🧠Weekly MindSweep No. 187 | Mind Your Business | Self-Trust
August 2025
Week 186: Curated Conversation: Self-Trust
*Week 187: Mind Your Business: Self-Trust
Week 188: Manage Your Mind: Self Trust
Week 189: What’s On My Mind: Self-Trust
Let’s sweep the brain…
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In the MindSweep this week:
Curated Conversation with curated GIF’s & puns (for your entertainment).
Jamie’s Second Brain Corner: Links to references. Need a map? I’ve got you!
What’s I’m Reading - What’s I’m Reading - Awakening the Brain by Charlotte A. Tomaino Ph.D.
Collaborations with Terri Hamilton (Thursday) & Shannon Giordano and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce
My face đź’ś and a link to schedule your free consultation.
Stop Following the Instructions. Start Designing the Kit.
My identical twins used to light up when we walked into the LEGO store.
Not because they didn't already have bricks at home, trust me, we had plenty. Thousands of tiny pieces crammed into a plastic bin, lurking like landmines across our living room floor. It's likely why I still have "house shoes."
But there was something magnetic about those glossy boxes on the shelves. Each one promises something specific: a rocket ship, a race car, a high-speed train. There it was, right there on the front of the box, the perfectly finished product. Tidy. Impressive. Complete.
Exactly how things are supposed to look.
Clarity and visual certainty for the creative brain is like finding GOLD. We want that crave that. We believe that maybe this time we'll follow the instructions and achieve the same polished result.
Once home with their new box, my boys would follow the plan with focus and determination. Click by click and page by page. But soon enough, the novelty wore off, and the structure would become stifling; the dopamine would dry up.
That's when imagination would take the wheel.
Suddenly, a spaceship could become a dragon that grew flower wings, or the race car could now fly into outer space! Once, a castle got a hot tub and a rooftop pool for mini-figures who needed a break. (I mean, don't we all?!)
This wasn't about building something wrong; it was about creating something right, for them. They were choosing to follow themselves. And here's a truth I didn't realize until I've been thinking more deeply about self-trust:
They weren't just building something new; they were designing a kit that worked their brains.
Let’s sweep the brain…
🎬 Rather watch or listen instead of read? Now you can!
👉 Click here to Listen
Why This Matters for Entrepreneurs
Creative entrepreneurs are sold the same kind of boxes. Here’s the “right” system, with the “perfect” formula to succeed, scale, and get it all "right!" We buy the box, hoping it will solve our inner chaos when we crave the tidy image on the front. (new planner anyone?)
We want it to be that simple. We quickly realize these kits were never made for brains like ours, and shame sets in. These kits were designed to:
Standardize, not liberate.
Help us fit in, not stand out.
Get us to follow, not create.
And that is not why you became an entrepreneur.
You didn't leave traditional work to follow someone else's instructions. You left that system to build something that doesn't exist yet. Something shaped by your experience, your values, and your vision. What if the process doesn't align with your brain, rhythm, or vision? What if, like my kids, you've been building someone else's idea of success when you were always meant to create your own?
Let me say this clearly:
You are not just the builder. You're the one designing the kit for you.
That's what creative entrepreneurship is. Not following someone else's blueprint, but choosing which bricks to include, how they fit together, and what it means when you're finished. You don't need more boxes, and you definitely don't need more bricks.
What you need to do is start trusting your own design.
This week's MindSweep is an invitation to stop shopping for shiny boxes, searching for the manual, and start trusting that you already know how to build something remarkable.
Let’s mind our business with noticing and awareness.
If you're anything like me, and the entrepreneurs I work with, you've probably got a shelf full of business books, with tabs marking pages, notes scribbled on post-its, and piles more to read.
We search those pages looking for the answer, hoping someone else's clarity will unlock our next step.
But most of those books weren't written with your brain in mind. They weren't designed for nonlinear thinkers, for divergent creatives, or for those of us who don't always follow "best practices" because our nervous systems don't respond to one-size-fits-all systems.
The truth is, the answers you're looking for won't be found in the margins of someone else's playbook. They come from trusting your lived experience, your preferences, and your unique way of navigating the world.
Here are five awareness and action steps to help you reconnect with the designer and builder inside of you.
5 Awareness and Action Steps for Creative Entrepreneurs
1. Catch Yourself Looking Outside for the Answer: That moment when you're tempted to Google a better workflow, download another freebie, or ask someone else what to do? Pause. Instead, ask: What do I already know? Chances are, you've faced something similar before, and your answer is already inside you.
2. Audit One "Should" in Your Business: Choose a process you're currently using (social media, scheduling, client on-boarding) and ask: Do I do this because it works or because I was told I should? If it's not working for you, it's fair game to change.
3. Build Without a Plan: Pick a small task this week and create it without instructions. It could be writing a post, outlining a new offer, or restructuring your schedule. Let it be nonlinear and let it be yours.
4. Define Your Building Style: Think about a decision that turned out well. How did you make it? Was it data-driven? Intuition-led? Collaborative? Quick? Slow? This is part of your internal operating system. Recognize it, name it, and use it.
5. Write the First Page of Your Own Manual: Take 10 minutes and jot down 5 truths you know about the way you work best. These don't have to sound professional. They just have to be real. (E.g., "I need movement before deep work" or "Deadlines help me start.”) This is how your process begins to take shape from the inside out.
You already have Self-Trust
My kids didn't follow the LEGO instructions all the way through, not because they couldn't, but because they didn't want to. They stopped because they saw something better in their mind. They had their own vision, trusted it, and built it.
And you can too.
Maybe you've been waiting for someone to hand you the right plan, the perfect funnel, or the "correct" next step. But you don't need one. Maybe what you really need is to dump the bricks out, sit with the pieces, and remember that you already know how to build something beautiful.
You are the system.
You are the process.
You are the one designing the kit. [1]
My questions for you this week :
Have you ever bought a course, book, or business tool because it looked like the polished solution you’ve been searching for?
Do you feel like you “fail” when you can’t stick to someone else’s process? Or do you see it as a signal to create your own?
✨ Ready to Build Something That’s Truly Yours?
If you're tired of following someone else’s instructions and ready to create a business that reflects your values, your rhythm, and your reality; you’re in the right place. Let’s take what’s already in your head and shape it into something that actually works for you.
Creative ideas aren’t random sparks of genius, they’re organized chaos made visible. That’s not a flaw. That’s the process.
A MindSweep Mapping Session uses the power of visual thinking (inspired by the Idea Mapping method) to help you move from mental clutter to confident action.
Whether you’re a visionary thinker, a neurodivergent entrepreneur, or a heart-centered business owner, this process is your map to your clarity.
🧠Your brain. Your business. Mapped.
👉 Book your free MindSweep Chat: www.chickbookcreative.com/mind-sweep
Already know where you need to work on your business?
Book a free consultation to learn how I can support you and your business.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
[1] Thank you Liz Heichelbech from Creative Incites for the conversation around my analogy this week and offering your creative genius of reflecting to me “We’re the one designing the kits!”
[X] Did someone say MindSweep MAP?! Learn more about my Personalized MindSweep Mapping Process
MONDAY: 8 am - Curated Conversation - Zoom
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What I’m reading
Awakening the Brain
Author: Charlotte A Tomaino, Ph.D.
Thank you to Angela Capinera from Your Mind In Bloom LLC for this recommendation!
Exploring the powerful link between the spiritual and the physical, Awakening the Brain teaches you to awaken and develop your own spiritual mind.
An awakened brain allows you to live from the optimal brain state, discover your broadest range of skills, and unleash the growth and potential that too often lies dormant.
Drawing from her unique background as a neuropsychologist and former nun, Charlotte Tomaino explores the impact of belief and spirituality on the actual function and structure of the brain. Through effective, hands-on exercises, Tomaino gives us the tools to expand our consciousness, raise our awareness, and fully use the power of the brain to create the life we desire.
As a clinical neuropsychologist, Tomaino has helped hundreds of patients develop practical solutions for the loss of brain function due to trauma.
Find it where you browse for books.
Collaborations!
Join us Friday, September 5th, at the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce for this two-hour interactive business community experience.
We'll discuss ways to cultivate business through Sales, Marketing, and Communication methods that support relationship building, showing up authentically, and connecting deeper with colleagues and the people you serve.
9-11 am - Open discussion, community support, brainstorming ideas
Join me in meeting business owners in our community. You'll leave with new tools to help you make connections and build your business!
Free; Registration is required: REGISTRATION.
Mindful Connections
Connecting like-hearted entrepreneurs to build relationships, offering support, understanding their passions, and sharing their names in rooms of opportunity.
Join us Thursdays, 12-1 pm EST.
12:00 - Take 5—a guided meditation with Terri Hamilton of Positively Terri to ground your week with peace and focus.
12:05-1 pm Round-table Share
Who you are
The gifts you bring to the world
Who you serve
The answer to a Curated question to spark conversation,
If you found this on the web, sign up to join us!
In other news…
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