Never stop anticipating the next step, says Clair. Live with a single-minded focus on what it is you want. Make a map of your intended path and use your passion but don’t become complacent: never stop acquiring the skills you require, and practice what you need to get where you want to be. Do research on classes you might take or people you may want to meet, and plunge into the world they inhabit. While doing so, however, beware of sabotaging your new life with distractions.
Finally, while reaching outside for a creative goal, remember to take care of your inner self. Practice gratitude by making a daily list of things for which you’re thankful. Learn to forgive, as self-preservation. And surprise yourself by pushing your own boundaries in giving. You’ll be amazed at what you get back.
Reading “Imagine This” is like making New Age stew: take a little Buddhism; a cup of Biblical teaching; a pound of memoir; a pinch each of inner peace, The Universe, and meditation; a teaspoon of creativity-boosting; and stir.
It’s a recipe that not everyone’s going to like.
That’s not to say that this is a bad book, but it’s not about work in the strictest business sense; it’s more about work as an artist might define. Think: creative and personal, rather than 9-to-5-cubicle. Indeed, author Maxine Clair is a poet and novelist, and that shows in this book’s ideas, hints, and the memoir that takes up most of what’s between these covers. That’s fine—but someone who sees the word “work” in the subtitle and picks it up, hoping for a book on business, could be mighty disappointed.
Overall, I think the audience for “Imagine This” lies in the creative soul who wants to take life to a new level and needs a righteous boost to do it. For the goal-oriented business-minded individual, however, imagine yourself walking on by…
(“Imagine This: Creating the Work You Love” by Maxine Clair, c.2014, Bolden, $16/$18.95 Canada, 208 pages.)
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