How to be Lucky
When we designed and created our Momiji doll, Lucky we spent some time thinking about lucky charms and symbols around the world and what it really means to be lucky. Our Lucky Momiji isn't intended to be a magic charm, instead we wanted her to be a symbol for good wishes and brave thoughts. Whether you're tucking a little hand-written note with words of encouragement to someone who is facing a big challenge or you'd just like her to sit on your bookshelf and to remind you to look to the future with a can-do attitude, we hope that she'll be a positive companion.
Thinking about being lucky got us chatting about whether it's possible to make your own luck. I looked to some of the people I most admire in different walks of life and pulled together some of their most inspirational ideas about how to be luckier.
1. WORK HARD AND BE NICE TO PEOPLE
This poster by Anthony Burrill is a good place to start. Is there's something big you're dreaming of? It's time to take the first step and dedicate yourself to making it happen. Putting positive energy out there into the universe can only be a good thing. The harder you work...the luckier you get.
(Photo Credit Anthony Burrill)
2. EMBRACE THINGS THAT TERRIFY YOU
We're great believers in facing our fears. When we created Emmeline, our LIVE BOLDLY Momiji we included a poster for you to write down a list of things you might be scared of and that you'd love to overcome. Somehow writing them down makes them less daunting. It's easy for them to turn into monsters if you just let them live in your head. One of our favourite bloggers, Grace Bonney (pictured above) of Design*Sponge, which receives over a million visits a day, inspired us in her talk at the Weapons of Mass Creation conference. She talks about the challenges she faced in building up such a successful site and how she found the courage to go on when behind the scenes life was pretty tough and she felt like falling apart. Her talk is a really mood-boosting watch and we love her advice about breaking down challenges into manageable steps. She also talks about how facing the fear of rejection face-on made it less scary.
One of my personal inspirations for taking this approach to life and business is Lisa Hassell, Director of Inkygoodness. Lisa has an insatiable passion for design, illustration and generally making cool things happen. She's brilliant at talking to people, starting conversations, trading ideas and then she has an amazing knack of rolling these chats into ground-breaking, collaborative events. It's really motivating to be around her.
3. DON'T BE AFRAID TO LOOK SILLY
I'm reading 'Yes Please' by actress, comedian, director, producer and writer, Amy Poehler at the moment and it's bursting with genius. One of my favourite messages so far is 'don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself.' Amy says "Looking silly can be very powerful. People who are committing and taking risks become the king and queen of my prom."
This is a philosophy we believe in wholeheartedly at Momiji. We built our company on embracing a healthy dose of silliness. We've made lots of mistakes along the way but we try not to let fear of failure stop us from trying new things and being ourselves.
4. IMPROVISE
“The best advice I've ever received is, 'No one else knows what they're doing either.” Ricky Gervais
It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that everyone else has a master plan. If you dig a little deeper it's probably the case that most people are just getting by by doing their best and making it up as they go along. The old adage 'Fake it until you make it' can get you a long way and if you start to act like the person you want to be, sooner or later you'll find that that's the person you've become.
Designer and music video director Kate Moross wrote a book called Make Your Own Luck (pictured above - photo from Creative Review) and it's full of advice for taking control of your future and making your creative dreams a reality. She has a DIY philosophy to success; “If you don’t know how to do something, YouTube it.”
We live in a time where it has never been so easy to teach yourself stuff. This is a quality I always massively admire in my Momiji teammate and our design genius, Helena. She has a really pro-active approach to figuring stuff out. She just googles it and then learns how to do it or make it or implement it.
5. COLLABORATE
Don't covet your own ideas. Collaborate. Join up. Join in. Sharing your thoughts with other people might just bring the magic you've been needing to make your dream into a reality.
I love this photo from our time at the Pictoplasma character design conference last year. It's one of the most inspirational and uplifting events I've ever been to and you might just spot some Momiji designer collaborations later this year that all began from talking and exchanging ideas at Pictoplasma.
Wishing you lots of brave and lucky adventures!
