So you wanna play at The Fairground?
Bright lights, enticing smells of donuts and cinder toffee, fun and freedom at the fairground! It’s free to get in, everyone’s so welcome! With thrills guaranteed and a thousand people to play with, the night is young and once you’re here you’re going to want to stay!
Fond memories of a world different to the safe steady school 9-3pm…
We would go as kids and hook a duck and win a gold fish that usually quickly died afterwards.
As teens, it was more of a White Lightening and Waltzer type affair…
Opportunities are far less frequent for Fairground visits these days although I’m sure it will come round again.
I’m not sure why, but I started thinking about it as an analogy for creative project work the other day. That’s 80% my gig, the rest of the time I spend mentoring creatives and writing blogs/ podcasting…
You ready? If you’re a fan of analogies you’ll like this, if you’re not you’ll probably just be very confused and think I’ve lost my mind…
Beware the Ghost Train…
If you’re going to ride the Ghost train you have to be prepared to be scared, get stuck or freak the hell out along the way.
Try to recognise in your work when you’re stuck on a ghost train and how to calm the ghouls continually jumping out at you. Get prepared if you have to ride… have a think about what you need… take a clear head, look after your wellbeing, write things down…
Read this book; The Chimp Paradox for more on understanding this. I recently realised I was stuck on a Ghost Train in a project and I thought “right that’s enough” so I took three steps to get off…
- shortened the timescale of the project
- involved a colleague
- treated the lead ghost/energy vampire with even more kindness and respect
I’m off the Ghost Train for now.
Count your gratitudes
If hook a duck is your absolute favourite stall (like me) it might be you’re damn good at catching those winning ducks…
Why bother with the coconut shy especially if you think you’ll loose? Choose your risks in an embodied way and you’ll be hooking ducks to your hear’s content winning all the prizes. What’s more it will be WORTH giving the coconut shy a go because of your confidence around hooking the ducks all those years!
Make it a happy gamble
I run a streamlined business, I pay for web hosting and that’s kind of it.
I choose to play the 2p slots. The first time I played as a kid, I remember being up 22p.
As an adult, I’d be less keen on the 10ps or 20ps and I’d avoid the ticketed swaps for money completely.
If you want to play for fun, remember you ALWAYS have the choice to walk away or to learn from the experience. If the 2ps are your wellbeing and the 20ps are your health – how many are you prepared to lose before you quit?
Ready for a big gamble – great – make sure you’re meditating too!
Wait! It’s a new Waltzer Guy!
Sometimes in our work, someone takes over and we weren’t expecting it.
As frustrating as it is, if you don’t like the waltzer being pushed and your old boss knew that but your new one definitely doesn’t, you have to start your waltzer story from the very beginning.
Yep they need to know about when you were 15 and were sick behind the carousel when you came off, when you were squashed, when you felt dizzy and when the pace was just right and you had a tonne of fun and some good spins.
You risk them not hearing you or ignoring you and spinning you until you’re sick but at least if you tell them…. I could go on but I think you get it. You’ve got this guys – go out and be brilliant fuelled with your fairground snack of choice and plenty of hand sanitiser (jokes soap is FINE!)
I hope this set of creative analogies serves you well in your work and life wherever you’re reading it from. You might also like like one…My 7 Tips on how to quit a job.
Sending sparkles
Claire x
PS – If you want to know more about my mentoring package for creatives or for news on when my ebook is out on the world (both called The Artist Boat). Sign up for my monthly emails – Notes from the Sea.