Franklin Taggart's Blog

Talking to my friend Teresa Funke today and was inspired by her fun idea for celebrating her birthday. Buy one lottery ticket for every year of her life and give those tickets to anyone she meets. Celebration is a central part of our life together as humans. It's a central aspect of living in community and we are unique as a species in that we look for reasons to celebrate - milestones, rites of passage, getting up in the morning - celebration is a human thing. As I've gotten older, celebration has become a much more important thing to remember. I haven't always been good at it, and it still feels awkward, but it matters. More in the Coffee Break about that. A great way to celebrate Teresa would be to buy her book, Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life here: https://www.teresafunke.com/product/bursts-of-brilliance/ #creativity #community #celebration  

Where do you get ideas? Is it difficult to find subjects for your creativity? Today's Coffee Break answers a client's question about where I get ideas to talk about in these videos. My ideas come from whatever I'm thinking about. Sometimes they're interesting, other times not so much. Putting my thoughts in a video gives me a process of making my internal world more external. Similar to Seth Godin's daily blogs, my ideas come from my thought in that moment and I just make a record of them. If you're looking for something to create from, start there. I think more often than not, we judge our ideas as unworthy before we ever give voice to them. That is a mistake. I never know if I like the idea until it's been made into something. And sometimes I really like them. Many times...meh. Creativity is messy and predictably unpredictable. We never stop thinking. There's always a fish to catch in that pond; some are worth keeping. #creativity #thinking #creativeth

The frequency of calls from people concerned about jobs and economic changes is increasing, so I'll talk a bit in this Coffee Break about what I'm seeing.  We are hearing seemingly mixed messages about jobs and worker shortages. Some companies are starting early rounds of layoffs as they anticipate an economic slowdown, so there are more corporate and professional workers re-entering the job market. At the same time, service industries like food and beverage, construction, and hospitality scramble to rehire or replace workers who were let go during the pandemic. The air travel industry is included in this last mix, reporting service disruptions as the demand for flights exceeds their personnel capacity. Several people have asked if this is a good time to start a new business. Like any other time, you need to answer some basic questions. Do you have something valuable to offer, and do people need it and have the ability to pay? I'm seeing an upswing for people in freelance c

▼Watch and Listen Below!▼ Some of the most challenging times for self-employed people are those when we both need to attend to personal crises and change while continuing to do what our businesses require. In this episode of Your Own Best Company, Audrey Holst returns and offers some keen insights into her own process and experience that will help us all navigate times like these. Audrey has been my guest a couple of times before, and I love the quality of our conversations. She's candid and articulate, and she openly shares the real stories that offer deep empathy and hopeful suggestions. You can find her work at https://fortitudeandflow.com . Some highlights: **Getting through times of grief and high emotion. **My insight about the distinction between gifts and talents. **Seeing our human limitations in a positive light and challenging the myth of limitlessness. **Understanding will, resistance, and commitment as almost magical human tools. Subscribers to this channel can easily

Noticing how the state of mind I'm in when I'm creating is a consciousness that allows me to see possibilities and opportunities that weren't able to be on my screen even a few weeks ago. It's more than just a flow state. It's a level of inspiration that keeps revealing more and more potential. Seeing so many ways I can use the quiz and course software and design tools I've been learning, and how many opportunities to help others with those skills and that knowledge there are. If you're feeling stuck in any area, find a creative activity to immerse yourself in for a little while and see if that activity allows your mind to shift into a greater expansion of awareness, allowing you to see the possibilities you're waiting and looking for. #onlinecourse #quizzes #teachable 

Some encouragement for a friend who moved her whole life to a new country only to find it wasn't a good fit for right now. Coming back to a familiar place for a while isn't a bad idea.  Regroup, take stock of what you've learned and discern what's next. You may not know why this happened, in fact, you may never fully understand, but there is another way coming that you're ready for. We can only make decisions with the best information we have at the time, and we can never know ahead of time exactly how things are going to turn out. Sometimes the journey has dead ends and 180° turns. You're doing fine. Thanks to my friend, Kc Rossi, for the wonderful conversation this morning! I can't wait to share that podcast episode with my people! Today I learned how to make a screen recording on my phone. That was fun! #alwayslearning #cominghome #thisisnotfailing 

Josh and Francois are some of the most energetic people I've met! I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as I did!