How to Live Like an Editor

Marc Jacobs said, “Your life is a series of creative choices.” When you live like an editor, you’re constantly asking yourself, “Does this choice fit my dreams, my desires, who I want to become? Does this action flatter my body, my mind, my spirit, my values, and the way I want to show up in the world? Does this thought belong in my future? Or will it take me further away from what I want to cultivate in my one precious life?”

When you live like an editor, everything you do is an artful experiment. And that is what we’re talking about in today’s episode.

Welcome to the School of Self-Image, where personal development meets style. Here’s your hostess, master life coach Tonya Leigh.

Hello, my beautiful friends. I feel like there is so much that we need to catch up on. First of all, have you signed up for the Live Like an Editor Workshop that I’m hosting next week? I am so excited about this. I have never offered anything like this. Number one, it’s my lowest-cost offer ever. It’s going to be five days’ worth of content, coaching, support, community, and it’s all around mastering the art of the edit.

One of the things that I’ve realized in looking at my life and the results I’ve been able to create and the lives of the people that I admire, designers, artists, creatives, and how they’re able to bring their visions to life, it’s a mixture of science and creativity. It’s a way of thinking. It’s a way of being. It’s a way of making daily decisions.

It’s a way of showing up in your world. And so, that is what we’re going to be talking about during this workshop. Each morning, you will be receiving an audio lesson, just like this. You’re going to have me in your ear, teaching you about that day’s concept. And then you can meet me on a video coaching call in the afternoon where I’m going to be answering your questions, I’m going to be coaching you, we’re going to be talking more about the day’s topic.

And then we wrap it up in the evening with a love note, something for you to think about before you go to bed. And you get a gorgeous workbook to support you during this five-day experience. And did I mention there’s also a Facebook community? This is such an incredible offer at such a low cost. It is a no-brainer.

In fact, I was on my team meeting today and one of my team members said, “I cannot believe you’re only charging $37 for this. This should be a $500 course. It’s so good. So much value.”

But let me tell you why I’m doing it. I’ve had many of you who have recently discovered me. Maybe you found me through a Facebook ad or an Instagram ad. Maybe a friend referred you to me or maybe you just happened upon my podcast. And you’re really drawn to my approach. You’re drawn to my work. And you are wondering what it would be like to be coached by me, or to join my membership.

And so, I thought, why not create this five-day workshop where you can get a taste of my philosophy and how I coach and my perspective around personal development? Because I’ll tell you all, my approach is very different.

I come from a perspective of looking at you through the lens of your own self-image. Because that’s what’s creating your life. How you think about yourself is ultimately what you create. You live into your identity. And so, my work is all around shifting your identity to be that which is a match for what you want and who you want to be.

I also come from a creative lens. I don’t think we need to fix you. I don’t think anything’s wrong with you. I’m all about let’s look at where you’re going, who you want to become, and let’s create that version of you through your mindset, through your style, and using your surroundings as a way to support the process.

So, again, my approach is very different. And so, if any of you are looking for a fresh way to work on yourself that’s fun, that’s inspiring, that doesn’t’ feel so heavy, come join us for Live Like an Editor, the Workshop. Five days, me and you. We are going to have so much fun. And you’re going to experience a completely different way of looking at your life and how to create it on purpose.

So, all you have to do is go to schoolofselfimage.com/workshop. And I cannot wait to spend five days with you. So, with all of that said, let’s talk about how to live like an editor. And again, if this topic resonates with you, you’re going to want to join us for the workshop because we’re going to be going way deeper into the topic.

But recently, I was watching Anna Wintour’s Masterclass on the lessons that she’s learned from being the editor in chief at Vogue Magazine. And I realized there’s so many similarities between what it takes to bring a publication of Vogue to life, and what it takes to create your life. And I’m all about creating our lives.

In my last podcast, I talked about the energetic difference between fixing yourself and creating yourself. And when you live life like an editor, you’re really in a creative process. And the truth is, we’re always creating something. But when you are living like an editor, you are creating from a vision. You’re not just creating subconsciously the same things over and over again.

So, as I was preparing for the workshop, I realized that to live like an editor, it really boils down to the three Es. So, the first E is express. Editors are very clear on the tone and the feeling of what it is that they want to express.

They understand how they want to be seen in the marketplace. They understand the image that they want to create for themselves. And so, when it comes to living like an editor, you have to be very clear on what it is that you want to express as a woman. This year, I chose audacious as my word of the year.

I thought about my vision for my life, the goals that I have. And I asked myself, what’s the next version of me? Who do I need to become? What do I need to express in order to align myself with that vision? And audacious was the word that just kept coming up over and over and over again.

And so, that word has guided me this year. And I’ve done some audacious things. And I think about even like Anna Wintour. Every publication, every month’s issue, she has a very clear vision of what is going to be expressed in that issue. And every decision, every editorial decision is made based on that expression.

So, you have to ask yourself, who do I want to be as a woman? What do I want to express to the world? So, that is the first E; expression. Being intentional and purposeful with how you show up and what you express to the world.

The second E required to live like an editor is one that I find most people struggle with. Because we want to know that we’re going to get it right. We don’t want to fail. We don’t want to make mistakes. And yet, to live a bold and extraordinary life, you have to be willing to do those things. And that requires that you’re willing to experiment.

That means you have to be willing to step into the mystery of life. You have to be willing to get it wrong. You have to be willing to fail. But so many of you aren’t living the lives that you want to live because you’re not willing to experiment. You’re not willing to experiment. You’re not willing to try it on.

Do you know how many creatives, how many artists, how many entrepreneurs, how many editors have failed and made so many mistakes? But it’s taken that to learn ad to grow and to ultimately get them to where they wanted to go.

You know, life is just one big experiment. The problem is a lot of you just keep doing the same experiments over and over because you know them really well and they tend to work out for you. But they’re not getting you to where you want to go. For me, it’s all about forward experimentation; trying new experiments.

And that’s what especially this past year has been for me. Everything from starting the School of Self-Image was a huge experiment. I had no guarantee that it was going to work. But I had a vision. I knew what I wanted to express. I knew I was being guided to that. But there was no guarantee it was going to work. I had to experiment. I had to try it on.

And I’ve had to tweak it and hone it along the way. And I will continue to do so. But even more recently, a lot of you probably heard, if you listen to this podcast, that I moved to Puerto Rico. It was one big experiment. And guess what. I’m not in Puerto Rico anymore. I was there for two weeks, and I realized that it didn’t fit, that it wasn’t the place that I wanted to be.

I was willing to get it wrong. But I had to experiment. I had to go and try it on to see what it felt like. And two weeks in, I knew, “Okay, this isn’t the place for me.” Was it a failure? No. It was a huge success. Why? Because I got so much clarity around that decision about what I want for my life, about what’s important. And about the kind of place that I want to live.

And so, in order to be the editor of your life, you’re going to have to be willing to experiment and to get it wrong. Because every time you get it wrong, you’re learning more about how to get it right. So, be willing to experiment with your best life. Try things on; new thoughts, new outfits, new habits, new experiences.

The only way to create new results is you must be willing to do new things. So, that means you have to be willing for it to be messy. You know what? The creative process is messy. But when you embrace that and you don’t expect yourself to be perfect and you don’t expect yourself to never fail and you don’t expect yourself to always get it right, then the creative process becomes so much fun, and you learn so much about yourself in the process.

So, that is the second E. Be willing to experiment and get it wrong. Because you’re going to learn so much about yourself along the way.

And then the final E is edit. Editors are constantly editing. So, what does it mean to edit? Well, it’s to remove errors. It is to modify. It’s to make changes, correct mistakes in order to align with the vision of the publication. So, the way this looks for me is I know what I want to express and then I experiment. I try things on; new thoughts, new beliefs, new clothes, new places, new friends, new everything.

And then, it’s a series of deciding, “Does this fit? How does this feel? Does this need to be edited? Do I need to modify it? Do I need to delete it? Do I need to change it? Do I need to embrace it?”

As Marc Jacobs said, “Your life is a series of creative choices.” Moment by moment, you get to make decisions or edits about what belongs into your life. And this starts with your thinking, my friends. We need to do some thought edits because what we think, we become.

Our thinking forms and shapes our self-image. And so, the first thing we have to do is an inventory of our thoughts and our beliefs and decide on purpose, “Do I want to think this? Does this serve me? Does this fit? Does this belong in my future? Does this feel good? Does this feel true to me? Or is this simply a thought error? Something that I’ve been thinking maybe for years, maybe for decades that I never questioned? I never looked at the vision for my life and what I want to express and ask myself, does this align? Or does it need to be edited?”

When you live like an editor, you’re constantly assessing everything from your thoughts to your clothes to your friends to what you’re eating, to what’s on your bookshelf, all of it. And asking yourself, “Does this fit? Does this belong?” And if not, you’re constantly removing and then bringing new things in, new experiments to see how they fit and how they feel.

That is the process of living like an editor. And it’s the only process that I know of that goes on to lead an extraordinary life. You can’t bypass the steps of experimenting. You cannot bypass the step of deciding on purpose how you want to show up, what you want to express. And you certainly bypass the step of editing because every day we are making decision.

My question is, are those decisions on purpose? Are you deciding based on your future? Or are you making the same decisions over and over again and then wondering why you feel stuck and wondering why you feel so terrible and wondering why you feel powerless?

When you embrace living like an editor, what I promise you is that you get all of your power back, and you realize what an incredible and amazing creative you are. You’ve been creating your whole life. But chances are, maybe you’ve been creating results you don’t want.

I want to teach you how to create the results you do want by being intentional and mastering the art of the edit. So, if this sounds like something that you want to do, you want to dive deeper into and you want me to support you, come join us for the Live Like an Editor Workshop. We’re going to be starting on Monday. Just head over to schoolofselfimage.com/workshop and I cannot wait to see you inside.

Have a gorgeous week, my friends. Cheers.

Hey, have you grabbed your free copy of the School of Self-Image Manifesto? If not, what in the world? Head over to schoolofselfimage.com/manifesto and get a copy that teaches you how to think and show up in the areas of mindset, style, and surroundings so that you can transform your self-image.