Ep #95: What is The Art School?

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.” I’ve been reflecting on success lately, especially since, as of a week from now, it’s been two years since I launched the very first Art School. And The Art School has been as successful as my wildest dreams, and then more so. And that is largely, so much, the lion’s share of the part, in thanks to you, the listeners in this community. And especially those of you that I’ve had the opportunity, the great privilege and honor of working with personally.

Financial success is very important to me and an essential part of why I’m proud of what I created. And the success of my clients is absolutely something that I am very proud of, and proud of them and the work that they do and the way they take this work and take it to the next level and to new dimensions and make it their own.

The other thing I am so grateful for is, just as Dr. Angelou said, this process has given me an opportunity to settle into trusting myself, liking what I do, liking myself, and liking how I do it. And in fact, to the point, I am so in love with The Art School. I believe in it so much. And it occurred to me recently, I haven’t really introduced it specifically in quite some time.

So, I’m doing that in today’s episode so that, for those of you who are wondering what it’s about, you’ll hear more. And also, if you are out there wondering if you can create success on your own terms, by truly being you, your come as you are authentic, imperfect, wild, creative, intuitive – whatever have you – self in the world, I hope my story inspires you that you absolutely can.

I hope my story inspires you to build that dream and to know that success really is liking yourself, liking what you do, liking how you do it, and that those aren’t just pretty words that work for a precious few, but those are wise words upon which you can build your dreams and a really, really good life.

You are listening to The Art School Podcast; a show for artists and creatives who want to become the next greatest version of themselves. Learn how to cultivate an extraordinary way of being and take the mystery out of making money, and the struggle out of making art. Here is your host, Master Certified Life Coach, artist, and former lawyer, Leah Badertscher.

Hello, dear listeners, and welcome to The Art School Podcast. I hope this finds you doing well and safe. It has been quite a week in the world, especially again here in the US, the end of August 2020. So much tragedy this week, and so much violence. And then – to a lesser degree, but it still greatly impacts people – a lot going on with the pandemic. And so, I wanted to do something just for a moment; just pause.

I do these Miracle Mondays on my Instagram and I often sometimes in The Art School if we have a smaller group. I’ve done it with bigger groups too, I guess. I just take a moment to acknowledge that we come together in a space like this, I think it’s really powerful to collectively tap into an intention that any work we do amplifies the greater good and that we be vessels and channels for healing and love in this world with the work that we do.

And I know, as creatives, we are especially equipped and powerful at this. So, if you may be feeling despair or helplessness or grief, I see you and I hear you and I feel that. And I am wrapping my virtual arms and thoughts and prayers around you and sending you consolation. And I also want to remind you, when you’re ready, that you are also strong, and you know – you know I know – you have an invitation to do something meaningful with your life, something – well, only you can know what that is.

But that’s also relevant to today’s podcast. Because it’s an introduction – a little abridged introduction, for sure not the whole picture, but a different snapshot of The Art School. And why that’s relevant is I know you came, I believe – to me, it’s a knowing – that you came with the seed of a dream, with the potential to do that meaningful something in this life time. And a lot of you are here because you know that too.

And it’s one of the reasons I created what I always wanted to find; an ideal ecosystem for that potential within you, that divine seed to grow and flourish and thrive, and also to contribute then to the greater ecosystem, the world we live in, the planet, humanity. So, in today’s episode, what I’m sharing is a brief introduction that I gave about The Art School in the recent free creative catalyst training I offered.

I offered a four-day training and, oh my gosh, it has been epic. You all that are in it, light me up. I am blown away. We have had, as of tonight, I think we’re at 97 people who have joined. And now while I know not everybody can make it live, that it has been amazing to see that kind of response and to see your responses come in to the challenges, because as I said, I wanted this to be a results-oriented challenge, where we really do jumpstart your prosperity, your creativity, new opportunities.

Today, we talk about strengthening that follow through muscle because I know, if you do that, oh my gosh, you’re golden, truly unstoppable. So, it’s been such an amazing week. And thank you for all of you that signed up and joined in, the energy has been awesome. The mastermind has been incredible, and it’s just been also this perfect buildup for The Art School, which starts next week.

This is our only full session of The Art School that’s running in 2020. And I have long-term visions for the work I do. I for sure play the long game. And I also play the paradox too of going at each new session, whether it’s Art School or now the mastermind, as if it is the one and only chance I get to do this and that it’s the last time that I’m going to do this.

And so, I work that paradoxical energy of playing the long game and also, man, if this was my last hurrah, I’d do it right. And that is absolutely what I’m gearing up to do.

So, this creative catalyst week in the mastermind has been amazing for just heightening and elevating the energy and the enthusiasm. And it for sure is infectious and contagious. As is success and as is this philosophy about success being about liking yourself, liking what you do and how you do it.

And I wish for all of you, your biggest, boldest, most creative badass dreams to come true. I wish for all of you to be standing on the stages, receiving the tiny gold statuses you want to receive or seeing your name at the top of the stack, in the New York Times, on the Bestseller list, for sold-out painting exhibitions, for consistent, amazing, lucrative incomes from your creative career and from your brilliance, and from your work impacting the lives of so many in a positive constructive way and being this force, like creativity and art can be, that points to a vision of the future.

Because we need that more than ever right now, to be eyes wide open in a present situation, to take that in, to be real, not have rose-colored glasses, not whitewash anything. And then also still holding that and the beginnings of hope and shining a light on where we need to go next.

So, if that sounds like you, and I can ever support you in any way in doing your work in the world, please let me know. And I do think I have created this with the help of so many people, not the least of which are The Art School participants themselves. This is, for sure, an organic and collaborative experience, and one that I love and I’m so proud of.

So, if and when it seems like the right fit for you, you as the guardian and greatest champion of your own potential, your own life and your own dreams, I would be honored to have you join us. So, now, listen in as I share a little bit more about what The Art School is all about.

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Welcome, everyone, back to the creative catalyst, this little mini version of The Art School. And I realized yesterday, we have so many new people in this group that I don’t want to assume you know me or know the podcast or know this group, or even if you see The Art School, you might think we’re going to learn watercolors or figure drawing, or put together your art website.

And I just wanted to take a moment to reintroduce myself and not assume that you know me. So, my name is Leah Campbell Badertscher. I am an artist. I’m a writer, podcast host. I am a coach, a teacher. I’m the founder of The Art School and my company Renascence Company. I’m a mother. I’m a wife, and capital C Creative and very passionate about this work.

And I was thinking too, I wanted to – this is like a very special corner of the universe to me. And if you are coming from – you might be coming from different coaching backgrounds or therapy or corporate or new to this work entirely, or from a traditional MFA program or traditional arts program.

And if so, this is probably going to seem a lot more wild to you and untamed. In other places in the universe, they would say, like, messy, chaotic, unprofessional. But this work that I do is really a manifestation of me stepping into my natural power and essence and trusting my intuition and trusting my creativity, and also trusting that I am quite capable and quite trained in all things analytical and critical thought too. I also have a JD and have my degree in finance and international finance and worked as a lawyer and worked in intellectual property management in a university setting before I launched and jumped right into this path.

So, also, I wanted to say a little bit about The Art School community because it is so precious and special to me and it has become something bigger than myself, which is the dream, right? More than a community, I really want it to be an organic movement, a creative revolution within people.

And so, I very much believe that the seeds of the dreams, the goals, the potential you feel within you are sacred. And I wanted to create a space which I’d always longed for myself, that addressed the whole person. Because I knew that these, like I was saying yesterday, these seeds come with all the information they need. We just need to get it in fertile ground and nurture it, and we have to participate in that.

Yes, part of participating in that is then you opt into a community like this. So, it may be unlike a community that you have been in before. And I think, in some of the best possible ways. Because I have people, not surprisingly, people who are very creative, sometimes – not always – are introverted or have that aspect. I would say that I am an introvert. And yet I thrive in this environment.

I have a lot of people say, “I didn’t think I was a group person until I was introduced to this community. I didn’t know you could be in group. I didn’t know you could be in community like this.” Because I always just thought I was going to be a misfit, or that it was either going to be misfit or I have to be a chameleon all my life and mutate, do violence, hide some part of myself in order to belong to the world.

And so, for a while, I was like, I don’t think I want to belong to the world. I think I’d be happy being a hermit. And I did do that, but I think I still showed up in the world, but I don’t think I was showing up as really me. And maybe some of you can relate to that. Maybe you are active. You’re present for your families. You have friendships. You’re active out in your work life, in a career if you work outside the home, or in your community. And you’re like, “And yet, they don’t really know me.”

Some of you might be in great loving relationships and you’re like, “And they really don’t know me.” And just didn’t want to live that way anymore. And it is, can be, is still sometimes like a scary way to live. But this brings me back to the space I wanted to find, was a place that could help me take these very tangible physical things I wanted to create in the world and teach me the skills I needed to create them, and also teach me how to grow as a person in the process and not have these creations or my creative process be so expensive that they came at the expense of my health, my wellbeing, my mental health, my spiritual health, the values that I hold most dear.

And so, that is one way in which I have created and cultivated, envisioned, designed The Art School to be like an ideal creative habitat for a very particular kind of creative person. And I trust that the people that it resonates with will be drawn to that.

So, it is a creative ecosystem for your inner genius, for your deep-down dreams and desires, for that which still wants to happen through you and for you. So, what it is not though is a traditional critique space. There’s a place for that and you can certainly opt into that, but that’s not what this space is.

And then also, there are many different methodologies of coaching and philosophies. And I, like, own my particular wild corner of the universe with this. It is a blend of I have trained with some of the best coaches in the world, had them as mentors, been in their programs. And for all of you that have told me, “I am embarrassed about the number of self-help books I have and what I’ve spent on education or training,” like, we’ll talk.

Because not that it needs to be a competition, but I can almost assure you, I have spent much, much more and own it and love it. Because it’s all a part of me being like, I am going to give myself what I need in this lifetime to flourish and grow. I’m going to give myself the inner and outer ecosystem that my system, that that seed needs to flourish.

Because you can have the seed, you can have that acorn and you drop it in gravel, and what’s it going to do? And I know those of you, you’re so tough. You’re so resilient. You’re so strong. You are warriors. Even if you’ve felt beaten down and you don’t feel so warrior queen-esque, you are. And perhaps it’s just been you’ve been lying in the gravel for too long.

But the good thing is, you’re actually a human acorn, a human nut. So, you can pick yourself up and, like, plop yourself down in the garden, in the field, whether in The Art School or somewhere else, where you belong.

And so, again, if critique helps you cultivate a certain aspect, so be it. But that’s not what this place is about. This place, I want to focus on the development, the cultivation of your mind, your body, your spirit, your emotional mastery, your emotional health, so that you have the inner ecosystem you need for your seed to flourish.

Because I know you came that way and I know part of you wants to heal and restore that inner ecosystem. So, I want to guide you to that. There will be times when I jump, like, right to, “Hey, have you thought about this or this for increasing your reach?” And I’ll be more pragmatic and business oriented.

But what I am most passionate about and most powerful at and I think have a unique bled of background and gifts for is blending, like, analytical, the ability to listen deeply, hear what you want, hear the wisdom that is within you that you just need to hear somebody reflect back to you, and then also blending that too with trusting my intuition and holding this space where your wildness can flow and you can be seen for the greatness that you are.

So, sometimes if you’ve been familiar with other coaching practices, you might be like, “Well why is she not just jumping in, cutting her off.” Stay with me long enough and there’s a method to it. It’s an intuitive method sometimes, oftentimes. But I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I’ve really honed my trust and my instinct and so, stay with me. And again, I’m just so glad you all are here.

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So, this brings me to the part of the podcast where I want you to do more than just listen. I want you to lean in, really work with me and coach with me. So, take this information, really reflect on it. Think hard and long and deeply. Contemplate why this is relevant to you, what your take is about it, how you’re going to apply it to your life.

So, my question for you today is really a prompt. I want you to consider that quote, “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.” If that is a definition of success that sounds appealing to you, and let me just also say that doesn’t mean that then it is exclusive of any sort of other metric or definition of success, such as a career opportunity or an achievement or income goals financial targets. For sure, all of those things are important and relevant too.

But I’m just looking at this one definition and pulling that out to focus on for this episode. Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and how you do it. If you consider that for yourself on a scale of one to 10 without judgment, where do you think you currently fall if 10 is, yes, that sounds like me. I like myself. I like what I do. And I like how I do it.

And then, here’s the thing. Do not use the scale like this, as a reason or an excuse or a way to beat yourself up. Use it as a way to have this deeper conversation with yourself, about, “Oh, okay, well if I’m at a seven, what is it then that would make the difference that would take me to a 10?” Look at that as a way to inspire you and a way to inform what you can change so that you can move that meter, move that needle to a 10. Because you can absolutely have success on your terms.

Someone this week in the Creative Catalyst shared her amazing beautiful dream and she is a creative soul, an amazing artist and person I have known for quite some time, way back before either of us – we were both on a very different path when we first knew each other. And she shared again her beautiful goals. And then she said, you know, “I’m a little embarrassed at how impractical it is.”

And I was like, whoa – this was her first introduction to The Art School. I said, no, you don’t have to apologize or qualify for any of that because, if nothing else, I am the posterchild for a person who had very impractical goals and dreams that I was embarrassed by for a while, by what I thought was their impracticality. And other people were embarrassed for me too. I went through years of that as well.

And now, I am in a place where it’s no longer impractical or irresponsible and I’m for sure not embarrassed by it. And it’s not because I’m a special snowflake. It’s because it can be done. And that’s something I wanted to demonstrate, you know, give people a taste of in this four-day intensive training, that there is a process, there is a methodology, it is a training process.

Yes, there is work. But it is achievable. And so, if you want that, and when you ask yourself why not me and you answer, “Yeah, why not me? Yes, me.” Choose yourself. You choose you, and then go get it. But not only go get it, but know you can go get it on your terms. Know that you can go get it and you can like yourself; you can like what you do, and you can like how you do it. That is available to each and every one of you.

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Art School Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, if these episodes have been useful for you, the best thing you can do to pay it forward is to share, is to subscribe, and I so deeply appreciate it when you take the time from your day to go to iTunes and leave a review.

Also, if you have been thinking about sharing this podcast with another person, I would love that. I think too, in times like these, whether it’s my podcast and information that you share, or whether it’s other resources that help you during these times to feel more yourself, to soothe your central nervous system, to empower you, to give you hope, to inspire you, to educate you, share those. Because in that sharing, we participate in a kind of contagion that is very positive and constructive.

And so, while despair is always an option, you don’t have to choose it. And not only do you not have to choose it, but you can choose instead that antidote to despair, which is action. So, how can you make goodness and love and healing and creativity and empowerment, how can you make that go viral?

And if it resonates with you that one of the ways to do that is by sharing my podcast, I would be honored. And as always, I greatly appreciate your listenership. So, thank you for, each week, spending your time with me.

To close today, here’s something I would like for you to take a walk with, dedicate time today and this week to. And that is just the practice of liking yourself. Spend some time with yourself. Put your hand on your heart. Walk around with a smile on your face and be like, “Damn, it’s good to be me.”

Smile at yourself in the mirror. Think of something funny or quirky you do or something nice you did for someone. Think of the way your heart warms and grows when you think of your friends or your loved ones. But it’s so easy to fall into the pattern of being hard on ourselves and always wanting to be better or coming from a place of lack. And just make sure, promise me, that sometime this week, you’ll spend time sitting with yourself, letting your heart warm at the thought of your own presence.

Because I sure like you, a lot. And I would love to look you in the eye someday and tell you that. But I’m just going to try to send it to you over the airwaves for now. So, with that, have a beautiful week, everyone. I have pretty much the best podcast listeners in the world. I’m pretty sure. No contest out there to prove it, but I am pretty sure that’s true. And yeah, you guys are awesome. I’ll see you next time.