Over the past couple of months, I haven’t really done anything for my podcast, newsletter, or any other of my media “brands”. I’ve been faced with a slump. I didn’t reach my reading goal and I haven’t bothered to read much at all. However, I plan on taking a couple of steps to re-immerse myself into reading and writing—both hobbies that I genuinely loved. Here are my steps and how I plan to slowly but surely rebuild what once was a highly effective system that allowed me to read plenty and post five podcast episodes a week.
Lowering the bar: It would be more-or-less impossible to immediately return to my previous content bar. I did quite a bit of work and was familiar with every step of it; down to a rhythm. The main boulder that has prevented me from starting earlier was the thought of “but it was soooooo difficult back then, how do you expect to do it now?”. The answer: lowering the bar. I’m not going to try to immediately get back to how I was before. I need to first take a step back and just start (writing this is one of the ways I’m going about this). By lowering the bar and simply returning to writing, there’s a higher chance that I’ll stick to it, as opposed to slaving away and giving up after three days.
Reading and Gathering New Thoughts: Part of the reason I used to be so consistent was that I was constantly on the lookout for new ideas; I was constantly diving from book to book and immersing myself within their white walls. I’m trying to pick that up again. Hopefully, in next week’s newsletter, I’ll write about the book I’m currently reading “Educated” by Tara Westover. Due to me doing more now, I’m having to get creative with the time I dedicate to reading. But by doing so, I’ve remembered why I loved the world of books, and the true joy I get from reading. I have plenty of material, and I’m ecstatic to go through it.
Starting: Lastly, starting is the last hurdle I need to jump over, which is why my keyboard is currently making noise. I’m doing the thing. I remember a quote that I originally heard from Jordan Peterson but have since realized it actually comes from Harry S. Truman.
Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction
I want to start again. So I will.