Stilleben shop Copenhagen

Yesterday I had some different errands around the city and on my way I took the time to visit Stilleben design shop in Niels Hemmingsensgade 3. They have a great selection of ceramics and design crafts but especially I love their great selection of posters and one-of-a-kind artpieces - very inspiring. I took a few pictures (below) - if your not in copenhagen you can visit their website and see more: Stilleben.

Stella magazine - the dark issue

Again, I've been really busy with work lately, but time for a little post about the new Stella magazine no 4 - the dark issue. Amazing magazine which I really recommend! See more here.

Photo of the day

I simply had to share with you this photo I took of my little puppy Elliot the other day! 

10 rules for brilliant women

I regularly visit the blog We Unite - a danish initiative that shares female entrepreneurial stories. Last time, I came across this little article; 10 rules for brilliant women, and since I really like some of the messages, I thought I'd bring you the ten rules below. (You can read the original article HERE.)

I find inspiration in a lot of strong women myself, and when making this post I came across this photo of swedish blogger and entrepreneur Elin Kling – a young woman who has managed to make her biggest interest and passion (fashion) into a dream life; besides being a world famous blogger, she's started her own magazine, she's launched her own collection, she's made a collaboration with H&M, just to name a few. Even though you're not into fashion, I think you can use her as an example of a hard working and dedicated person, who knows how to work hard in order to turn her dreams into reality.    

ARTICLE

It’s time to step up, brilliant women. Here are ten principles for owning your brilliance and bringing it to the world:

1. Make a pact.
No one else is going to build the life you want for you. No one else will even be able to completely understand it. The most amazing souls will show up to cheer you on along the way, but this is your game. Make a pact to be in it with yourself for the long haul, as your own supportive friend at every step along the way.


2. Imagine it.
What does a knock-the-ball-out-of-the-park life look like for you? What is the career that seems so incredible you think it’s almost criminal to have it? What is the dream you don’t allow yourself to even consider because it seems too unrealistic, frivolous, or insane? Start envisioning it. That’s the beginning of having it.


3. Gasp.
Start doing things that make you gasp and get the adrenalin flowing. Ask yourself, “What’s the gasp-level action here?” Your fears and a tough inner critic will chatter in your head. That’s normal, and just fine. When you hear that repetitive, irrational, mean inner critic, name it for what it is, and remember, it’s just a fearful liar, trying to protect you from any real or seeming risks. Go for the gasps and learn how false your inner critic’s narrative really is, and how conquerable your fears.


4. Get a thick skin.
If you take risks, sometimes you’ll get a standing ovation, and sometimes, people will throw tomatoes. Can you think of any leader or innovator whom you admire who doesn’t have enthusiastic fans and harsh critics? Get used to wins and losses, praise and pans, getting a call back and being ignored. Work on letting go of needing to be liked and needing to be universally known as “a nice person.”


5. Be an arrogant idiot.
Of course I know you won’t, because you never could. But please, just be a little more of an arrogant idiot. You know those guys around the office who share their opinions without thinking, who rally everyone around their big, (often unformed) ideas? Be more like them. Even if just a bit. You can afford to move a few inches in that direction.


6. Question the voice that says “I’m not ready yet.”
I know, I know. Because you are so brilliant and have such high standards, you see every way that you could be more qualified. You notice every part of your idea that is not perfected yet. While you are waiting to be ready, gathering more experience, sitting on your ideas, our friends referenced in rule five are being anointed industry visionaries, getting raises, and seeing their ideas come to life in the world. They are no more ready than you, and perhaps less. Jump in the sandbox now, and start playing full out. Find out just how ready you are.


7. Don’t wait for your Oscar. 
Don’t wait to be praised, anointed, or validated. Don’t wait for someone to give you permission to lead. Don’t wait for someone to invite you to share your voice. No one is going to discover you. (Well, actually, they will, but paradoxically, only after you’ve started boldly and consistently stepping into leadership, sharing your voice, and doing things that scare the hell out of you.)


8. Filter advice.
Most brilliant women are humble and open to guidance. We want to gather feedback and advice. Fine, but recognize that some people won’t understand what you are up to (often because you are saying something new and ahead of your time). Some people will find you to be not their cup of tea. Some will feel threatened. Some people will want to do with your idea only what is interesting or helpful to them. So interpret feedback carefully. Test advice and evaluate the results, rather than following it wholesale.


9. Recover and restore.
If you start doing the things that make you gasp, doing what you don’t quite feel ready to do, and being more of an arrogant idiot, you are going to be stretching out of our comfort zone–a lot. Regularly do things that feel safe, cozy, and restorative. Vent to friends when you need to. Acknowledge the steps you’ve taken. Watch your tank to see how much risk-taking juice you have available to you. When it’s running low, stop, recover and restore.


10. Let other women know they are brilliant.
Let them know what kind of brilliance you see, and why it’s so special. Call them into greater leadership and action. Let them know that they are ready. Watch out for that subtle, probably unconscious thought, “because I had to struggle and suffer on my way up…they should have to too.” Watch out for thinking this will “take” too much time – when the truth is it always has huge, often unexpected returns.


Clear a path by walking it, boldly.

Magazine papercuts, 2xcollages

Just thought I'd show these 2 collages I did some time ago, with images and colors cut out of various magazines just like the last one I showed you. Again I love relaxing while making them and at the same time I get something decorative for my walls. These always hang as a pair.  

Has man a function in universe?

I've been really busy the last week with a lot of work, but I'll be back with new posts very soon! In the meantime, you can think about this text, from a photo I took in the PS1 book shop on my latest trip to New York! Has man a function in universe? What do you think?

  

I've got mail

...or I've got the latest issue of RUM with the mail... Besides books, I love magazines and I have more than a 1000 spread around the apartment. One of my favorite danish magazines is RUM interior design – a magazine with a lot of great inspiration I've been reading since their first issue! This issue has an inspiring series of personal office spaces and personally I love seeing how other people decorate their workspaces..

Illustration of the day

So far I've had one of those great saturdays, where you get to do a lot the things missed during the week, so today I cleaned the entire apartment, baked a delicious bananabread and took the time to draw a little something; I ended up drawing 3 pieces, 2 small colorful ones (I'll show them later on) and this A2 illustration with a simple pen on a grey piece of carton. It's not art, but to me it's kind of meditative to totally concentrate and take a break from all the thoughts flying around in my head, while doing these kind of things! I ended up liking the result, framed it in a white frame and the piece is now decorating a wall in my bedroom.

 

Follow me with Bloglovin

This is my post no 300 and I'm so happy to have you guys following me – actually it would be really exiting to know who you are and where you're from???
Since I can tell that a lot of other people not following, stop by and read I therefore encourage you to follow me with bloglovin :) Press the picture below or at the bloglovin app in the sidebar. That would be awesome! :)

The importance of a Daily Schedule

If you're a freelancer or working on your own, you may be familiar with some of the pitfalls when it comes to productivity and time management in general. Certainly sometimes I do, and therefore I think that the first step in becoming a better selfemployed, is to acknowledge that you may need to be more in control of your time and plans than first expected.

In attempt to control and manage my own time to make sure I get everything done, I've bought this great "Action Journal" from the 99%-shop – a small notebook with space enough to write both text and calender - and then it has a special column to emphasize the more important and specific action steps of the day.

I've stolen the following text directly from FreelanceShack, and take absolutely no credit for the following lines, but I would love to hear if you're a freelancer or have any great additions or ideas to this subject!

ARTICLE

When we gave up a job to work from home as Freelancers we probably had visions of a productive home office, that would provide us with being paid for doing something we love to do, combined with the freedom of self employment to take care of our life responsibilities

For many of us however, the reality is we wake up in the morning full of intentions to complete a chapter of the book we are writing or to make a start on allocated assignments, only to find at the end of the day we have actually accomplished very little.

Sound all too familiar?  Most of us have are probably nodding our head in agreement.  We can probably all relate to taking a little longer over our morning rituals of reading emails or checking our social media accounts in the name of “work”.  When we are ready to work we face writers block or have a feeling of overwhelming fatigue we find hard to shift.

If this is your experience, here are 4 simple, but very useful strategies to help Freelancers control their day and increase productivity with minimal effort and little change of routine.

1. Have a daily schedule mapped out:   Plan your day and prepare a to-do list that is achievable. Include the things you have to do AND the things you want to do.  Multi task where you can by combining different tasks together.
2. Work solidly for a set period of time but take frequent breaks to enable you to then surge again.  A little like the popular “fat burning” routines that people are getting such great success from.   Short exhausting stints and a cool down break produces pleasing results.
3. Achieve one task on your to do list at a time.  Enjoy the feeling of ticking off that one item and seeing the list become shorter as the day progresses.
4. Decide if you work better with or without a distraction. Use music if it keeps you focused, but turn it off if it causes you to loose concentration. Schedule other distractions like checking emails for a specific time each day.  Resist the temptation to keep your social networking sites open whilst you work.  Don’t forget to reward yourself for completing a task.

Unless we are very strict with ourselves schedules tend to be broken more often than they are kept. Despite all our good intentions, unexpected interruptions happen to freelancers and we can still find ourselves in the middle of an unproductive day, where little has been accomplished and we are far behind on those deadlines.

What steps can we take to regroup and turn our productivity around?   The most useful advice is don’t panic.  Don’t get frustrated and angry with yourself and others.  Don’t stop planning either.

Three simple steps may prove helpful.

1.  Take a look at what you still have to accomplish and rearrange the tasks so that you can achieve the urgent and important tasks and leave the non urgent ones for another day.
2. Where possible reschedule any non essential appointments and tasks to minimize the need to leave your desk for any length of time until the work is completed.
3. Reduce other responsibilities for the day by having an emergency back up plan you can call on when absolutely necessary to create some extra time.

The humble daily schedule may seem an unnecessary task that adds to an already over full “to do” list, but in a distraction filled work environment, it is the freelancers best asset to improve and maintain optimum productivity.