This week I’m in Taos, New Mexico with my family and have been thinking a lot about things. I thought it would be a good time to share with you more about where I’ve been, where I’m going, and what you can do to help me.
A Retrospective
When I planned out how I would start my blog, I planned five different series of posts, four of which have been published:
Introduction: This shares some of my core values and lets you get to know me a bit. I naturally gravitated toward contentment and the appropriate definition of success. These topics have still remained very interesting to me and were fun to write. I think these posts are probably the closest to where I think this blog is headed.
Lessons Learned on my Install/Diagnostic Utility project: This coincided with speaking about it. These posts weren’t very popular; the safety net post barely hit the top twenty. I had thought that there might be some more interest in the work-related sphere for lessons learned/etc., but there hasn’t been.
Finances: Next I wrote about our financial story, which has played a big part in my character development in the last five years. This series was the most popular one, largely because I shared it on the You Need a Budget forum. It was fun to write, especially when I write about the philosophy and mindset behind making good financial decisions. I don’t read very many people writing about that, and think I may have insights in that area that can help people. The most popular posts in this series are also the most popular posts in the first two months: the introduction to the story and how I got a month ahead with YNAB.
Lessons learned on my long-term Autopilot project: This coincided with speaking about it to our User Summit in Huntington Beach. The lessons I’ve learned have been valuable to me and I enjoyed sharing them, but my audience shrank during this series. This highlights a key surprise from the first couple of months: I haven’t been able to get any traction or response from what I do professionally. If I talk broadly about what I do professionally, people enjoy it, but the more detailed I get the less response I get from it. That’s a strange reality that I want to understand more deeply, but I won’t do an entire series related just to a work environment before I know that it will be well received.
Getting Things Done: The next series I will write about how Checkvist has helped me implement the Getting Things Done system and has increased my productivity to previously unimaginable levels. I’m really excited about this series because using this tool has created a breakthrough for me that has truly been revolutionary.
My Purpose
I write this blog for four reasons:
- I want to create a network of people who want to grow and intentionally live a better life.
- I want to grow as a writer and a speaker because I enjoy helping others win.
- I want to help the vendors who have made me successful, giving back to those who have given so much to me.
- I want to explore which of my ideas and passions resonates with an audience, so I can know which paths my career can take me.
So far I have learned a ton and have enjoyed the work that has gone into this.
The Future
I can already tell by how this first two months have gone that I want to write more about intentional, contented living. I’ve read a few books on this and will unpack it in August and beyond. I’m seeing by the response that these types of posts are the most helpful to people, and they are the most fulfilling for me to write.
What do I want from you?
- Subscribe to my email updates. This is on the right side of the posts and is the easiest way to be a regular reader.
- Tell people about posts you like. It’s really encouraging to see responses in social media/etc., so the more you do this the more you support what I’m doing and encourage me. Use the icons on the bottom of each post to easily do this.
- Comment/Respond. If you’re an early reader of my blog, and you like what I’m writing, you’re an important part of what I’m doing. If you like something, please tell me through a comment or contact me. If you don’t like a particular post or idea, tell me that too! It’s helpful to be able to hear from you.
I’d love to hear from you one way or another: What about the first couple of months have you enjoyed the most? What would you like to read more about?