Happy Friday, Creatives!

Today's gems help us close out 2022 and approach 2023 with intention and purpose.

Each year, Panos Pictures shares the best images their photographers have taken. This year was quite eventful, and the photos are a solemn reminder of fellow humans' challenges worldwide. Busy setting goals for next year? Why not set better goals with more intention to give you the best chance of achieving them? Lastly, following your curiosity passively? Why not run towards it, lean into it, and actively seek it out to feed it?

It's time to break free from all the noise and boost the signal with insights to help you unleash your creative potential.

Today's Gems

💎 Photos of 2022

Our fellow humans faced a lot of challenges in 2022, and the photos Panos Pictures photographers help us learn the stories they share help to provide a dose of reality to help keep us grounded. Panos Pictures presents a selection of images taken by their photographers over the past 12 months each year. From the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, anti-government protests in Iran and Sri Lanka, and many other less-reported stories, Panos photographers have captured the events of 2022.

(Source: Panos Pictures)

💎 Beyond SMART Goals

Setting SMART goals is an essential first step in defining our goals. Making the goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound gives us a better chance of achieving them. We can also approach our goal-setting from a few different perspectives to bring more intention and purpose to our goals and to give us a better chance of achieving them.

1. Be approach-oriented, not avoidance-oriented - It’s harder to eliminate negative habits than to adopt new, more positive ones. Instead of not watching tv right before going to bed (avoidance-oriented), for instance, aim to read a few pages from a book (approach-oriented) before going to bed.

2. Be process oriented, not outcome-oriented - It’s hard to achieve goals that are too big in size. Why not focus on the steps you need to achieve the goal instead? Instead of saying I’m going to run a 5K race, focus on running three times per week and building up your stamina.

3. Build a goal network - Having an overarching goal with smaller related goals that feed into the larger vision helps build resiliency in our goals. If being healthy is your overall goal, then drinking more water daily, eating more plant-based meals during the week, and running 1 mile three times per week are your smaller related goals that will feed into your overall goal of becoming healthier.

(Source: The Decision Lab)

💎 On Curiosity (Quote)

“One should always be curious. Not a passive curiosity dependent upon information received, but an aggressive curiosity that compels one to seek things out and ascertain them for oneself.”

- Issey Miyake - Japanese Fashion Designer

Imagine you have a glass of water in front of you. How would you feel about the glass of water if you were thirsty? You would want to quench your thirst by drinking the water in the glass. How about if you weren’t thirsty? You would be indifferent to the water in the glass.

Ok, maybe this was a bad example, but I hope you understand the difference between active and passive curiosity.

I like the idea of actively and intentionally moving toward what we are curious about instead of waiting for the timing to be correct or for inspiration to hit you.

Let’s actively and intentionally quench our thirst for knowledge!

Fun fact

Steve Jobs ordered 100 turtlenecks made by Issey Miyake that became synonymous with his signature look.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend.

Your Gem Collector,
Rizwan 💎⚒️💜