There’s a Japanese word circling around me lately: shōkakkō. It roughly translates to 'a small but steady fire.' Not a blaze. Not a raging bonfire. Just enough warmth to keep going. Enough light to see the next step.
Have I been shōkakkō-ing? Hell no, not this month. This month has been a wildfire with rapidly changing winds, dramatic, untameable. Ups, downs, easy bits, hard bits, good bits, crap bits, and all at polar opposite ends of the spectrum. Not just, 'Woops I sent an email with a wrong link inside' kind of wildness. I'm talking quitting-one-day-and-taking-over-the-world-the-next kind of wildness. This month has been an absolute raging bonfire, and I still have a week of it to go.
And it sounds dramatic, but it's nothing new. Has any of this ever been really easy? No. But what I've learnt this month is that it's not meant to be easy. And if it was, I wouldn't enjoy it anyway.
I'm not the founder that can holiday in Bali while I make money in my sleep. I'm the founder that wakes up and thinks, I smashed this month, or this month was crap, and either way, still ask myself, 'What can I do differently next month?'
Yes, I am a little bit of an over-achieving-perfectionist-sometimes-workaholic, but I think you need a little of that to be driven, to be hungry, to keep going, right?
But this month has forced me to practise something other than perfectionism, something other than constantly moving towards more.
Enter, shōkakkō. It's about gratitude. The daily kind. The 'I’m thankful for a deep breath' kind. Not as a performance, but as a practice. As a way to keep perspective when my brain starts sprinting toward imaginary deadlines and future versions of success.
Last night, I thanked my house out loud for keeping me warm. I thanked it for the beautiful light it lets in through its windows. I thanked it for its earthy timber floorboards and white walls. I thanked it for making me feel safe.
And it sounds weird to talk to a house, but when I do it, something shifts a little. It makes me pause and think about all the other things I'm grateful for. Even on the days when all I've done is push, and solve problems for the brands I coach, and do ten loads of washing, and go go go all day. When I stop and stand in my kitchen overlooking more washing, and food on the floor, and little buttery handprints on the cupboards, and I pause to thank my house for a moment, I feel instantly ok. Shōkakkō.
On the days when I didn’t tick every box, but I showed up, black circles under my eyes, pimples and all. On the days I sat still to squeeze in a twenty minute meditation, even though it felt counterproductive. On the days I baked a batch of biscuits with my girls, wrote something for the fun of it, or walked away from my desk to look out the window for no reason. Shōkakkō.
This month is teaching me that ambition and contentment can coexist. I'm learning that while my babies are small, it doesn't have to be all or nothing, it can be a mess in between. I'm learning that dreaming big doesn’t require burning out but it does require boundaries. And unlearning the lifelong patterns and habits and stories that got me to where I am, may or may not be the patterns and habits and stories that will get me to where I want to go, but I'm learning how to work that out.
Because I had a bonfire in my business before when it was one of the largest online stores for ethical and sustainable fashion. It was a raging bonfire, an 18-award-winning-success-story style bonfire, but I burnt out.
And even though I know that a small fire, tended carefully, slowly, intentionally, is more powerful than a shit-hot flame that dies too soon, shōkakkō is a work in progress.
So to practice it, to work on it, to try again and again and again until I unlearn the burnout behaviours, this month, I'm sharing the little things I'm proud of that I would ordinarily just skim over, to give them space on my pages just as much as I give space to the big awards and the raving customer reviews and the order numbers.
Here's June to date, 25 days in...
I've written and published 14 blogs, this will be the 15th, and there's still a week left in the month.
I've created and shared 22 Instagram carousels and reels, and there's still a week left in the month.
My Instagram account has had 67,287 views, I reached 22,305 accounts, I gained 254 new followers and one of my reels reached 9,013 people. And it didn't just reach people, it actually helped people. And there's still a week left in the month.
I started working with a new private mentoring client, an amazing slow fashion founder, and she taught me something.
I started writing again, like really writing. No ChatGPT. No AI. Just me and the keyboard, sometimes at 11pm at night because I've felt so inspired. Sometimes sprawling across the back of envelopes while I'm in the car and in my notes on my phone juggling a trolley while I'm grocery shopping because the ideas can't wait until I'm in front of the computer again.
I hosted three mentor masterclasses and an open office hours strategy call for my Slow Fashion Lab members.
One of them was with the Google Managing Director for AUS/NZ, Mel Silva and honestly, it was 45 minutes of pure life-changing advice from an incredible purpose-driven leader.
I started Steven Bartlett's Stan Challenge and (almost) every day this month, I've thrown my hat into the ring to learn, to grow, and of course, try to win.
I'm stepping outside my comfort zone to learn a new platform, Stan, after using Shopify for over a decade. I'm actually enjoying the stretch of learning something new and the feeling of committing to something for 30 days.
And because I have been stepping outside my comfort zone and leaning into something new, Steven Bartlett mentioned me in his newsletter. He has over four million followers on Instagram. He's built a digital media empire. He's interviewed some of the world's top CEOs and household names and big thinkers. And he said to little ole me, 'Keep putting yourself out there Claire!!!'. Insert little girl scream here.
I sat down for 2.5 hours and recorded my F*ck Fast Fashion workshop, which was previously only hosted live, so that I could share it with the world and give sustainable fashion founders the opportunity to watch it anywhere, anytime.
I welcomed an ethical jewellery label from Estonia into my Slow Fashion Lab, and it reminded me that my work really does help people in all corners of the globe.
I shifted my perspective and broadened my mind about manufacturing in China after hosting a call with Rachael Calvert, the founder of ethical and sustainable label, Marvell Lane.
I woke up wanting to quit because Temu just made another billion dollars, I cried a lot on the floor, then I asked for help. Crazy, I know, I took my own advice and asked for help. I opened up about where I was at and what I was thinking in a blubbery email to three women, and they stoked my little fire for me when I couldn't. Clearly, I'm not quitting and never will, I'm not a quitter, but it reminded me that everyone needs help sometimes. You, me, the Queen, we all need it. We're all human.
I was awarded a grant from the Queensland government and the Minister personally called me to congratulate me. That's the second time the Queensland Government has backed me with a grant in my career.
I acknowledged that nearly dying and losing half my body's blood in childbirth only 18 months ago may be the reason why I can't work 14-hours days anymore and why I can't exercise the way I used to. So, I re-started my daily practice of looking in the mirror to say, 'Thank you body', you're amazing,' out loud.
My eldest daughter had her first major bike stack, arms and legs and all, and she vowed, 'I'm never getting on that bike again.' Instead of wanting to fix the world for her, I let her cry and give up for a day, then I told her how many times I've fallen off my 'bike' and how many times I continue to get back on my 'bike', and this week, she found the confidence to get back on hers, albeit only in the driveway at a snail's pace.
She also told me, 'Mummy, I like you just the way you are.' And that was last night, which inspired this blog post, because if you're like me and you're running a business built on your purpose, and it feels so important every day that you work so bloody hard to change the world because you know so deeply in your bones that you were put on this earth to make a difference - sometimes, it all gets a bit much, a bit consuming, and everything falls out of balance.
And sometimes, you and I, we need reminding of shōkakkō. To slow down, to take stock of what's important, to enjoy the little things, and to keep going through the good parts, the hard parts, the slow days, the busy days, the quitting days, the champagne days. Just don't lose sight of the light.
And of all of June's big and little moments to date, of everything I've learnt this month, what my daughter said to me is the most important moment, because balancing building a business with tiny humans as an over-achieving-perfectionist-sometimes-workaholic makes me feel like I'm either failing motherhood or failing entrepreneurship if one gets more of my time than the other. But if that little human thinks I'm nailing it, well hot damn, I must be.
But it's a constant work in progress this shōkakkō thing. But I know deep in my bones that I can do anything I set my mind to. Anything.
So, here’s to shōkakkō. To keeping the fire lit, quietly. To doing the work, even if no one claps. To becoming, not rushing. To failing and being ok with it because failing leads to learning and growth and change. To working on the things that need working on, in business and in the self. To not getting it right the first time and to getting back on that bike.
And to finding joy not just in the outcomes, but in the very human, very messy, in-between, every day moments. It's all about the journey man. It's all about the journey.
So, if you want to 10x your business success in 30 days, try something new, learn something new, and change your perception of success. Easy.
How are you shōkakkō-ing today?
Claire x
