My commitment to myself — and the world — for 2015.
Different people have different theories on the length of a year. When I hear "a year," I think, "Oh. My. Gods. That is such a ridiculously long length of time. How can anyone even imagine that length of time?" I've been told that's a bit of an overreaction. Whatever.
Anyways, I think we can all agree that no matter how long a year feels before it happens, it goes by super quick. It's thus a good idea to know what you want to focus your energy on. I'm not a person that makes resolutions--mostly because I've never even attempted to keep one. But I did stumble across this awesome worksheet from Alexandra Franzen that is meant to help you straighten our your priorities for the upcoming year.
So here's what I'm focusing on this year (inspired by the amazing Alexandra Franzen, with a couple of tweaks by me, of course).
Anyways, I think we can all agree that no matter how long a year feels before it happens, it goes by super quick. It's thus a good idea to know what you want to focus your energy on. I'm not a person that makes resolutions--mostly because I've never even attempted to keep one. But I did stumble across this awesome worksheet from Alexandra Franzen that is meant to help you straighten our your priorities for the upcoming year.
So here's what I'm focusing on this year (inspired by the amazing Alexandra Franzen, with a couple of tweaks by me, of course).
Starting today, I am devoting myself to the following projects:
I am devoting myself to these projects because I care about doing what I love for a living. I love to write, and the only way to write and make money is to sit down every day and write.
These projects deserve my full focus, attention, discipline and love.
Starting today, I am releasing the following from my life:
I am releasing these things because I need to create time & energy for creating new content and building a platform as a writer. I get 300 e-mails everyday and probably three of them are important, so I need to do some unsubscribing. Besides, e-mail checking often infringes on child hanging out time.
- The 52 Week Challenge
- Editing my latest novel
- Freelance writing (IGN, Common Novel, & adding new outlets)
I am devoting myself to these projects because I care about doing what I love for a living. I love to write, and the only way to write and make money is to sit down every day and write.
These projects deserve my full focus, attention, discipline and love.
Starting today, I am releasing the following from my life:
- My obsession with Google Alerts and spending too much time on e-mail.
- Checking my social media sites more than 3 times a day
- Re-reading books more than twice (I have to get to the TBR pile sometimes)
I am releasing these things because I need to create time & energy for creating new content and building a platform as a writer. I get 300 e-mails everyday and probably three of them are important, so I need to do some unsubscribing. Besides, e-mail checking often infringes on child hanging out time.
Don't we all deserve to be this relaxed? It's cause he doesn't have e-mail.
These things no longer have a place in my life.
I believe that the world needs more thoughtful entertainment and less stress, and that’s what I am here to help create.
I may not be able to make everyone happy, but I can do my part to help.
The very next step is to find more places to share the content I create. And then after that, to focus on creating more content.
When things feel overwhelming, I will remind myself that my job is simply to: write what I love.
I have the power to leave the world, and the people around me, in better condition than I found them.
I don’t have to “reach” for that power. I have it, right now.
I am officially signing this agreement — with myself — on 1/1/2015.
Rachel Lyn Paxton
Every word is true.
I believe that the world needs more thoughtful entertainment and less stress, and that’s what I am here to help create.
I may not be able to make everyone happy, but I can do my part to help.
The very next step is to find more places to share the content I create. And then after that, to focus on creating more content.
When things feel overwhelming, I will remind myself that my job is simply to: write what I love.
I have the power to leave the world, and the people around me, in better condition than I found them.
I don’t have to “reach” for that power. I have it, right now.
I am officially signing this agreement — with myself — on 1/1/2015.
Rachel Lyn Paxton
Every word is true.