How Do I Keep Losing Me?
Seriously, where did me been going? (+Gratitude)
It happened again. I finished the project. I didn’t let up at the end and allow my momentum to fizzle out leaving another unfinished project on a dusty pile of broken dreams.
I Even Knew What I Was Doing Next
I have a list. It’s in my head.
Maybe that’s the problem. I need to get the list out of my head and onto paper.
I need one of those fancy notebooks made of unicorn-suede.
The one that comes with the pegasus feather for a quill.
The ink is derived from mermaid urine filtered through truffles, down through an aquifer and duel-extracted by cold processing and cosmic meditation.
It’s a really nice journal!
How Do Mermaids Even Pee?
We’re always like,
“Mermaids!”
“She’s so beautiful.”
“What a lovely singing voice!”
“Why is her dad so over-protective?”
“Didn’t she use to live in a cave?”
“Why did she break Forest Gump’s heart in Seattle that time and on the Empire State Building that other time?”
“Have you ever seen the full moon over Mako Island?”
“Why are the merpeople near Hogwarts so scary?”
Yeah, some of those associations are a stretch.
But seriously, how do mermaids pee?
They’re all hair and tail. And strategically placed shells.
I Don’t Think I’m Very Easily Distracted
You’ve seen how focused I am.
I’ve published an Amazon Kindle book in each of the past three years.
I even formatted one for paperback and got the proofs in my hands.
My blog pages are showing up near the top of some Google searches.
I launched a podcast.
I’ve been publishing four or five posts per week here on Medium, alternating between my gratitude posts and my Summer Saga in Spain.
Where do merpeople keep their cell phones?
I mean, they’ve got no pockets! Just scales.
Then I Got Derailed
I haven’t yet checked the proofs of my book.
I haven’t started the 2nd podcast that I wanted to launch in January.
I haven’t promoted the podcast I launched.
I haven’t published on Medium in nine days.
How did that non-mermaid picture get in here?
I did clean up some of my ConvertKit sequences and enhance a new one. I wasn’t completely idle.
Mermaids must get awefully tired of baths.
(Hat tip to Arthur Bach.)
I Haven’t Even Been to the Gym!
I haven't worked out in a week.
I’m doing things differently from now on…
I’m going to schedule weeks off after I finish big projects.
That’ll show me!
We should take a little time to enjoy our accomplishments. I’m going schedule that time for celebration.
Holidays will be my new project!
I’m going to make sure my projects are finished before the holidays. Then I’m going to make The Holidays my only holiday project.
I didn’t purposely schedule these projects for December. We recorded the 1st episodes of Beer Thursday in May. I was going to work on them in Spain. Then I was going to work on them right when I returned from Spain.
Then I decided I wanted a paperback version of The Happiness Infinity Gauntlet in time for Christmas and put off Beer Thursday for another couple months.
I wanted to enjoy the holidays more this year. I want to enjoy the holidays more every year. I even started a resource to share.
Helping others enjoy the holidays more will enhance my own enjoyment.
I should write a mermaid horror story with mermpires, weremers and mermbies!
It’s All About Audio Next Year
And a little alliteration apparently.
Next year I’m planning a second podcast and an audiobook. If things go well, two audiobooks. I’m considering recording the second audiobook as I format it for Kindle, so I can hear how out sounds as I record it.
Recording the proofreading. With my epic-cool voice!
Mermenstein’s Monster!
My hands are getting tired. I’m starting to get the throbbing, tingling thing in my hands, so it’s time to give them a rest and go audio.
I’m Grateful that I’m Easily Distracted
Yay! I found a way to work gratitude into the story!
I’m going easy on myself.
I still get more done than most. My distractions are usually great ideas and disguise.
The Swimming Dead!
Maybe not all of them. It’s a process.
The more consistently you intently focus, the more free time you can give yourself to be distracted.
My writing isn’t as efficient as I’d like to be because I allow myself to wander. I often edit as I write. I don’t knock out as many finished products as often as others, but I probably have more simmering in the slow cooker than most. Their scent wafts through the corridors of my mind. They smell delicious. I can’t eat it all at once.
How did I wander off into that metaphor?
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…
Focus!
And be grateful for the distractions.
How do you feel about Distractions?
I hope you focus frequently and consistently, but I also hope you go easy on yourself for the distractions.
Let me know in the comments.
Like Todd Henry says,
Creativity happens in the margins.
Calls to Action
Be Grateful for that clap button! Wear it out. Please share and leave some comments.
Follow me and see how long I keep up the [almost] Daily Gratitude Thing.
If you’d like more humor and happiness, go download the Independently Happy Prescription for Happiness.
