A Tentative Step Into The Breach
This is from my weekly email series, The Weekly Mixtape. To get it the right way, please subscribe to the newsletter
Hey Indiepreneurs,
I’m struggling to write this. I had planned to make my first post of 2021 all about the goals I had in 2020, how I stack up, and my path forward. Maybe turn it into some inspirational, “hey, COVID sucks, but we can make progress on our goals nonetheless.”
And truly I’ve had some success. I mean, I got my website up and this email list going. I’ve written a quite a bit of content, both mediocre and the half step above that. I finished the first draft of my tax book and made good headway into revisions.
These are all reasons to celebrate.
But then I look at the things I haven’t done. I haven’t fixed some of the weirdness on the site I know I need to. I haven’t gotten as many people signed up as I’d like. I haven’t gotten Google to like my stuff (though Bing and some search engine out of China seem to be okay with it…). And that book was supposed to be ready to go before year end 2020.
I have two paths forward that are duking it out in my brain like Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots, swinging their red and blue punches even as I type this.
(1) I am so far behind my goals. Get pulled down into despair and give up.
(2) Look at the small successes, and the small momentum. Figure out a way to grow on that one step at a time.
I’d like to say that the second option is clearly the way to go, that I’m all pump up in this new year to slay whatever metaphorical dragons are in the way. But when I’m pulling out my sword while juggling all my other responsibilities I have, I hesitate.
So I’m taking a deep breath, bracing myself, and tentatively committing to Option #2. Of course it’s better to be all in. Sometimes, though, that tentative acceptance is the best we’re going to get.
What hesitant steps are you taking into 2021? Or are your plans all gung ho?
The Links
- My latest: I was reading how important it is to apologize in the knock-off version of How to Win Friends and Influence People. Do those rules still apply?
- Apple TV+ shouldn’t exist for so many reasons (terrible interface, going completely counter to Apple’s mission statement & hedgehog concept, Roku issues, and yet ANOTHER subscription). But while it does, you can extend your “free” subscription to watch Ted Lasso and Wolfwalker, both of which are fantastic.
- We need a new master bath. Anyone want to buy us this one? And a bathroom big enough to hold it?
Service Dog Update
Teenage dog years continue. So Sherman is doing all that dumb adolescent stuff like sneaking off behind the bleachers to smoke.
Okay, maybe not quite yet. But he has decided that we need to pay more attention to him in the evening. So if we sit down and try to watch a movie as a family, he’ll do everything he can to get our attention. Including small nips, trying to get our socks, sneaking up behind us and barking in our ear, and all that fun stuff.
He’s also getting very shaggy. We try to keep him groomed every 3 – 4 weeks, but we’re currently renovating our dog cutting area in the bathroom, so it’s been a bit longer. It’s probably good for him in the winter to have a little more of a coat, but it’s like he transforms into a different dog as his hair gets longer. We finally broke down and scheduled an appointment with a groomer, but it’s still several weeks away.
One Last Thing
I found this video funnier than I should have, so I figured I’d pass it along (ed. note, it’s a bit out of date now. This is why you subscribe)
It's been a long week pic.twitter.com/TlZHVcV304
— Nick Lutsko (@NickLutsko) January 11, 2021
