Turning Hamster time to Hammer time.
Dear 31,
I'm stuck on the internet's hamster wheel. This is not a metaphor.
I'm stuck flipping through 36 open tabs. I stuck reading blog posts (however brilliant) about email newsletters, product launches and important metrics for online shop success. I'm stuck favoriting bad ass illustrations from other makers and designers. I'm stuck scanning to Illustrator tutorials. I'm stuck running on the internet's hamster wheel and we all know a hamster wheel ain't moving any rodent forward.
Here's what I'm not doing: making more drawings and building my business.
I've written so much about the challenges of #goingsolo. (Too much? Maybe? You let me know.) But part of every fear is that I'm "consuming, not creating," about 78% of the time. I don't start so I can't screw up... right? (We've all been there-- haven't we?)
It's actually a little embarrassing to type out loud, but it's the truth. With so so so many peeps making and drawing and printing and writing on the internet with tips, tricks, info and really amazing work, I get stuck reading their words and admiring their art rather than creating my own.
I've been #goingsolo for just over three months now and have consumed 43% of the internet's offerings in that short 90+ days. (This is an exaggeration. 43% of the internet would take years to consume. Right?)
This early morning I was working on some new projects, reading all the internet's notes on social media marketing for creative solopreneurs and listing to Elise Blaha talk with Scott Berkun on her weekly podcast. I was filling my desktop with tabs, liking all over Facebook and passively listening when POW: they start talking about this idea of consuming vs creating. That's where I am. They outed me and my hamster wheel. As Elise put it on her blog, "Eventually you have to turn it off and sit at a desk and hammer it out."
In October hamster time is over.
It's hammer time.
Off to create. But thanks for consuming the blog.
xo-LP