Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
I’ve been lazy lately. Okay, maybe not lazy. I go to work every day, I also try to always be available when friends and family need me for something, and I keep my son’s cat alive while he’s away at school. Guess what I’ve not been doing? I’ve not been working on what’s important to me, which is my writing.
I’ve got plenty of excuses though…
Work has been crazy busy and I’ve been working extra hours. This has been my choice by the way. I’m fairly new still to my job so I’m slower at some things and it’s been a busy period and I just want to do a good job.
Family members have needed help with various things. Even when I’m mad or feel taken advantage of, I still help out.
I’ve obviously got to make time when my friends want to do something. I’m really bad about this. To me, if someone takes the time to ask me to do something I’m going to do it even if I already had other plans for myself or I’m tired. They’ve taken the time to think of me so it would be rude to say no. That’s totally on me because I’ve realized that not everyone thinks this way, lol.
And sometimes frustration makes me lazy. This writing stuff is harder than I thought. I love the process of writing but there’s a lot more that goes into writing a blog or writing for other people. There’s SEO to learn, adding an email list, making my website pretty, and trying to look for opportunities to expand my web presence and find some writing jobs.
Oh yeah, and I need a new laptop but other stuff keeps getting the financial priority. Obviously I can’t get any serious writing done without a great laptop. Insert serious eye roll here. Spoiled much Holly??
So what the heck ARE you doing??
Guess how I’ve responded to these things? I’m officially a Candy Crush expert on three different versions of the game (level 1181 on one of them!) I’ve watched entirely too much HGTV but side note, if you need help picking out your new tiny home, I’m definitely your go-to expert! Also, if the blogging/freelance writing thing doesn’t work out then Hallmark should definitely be calling me any day now to hire me as their writing consultant.
I was giving someone a lecture the other day that they weren’t doing anything to change their circumstances. I felt they were happy just complaining about how hard their life was instead of taking steps to make it better. Hello!! Maybe I should give myself some tough love.
I started my blogging course 18 months ago and I’m not quite halfway through it. Yes, there have definitely been some family and time constraints thrown in there but honestly I should be further along. It’s a self-paced course and the group reminds us all the time that it’s not a race and that we should finish it at our own pace. I’ve allowed myself to get stuck though so it’s time to put away the excuses and get back to focusing on it.
Action plan
I’m dedicating a minimum of an hour a day for 6 days a week to working on my writing. This might be the blog course, this might be my actual blog writing, and it might be my side project of fiction writing. The point is I need to get back into the habit of writing.
Nothing would make me happier then to walk into my favorite Barnes and Noble store one day and see my novel or personal finance book on their shelves. I’d be thrilled to even see my name on a magazine article. That’s not going to happen with me sitting on my couch playing Candy Crush during HGTV commercials.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Pinterest quotes:
Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams than you are to your comfort zone.
