The Idea Is You… It’s Not Separate From You
As a multi-passionate writer, creator and entrepreneur, I find myself bursting at the seams with ideas for things I want to do and create. It’s almost annoying at times, because I know I’ll never have the capacity for EVERYTHING.
Or so I thought.
But then last week I began a journey called “be consistent, do what matters and put first things first.” And it shifted everything for me.
To be fair, I’ve started this journey before. About a year ago, and about five years ago, when I quit my day job to become a full-time writer, creator and entrepreneur. But somehow something always got in the way and I’d stop.
Excuses. Life chaos. The old BS stories I’d been telling myself about what was true for me.
And I have a tendency to overcomplicate things, because I used to believe that it had to be perfect or things had to be fancy and have a lot of bells and whistles or they weren’t valuable enough.
So when I’d get an idea for something I wanted to create, I’d go crazy complicating everything about it so that it ended up feeling like this huge, overwhelming project and then instead of taking action on it, I’d set it aside.
For example, at the end of last year I had a Divine Download for a daily email called the Daily Think Different. And it would be a daily email for writers, authors, entrepreneurs and creators that motivated, inspired, educated and empowered you to think different.
I bought a domain name for it. I wrote up a whole page of notes on how I’d set the new site up where people could go sign up to get the daily email. And that’d be another thing to add to my writing task list for the day (at this point I’m writing between 5k-7k words a day). And I was excited about it.
I think about it all the time. I feel it’s something I’m meant to be contributing to the world. I know that my calling and my purpose in the world is to inspire, motivate, educate and empower writers and creators to change the way they think and challenge what they believe is possible.
But months went by and I still didn’t take action on it.
And then two weeks ago I met an entrepreneur in one of the groups I’m in who helped me make a huge shift. She had posted in the group talking about how she wanted to start getting up early every day. And I commented back that I wanted the same thing, but never thought I could make it happen because I’m a night owl.
She commented back—want to help hold each other accountable to getting up early? I felt like it was a nudge from the Universe to jump into the challenge.
So we agreed to check in with each other first thing in the A.M. to say what time we got up. And just knowing I had to check in with her and tell her the time I got up, made me get up early, even when I didn’t want to.
And since I was already getting up early, I decided that i would also challenge myself to be consistent, do what matters and put first things first—before I let the rest of the world in.
Every morning I’d get up, send her a message to confirm the time I got up, and then I’d do my journaling and mindset practice, write my blog post and work on my novel. I did this every single day for five days.
And then the weekend showed up and I had a choice—I could do what I usually do, which is skip the weekends, or I could just keep going and accept that when you’re creating a new habit, you don’t get to take days off.
So I kept it up over the weekend. By Monday morning I was feeling AMAZING! Not only had I been consistent all week on doing what matters and putting first things first, and feeling insanely free and productive in the process, but I discovered something… I was already writing my daily think different emails! I just wasn’t calling them that.
For so long I thought the Daily Think Different emails had to be something outside of the stuff I was already doing and I had to keep it separate from my Jennifer Blanchard brand. But here’s the thing—you can’t separate yourself from the idea. Because you and the idea are one.
So when you’re multi-passionate, like I am, there’s no way for you to keep everything separate and still be able to juggle it all.
Being multi-passionate and allowing yourself to indulge in doing it all requires you to be able to juggle a lot of things all at once. Totally doable for a multi-passionate person, by the way.
You just need to stop trying to separate yourself from it.
You are the brand. You and all the things that come with you, including your thoughts, feelings, opinions, likes, dislikes, preferences, non-negotiables, and multiple passions, talents and interests.
Trying to separate it will just stress you out.
When I first started out online, I had a blog called Procrastinating Writers. Back then I was seriously struggling with doing the writing. It was a losing battle, but I was fighting it and I kept going. Years later, I created InkyBites, a site that focused on creative wellness. And then years later I realized that I if I wanted to be a successful author, at some point I’d have to brand under my own name.
So I launched JenniferBlanchard.net (‘cause someone else already had the dot-com, damn it). And I was trying to run three sites at once. Trying to balance and juggle all three brands, creating content for each one and promoting it on social media and I was failing epically. (I eventually merged all of the brands and content into my Jennifer Blanchard brand.)
Which is why when I get amazing Divine Downloads like my Daily Think Different emails, I get excited and want to take action… but then I often don’t. Because I still default to thinking that it has to be kept separate from my personal brand.
But here’s the thing—I’m me. Which means everything that I create, every idea I have, everything I write…that’s all me too.
I’m the multi-passionate writer, high-achieving, big-dreamer and believer in magic who I’ve always been. And my words are my legacy.
So it doesn’t make sense to separate it. (And let’s be real–it’s not really possible to separate it.)
But it wasn’t until I started doing what matters and putting first things first that I got clarity on that fact. This new habit made me realize if I don’t separate things and just let it all be me and be a part of my personal brand, I really CAN do all the things I want to be doing.
Doing what matters and putting first things first freed up so much of my time and mind space to focus on the other things I want to be doing (and am doing).
And that clarity forced me to see that what I want to do and the impact I want to have on the world, extends far beyond just writing about writing.
Sure, I’ll always write about writing because I’m a writer and it’s in me to do that. But now I’m allowing myself to let out that other side of me. That side of me who wants to see others succeed. That wants to inspire, motivate, educate and empower others to live their dream lives and know that anything is possible when you believe it is and and change your thinking around it.
THAT is what I’m here to do. Everything else that I do is secondary to that.
So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to create and live my dream life and I’m going to be the writer and author I want to be. And I’m going to write about it and share my thoughts on it and share the things I learn, and inspire and motivate and empower you to create you own version of your dream life where you get paid to do what you love to do (write, create).
Now this isn’t unlike most of what I’m already doing. It’s just now I’ll be doing it with a vision and even more purpose and intention than before. (Purpose and intention are big for me.)
Over the next few weeks, you’ll be seeing some changes in my branding and website. I’ve got a new tagline (Dream Life Or Bust), I’m doing daily emails/blog posts and I have a new approach to the business that I’m creating.
I’m finally giving myself permission to fully be the writer and author I see myself as. To act like and think like and BE that writer and author RIGHT NOW. Even though I know some people may not like it.
Because there’s no point in waiting. Or trying to separate yourself from it. You are who you are.
The truth is, you’ll never be ready to go after your dreams or your dream life. You’ll never be ready to make the leap, invest in the course, step into the work you desire to do in the world, or write that book. You’ll never be ready.
And if you wait ’till you’re ready, it will be too late.
So that’s why you have to just jump, right now, into creating your dream life and creating yourself as the writer and author you want to be. Because tomorrow is never guaranteed. All you ever really have is right now.
And right now, you get to decide if you want to keep being who you’ve been being. Or if you want to be who you know you really are and who you know you’re capable of being, if only you gave yourself permission to play full out, trust that what you feel inside is real, and go after all your dreams.
Going forward, I’m choosing the latter.
Share With Us
If you gave yourself permission to play full out in your writing life… what would you do? Share in the comments.
P.S. If you also want to choose the latter (fully being the writer and author you want to be), here’s an opportunity for you to step into that identity right now AND get your book written and published…join my Write and Publish Your Nonfiction eBook in 10 Days workshop. We’re hitting the ground running on Day 1 and will be writing, revising, prepping and publishing our eBooks over the course of the 10 days.
Jim Turnbo III, author of “Brainhacks: 10 Simple Strategies to Keep Your Mind Strong For A Lifetime” had this to say about his journey in the workshop:
“I’ve been sitting on this “Brainhacks” book for the last 16 months. It was slowly hacking away at my brain. Never thought I would finish it. Too many thought processes to go here. But I finished it! The information is so valuable it would be a shame to let it sit tucked away. Thanks to Jennifer, I got the kick I needed to get it done. Getting a good quality book published ready for people to digest is very hard. Only a few will do it. But if you come into this class with an unstoppable attitude, failure becomes obsolete. The price of the class will easily pay for itself. I will use the 10 days template for all my nonfiction writing.”
If you’re ready to give up the excuses, get out of your head and get into action, this is the workshop for you.
