As you go out of your way to make an

Ordinary moment

A memory.

Because it is the memories that matter.

A legacy of moonlight on mown grass

And a quick hug.

You are indeed as busy as a bee – the Queen Bee –

Sensitive to the hum of the whole hive

Filled with sweetness and good medicine

The center of the whole eco-system, really.

The center of the benevolent hum.

Waking Up Wanting: How Doing Little Things Is the Antidote to Burnout

If you’re like me, you wake up pretty much every morning thinking about what you want.

And then you spend the rest of the day talking yourself out of it.

Or psyching yourself out of it.

Or ignoring it because you spend every waking minute doing the things that everyone else needs you to do.

Sometimes you wake up thinking of what you want in a dreaming way….with a gentle feeling of longing.

Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have my own business and not have to launch out of bed right now and start hustling for someone else…

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to take a trip – to go somewhere special….

Gee, wouldn’t it be great to be able to spend time on this hobby or activity that I love…

Other times, your desire shows up as vicious self-criticism.

Ugh. I can’t believe I haven’t done XYZ yet…

I’m such a failure – I haven’t lost this weight or even started exercising….

I feel like a loser because I haven’t written that book yet…

This early morning self-punishing is a hard way to greet the day, don’t you think?

Other times you just wake up feeling sort of dead and empty.

I don’t even know what would make a difference for me….I’m just so tired of my life….

I’m so sick of going to the same office and saying the same things to the same people over and over again…

Between the needs of my family and the needs of my job, I’m too tired to even know what I want…

And when you repeat this pattern day after day, you wind up with that horrible hamster-wheel feeling.

Because burnout doesn’t come from working hard – it comes from working hard and feeling like it doesn’t make any difference.

So the antidote to burn-out is MEANING.

And a great clue to finding meaning in your life is to look to those things you wake up wanting.

If you look underneath your feeling of dissatisfaction, you may find some interesting questions:

Where is the joy in my life?

Where is the zhuzh? The energy and sparkle?

Where is my power to change things?

These are excellent questions. You may even want to use them as journaling prompts, hm?

Let us take a moment right now to agree that this strategy of “wanting something, then not giving it to yourself all day” is not creating the life that you want.

So let’s think of a new strategy.

We’re going to do this right now.

And here’s our new, easy strategy.

Ready?

1) Pick One Thing You Want to Change

There might be several areas in your life that you want to see changed or a number of things you want to do. Since the purpose of this exercise is to explore this new strategy, I want you to just Pick One.

Pick whichever one bubbles up first for you – big or small.

OK – have you chosen an area of your life you’d like to change?

Great.

Now write that down so you don’t start second-guessing yourself before we’ve even begun.

2) Think of One. Simple. Tiny. Easy. Step.

Write down one simple, easy thing you can do today that will help you make the change you wrote down.

Simple = this step isn’t complicated; you probably already know how to do this.

Tiny = this step will take less than 15 minutes and is easily affordable or free.

Easy = you might even enjoy doing this step.

And I don’t care how dumb it seems. Or how much you feel like it’s not going to help. Because we’re just experimenting, right?

See, it’s your ego that wants to make big moves. Your ego wants to make it an all-or-nothing scenario. Your ego wants to make these big sweeping decisions.

I’m here to tell you your life will change thanks to tiny incremental actions.

Maybe your Simple Tiny Easy Action is to spend 15 minutes cruising some job websites – just to see what else is out there. (Can you see how this moves the inner conversation from, “Ugh I should really quit this job but I can’t afford it blah blah blah,” to “I’m going to just do a little check on what else might be out there for me.” Much more manageable, yes?

Or maybe your Simple Tiny Easy Action is to spend 15 minutes dancing in your kitchen, just to feel the pure joy of moving to music.

Maybe you want to spend 15 minutes writing just 200 words of a book.

Maybe you want to spend 15 minutes reaching out to a friend.

Maybe you spend 15 minutes staring at a blank piece of paper. That’s OK. A little time facing white space never hurt a person.

And here’s the wonderful news: if you do your Simple Tiny Easy Action – your whole day will be different.

It’s possible that the whole trajectory of your life will change.

But – for sure – your day will change.

3) Repeat This Process Tomorrow

And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that.

This is how we change our lives.

This is why I wrote the book, “Start Right Where You Are: How Little Changes Can Make a Big Difference for Overwhelmed Procrastinators, Frustrated Overachievers and Recovering Perfectionists” (New World Library).

When people looked at my life and asked me, “Wow, how did you go from being a broke actor in Los Angeles who never had two nickels to rub together to being this prosperous business owner, thought leader, and author?” (hair toss, hair toss)

It wasn’t just one thing. It was a lot of simple, tiny, easy decisions. It was a lot of simple, tiny, easy actions in a lot of areas of my life.

And it’s not just me – I’ve helped tens of thousands of clients change their lives with this process, most recently with our breakthrough 90-day program, The Get It Done Lab.

Sam’s Get it Done Lab has helped me to blow past some serious creative blocks and fall in love with the process. The process is now lifting me rather than crushing me. – Beth Jaffe

I am super excited and happy about the shift that is already occurring in me with the little I have done already and… just the basic shift in attitude…really the most important question regardless…what do I *really* want? That’s what matters. – Jodi Johnson

You can do the same. Starting right now.

Here’s the thing: Every day is precious to us. We do not know when our last day here is.

Do not wait to move forward on having the life that matters to you.

A Prayer For Our Family

A PRAYER FOR OUR FAMILY

None of this has turned out how we thought.

But we’re old enough to know that maybe we thought wrong to begin with.

Either way, we are also old enough to be exquisitely grateful

for the path we have walked together
for the moments when a single glance changed everything
and for the still-felt love of those who have gone on before us.

We see the beauty in the dented silver settings.

We smile to hear conversations as familiar as old songs.

Pause, now, and take a snapshot in your mind of this moment:

You – here now – in the shape you’re in –
not as new as you once were, but not as old as you will be.

Feel a hug from a distant friend
and, if you like, you can repeat my family’s toast,

“To those who are here, and those who are not.”

Amen.

P.S. If you would like to share this, please feel free – just be sure to include Sam’s name, copyright and website, OK? Thanks so much.

By The Way, You Look Really Great Today

ahem….I am officially a VERY big deal : )

Image of painted lines on the ground, including the word "zone"

So my friend Greg pings me the other day with a little audio clip of ME being featured on the Stuff You Should Know podcast….

and you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Because I’ve never been on that show.

I mean – SYSK is in the top 15 of ALL podcasts!

So how did it happen?

Turns out that LinkedIn Learning is a sponsor of SYSK, but you know how podcasts love to make their ads sound all chatty? Well, apparently they decided to feature one of my LinkedIn courses called, “Time Management for Busy People” and so the hosts talk about me and how awesome I am for a minute, and then they cut to an audio clip of me from the course, and then they go on to say that LinkedIn Learning is really great and people should check it out.

WOW.

So cool, right?

And here’s what I want you take away from this little story:

There are wheels turning you do not know about.

There are forces for good that are shaping your future right now.

There are opportunities that you never dreamed of (like being featured on one of the world’s most popular podcasts) that are unfolding.

BUT…

Success cannot find you if you keep yourself locked up.

Success cannot find you if you never show your work to anyone.

Success cannot find you if you never talk about what you do, or if you are always self-deprecating.

So please – share your creativity with someone today.

You never know what might happen.

Yours,
Sam.

P.S. If you want to hear the clip, just find the Stuff You Should Know podcast on whatever platform you use (Apple, Stitcher, Google, etc) and go to the episode that was posted on Tuesday, July 13, called “Radium Girls.” My bit is about 32 minutes in. Enjoy! – S.