“Balance is never handed to us on a plate, it’s really, simply a matter of finding your own internal place of rest in between all the busyness.” Clare Bowditch.

Clare Bowditch is a businesswoman, mum-of-three, musician, song writer, appears on the Australian drama Offspring and now brightens the airwaves as afternoon host on 774 ABC radio.

Each shift she is incredibly generous with her learnings and failings.

But don’t just take my word for it…

Martine Harte: Clare Bowditch how many plates are you twirling right now?

Clare Bowditch: I reckon about as many as you and most other women to do the kind of things that we do. We’ve got our heart projects, our work projects, our children possibly, pets, our love projects (I’ve already said that, said that twice).

So I think I’m like many women in that way; but I was having a conversation with a friend just before and she said what we all think, “there’s no external balance,” balance is never handed to us on a plate, it’s really, simply a matter of finding your own internal place of rest in between all the busyness.

Yeah and it changes every day anyway?

Clare Bowditch: Exactly, it changes every day. I used to have in the back of my head this idea that one day there would be a place of absolute equilibrium reached.

We need to check in with ourselves a million times a day, the only time I ever get into trouble in life is when I really forget to do that because of the busyness.

People talk about “what is creativity?”

Creativity is really the ability to draw all these thoughts and stumble upon patterns. Have you ever had that experience of thinking you’ve pretty much solved the world’s problems at 2am and then waking up in the morning and going, “Ah, what was that?”

Yep. Now you’ve just wrapped up your second Big Hearted Business (un)conference, tell us about it?

Clare Bowditch: Big Hearted Business is a love project, I started it to help teach creative people about business and business people about creativity in ways that make sense. We’re also here to model what I think is becoming an increasingly common style of business where within five years we’d like to donate 20% of our profits to not-for-profits.

So we’re saying you can do what you love, make your living and save the world just a little bit and there’s a lot of people who want to have that conversation with us.

You must get fresh learnings every time, anything that’s been buzzing around your head since the last one?

Clare Bowditch:  I think the thing that I realise again and again is nobody, nobody, nobody who succeeds with anything in life has it easy.

It’s really important we all do challenge ourselves and we have to develop an absolute iron clad resilience in order for you to achieve anything in life.

Is there anything they have revealed when it comes to defeating self-doubt because so many of people drop off on the path to their dreams?

Clare Bowditch: Keep going, when in hell keep going. It’s what Catherine Deveny  said at last years conference, you’ve got one life to live, live it. So the haters picket at your fricken funeral!

We live in a time when if we step out or say something unusual or speak our truth there is the ability for people who disagree to let us know that. What I saw with all the speakers – whether is was Joost Baker or Fabian Dattner or Danielle LaPorte – they all pretty much said the same thing which is,”it’s irrelevant.” Other people’s criticism is not worth your time.

You don’t want to protect your knowledge, you’re a sharer. Where does that come from?

I’ve needed so many other people’s wisdom to get through life and I think everything that I do is about churning it through, passing on what I know, we’re all curators of our own knowledge.I’ve never met anyone interesting at a dinner party or on the tram who didn’t have a degree of struggle in their life; I think struggle is incredibly human.

Life is kind of like a delicious chaos and I personally have moments of peace and then other times I’m like a half-crazed person with seventy-four ideas wondering which of them to spend the most time with.

That’s just the reality for every thinking person that I’ve ever met. If you find someone who has the answers and has it easy I want to hear from them.

Check out my interview with Adalita right here…

HOOK UP WITH: CLARE BOWDITCH

More about the BHB (un) conference here