Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dana J Buchman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Creative Life Design is wholeheartedly a mission and values-driven company. I’m incredibly passionate about supporting creative, neurodivergent, and non-linear thinkers to live their dream lives. The world wasn’t built for us: our brains work differently, our processes and productivity are unique, and even our energy cycles have distinctive creative patterns. We ride waves of inspiration and our energy flows in and out like the tides. This way of being doesn’t neatly fit into a 9-to-5 schedule at a desk and traditional systems to set goals and accomplish tasks don’t work for us either. My background is in marketing and executive leadership at brands like Apple and Disney, and it quickly became apparent to me that the systems and tools we were provided to set and achieve goals were demotivating and unproductive, while also not inspiring or empowering our true potential to shine through. People with creative and neurodivergent brains have so much to offer – we’re incredibly big dreamers and have important ideas and ambitions to share with the world. As a collective society, we all benefit when each individual is living in their purpose and sharing their gifts, and it’s my honor to support individuals and teams toward that beautiful reality.
I’ve found that there are essentially 4 key reasons why people aren’t living the lives that they dream of. #1: Many of us are unwilling to take an honest look at our current lives – to really understand it objectively and to admit what we love and what we don’t. It’s sometimes really hard to do because once you do, you can’t unsee it… but it’s also really powerful and can literally change your life. #2: We often don’t allow ourselves to actually dream our highest, craziest, most awe-inspiring dreams. It’s terrifying to admit to ourselves what we truly want because, “What if I can’t have it? What if it’s not in the cards for me” or simultaneously, “What if I do get it and then my whole life changes and is unrecognizable?” Fear of success is in equal measure to fear of failure and it can be hard to allow ourselves to truly dream. #3: We may not have tools that work for us. Many of us have tried the linear and rigid systems, often times without success. And when the tools don’t work for us, it’s easy to beat ourselves up and feel like it’s all user error – like we’re the failure. If we can make it through #1 and #2 – honestly looking at our lives, admitting what we want to change, and allowing ourselves to dream, often times we then apply linear systems to a nonlinear process that doesn’t work and then we give up. Sometimes it can feel impossible to set goals because the systems fail us, so we think, “Why should I even set goals in the first place if I can’t achieve them anyway?” And even if we do achieve them, often times we get there and think, “Wow, that wasn’t what I expected it to be.” So we give up on goal setting or trying to live our dream lives altogether, reverting back to our ‘comfortable enough’ yet ultimately uncomfortable existence. And finally #4: We may not be ready yet. If we get through #1-3 and have the knowledge, desire, and all the tools, sometimes we’re in survival mode and need to just focus our energy and resources on foundational needs. Or we
may need some time to sit with everything we just uncovered and let it integrate into our psyche, soul, and body before we’re ready to make any big changes.
All of these reasons for not living our dream lives are completely valid, but I developed Creative Life Design to support you every step of the way because I genuinely want you to live your dreams, too! I help you reflect on your recent past, dream the big dreams, and provide you tools that are flexible, adaptable, and proven to work. As far as #4 and not being ready, I can’t magically get you to the other side of that, but the tools and system I provide helps you navigate that experience and accept the place that you’re at, overcoming imposter syndrome and focusing on self-love along the way. Embracing your current reality is the closest thing I have to a silver bullet and it’s the fastest way to the other side. Resistance is suffering so instead of fighting against life, we learn to dance with it. I built my business with this methodology and system to support you in overcoming all of these obstacles. I know you because I am you. I’ve been in your shoes and I’m cheering you on every step of the way.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a dreamer at heart. I love tackling big challenges and overcoming them, not letting fear guide me but instead celebrating all the ways I’ve overcome that fear and obstacles in my life. I’m an achiever – I got a black belt in karate, summited Kilimanjaro, made it to the C-Suite, have lived in 3 different countries, and am now living in my purpose to help others achieve their goals and dreams. I’ve had an amazing career in marketing and executive leadership for over 20 years at companies like Apple, Disney, Mattel, and Activision that I’m so grateful for… but during a vacation to Turks and Caicos a few years ago, I realized I had been waiting to live the life I truly wanted… waiting for the right job opportunity, the right timing, the right amount of money in the bank, and a million other things – all while putting off actually living my dreams and the lifestyle I desired. Shortly thereafter, my life fell apart. I had a devastating and traumatic miscarriage, I lost my job unexpectedly, and then I was told I had a life-threatening heart condition – all within a few short months. In the midst of my trauma and grief, I had to fight for my joy like I was fighting for air to breathe.
Trying to get my bearings and my feet underneath me again, I leaned on the systems I had created and taught to teams throughout my career. I started designing a planning journal and included all my favorite tools and rituals from Human Interface Design at Apple, software development methodologies at Disney, and creative brainstorming at Mattel, along with insights from my favorite business books, spiritual gurus, and self help programs. I shared it with a few friends who couldn’t stop raving about it, and Creative Life Design was born. Reconnecting to myself and my joy saved me from my grief and implementing the Creative Life Design system helped me not only get grounded again, but to truly start living the life I had always dreamt of. Within a year after all of that devastation, I started this business that is now thriving and supporting
others in such a meaningful way. Just a few months ago, I moved to Turks and Caicos and am honestly living the dream. It’s so important to me that everyone has the tools and support to live their dream lives, because it IS actually possible for you, too!
Can you tell us more about Creative Life Design and what you offer?
The Creative Life Design system and methodology is a series of courses, coaching, and a planning journal to support you in setting and achieving goals in a non-linear way. I realized that collectively, we all decided to blindly adopt SMART goals as “the” tool for goal setting but in my experience, it often leaves us feeling defeated, depleted, and diving into shame spirals when we don’t achieve exactly what we had planned in the timeframe that we initially decided. Goal setting and project planning have traditionally existed in two opposite categories: very rigid systems like SMART goals and OKRs in the corporate world, or esoteric manifesting in the spiritual world. While both have their merits, I wanted and needed something in between – enough structure to hold myself and my teams accountable while working toward our goals, but also enough flexibility to allow for those goals to change, projects to shift, and new information that is unveiled throughout the process to guide the next steps. One of my favorite quotes is, “the bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” Creative Life Design is flexible and adaptable for the unpredictability of life, encourages you to work in a cyclical way, and helps keep the inspiration and essence of your goals at the forefront. Importantly, it also enables you to bring those goals into your day-to-day, truly embracing and finding joy in the journey.
Participants have raved about this system and methodology, saying they finally feel understood and love that they have tools that feel easy to implement and integrate into their lives. They are excited when they realize it cures overwhelm and imposter syndrome, and the results are honestly phenomenal. In just a few short weeks after implementing this system, I’ve had participants lose massive amounts of weight they had been trying to lose for years while completely ending the negative self-talk and shame spirals, gain investments for their businesses only a few weeks after coming up with a seedling of an idea, triple their revenue, launch podcasts and write screenplays that they had dreamt of for years but were never able to bring into reality, and so much more. It truly is life-changing and empowering, and I’m so proud to be able to share it and help others to live their dreams.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Ahh pivoting… that’s the foundation of Creative Life Design, because life is all about pivoting! My friends have always called me the butterfly because I’m constantly in states of transformation. I embrace change and am always pushing myself outside of my
comfort zone to learn, grow, expand, and find my wings over and over again. It doesn’t come without a lot of challenges and difficulties, crazy fears, and a sense of falling on a regular basis, but one of my favorite quotes is, “Turn your free fall into a swan dive”. Change is inevitable, but you can take your power back in every situation by embracing it and accepting what is, rather than fighting against it. Last year, in the middle of a hurricane when my life was falling apart after my miscarriage and losing my job, I picked up “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle and one of the things that resonated with me the most is the idea that resistance is suffering, and we create that ourselves. I’ve had to pivot in my life and business in more ways than I can count. Often we think things are going to go a certain way and we get attached to that reality, holding onto that version (the one we made up in our heads) for far too long, but we’re often forced to change direction whether we want to embrace it or not. My Mom used to say, “This isn’t the picture I colored for myself but it’s time to color a new one.”
We all get attached to the way things were ‘supposed’ to look, or expect them to go in the same trajectory that we initially saw unfolding, it’s human nature but that’s not life. Life is beautiful and complicated and messy and unpredictable and it’s not “plannable”. I know that’s ironic because I have a business that teaches people how to set goals and plan, but that’s why the flexibility in this system is so important! On the front of my planning journal it says “planner for an unplannable life” because you might think things are going a certain way and you may have all signs pointing in that direction – you might even be almost at the finish line, but then you get the curve ball out of nowhere and have to adapt. Pivoting is part of life, unpredictability is part of life, and there’s beauty in that if we can stretch ourselves to see it. The more we embrace that, the more we find the joy in what is here in front of us… the life we’re living, rather than what we thought it was going to look like, what we wanted it to be, or what we were told it “should” be. I just saw a new quote I love as well which says, “Let it go, something beautiful wants to grow in its place.” I find that the longer I hold onto something after I know it has run its course, the more suffering I create for myself and others.
It’s also normal to grieve when you need to pivot unexpectedly but it’s important to remember that grief is not about what you lost, it’s about what you thought you were going to have. When I grieve the job or the baby I lost, it’s not about what I had already experienced in either of those things, because those moments and experiences were real and full and complete. I grieve a future I projected myself into that was never actually real. And that doesn’t mean it’s not okay to grieve, it is absolutely! But it’s also important to acknowledge what that grief is truly about – a version of a future reality that was never true because it’s not here now. When I remind myself of that, it really helps me to stay grounded and come back to the present, resetting myself to focus on my current reality and future possibilities. This also doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t dream or set goals! Dreams and ambitions keep us motivated and give us life, it’s just important to hold all of these truths simultaneously and to not get too attached to the exact outcome, but to let life unfold and to bring your dreams into your day-to-day, continually keeping the inspiration and essence of your goals at the forefront.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
There are so many, but one of the biggest lessons I have to consistently work to unlearn is that productivity always looks like working hard – it doesn’t. I used to judge myself so harshly for ‘procrastinating’ because I wasn’t sitting at my desk, putting ideas into documents, creating presentations, or answering emails. I thought that if I wasn’t in front of a computer, in a meeting, or doing physical labor, that I wasn’t working and I wasn’t being productive. I still have to actively work to unlearn this daily and remind myself that the walk I took on the beach with my dog where my mind was racing with new inspiring ideas and brainstorms was productive. The conversation I had with a girlfriend at happy hour, being inspired by strangers on a boat tour, and making new connections at a party while excitedly talking about my passions were all productive. Breathing in nature and giving my brain a few moments to turn off is productive. Rest is productive and there are so many active and passive ways to rest your body, brain, and soul. We have been conditioned to see productivity only as the things that burn us out and if we’re not doing those things, we beat ourselves up and deplete our bodies and spirits entirely to “be productive” only in the way we’ve been taught… when in reality, often times the most productive things you could possibly do are probably not what come to mind when you picture a ‘productive’ person, especially for those of us with creative or neurodivergent brains. None of my best ideas have come from sitting at a desk and I’m guessing yours haven’t either. Get the rest, take the trip, breathe in nature, and find inspiration and progress wherever it feels right for you – just make sure to give yourself credit for all of it because you deserve it!
A special gift for you!
Dana’s Creative Life Design planning journal is available now and she offered a generous discount to our readers while supplies last. Enter code REBEL25 at checkout for $25 off.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TheCreativeLifeDesign.com
- Instagram: @danajbuchman
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089816585471&sk=reviews
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danabuchman/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/creative-life-design-san-fernando-valley