Desperately Seeking A Map
For everything you want to learn, Google will show you at least 4,326,187 sources that want to teach you. In starting this site, I have probably visited and bookmarked more sites than my previous 10 years of web surfing combined. There is a LOT of information out there on the subject of creating a website to make money, and much of the information appears to be (a) good and (b) free.
However, being able to sort through, digest and implement all of these lessons assumes a valuable commodity that I don’t have: time. I have a job, a family, and a life outside of this blog. How many hours a day can I devote to the infinite collection of information products created just for me? Not enough, clearly.
In the last week, I have spent countless hours on this project. Every night my husband sees me at my desk and (in a very supportive way) asks me what I’m working on. The answer is always a vague “I’m working on my site.” But what do I have to show for it?
- I got tired of the design and fiddled with some free themes. I decided on one and am working in the background to prepare it for release. Did I post about the process and the research? Nope.
- I have done a lot of research and a lot of writing, most of it still in draft format in tons of text files on my computer. Did I post about the research I was doing? Nope.
Where have I been? I fell into the “work = progress” trap.
Before anyone out there (my statistics are showing that someone in the Seychelles is visiting - thank you!) thinks I’m beating myself up, I’m not. I’m pleased that I am working on this project every day. But research and first drafts don’t equal progress. I have been taking lots of action, yet I haven’t moved forward. I need to do better. I must do two things to make progress:
- Pick a single direction and move forward.
- Build the habit of creating tangible output every day.
The direction I have chosen is the Thirty Day Challenge. If I like it, learn new things, and stick with it, I will write about it here. Every day. If not, I will write about it here, and then I will find a new approach and write about that. Every day. Even if some of my posts seem inane and boring, which I obviously hope isn’t the case.
If you are doing the Thirty Day Challenge too, please let me know. If you like, you can follow me on Twitter and maybe we can team up.
Have an action-packed day!