Well howdy friend,
You are hereby invited to join me in an upcoming round of The Arena. I'll kick this invitation off with two quotes, which beautifully encapsulate the spirit of what this thing is.
I don't know about you, but I am fucking exhausted by trying to do internet creativity right. Trying to create the perfectly optimized "content" in order to "go viral" and "10x my audience" so I can finally be a "successful creator." It's all so goddamn tiring. And it kills my spirit.
Maybe you can relate?
But here's the kicker. When I create from this place of expectation and optimization, the finished result is never particularly inspiring, either to me or anyone else. When my creative practice is rooted in fear instead of joy, and I diligently follow all the rules, my work ends up looking and feeling generic and empty. Which only kills my spirit further, and makes it even harder to build a digital business.
The older I get, the more I've realized I can't keep playing the online game this way. I've spent the last 10 years timidly following all the best practices, optimizing for everything but joy and connection and meaning. And frankly, if I keep it up, I will end up on my deathbed, full of regret, knowing that I had so many creative gifts, but I chose instead to hide them.
That's why The Arena exists. I built this thing for myself, because I wanted to feel the spark of possibility again. I wanted my creative process to feel like exploration and play. I wanted to do work that matters, and feel alive after a lost decade of digital deadness. And lo and behold, it works. The Arena does all of that and more, and I'm so excited to start inviting other creatives to experience it with me, and come alive themselves.
What Is The Arena?
The Arena is a one-week online experience—not a course—in which you get together with a group of creative peers, and everybody focuses on something that makes them come alive. It's fun, it's communal, and it brings serendipity and joy back to the creative process. And despite the fun exterior, it's also meaningful work.
In case you were wondering, the name "The Arena" comes from the famous Teddy Roosevelt speech.
Fundamentally, The Arena is about stepping beyond the confines of your comfort zone. Steven Pressfield says that the more important a creative task or project is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance will show up. When we "step into The Arena," we courageously go to those places. We put our inner and outer critics aside, confront the Resistance, and dance with it.
But The Arena isn't meant to be brutal or scary or demoralizing. It's not about going to war with yourself. Quite the opposite. We do this work in a safe, private container, away from the prying eyes of the public. We do it as a community of supportive, encouraging peers. And most importantly, we prioritize aliveness and joy throughout the week. We make the choice to enjoy our work and trust ourselves.
It's this combination of danger and safety, seriousness and play, solo adventure and community, that makes The Arena so compelling. And it's this fluid way of being that begins to bring both you, and your work, to life.
Some more resources to explore The Arena further
Unlike a traditional "sales page" where the objective is to keep you on the page and get you to purchase as quickly as possible, I believe in giving folks time, space, and truth. I want you to have all of the information you need to make an empowered decision, in your own time.
With that in mind, here are a few resources to explore, which should help you decide if The Arena is a "hell yes'' decision for you.
Rob Hardy
Rob Hardy
Is this an online course?
Absolutely fucking not. The Arena is self-directed, and there is zero educational content to consume. Instead, The Arena is an experience meant to help you create work that's alive to you, and shift into being the authority in your own creative journey, instead of relying on internet experts for answers.
How does The Arena work?
There's an opening ceremony, a community, and a closing ceremony.
During the opening ceremony, I will lead us through a ritual, and you will set a creative intention for the week ahead. Throughout the week, you will work on your intention, and use the community to share how it's going, and bond with your creatively alive peers. And then we'll all celebrate and integrate together in the closing ceremony.
Do you offer scholarships for The Arena?
You bet! I offer unlimited scholarships to anyone who needs one! Seriously, if you vibe with the philosophy of Ungated and The Arena, I don't want money to stand in the way of you joining us.
To receive a scholarship, just send an email to rob@ungated.media with "arena scholarship" in the subject line. Then in the body, tell me a little bit about yourself, and write a haiku that summarizes your creative journey so far. That's it. I will promptly send you a coupon code to join the next Arena cohort at no cost.
A haiku is a simple, short poem, with five syllables on the first line, seven on the second, and five on the third. Here's an example!
your creative spark
is lighting the way forward
it's arena time
And here's another.
send rob a haiku
i promise it will be fun
then you'll get free shit!
How much time will this take?
The opening and closing ceremonies will be around 45 minutes. Those are the only things that'll take a fixed amount of time.
Other than that, you can spend as much or as little time in The Arena as you want. Some people put 10 minutes a day into their creative intention, while others put an hour or three into it.
When is the next round of The Arena starting? When are the calls?
The next round runs from October 2nd to the 9th, 2022.
The opening and closing ceremony calls are scheduled for 12pm pacific on the 2nd and 9th, and if you can't make it live there will be recordings.
I can't make the next round. When will the next round(s) be?
The good news is, I plan on doing public versions of The Arena for years to come. So there will be plenty of opportunities to join up.
The bad news is, I'm still figuring out how much energy/time this is going to take, and how to systematize all of it. So I can't give a firm date for the next round, or how often I'll be doing it. I just don't know yet.
My best guess is that the next round will happen early November 2022, but maybe later, or maybe earlier ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wait, is this just for writers?
Nope, this is for any human who does anything even remotely creative.
So far, I've spent my time in The Arena writing, podcasting, making guitar videos, and building a workshop. Others have used it for drawing, journaling, creating new websites, and writing twitter threads. In the future, I plan to use this process for writing poetry, dancing, writing fiction, making films, and anything else my heart dreams up.
Point being, you can do whatever the hell you want in The Arena. The only guideline is you must listen to your heart, even if it leads you away from your comfort zone (and it probably will lol).
How much does it cost?
$50 for a one-off ticket, or $250 for lifetime access to all future rounds.
Additionally, since I offer scholarships to anyone who can't afford a spot, you also have the option of helping fund those scholarships by paying more.
What's the difference between The Arena and The Frontier?
Put simply, The Arena is about creativity, while The Frontier is about business and marketing. Both are distinct experiences that are purchased separately.
The Arena - A one-week experience focused on helping you come alive creatively. It's for anyone who does creative work, regardless of whether you want to make it into a business.
The Frontier - My annual membership for people who want to turn their alive creative work into an alive business. It's where we play the long game of delightful marketing, and making 1,000 true fans a reality.
If I don't like it, can I get a refund?
Of course!
-Rebecca Madison (follow her on twitter and substack)
-Sam Sager (check out his twitter and substack too!)
-Amir Hajizamani (twitter link!)