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Get your favorite notebook and your favorite pen (you know you have one) and set aside 30 minutes for free writing. Begin your writing with this: “It is November 23, 2020 and I am so proud of the life I have created.”
It was with a writing prompt much like this one that I began the process of writing a vision for my life and my work.
It’s 4:27 a.m. and I’m sitting in front of my laptop working on a blog post — this blog post.
I am a firm believer in the saying “The early bird gets the worm.” I get up between 4 and 4:30 a.m. most days of the week. People often ask me how I manage to juggle blogging, freelancing, and running a business with working a full-time job, being a wife and trying to have a social life. And one of the secrets to my productivity is being an early riser.
There are two important facts of life you need to know if you’re writing for the web: Bloggers gonna blog and haters gonna hate.
I have a confession.
I am addicted to planners.
I am currently using two different planners and contemplating buying a third. I use my Day Designer planner for my daily to-do lists and monthly overviews. I use my Ban.do agenda for planning my blog posts. And now that I’m working with my business coach on my 5-year vision I’m probably going to soon buy a Kate Spade agenda for keeping track of my progress on my weekly, monthly, and 90-day goals.
I have a problem.
I woke up Monday morning determined to get in a 2-mile run before the end of the day. Rainy days and a busy schedule had kept me from pounding the pavement for a few days and I’m trying to get back into the groove of running so I can register for a few big races next year.
The elements were against me. Thanks to the end of Daylight Savings Time I knew it’d be pitch black before 6 p.m. and because of a little run-in a sports car had with my rear end back in 2008, I’m terrified of running at night. But I left work on time (I’m a teacher and can technically leave at 3:06 p.m. but rarely ever do) and made it home and changed into my running gear before 4 p.m.
But there was another problem. Those same clouds that had been raining on my parade for the past few days were threatening to do so again. I considered putting on one of my favorite fitness DVDs and giving up on my run but something inside rebelled against that idea.
So I headed out the door.