This may come as a shock to all of you, but working for yourself is tough to do. There are deadlines that are not enforced, distractions that are endless and lack of motivation to continue progressing towards the life you want. This past month has been a process of seeing big things happen for me and then allowing myself to fall back farther than I already was prior to the positive push forward.
In the past month, I have had the two best days statistical on LifeExcursion and TheMinimalistPath, sold a few of my 7 Steps to a Simpler Life eBook’s, had some great connections with a few readers including Karol Gajda of RidiculouslyExtraordinary, and seen some major improvements on the business side of my lifestyle independent life. With all of these things occurring, you would assume I have moved forward, but, unfortunately that is not the case.
Along with that progressive work has come major regression. I haven’t posted on LifeExcursion since my now ironic post, The Day My Eyes Finally Opened, which was about 3 weeks ago, I have screwed up a great internship opportunity, some guest posts have been postponed with the writers being a tad disappointed, I have dropped the ball on a major independent lifestyle business project, I have not done what I have loved which is working hard, I have done little if any work while traveling through California, Colorado and Arizona over the last 3 weeks, and the list could honestly go on. For the most part, I have just not moved in the direction I wanted to be in by now.
Recently, I have read some great articles on preparedness and productivity and lack thereof. Sean Ogle, who is living a kick ass life right now in Thailand, discussed by way of video and article his battle with being productive and fulfilling his life goals in his post Koh Phi Phi: The Land Where the Productive Go to Die. This post was great to see because he is living the life I want and having many of the same issues I am having. Sean has developed a schedule that allows for productivity and enjoyment of his surroundings which I am sure is a daily struggle. Karol Gajda recently wrote about understanding that we are not always going to be prepared and how to address such issue with his article On Being Ready. Gajda has worked in the internet realm of things and has created a process that allows for his lifestyle to be possible. Obviously, it takes a lot of hard work, focus and determination. I think those qualities I possess. It all comes back to the act of being productive. Both article are insights to the world of lifestyle design and moving forward which have helped me and will help you strive further to achieve your goals.
Like Sean and Karol, I am focused on the end goal of developing my own lifestyle design without influence by many outside factors (other than my girlfriend of course), but, with anything, there are integrals parts to that success. Developing a schedule and pattern is something I need to get back to, but even more important is my attitude when things begin distracting yours truly.
Have any suggestions for my path to success? Please do share as I am always willing to take any and every piece of free advice out there.
Well wishes…
David Damron
LifeExcursion
Winter funk perhaps?
Maybe it’s just the human condition…
I do admire the bare honesty of your blog, today and every day.
Dave,
I have been in your shoes, so I know what it feels like. In fact, I created my blog — Dream into Action — to help me finally put my dream into action and to help others do the same.
Here are some posts that I hope will help:
Put Your Dream into Action
http://www.markcancellieri.com/blog/2010/01/18/put-your-dream-into-action/
The Power of Zero: Transform Your Life Using Zero-Based Thinking
http://www.markcancellieri.com/blog/2010/01/19/the-power-of-zero-transform-your-life-using-zero-based-thinking/
Raising Your Standards Will Change Your Life
http://www.markcancellieri.com/blog/2010/01/21/raising-your-standards-will-change-your-life/
Decide on Your Most Important Goal, Be Relentless, and Achieve the Crap Out of It
http://www.markcancellieri.com/blog/2010/01/25/decide-on-your-most-important-goal-be-relentless-and-achieve-the-crap-out-of-it/
I hope this helps. Maybe you just need to mentally re-boot. Ctrl-Alt-Delete your brain.
Man, such a tough battle! I fight with those endless distractions everyday in just trying to move forward. It helps me to think of the end goal, which it seems you’re already doing. But actually writing into my finances certain travel goals, about how much they’ll cost and thus how much work I need to do to make them happen. I don’t earn the money, I don’t get to travel. If that doesn’t make you work, I don’t know what will!
But, I’m also not completely location independent (theoretically I could be, but I’m choosing to build my biz a little more and taking little trips to test it all out without sabotaging everything right now). It is much harder on the road to say no to certain excursions/parties/events when you know you have a deadline…if you figure out an easy way to do this, please let us all know!
Dave,
I am sorry to hear that you have taken some steps back, but I feel like that is a part of your journey — a necessary part. This has happened to me, too. For example, I set a rather ambitious goal to have my blog moved over to my new domain by the end of January… clearly that didn’t happen.
However, the key (at least for me) is getting right back up on the horse! Don’t waste any time stressing over what is, or what could have been. Grab the bull by the horns & just start again. Don’t look back.
I’ve revised my original goal/deadline and I’m making it happen. Better late than never! You can still do all of the things that you mentioned above. Don’t give up & make it happen. Good luck.
)
-Dena
You’re doing things right seeing that you’re getting good results. Sometimes we have to stand back from ourselves and ask, ‘Why am I dropping the ball, do I really want this?’ and kick ourselves in the a$$.
I hope that it won’t prevent you from moving forward. Of all the things you mentioned is there nothing that cannot be fix with a sincere “Sorry, I…”? If the internship… mean so much to you, why don’t you ask for a second chance?
Wish you all the best
I have been fighting the pull of mediocrity for a long time … No matter how good I am, or great my skills, nothing will become of it all unless I take action.
Action is eloquence.
I have found that my diet plays a critical role in my productivity. The winning productivity formula for me is leafy greens and fruit and very little animal protein and starches.
I keep reminding myself that my diet is inextricably tied to my level of productivity. Period.
Interesting post. With so many blogging about success, it’s unusual to see something about failure. Your honesty is a virtue.
I’d like to know more about your failures. They don’t seem to have come from any obvious source, such as a medical emergency. Instead, your trouble seems to be internal. A loss of faith, perhaps?
Why haven’t you posted? Why have you “dropped the ball” on your project? Are you scared of screwing up? Do you feel increasingly guilty for your lack of progress, in a way that forms a vicious circle which delays you even more? Theoretically, free time should naturally lead to productivity, so what’s going on here? Seriously, send me an email, I’d like to sort this out.