So I decided to simply write from the heart.

March is Women’s Month, and while being a woman often comes with its own unique challenges, I am still grateful to have graced the earth as one. So if you’re a woman reading this, Happy Women’s Month to you.

My goal for this year is simple: to create, to play, and to grow.

In all honesty, I don’t really have a woman figure in my life that I grew up looking up to or wanting to become. But over time, I’ve come to admire a handful of women whose work and journeys I’ve followed from afar. Watching what they’ve built, and how they’ve grown, has been deeply inspiring.

These women remind me that with grit, consistency, smart work, and the right systems and support, so much is possible.

Starting Little Scribbs was never part of some grand plan. It began out of fear, but also out of a quiet desire to do more creative work full time. I simply wanted to try.

Truthfully, I didn’t even fully believe in myself when I started. I just decided to play and see what would happen, without putting too much pressure on the outcome.

And somehow, here we are.

Today, I get to spend my days doing things I once only imagined doing. Although, I must admit, there are parts I never anticipated: the marketing, the managing, the operations… what some might call the boring bits. But even in the middle of all of that, I still find ways to create. In whatever way creativity shows up.

And my dear, I hope you do too.

Create as a hobby.
Create professionally.
Create quietly.
Create boldly.

However you choose to do it.
The world needs more creativity, especially from women.

So if you’re a woman reading this, consider this your little nudge: get past the fear and start creating. Look out for women doing the things you dream of doing. Study them a little. Learn what you can.

Then begin.
Don’t over-plan it.

Your story often becomes far more beautiful when you start before you have everything figured out.

With love,
Lily
Founder, Little Scribbs

Having too many ideas is like taking a child to the candies and chocolates isle in a supermarket and asking them to pick just one candy.

How does he know which of the candies taste the best? How can he talk you into agreeing for 5 candies instead of one? Does he pick a candy or chocolate instead?

Being faced with too many options can really be a problem as you have too many to choose from. Take myself for example, when I started looking for my current apartment, there were so many options, so many houses, beautiful and even fully serviced apartments up for rent.

I knew having these many options wouldn't allow me make a quick decision so I decided to make a list of non-negotiable and set some constraints that would guide my final decision.

These were:

• must be a one-bedroom,

• must be within budget of $3000 per annum,

• easily accessible fully tarred road,

• serene and secure environment,

• close proximity with the city central area,

• close proximity to my gym,

• thoughtfully built kitchen

• two bathrooms and

• well lit rooms.

This list guided what my final decision was and also helped me to save cost as house inspection fees cost a lot.

Constraint isn't a limitation but rather, it's a catalyst for creative thinking, resourcefulness and innovative solutions. When you have limited resources, whether it's time, space or materials, your mind changes gears.

You stop thinking, "what should I make?" or "what should I choose?" and start thinking "how can I make do with what I've got?". That shift doesn't limit creativity, it unlocks it.

Imagine being asked to write a book. That's all you were told, no timeline was given, no theme was suggested, no word limit was stated and no resource was provided. You have the choice of writing just about anything that interests you and you can turn it in whenever you liked.

Now, imagine when you're provided with a theme, a strict deadline, a stipulated amount of words and of course, only the necessary materials. Which one of these two instances would help you write and deliver that book?

Excatly! The one where you're constrained by certain rules and givens, not to hinder you from writing but to propel you to write.

When anything is possible, we become paralyzed by infinite choices and weighed down by a lack of direction and clear vision. We become complacent and often settle with the path of least resistance.

But then, constraints can provide focus for us as it represents a box we have to think outside of. And therein lies the soul of creativity, "thinking outside the box".

Creativity is born out of problem solving, without a problem or limitation, creativity doesn't show. If there's a problem in your way right now, don't avoid it, use it. It might just lead to something greater than you imagined.

We should focus not on what we lack but on how well we can use what we have. Having no constraints is actually worse than having some limits.

Too many artists when provided or faced with limitations create better art than when they're exposed to as many resources and options as possible.

So, a solution to overcoming this, is to create constraints to trick yourself into creating, carrying out a task or making a decision.

When faced with such a situation, start by making a list of things you don't want. Cut out the necessary excesses. Reduce the options by as many criteria as possible until you're left with a reasonable number of options that don't cause you to feel overwhelmed leading to indecision, complacency or poor decision.

See constraints as an opportunity to spark and manifest creativity. Do not run from it, rather embrace is as a catalyst for your creative success.

…

Hi, if you’ve read this, kindly provide a feedback to my writing and possible tips for improvement.
Thank you. 😊

After reading Julian Shapiro's guide on writing I realized that I do not write for anyone but myself. My objectives for writing makes the reason behind writing clear and my motivation ensures that I am able to see through with it. When you have the wrong objective or haven't figured your reason for writing and have no motivation in place for it, this causes a friction between you and writing, and to write, you need to reduce the friction.

My objectives for writing are:

• I write because it helps me learn better. I am able to think about concepts and topics indepthly, distill the topics or ideas into simple chunks that I can understand, assimilate those chunks in order to be able to make sense of them and then write about them.

• I write as an outlet for me to talk about the things I like, obsess or geek over.

• I write because I want to learn to write better.

• I write as a medium for documenting my life.

• I write because I use writing as a platform to connect with like minded people. When a person resonates with something I've written, it brings about serendipity.

• I write because I want my writings to one day help someone or have even the tiniest impact on a person.

• Writing for me is a way to properly process my thoughts and feelings.

• I write to make reference to things for future use.

My motivation for writing is simply for documentation.

I read a few things I wrote back in 2017 and 2021 and it made me realize that I write well when I'm not under pressure. I enjoyed reading those writings because it allowed me to re-live whatever I was feeling in the moment. It's like I captured1 a moment using words and it felt good to read and understand what that moment was like.

With documentation, you are able to relive experiences and emotions, you notice growth and change. You can see how your writing evolved, and for your writing to evolve and become better, it means you started reading and understanding better. Only words and actions can tell how mature a man is or if a man is maturing and the best way to capture these maturity for the future you is either by constantly recording yourself or writing. And as we all know, writing is the easiest to do.

I write for myself but I do it in public because it helps me to stay accountable and stay consistent...

Re-writing is re-thinking. It’s the best single best way to sharpen your ideas. - David Perell

References

1. Guide on writing

2. Why you should write

3. Why I write