Happy Sunday!!! š„³
Well it is for me anyway. Time zones do my head in & so for you it might be Monday already, or Sunday may only just have started.
But here I am, slightly delirious from jet-lag and a dramatic change in temperature (š„¶), writing from a little town called Barnsley in the North of England on Sunday morning. At least I think it is. š«©
Thursday lunchtime I was lying by a pool in Williamsburg. How mad is that? 48 hours between a different country, different climate, different temperature & different life. Travel really is a bit of a mind f**k.
I always remember flying from New Zealand to French Polynesia and suddenly today was yesterday. What????
Anyway, I digress. I've got a head full of things from the last few weeks that I think are worth sharing, so today I'm doing something a bit different. Here are a few lessons, a few stories and something you can take away from each.
#1: Travel constantly reminds me how little I know.
Iāve had an absolute blast in America.
From San Diego, Joshua Tree & Vegas in July, to New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Richmond and lastly Williamsburg, Virginia! šŗšø (Bit of pub trivia for you, Virginia is named after the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I)
Aside from the loveliness of the country & itās people, I feel as though Iāve just completed a crash course in American history.
Declaration of Independence, Founding Fathers, Civil War, American Revolution, right back to when we nasty Brits settled in Virginia kicking off what was to become the United States!
And while Iām a touch ashamed of my colonial heritage, this is what I love about traveling.
Iād never have sat down & read a book about all this. Sure I watched Gone With the Wind, (as did Rhettās mother š), but thereās nothing better than standing and learning where the history actually happened.
I talked about how travel keeps you young in the article below, and broadening your mind is one of the best examples!
#2: How to write more without overthinking every word
Back in May I started a daily writing practice.
I loved it. Iād wake up, write whatever was on my mind that morning and publish it.
But I quickly realised Substack doesnāt really lend itself to me publishing every random thought that passes through my brain, and over time I started censoring myself.
Is this worth emailing people about?
Does this fit The 50+ Nomad?
Is this substantial enough for a Substack post?
What started as a raw, this is me, writing practice, quickly went from practicing to performing, the opposite of what I wanted my writing practice to be.
So Iāve built myself a little home at jobarnesonline.com.
There are no rules.
I can write about travel, business, AI, getting older, something Iāve learned, something thatās annoyed me or the chats Iāve had with CGPT that morning.
Then I can bring the best, most useful, or most entertaining pieces over here, or write a bite, share on notes, do a yap, or whatever catches my fancy.
Itās a great source of inspiration for my content on other platforms, and Iām ridiculously excited about it. Even if no one ever reads it!
If youāve been wanting to write more, but find yourself constantly overthinking what to write, perhaps building your own spot on the internet is worth thinking about.
We get so caught up on the platforms sometimes, we forget why weāre doing what weāre doing. So having somewhere youāre allowed to wander and explore your thoughts, but without worrying about algorithms, is the answer.
#3: Stop wasting energy on things you can't change
And talking about platformsā¦
Iām having an absolute nightmare with Amazon.
You may know I started a new ecom brand this year - This Big World, selling scratch-off travel challenge cards, and am challenging myself to grow to $10k a month in profits while nomadding around the globe.
Itās not my first rodeo, my hubby & I built a very successful Amazon biz back in 2016.
They were a pain to work with then and the platform hasnāt improved.
I wonāt bore you with the entire saga, but suffice to say they havenāt paid me any of my profits since June & Iām currently locked out of my account due to a ātechnical issueā.
My hands are tied despite hours & hours on chats with support agents.
But it reminded me of a piece of advice an old mentor told me:
āStop focusing on what you canāt control Jo.ā
There are things completely within our sphere of control and there are things that we just have no control over.
Posting consistently - within our control. How many people subscribe - not.
Creating a great product - within our control. Whether someone buys it - not.
Looking after our health - within our control. Getting older - definitely not. š
Sharing our ideas and experience - within our control. What other people think of them - not.
How we respond when something goes wrong - within our control. The fact that it went wrong in the first place - often not.
It amazes me how much energy we spend on things we can't change. Politics, the news, algorithms, what other people are doing, saying or thinking.
Thereās a quote I love thatās widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt:
āGreat minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.ā
But rather than reading it as a judgement about about whose mind is great or small. I use it as a reminder about where to put my attention.
People and events eat up endless energy without us being able to change much. But ideas give us somewhere to go, because they lead to experiments, solutions and things we can create.
I could spend all day moaning about Amazon, (and believe me, lately Iāve given it a bloody good go.) Or I can put that energy into what I can control, which is finding new ways to get my cards in front of people (My Shopify store) and building an audience I own.
The lesson: focus on whatās within your sphere of control, itās a much healthier place to put your energy.
#4: Cheerleaders are a metaphor for life
I went to my first American football game a couple of weeks ago.
I had absolutely no clue what was actually happening on the field. To my untrained British eye, it looked remarkably like a game we used to play as kids called Bundle. One person would lie on the floor and shout āBundle!ā and everyone else would dive on top of them for no discernible reason.
But what really caught my attention were the cheerleaders. Those kids shouted and danced and did gymnastics throughout the whole game, even when it was clear the home team were going to lose.
As the crowd grew quiet and pretty much ignored them, the routines kept coming. They kept launching each other into the air and chanting, trying their hardest to get the crowd going.
And it reminded me of trying to build something online. We bare our souls, post notes, publish articles, make videos, show up enthusiastically and sometimes it can feel like weāre shouting into an empty stadium.
But we keep going, because deep down we know we canāt gather a crowd unless we show up.
Whatever youāre building right now, if youāre wondering where everyone is, and if anyone is even reading, watching or listening - be like a cheerleader! If nothing else, youāll get bloody good at the routine.
Jet Lagged Sunday Dump
So thatās my slightly jet-lagged Sunday brain dump from a chilly Barnsley.
Travel more, because thereās always more to learn. Create somewhere you can think out loud. Put your energy into the things you can influence, and when it feels like nobodyās watching, keep doing the routine anyway!
Iām off for a warm cuppa. āļø
Happy Sunday, wherever in the world you happen to be. ā¤ļø
Glad you had a good visit! Americans need to spend a little more time learning the history too, I think.