I may have lost a few readers in my last messy experiment. Thanks to the rest of you for hanging in while I wrestled with a new email manager and tried creating a course with email automation. The wonky-ness included email mobbing of my whole list versus those who said, yes, I’ll join the Career Change Confidence challenge.
Blah! What a mess. 🙃 So much learning — including the joy (and sting) of embarrassment. My comedy style sometimes includes “playing the fool,” but honestly, it’s not my favorite thing in the professional world. I’m out here trying to look legitimate! That’s the rub of being a serious healer with a wee bit of silliness along for the ride.
But you know what? Upleveling almost always makes us feel foolish. There’s a rawness, a wobble, an awkwardness to it. And in my Sparketype* makeup, I’m both the Advisor and the Performer. That Performer part of me is about “playing the fool” in service of healing and inspiring soulful action. So I’m embracing this spirit of tomfoolery — because after the dust of the wonky C3 challenge has settled, there’s some great lessons to share.
The First Pancake Theory
A favorite theory of mine has to do with food of course, in this case, pancakes. When you’re making pancakes, the first one is rarely the best. The batter’s adjusting, the griddle’s finding its rhythm. That first pancake is usually lopsided or underdone — but it “primes the pan.” After that, a whole stack of golden frisbees awaits.
That first pancake isn’t a failure; it’s a sacrifice for the greater feast. It’s taking one for the team, you might say.
So what’s the relevance for you?
Here are six gains I took from my “first pancake”, C3 experiment — and they might just help you embrace your own messy beginnings:
- Self-trust grows from follow-through. When you do what you said you’d do (even imperfectly), confidence builds. I’ve been talking and researching course creation – and this little pancake is a lovely start.
- Learning comes from doing. Visioning is important, but only action lands the deeper teaching. ‘Nuff said.
- Unconditional self-support. Growth phases can be stressful — and learning to be kind to yourself during them is beautiful progress.
- Beta testing yields treasure. Every messy experiment adds to your knowledge base for future improvements.
- Completion creates ease. When you finish something, even messily, you free up time, energy, and space for what’s next. Those undone steps take up creative space, even if they’re in the ethers or the background.
- Clarity comes through action. Even if you can’t see the full picture, the next step reveals itself when you take it. After this, you can better see around the corner; see what’s next to do.
Final thoughts:
So here’s to messy first pancakes, to playing the fool, and to experimenting in service of our planetary evolution.
May your creations bring you self-trust, clarity, and ease.
All the best and big blessings,
Denise Barnes, MA, LPC, CSA (Certified Sparketype* Advisor)
Resources:
*The Sparketype is a evidence-based body of knowledge supporting career fulfillment developed by Jonathan Fields. See his book Sparked, and take the Sparketype assessment for free if you have ten minutes. Talk to me if you’d like more unpacking of what how your Sparketype results translate to what’s next in upleveling your career.
September 15, 2025 Channel by Denise Barnes Put your busy work down for a moment, and name three of the most important things that you would want to have complete if you die January 1st 2026. So in this last quarter of your life, what would be important to address? What would be important to get to? What would be important to stop saying, I’ll do that as soon as this other thing gets done. Rearrange how things get done, what things get done, so that the priorities are in order for this concentrated and powerful time.
Simon Sinek podcast – Awesome career-change-relevant hour with Harvard happiness teacher and author Arthur Brooks; his latest book is The Happiness Files. Podcast text: Your instincts aren’t just whispers. They’re a compass pointing you toward the life you’re meant to live. But in a world obsessed with speed, metrics, and outcomes, most of us forget how to listen.
The Power Path, Jose Stevens, Lena Stevens and daughter Anna have wonderful offerings – here is Lena’s monthly forecast for September. The time between eclipses and the whole month’s theme is “rattling the cage” – so that old patterns that don’t serve can be identified, and hopefully, cleared.
Wonderful fall soup recipe, Pumpkin and Red Lentil Soup, from The Kitchn. I was about to run out for the ginger I’d forgotten in Saturday’s shopping trip, and my neighbor pulled up. He was happy to lend me the bit of ginger for this – guess who’s getting some soup!
Blessings on your next half of September! Keep the faith, fellow travelers! You are so needed, aho!
Denise Barnes
With good friend Jackie, fellow somatic therapist, on a recent hike up in Indian Peaks wilderness near Nederland, CO