Posts

On being a writer for other people…

I have always had limited time to devote to my writing. At the end of 2018, I got the opportunity to start getting paid to write for other people. I also opened my own little business providing creative services which was something I always wanted to do.

Of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, but my own content creation routine suffered quite a bit. By suffer I mean stopped completely…

While I still really enjoy publishing for others, even though it’s all been ghost writing, I realize that I still need to be publishing for myself!

So, while I don’t intend to fill my site with rubbish I do need dust off the publish button. This post is nothing more than a restart for my own writing habit.

After all, I can always come back and clean it up later!

Here’s to those writing for fun, as well as for profit. Let’s show everyone that really busy people can do both!

Got Consistency? I don’t…

My bandwidth to focus on personal development has been lacking lately, to say the least. I see lots of people write on this topic on a regular basis, and I know that I too have the power to make big changes in my life.

Trouble is though, at the end of the day I don’t feel like doing anything. Let alone learning something challenging like JavaScript.

I’ve been giving myself a lot of shit for not following through on my plans. I feel like I’m failing if any free time is spent on something other than being productive. Sometimes the stress I’ve placed on myself outweighs external stress received from work or other areas of life.

Granted the goals I’ve set are high, however, they are completely doable if I would consistently spend time working on them. Whether they be habits, rituals, or whatever productivity gurus would call it, I need to establish and maintain momentum.

Stop, take a breath, and start again…

I’m going to hit the reset button. Just focus on doing a bit of a coding tutorial here, working on a project there, and writing an article no less than once a week. Easy, right?

Dedicating even thirty minutes a day will translate into progress. Just need to get back into actually doing something again to feel a little accomplishment, and let it compound.

So, to all my fellow side hustlers and after work learners, let’s raise a glass to keep on keep’n on!

2018 in the rearview…

Here we are nine days into the new year, so I guess it’s time to reflect on all things accomplished in 2018.

To be honest, 2018 was one of the most difficult periods of both my personal and professional life.

It was the year we welcomed our third child, and the year I lost my dad. The year I became incredibly fustrated with corporate America, and began to learn all I could about writing, design, coding, and how technology fits into our lives.

I didn’t write as much as I wanted, but picked up my first freelance writing clients almost by accident.

If I had to pick a word to describe 2018, it would be fustration.

I was bogged down looking for ways to express my thoughts while still looking professional. Not writing here due to lack of focus on where I really wanted to take my little website. Should it remain a personal blog, or build a professional writers website? Or both?

2019 has already given me the opportunity to be much more focused on what I would really like to accomplish.

The word used to describe this year will be growth.

Growth in experience, skills, and knowledge needed to support my new freelance business and provide true value to clients and readers.

Here’s to a productive and prolific 2019!

Resisting ultimate productivity

rawpixel-com-192251 courtesy of Unsplash.com

Why do we need to spend every free moment doing stuff?

Lately, I’ve come to notice that I really harp on myself if I don’t fill my free time with doing something productive. Of course something falling into the “productive” category is very subjective.

Since I try to do too many things at the same time I can’t ever choose which goal or project I should devote that few moments of focus I find from time to time.

I would like to spend more time writing, but also feel obligated to continue learning to code. Most times, I try to spend free time with family.

To be honest, I would rather spend the little bit of free time I get sitting down and doing nothing. Doing nothing is really under rated. Just sitting, lost in my own thoughts, and allowing my mind to wander. True rest.

I’ve stopped reading articles on being productive. I get that there are opportunities to get more work done faster, but is it really that important? Maybe at work, but in life I’m leaning more towards slowing things down.

Might just be me, but I’m seeing more people wanting to shift from the so called normal life of wake up, go to work, come home, do chores, go to sleep and repeat. Just trying to survive until the next vacation. Problem is that when you get back, all the work you missed is waiting for you.

I don’t know many co-workers that even use up all thier vacation time each year.

Everyone is working so hard to be productive, but never taking any time away from work. Just getting more work complete that is replaced by, you guessed it, more work.

What does that say about us in the corporate workforce when it’s less stressful to just stay at work than to actually take some time off?

Think I’ll just go take a nap in a hammock somewhere. Work will still be there when I get back. Why rush?