I have been away for a good while and have some ’splainin’ to do, Lucy.
First, I am currently recovering from food poisoning. If you’ve ever had it, you understand. If you haven’t, take your worst experience with flu or mono and magnify that tenfold, and you might have an idea of the pain of food poisoning. Therefore, this post may be a bit shorter than some, but I think there’s a very valuable message here.
Earlier this year I found myself uninspired. I had just finished treatment for cancer and had been declared cancer-free. After regaining my strength, I was left with a feeling that I wanted to make some big changes. I went through a major seed-planting period of massive action. Well, some amazing things happened:
- From my hour-a-day writing sessions, I sent my first article to a magazine and got published!
- I had Fitness Magazine discover a photodocumentary I had on Flickr and ask me to be a part of a breast cancer project they were doing.
- I started giving webinars about my breast cancer experince.
- I became active in a chapter of an industry organization, ran for office, and managed to be elected president.
- and more, more, more!
Now these are all awesome things. However, I was unprepared for the massive harvest from my massive seed planting. So here is some advice I would like to share from what I’ve learned:
DO a seed-planting if you’re at all feeling uninspired by your current situation.
The idea is to work very hard for a short period of time. Think in terms of marketing a new business: In the beginning, you will do much leg work to get the word out about your business. Once you have put forth such effort, however, you can ease back a bit and focus on other aspects of growing your business. Let your marketing efforts pay off. Start staggering them. Your great initial effort leads to opportunities which then automatically yield more opportunities without your having to work so hard for them. The awareness you bring to your life will help you to be aware of when things are starting to become stagnant and it’s time to exert more effort planting seeds.
BUT FIRST define exactly what you want.
This is where I ran into trouble. I started having a windfall of incredible opportunities that all sounded equally intriguing. I could write, speak, guest blog, do my own blogging, travel, work FT, take a free class, and do so many different things!
The result of too many good opportunities coming at you all at once can become a bottleneck situation if you are unprepared. So here’s what I suggest:
1. Think about where you really want to go and what you want to be doing for a living. I know so many authors have written about this. They say to write out your 5- and 10-year goals and so on. Well, that’s one method. Another is simply knowing what you want to be and do and making sure that everything keeps getting you closer to that destination. I have figured out that I want to write for a living. However, the details of that I’m still working out. Knowing that I want to write is enough for me right now to start screening my opportunities.
2. Take your destination from step 1 and add your priorities to it. So knowing that writing is one of my ultimate destinations, I must add to that equation the practical steps I am taking right now. The mortgage or rent must be paid. Your body must be cared for. These are immediate and important activities.
3. Now use these factors to screen your opportunities. Think in terms of return on investment (ROI). If you suddenly find yourself flooded with opportunities, you’ll quickly learn that you cannot do everything. Therefore, each activity must pass the following test:
Will it clearly and measurably help me reach my ultimate dream?
Will it contribute to the maintenance of my body, my home, and the other things I value most in my “now?”
Once I put my activities to the test, many of them failed. They may have gained me some recognition at work or possibly spread the word about my writing in some small way, but I was not getting a good return on my investment. Many extra unpaid activites that I was doing at work had to be eliminated because I was not seeing that they were furthering my “now” career, my advancement in the company, my income, or in any way helping me reach my ultimate dream of writing.
Here’s a specific example. The local police department is offering an interesting class for free. For a couple of hours every Monday night for several months, you’re trained as a police officer. You learn about crime, combat, how to fire a gun. You even ride with officers on patrol. In the end, you are not a police officer. You’re a citizen who has been through a very neat experience and has a better understanding of what it’s like to be a police officer.
Well, the adventurer in me was immediately intrigued and wanted to sign up. What an experience! However, after more thought, I realized it does not meet my test. It’s free, but if I’m not fitting in as much writing as I want to be doing every day, then there is not time for the class. It will not directly benefit my income or measurably help me to realize my ultimate goal of being a full-time writer. Yes, perhaps I could write about the experience, but the ROI for all of those Monday nights is not good. The class had to go.
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve taken this new philosophy of thinking about my ROI and applying this test to what I’m doing. It’s led to my own Plan B. I’ve canceled some projects. I’ve dropped out of some activities that were not paying off. The result is a return to simplicity. I’m feeling so much more focused and peaceful from applying these methods to limit my activities to what really matters.
What are you doing in your life that isn’t meeting the test? Where do you think you should shift to your own Plan B? Let’s hear it in the comments!
And don’t forget to Stumble or Digg this post if you’ve found it helpful. Thank you! :)
Image courtesy of hans_s.
