Hiking with my daughter in the deserts of Arizona
Greetings: it's me your friendly blogging weirdo and oddball Tom Critchlow. These emails are sent on a relaxed schedule and tend to peel back the curtain on my process of independent consulting, blogging with a sprinkling of occasional media theory.
I've spent the last month in Arizona - hiking around the alien landscape marveling at the Saguaro cactus 🌵. The desert is a hostile environment but life finds a way, even if it seems strange to a lad raised in Yorkshire, England. Learning about the the Saguaro cactus I found out that it often grows in the shelter of a palo verde tree - where it spends its early life sheltered by a "nurse tree". Eventually of course the cactus grows and the nurse tree is overwhelmed and doesn't survive.
We are all dependent on systems and networks and I've found myself lately ruminating on these ideas here in the desert. We're surrounded by networks visible and invisible. When I quit my job in 2014 and went out on my own I strongly identified as an independent - as being free and unshackled from the constraints of being employed by a single company. Being independent is a disorienting feeling - I've compared it before to being on a permanent road trip. Freeing and alienating at the same time. Constantly traveling from place to place with no fixed home.
But lately I've been reflecting on what it means to build a sustainable independent practice - reframing immediate goals of chasing client work and landing clients to finding balance and sustainability. What pacing can I sustain? What rhythms provide the right structure? Which networks are nourishing? What systems am I reliant on? Where am I creating meaning in my work?
At first these ideas began unconsciously - a vague feeling somewhere out there - but lately have become more urgent and more deliberate.
In 2020 I've done more collaborations with other independent folks than ever before. None of this has been pre-planned or formalized, just a natural partnership at the right time and place. Also this year I started a discord server for independent consultants that has become a delightful intimate space for discussion and reflection.
And there are other meaningful networks I'm part of - the Other Internet squad, the Yak Collective, Sunday Dinner, dad twitter.
Like a new sense coming alive I'm feeling the texture and the material of these networks more keenly than ever before.
This idea of sustainable independence and moving from independence to interdependence has been popping up a lot. Two pieces recently:
1) I wrote up my annual reflections on being out on the road: 6 years on the road.
2) I published the next chapter of my book: Weak Ties & Strong Intros.
Meanwhile, this tweet blew up:
People seemed to really like the idea of a unique book cover for every book and the art itself. If I use a Shopify/Lulu integration for selling the book (which is what I'm leaning towards) I think I have just enough technical competence to pull off a unique book cover for every book sold....
The image I'm using is a mathematical concept called a strange attractor and I I like this direction for the book. There's a through-line emerging in the book around three key ideas:
I've spent the last month in Arizona - hiking around the alien landscape marveling at the Saguaro cactus 🌵. The desert is a hostile environment but life finds a way, even if it seems strange to a lad raised in Yorkshire, England. Learning about the the Saguaro cactus I found out that it often grows in the shelter of a palo verde tree - where it spends its early life sheltered by a "nurse tree". Eventually of course the cactus grows and the nurse tree is overwhelmed and doesn't survive.
We are all dependent on systems and networks and I've found myself lately ruminating on these ideas here in the desert. We're surrounded by networks visible and invisible. When I quit my job in 2014 and went out on my own I strongly identified as an independent - as being free and unshackled from the constraints of being employed by a single company. Being independent is a disorienting feeling - I've compared it before to being on a permanent road trip. Freeing and alienating at the same time. Constantly traveling from place to place with no fixed home.
But lately I've been reflecting on what it means to build a sustainable independent practice - reframing immediate goals of chasing client work and landing clients to finding balance and sustainability. What pacing can I sustain? What rhythms provide the right structure? Which networks are nourishing? What systems am I reliant on? Where am I creating meaning in my work?
At first these ideas began unconsciously - a vague feeling somewhere out there - but lately have become more urgent and more deliberate.
In 2020 I've done more collaborations with other independent folks than ever before. None of this has been pre-planned or formalized, just a natural partnership at the right time and place. Also this year I started a discord server for independent consultants that has become a delightful intimate space for discussion and reflection.
And there are other meaningful networks I'm part of - the Other Internet squad, the Yak Collective, Sunday Dinner, dad twitter.
Like a new sense coming alive I'm feeling the texture and the material of these networks more keenly than ever before.
This idea of sustainable independence and moving from independence to interdependence has been popping up a lot. Two pieces recently:
1) I wrote up my annual reflections on being out on the road: 6 years on the road.
2) I published the next chapter of my book: Weak Ties & Strong Intros.
Meanwhile, this tweet blew up:
People seemed to really like the idea of a unique book cover for every book and the art itself. If I use a Shopify/Lulu integration for selling the book (which is what I'm leaning towards) I think I have just enough technical competence to pull off a unique book cover for every book sold....
The image I'm using is a mathematical concept called a strange attractor and I I like this direction for the book. There's a through-line emerging in the book around three key ideas:
- Every independent consultant is unique and weird. Everyone finds their own path and I want my book to be a guide for finding your own path - not following mine.
- The strange attractor is a chaotic map - an unpredictable system. And there's an idea that being an independent is to be an actor in the middle of fluctuating unpredictable networks.
- There's a fluid grace and lightness needed - you need a Yes! And.... attitude and the ability to think on your feet.
🌵💫🌵
Much love. What networks and systems are you a part of? Can you feel them around you?
You just read issue #42 of Tom Critchlow. You can also browse the full archives of this newsletter.
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