Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Who Is Julie Jordan Scott & What are her July Goals?

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First: I don’t normally talk about myself in third person, but here I am and here we are – and I am incredibly grateful you cared enough to visit this blog post and hopefully let me know what resonated the most with you in my introduction and in my goals.

We’re going to do a 5 + 5 approach: 5 Unconventional Facts About Me and 5 July Goals

Facts, just the facts about me, ma’am by means of introduction:

  1. I am the fourth of six children. My two younger brothers have died so since December of 2021, I have been the youngest child which has been quite strange (at least for me.)
  2. I enjoy doing consistency projects like writing Writing Haiku for 377 Days or Hugging Trees for 377 days. It has been a while since I have taken on a new big consistency project so this month I have a top secret experiment in a shorter term to see if I still get as much joy from these activities.
  3. My middle name is Ann, which I always thought was exceptionally plain and ordinary. I did think for a long time that one of my heroines, Julie Andrews, was actually Julie Ann Drews, so this made my middle name much less unfortunate.
  4. Rivers, lakes and the ocean are among my natural friends. In July, I will experience all three.
  5. When I was a child I wrote letters as a hobby. Perhaps as a way to encourage my writing, my parents never complained about the cost of stamps, even though I wrote upwards of 10 letters a week or more.

GOALS for July:

  1. By Mid-Month, send my book to the book designer (finally, not finally, right on time.)
  2. Create a sustainable evening/ pre-bed routine.
  3. Successfully on-board my new virtual assistant.
  4. Participate in Summer Reading Challenge
  5. Maintain a learning goal around writing fiction (I usually write creative non-fiction and poetry but participated in NaNoWriMo again this year and enjoyed it very much)

Who are you and what are your goals for July? What do you resonate with from my two lists?

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Welcome, July – Optimistic, Warm-Hearted, Let’s Celebrate Completion Friend

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Happy New Month! Happy Monday!

It may seem odd the simple joy I get from layered white canvas. Monday is a week’s new canvas, the 1st of a month is a chance to do my best, again – though my best differs from time-to-time.

I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge once again. My blog and my website and my business have fallen by the wayside more often than not since… well, for a long time. My biggest July intention includes changing that – I have a plan, I have a method, I have collaborators.

This delights me.

Completion, skating along the infinite loop do loop towards endings and beginnings is a place the blog will document throughout the month. I look forward to meeting new people and spending time with old friends.

There is only one July 2024 and one of my greatest desires is to be able to look back at it and say, “Wow, that was an incredible month of peace, joy, fulfillment and more than I expected.

My biggest completion is I am finishing “Haiku Saved My Life: How the Healing Properties of Courage, Creativity & Consistency Changed Everything.”

I refuse to say “finally” because the entire process was important. 

So much of my life over these last years has been about falling down and getting up that the pace of this project is not setting a pattern for books that take forever – after all, this one took half the time of the last one which I ended up shelving so this is actually progress!

“Haiku Saved My Life” is a braided memoir sharing the tales of 377 haiku writing from the end of 2019 into the beginning of 2021. The reader will be taken on an adventure which opened the door to creating several inspiring bodies of work one small step at a time.

It has elements of inspiration, instruction, poetry and themes of mortality are woven in as well.

By mid-month the plan is to send the final draft off the the book designer – and go from there.

Here’s to a festive, celebratory, project completion extravaganza in July!

Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creativity coach and creative entrepreneur. She enjoys drinking coffee at her desk as she expands her entrepreneurial circle.

Julie Jordan Scott is a Writer, Creative Life Coach and Creative Entrepreneur who looks forward to a July that expands her work as a writer, speaker, teacher, facilitator and traveler.

She is grateful to be spending parts of July with her.

Watch her reels and images on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/juliejordanscott/

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Does Your Goal Feel Unreachable? Be Inspired Here

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Every day, I celebrate that I am one step closer to my biggest goal in years.

Last December I was seeking something to help me feel better. I felt myself sinking into a depression after a near death experience.

“What did I used to do that made me feel good, feel better?” I asked myself. “Whatever that was, I need to do more of that,”

After months of mostly sitting in a chair in the corner of my living room, on winter solstice I set a goal. 198 days later, I am still on task and have reached my sub-goal every single day since December 21.

Here’s the story in a short, engaging video:

After watching this video and hearing my story, what do you think?

Leave a comment below – I would love to hear from you!

Julie JordanScott typing a love poem on the edge of a foothill of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Julie JordanScott typing a love poem on the edge of a foothill of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

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Celebrate Your Goals: Be Trusting, Be Enthusiastic, Be the One Who Activates Your Passion & Purpose

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woman standing in a river. She is inspired to be the one who stays the course - and lives with purpose and passion because she follows the energy of her goals.

I remember when we celebrated Emma’s first birthday at the beach. She had been walking for a little bit more than a month and had a fierce independent streak. She was surrounded by people who loved her. I watched her face as she appeared to be building up energy for some unseen by me challenge, something of utmost importance.

“I do it, I do it, I do it!” she said to herself. Then she charged toward the waves, still chanting and then laughing and shouting, “I do it, I do it, I do it!”

More than twenty years later, I can still hear the little Emma voice as she took action on her goal of conquering the ocean and the two -decades-younger-me ran after her, amazed at her will and her focus. She was going to conquer the ocean, by gosh and by golly.

Energize Your Goals Like a Toddler

Last December I said my own version of “I do it I do it I do it” challenge. Six months later, I am more than half-way to my goal.

It has taken a daily focus of consistency and a devotion to honoring myself every single day for the last 189 days.

Now as a part of my jubilant celebration of my continual goal reaching, I offer my top discoveries with you.

Self Trust is Key

  1. As I grew with my goal, I learned to trust myself. I knew everyday I would write my short haiku poem. I decided the parameters: I would take a photo of whatever inspired the feeling of my short haiky poem. Next, I would write and post the haiku on my personal facebook page publicly as a way to document and celebrate my goal.

I trusted myself to do my best. To make the attempt and to gain trust as I took this one small action every day.

Once we trust ourselves, anything is possible. In the daily action of writing my poem, I was not only activating my passion, I was purposefully standing up to the world and vulnerably sharing – knowing all the time I might fail at some point. I took action daily, in public, anyway.

Quote: “We are trusted because of our way of being, not because of our polished exteriors or our expertly crafted communications.”

Lolly Daskal

Unbounded Enthusiasm, Infinite Results

2. Taking action on my goal consistently grew my enthusiasm and when I needed it, the stored up enthusiasm carried me through to the next daily action. I started with this goal because I tuned into what had historically made me feel better. I was watching a gorgeous sunrise – which always made me feel blessed and grateful. What was something I might do daily that would help me to feel blessed and grateful? Autumn was ending and that was the season I was in the hospital and almost died. I didn’t want that malaise to carry into my next season. Enthusiastically I created, continued and cherished my goal day after day after day.

Quote: “You need to have unbound enthusiasm for what you’re building. Energy is contagious, so your team and everyone you interact with feels it.” – Tyler Haney, Founder of Outdoor Voices

Consistently Do What You Say You Will Do

3. My gut instinct said, “Feeling better, every day, happens when we take aim and activate through more than just thinking – but when we do what it is we say we will do.”

My inner wisdom said, “What is something you may do daily, publicly, that you will be happy you did even if you fail along the way?”

Quote: “Every day in every way I am getting better and better and better.” Emile Coue

These three primary lessons have a lot more depth than may immediately be seen.

My hope and intention is you see yourself – and your vision – reflected in Emma’s voice ringing out, “I do it, I do it, I do it” as her life force called her to conquer the ocean. Maybe what she was actually conquering was her fear of the ocean and running towards it, anyway.

Somewhere in me and also in you is the “I do it!”that is calling to you.

Six months from now, what do you want to look back and say, “I wanted to do it and I did it?”

Write more effectively and have more fun while you do whether you are creating social media posts, the next great American novel, poetry, a sales page or blog post with The Joy of Writing for Magnetic Attraction, a ten day online adventure challenge starting September 21, 2020 

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Visionary Goal: The 10 Year Plan for More Standing-Room-Only Audiences

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My ten-year-vision is a living, breathing, ever-present experience every day of my life. I have 10 specific vision-goals I write in my journal or notebook daily. At least three days a week I am writing more on each of the vision goals to deepen and enrich the future and now experience.

Here is the Vision/Goal:

There is standing-room-only at my public appearances.

I am blessed to report I know what it is like to have standing room only crowds at my public appearances and it is less than a month since I started working this ten-year-vision-plan.

I have had standing room only audiences at poetry performances and sell-out crowds in theater productions I’ve been in.

If you have a goal where you have no prior experience, one way to catch a view-experience for it is to attend an event where it is expected to be standing-room-only or may be close to sold out when you purchase tickets. When you are there, imagine yourself on stage instead of in the audience.

Allow the buzz from the crowd to fill you. Record their responses with your phone and refer back to your recordings. Write about the actual experience and then write/envision/visualize yourself in place of whoever is speaking or performing.

I have not had standing room only in places where I have had speaking engagements, book signings or in webinars I have hosted.

For the first time in a long time, I feel excited as I note where I have yet to be successful.

A-ha! The daily review of the ten-year-vision-plan is sinking into my bloodstream. It is powerful because I can remember the energy of the standing=room-only crowds. I can feel into my memory to recall how energizing it was to accept applause and attentive response from  the standing ovation, sold-out show crowds.

Next is what action to take – what goals with measureable results may I bring into place in order to make this vision a reality.

  1. I have been working on my email list. I was on a live chat that got disconnected on Wednesday and on Thursday I joined an email list that does exactly what I want mine to do. This is an example of the energy following the vision. On Wednesday I would not have been able to clearly communicate what I want to customer service. Now, I can communicate clearly by sharing the images I’ve gathered. The more people on my list, the more I may expand and attract audiences. This is exciting!
  2. While this may sound odd, I ordered a new Tri-Pod selfie stick to use in making videos. One of the weaknesses of my old selfie stick was It was perpectually sliding down while I was recording. This new one has a device with a solid clip at various height levels to keep everything stationary. This one change immediately makes me more excited to get back into making videos. Videos build connections. Connections build audiences.
  3. I bought a new domain name that is addressing “my heart’s why” why a-la Simon Sinek and “Start with Why.” My programs, classes and even this article do that, but this new domain carries the name in a perfectly clear sense. (I will share it once it is built which will be soon!)

I am excited to get the site up and running with a welcome video and yes, an email list attached. Because the website is the most direct connection between my why and my message, I can see my audience growing exponentially which leads to – bigger crowds wherever I go.

I have to say these final words to connect back to my past, my present and my future vision: at my second book signing ever, a man came to me with shaking hands and asked me to sign his copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul of America.” He had been a longtime fan of mine and so believed in my message and my voice that he thought all my books would be sold out when I was there and I would be mobbed by people who would be shaking, like he was.

This man has no idea how inspiring he continues to be for me.

No one from my extended family showed up – and that hurt me – but Paul did, even as nervous as he was to meet me. I didn’t even realize people might be excited to meet me.

My final confession for today is this: I was definitely NOT feeling it as I sat down to write this afternoon. I’m in a mid-afternoon slump. I tucked my naysayer mind off and started to type.

I chose to move forward, with love, and my hope and intention you will as well.

The more you connect with your vision, the more purposeful you will feel and the more passionate action you will be driven to take.

Have you started working on your ten-year-vision yet?

If you haven’t, what is stopping you? If you aren’t comfortable commenting, drop me an email at juliejordanscott at gmail dot com. Let’s have an honest conversation about how your why and what you are up too in this world is too important for you to ignore for a moment longer.

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Create a Remarkable Life: Celebrate Your “Small” Wins (because truly no win is small.)

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Building blocks make their way to success.

 It is mid-January: do you know where your goals are?

A bit over a week ago many of us boldly spoke proclamations about what we aimed to achieve in this momentous first year of a brand new decade!

You may be one of those people who rolled your eyes at others enthusiasm and lamented “What’s the point?”

It may be because I nearly died in October, but I took a different approach this year and it is working brilliantly. I created three goals for the New Year that aren’t grand and glorious, they aren’t outrageous or audacious. These goals and projects are tiny goals I approach daily as if they were brand new.

Let’s look at one of those goals and see how you may use it to craft a small, daily goal for yourself.

Daily Goal: Write a haiku in the morning to post on social media based on a morning photo I take.

Here’s how I have been creating this daily for the past twenty days.

  1. Be ready to take a photo daily, whether or not there is something inspiring or even pretty to take a photo. It may not be at all interesting.  Take a photo anyway.
  2. Throw words and syllables (I call them units of sound) together without worrying about whether or not they are any good – at this point this is more about creating a ‘word pool” to choose words from to sculpt your short poem. Play around with different variations to discover  what thoughts might make sense and also fit into the famous 5-7-5 haiku guidelines. By the way, haikus are very short poems. They are of Japanese origin and in English are commonly seen as three lined poems with the first and third lines having five syllables and the middle line having seven syllables.
  3. Become more comfortable thinking there is nothing to say.
  4. Some days you will take lots of photos to find one I find remotely good enough. Other days you will take only one.  A fringe benefit to the daily nature of this goal is it is naturally a great healer of perfectionism. It teaches you to say “Yes. This will do.” I have been pleasantly surprised by photos and poems that did nothing for me yet somehow magically spoke to someone who found it on my social media feed.
  5. Don’t worry if people “see” you out and about taking photos of unusual or not often photographed things. Today I bumped into a gentleman who was headed into a museum to do volunteer work. He asked if I was also a volunteer, because he didn’t seem to understand why I would be taking a photo of a wall. I asked about his volunteer gig. I like to think I brightened his day. He didn’t ask about my photo and I didn’t share, I focused on him. People love being seen and heard. Brightening other people’s days is a bonus from this goal on many levels.
  6. Offer myself grace if I don’t post my photos and poems in the morning.
  7. Do a happy dance when I write a haiku and/or take a photo I really like.
  8. Embrace revision as a part of the process. Note to self: Share that process! It gives others permission to “not get it right the first time.”
  9. Give yourself milestones along the way to bigger milestones. Celebrate EACH day for the success you have created that day.
  10. This is my recipe for small goal leading to remarkable life success. You may choose to follow it, modify it, ignore it or even laugh at it. As Louisa May Alcott said, “Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth’s sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.”
  11. Be prepared to be satisfied and surprised with what comes as a result. You’re allowed and encouraged to brag but as with everything else, there are no requirements – simply lots of love.

Final food for thought: New Years is not the only time to create new goals and vision for yourself. I actually start my own new year on my birthday. This year I am doing my weekly goal checks and planning on Wednesdays because Mondays tend to be hectic plus people complain about Mondays. When they talk about Wednesdays, they’re usually talking about happy activities.

What will your first or next small, do-able, fresh new goal be?

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