Here is where I’m at.
This year has not gone the way I once imagined it might. Despite my bold projections and ambitious project plans, the realities of running a one-woman business while the world is on fire have not escaped me.
I spent a lot of this year recovering from burnout and trying not to over-catastrophize in a world full of catastrophe, in a city where I can’t so much as walk to the library without seeing the National Guard patrolling my neighborhood with rifles.
I spent a lot of this year restructuring my offers and services to make sense in an employer’s market where everything is “powered by AI” and no one can find a job.
I spent a lot of the last few months questioning what the hell the point of any of this even is, what right I have to talk about creativity and business and art-making and self-advocacy when just about the only thing I’m absolutely sure anymore of is that we need to come together to talk about it.
Here is what I know.
I know the difference between what’s in my control and what isn’t. I know that what isn’t in my control is sometimes within my influence, and I know what actions I can take to exert at least some of that influence, some of that power.
I know that I do have power.
I know that I can use my power, my voice, to live in alignment with my values and to treat other people—my neighbors, my customers, my audience, my friends—in a way that reflects those values. I know that my choices are in my control. I know that when in doubt I can always make a decision.
I also know that I’m not alone.
I talk to anywhere from 1-50 small business owners a day, depending on what’s on the café schedule. Rarely does a day go by where I don’t hear firsthand from an artist or a maker or an entrepreneur or a dreamer.
I know that my job is to listen and to respond, not from a place of “This is the way” but instead from a place of “I think this might help, what do you think?”
I also know—firsthand! from experience! from evidence!—that a whole lot can change in three months.
I know that we are not robots. We are artists, and we need accommodating plans.
I know that SMART goals don’t work for me, and they usually don’t work for my people.
I know that interest, novelty, and a healthy dose of urgency can kick even my overwhelmed, existential-crisis-prone ass into gear.
And so here is the action that I’m taking.
We’re going to do Big Paper Planning Day again. We’re currently wrapping up Week 9 of 12 with the current cohort, and I’ll host Pretty Decent’s bestselling virtual life design retreat again on October 30 and/or November 2.
Tickets are currently $100 off with code THEWORM. (Early bird, get it?)
And before that, on October 16, I’m going to host a free workshop called The Next Three Months. This is kind of like a pre-requisite. It’s also a chance for you to come feel out the vibes at the café, to get more information on whether or not spending three months in Momentum Support sessions with us talking about your dreams and hopes and avoidances and failed experiments feels like a good idea.
Together at The Next Three Months we’re going to look forward at the tail-end of the year (and a little bit into January). We’re going to apply a design thinking process to our needs in this very specific season, asking ourselves questions like:
What do I want?
Why do I want it?
What problems are stopping me from getting what I want?
Where are those problems interacting with my day-to-day life?
How might I solve those problems?
What might work?
What do I want to experiment with?
Then, at Big Paper Planning Day, we’ll put together abstract goals, action menus, and a self-compassionate, actually accommodating plan.
We’ll design a series of small experiments: One for November, one for December, one for January. When everyone else is making vision boards, you’ll be celebrating the action you’ve already taken, the results you’ve already seen.
The funny thing about my job this time of year is that I have to explain why you should care about designing your life now, when it seems like everyone else is going to wait until January 1.
To that my answer is simple:
Now is always a good time to begin. Now is always a good time to try.
The longer you wait…well, the longer you wait, you know?
In my experience, it doesn’t get any easier when you push it off until later. If anything, my goals and dreams and plans just start to feel more monumentally overwhelming the longer I avoid looking at them.
(Also, more practically, people spend a lot of money this time of year. Don’t quit the race before they wave the checkered flag!!!)
And so here is my pitch, in this very self-advocating and sales-y newsletter:
Come to The Next Three Months on October 16. It’s free, you’ll meet new Internet friends, and I promise you’ll leave having learned something interesting and novel about yourself.
If you know you want to come to Big Paper Planning Day, and you also want to save $100, use the code THEWORM at checkout before October 12.
Most importantly, if you also haven’t had the year you thought you would back in January, just please know that you’re not the only one. And that the year is not over. And that every day we have an opportunity to begin again.
In your corner, as I always am,
