Sometimes it can be so easy to just look at the past few hours of a day and feel discouraged, like you haven’t accomplished anything. You feel discouraged and you forget to look back at the rest of the day. You forget to look back at the week!
I fall into that more often than I’d like. Today was a great example of that. Its nearly the end of the week and just a few hours ago, I had to stop and look at myself. I was surprised. Here I was feeling discouraged, like I wasn’t getting everything done. That I just wasn’t doing enough.
Well, that kind of attitude wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so it required a bit of stepping back.
First, I looked at the projects I had planned for the day. I had a set of 25 websites I was putting together for a client as part of product fulfillment for a project I’m involved with. I also had the smaller yet argueably more involved project of putting together a marketing plan for a single website in the ‘home entertainment installations’ market. (There’s a mouthful). Both of these projects were scheduled to get my attention today and.. well.. it wasn’t happening. I bit the bullet and made two phone calls.. and they went well. I’ve done what I can in both cases and I have moved things forward, perhaps not to the degree at which I’d have liked at the time, but enough to satisfy both individuals in either case.
So I cleared things out of the way..
Then I looked back. Its Thursday, there’s still a day left in the week and I have done a LOT, even by my own standards. I launched a new website, I finished the creation of a product, I finished up the bulk of my personal accounting, I had help from my good friend Joshua and worked to transfer over 300 websites onto a new server, I put together the details on several new projects of mine, I was able to help work out the details on a few projects of good friends of mine, I set aside time to read nearly everyday, and the list goes on.. and on.. It was time for me to be a bit more satisfied :).
And so I am. Its a little before 8 and after this post I’ll be heading off for the night. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day as I round off the week and I’ll end up getting even more done. Just before I stop working tomorrow, I’m going to set aside a half hour or so to look back on the week and review my accomplishments and do some planning for next week. I didn’t meet everything I set out to do yet, and as I summarized at the end of my 30 day challenge, that’s ok.
The most important thing about setting goals is that you DO something. That you move forward. That you take those all important action steps, no matter HOW small they may seem. The very fact that you’ve taken them is enough to move you forward, even if only a small step at a time.
As a writer, you learn that one of the most effective ways to deal with ‘writers block’ is to simply.. write. Doesn’t matter what you write, doesn’t matter if it makes any sense, doesn’t matter if it flows, has perfect spelling, or any sense of proper grammar. All that matters is that you write and keep writing. You’ll pull out of it.. You’ll get an idea and you’ll run with it. Sometimes it takes longer than others but it works.. every time.
Sometimes one of the most effective ways of dealing with an overwhelming sense of ‘discouragement’ is to first step away from everything. Take a break. Take a few moments for yourself, relax, get your head back together. Then go for it. Do your best to set aside and put on hold any distractions and just go for it. Get the work done and move your projects forward.
And on that note, it’s ’bout time for me to head off for the evening! I wanna do some cool stuff next week.. *grins*.. I have a new article/report I’m working on but haven’t decided completely what I’m going to do with it yet. The topic is one very near and dear to me, “community building”. I look forward to sharing it with you guys and getting some feedback!
Alright.. Ya’ll have a wonderful evening and a powerful new day tomorrow!
Goodnight World! :)
-Jonathan Wold
P.S. Be sure to check out my good friend Matt Geri’s new site! He’s in the process of rebuilding his blog and its looking goood! Drop him a nice comment and say hi! :)