Daydream and trick your mind

A while ago a friend asked me if I’m a daydreamer. “Of course”, I said. “Who isn’t?”

It turned out that she wasn’t. And that started an interesting dialogue. She told me that even if she was looking forward to a vacation, she just could not see it in front of her. She does not have expectations or illusions of how that vacation is going to be.

Me, on the other hand, can dream up pretty much every possible scenario there is. By the time I actually go in that vacation, in my mind I’ve done it a million times. I can feel how warm it’s going to be, I’ve tried on every dress I own and I’ve met a lot of imaginary people.

But I don’t daydream just as an escape from reality. I also use it as a tool to get where I want to go. To keep focus. If I’m tired when I leave work and on the subway to the gym, I put on my dancing playlist on Spotify, close my eyes and visualize my favorite dance choreography. I can feel which muscles I need to use to do that specific move. By the time I get to the gym I’m full of energy. When you learn how your brain works, you also know how to manipulate it. And I do it all the time.

It’s also a tool for me to figure out what I want. In my mind I’ve been everything from a maffia boss (awesome by the way, one of my favorite daydreams when I was a kid) to a rich trophy wife (not really my thing). I try out different lives to see what fits me. And just because I can.

So, if you managed to get this far this rambling post, do you daydream? And if so, about what?

Posted December 18, 2011 in Life · Comments { 0 }

Take your customers all the way

The webshop Ruche has started a new concept that I think we’ll see a lot more of in the future.

Every week they will let their Facebook fans join them on shopping trips with their buyers, helping them decide what items Ruche will buy in to the shop. It’s a brilliant and easy way to build a real connection with their customers, and at the same time make sure what you buy in is really what the people want.

I’m fascinated by the fashion industry and their way to adapt new ways of thinking. First came the fashion bloggers, then the brands and shops started to get in to social media, and now they start to really connect to their customers in ways few other types of business has the curage to. Is it because the target group, younger women, are more social and emotionally engaged in what they buy? Are they pushing the industry forward? Or is it the industry that has a way of trying new things?

And the most exciting questions is, when will other business follow the same path? And how will that look like? What if a local tools shop use Bambuser and Facebook to let their customers join them on a fair like this one? (On the other hand, maybe they already do, I’m a long way from that target group.) And could this strategy be used in B2B marketing? Maybe real estate?

I think we will se a lot of exciting new concepts the following years. Concepts that add value for the customers and push the business forward, not just buzzworthy campaigns.

Posted December 10, 2011 in Inspiration · Comments { 0 }

Packing up a gangster princess

Right now I was supposed to be at a great christmas party, but since I’m stuck with the worst cold ever and can’t stop caughing, it’s just me and couch tonight. On the plus side, I now have time to catch up on some blogs!

Via It’s Nice That I found something that managed to cheer me up. The Whistler Film Festival is a festival that does not show the usual Hollywood movies, so Dare Vancouver created a campaign that is just awesome. The first one is my personal favorite, but the others are great as well!

Gangster »

Princess »

Packing up »

Posted December 9, 2011 in Campaign, Videos · Comments { 0 }

A quote

I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited.

- Sylvia Plath

A quote I can relate to, by one of my favorite authors. And if you haven’t read The Bell Jar yet, you really should. Sylvia Plath is a master of catching the human mind.

Posted November 28, 2011 in People, Read · Comments { 0 }

Brilliant explanation of how creativity works

Watch here if you don’t see the video.

Posted November 10, 2011 in Inspiration, Videos · Comments { 0 }

29 ways to stay creative

Simple as that. And I’m especially a fan of number 21.

Posted October 25, 2011 in Inspiration, Videos · Comments { 0 }

Vegetarian Thanksgiving (with recipes)

A year ago I lived in a collective on the other side of Sweden. The best part about that was, of course, the people. And yes, I miss all of my old roomies like crazy sometimes. One of my best memories was when Stacey, who is from the US, arranged a real vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner for us. It was awesome. I’d never had american classics like mac & cheese, or pumpkin pie. Needless to say, I loved it.

And since Thanksgiving is coming up soon, I though I’d share some photos and recipes from a year ago!

Sweet potato pie with marshmallows, perhaps the strangest thing I have ever eaten – but it tasted like heaven.

Our great host and master chef – Stacey!

Below you find some of Stacey‘s recipes (they are really great, trust me). See recipes »

Continue Reading →

Posted October 15, 2011 in Life · Comments { 0 }

The black and white noise

I spy a little trend in fashion photography.

The black and white noise.

Ashley Smith by Stacey Mark for Rika Magazine. See more here »

Anja Rubik by Ezra Petronio for Self Service F/W 2011. See more here »

Ok, I admit it. Two fashion spreads with a style that is not that uncommon may not be a trend. I really just wanted an excuse to show these awesome photos and think about how I can do something similar.

Posted October 15, 2011 in Photography · Comments { 0 }

The Talks

You know when you find a website, and you instantly fall in love with it, but can’t really explain why? That’s the case with me and the-talks.com, a weekly updated online interview magazine. Behind it stands Johannes Bonke and Sven Schumann, two people who travels a lot (that’s basically all the info you get on the site).

But after giving it some thought, I think I know why I love it.

First of all, interviews with a mix of interesting people. That pretty much can’t go wrong in my book.
The angle of the interviews. Simple questions, not to much, just a glimpse of the person behind the fame.
The clean format and design. One image, the rest is text. No ads. No bullshit.
And the fact that you get an audiosample from some of the talks is a nice bonus.

Have I convinced you to go read it yet? Otherwise, here’s a few of my favorites (kind of love them all) is Helen Mirren, Nick Hornby, Sir Michael Cain, Meryl Streep and Ewan McGregor.

And I just can’t decide if I think Scott Schuman is refreshingly honest or annoyingly self-righteous.

Posted October 13, 2011 in Articles, People, Read · Comments { 0 }

Keep looking. Don’t settle.

I know, I’m the last person on earth to see this speech from Steve Jobs, but now that I have, I must share it. And if you rather read it, or print it out and put it up on above your desk, you can find the transcript here.

Posted October 9, 2011 in Inspiration, People, Videos · Comments { 0 }

5 great articles to read on a Sunday

(Not quite my reading position today.)

This week has been crazy with work. I have pretty much worked every waken hour, and cut down on both sleep and dancing. Not the best recipe for being the best version of yourself, that’s for sure.

During the week I always bookmark the longreads that I want to read when I have time to take it all in. And when I go through it I realize that there are so many of them that I want to share with you, that I have to put them all here.

Here it goes, a few great articles that you simply must read.

→ 10 things to stop caring about today
The title says it all. Energy boost for anxious people like me.

→ Become a God of learning your trade
Every post on Zenhabits is well worth your time. This one is about how to get really good at what you want to do, by working like a street performer (it makes sense when you read it, promise).

→ You are not running out of time
This is brilliant. I mean it. This essay made things so much clearer for me, and it all sums up to two questions.
1. What do I want to see grow?
2. What do I want to build?

→ True business leaders think differently
Richard Branson writes a tribute to Steve Jobs and leadership. Great read. (And if I could have a lunch with any person in the world, dead or alive, it would Richard Branson.)

→ How to procrastinate and still get things done
How to get important things done by avoiding to do more important things. It actually makes a lot of sense for me, since my life strategy is based on tricking myself (will probably write more about that later – it’s quite clever if I may say so).

Posted October 9, 2011 in Articles, Inspiration, Learn · Comments { 0 }

About finding more than one right answer

As a wannabe photographer I love hearing about how the real experts think and work. This summary of a talk by Dewitt Jones is really inspiring. His approach to everything in life is to find more than one right answer.

I think everyone who does something creative can relate to that – the feeling when you just know you nailed it. You got what you were searching for. You got the right answer. The key to becoming successful is probably to never settle for just one right answer, too keep going that extra mile. And that is what Dewitt Jones shows so clearly in this clip.

(Found on fstoppers.com)