Raise your hand if you have all these ideas in your head, but they’re just that… ideas. That used to be me — I’ll admit — most of the time. I had all these grand ideas and plans. They ranged from the mundane, like creating and sticking to a cleaning schedule, to the grand, like creating a hot dog food tour. (I really did toss this idea around, because — for real — people take their Chicago hot dogs seriously, as I learned during my time as a hot dog reporter).
So, what did these ideas lack? For starters, a plan to back them up. But also? Passion, and not just because it’s pretty impossible, at least for me anyway, to be passionate about cleaning.
Things changed when I had Little Miss. I still had plenty of ideas and dreams for the future, but they took a back seat to spending time with her. In turn, the time I had to work on well, ‘work,’ as well as my writing, and other ideas basically disappeared. It forced me to realize:
1) I can say “no” to editorial and writing work that wasn’t in line with my interests, and
2) It was time to start working on the things I’d been planning on, especially if I was going to be serious about them.
That’s one reason, of many, this blog was born. So how did I take the idea of this blog into fruition? I’ll share some of the steps I took in hopes that it’ll help you bring your idea out into the world too.
Brain dump
All these ideas swirled around my head, so I literally sat down and wrote down every last thought I had in my head as it came to me for a set amount of time. It felt incredibly freeing, and I do this activity more and more on a regular basis just to wrap my head around my to-do list.
Narrow it down
Chances are when you do a brain dump that you’ll see some commonalities among some things. I know I did. A lot of the things I wrote down involved, no surprise here, writing, but also storytelling through social media, and also about supporting and uplifting women (more to come on that!)
All of these ideas still feel a bit all over the place, even for a blog like this, and that’s something I’ll admit I’m still working on. But moral of this step? Follow what excites and thrills you. If you see an idea that speaks to you — as this idea for this blog did for me — run with it.
Create a plan
“A dream without a plan is just a wish,” or so it was said by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, but it’s true. Blindly doing something without knowing anything about where you’re headed can be overwhelming. At the end of the day, what do I want this blog to be? A place of inspiration and encouragement, and a place for women to share their stories. Am I there yet? Not yet, but I plan to be.
Stick to it and Time Block
Once you have a plan set, your ideas are starting to become realized, and that can be a beautiful feeling. But it can also be overwhelming. To help with that, I time block. Every Sunday (or first thing Monday morning), I sit down and look at the week ahead and what I already have planned. I then schedule in what I want to get done and I put them in blocks of time.
One hour I’ll be working solely on my creative writing or writing blog posts, editing, and posting. I’ll spend another hour on supporting my freelance clients, while the next is spent scheduling social media posts, and the list goes on. The point of this activity is that it’s focused activity with no distractions… unless you count the fact that I’m cuddling with my dog during Little Miss’s naptime while I work.
Through all this, I’ve also been giving myself deadlines, particularly for this blog. I’m still not totally on track with my deadlines I give myself, but I’m getting there. When you’re self-employed in particular, finding an accountability partner or group can be hugely beneficial in this area.
Reassess (and Hang in There)
The reason I time block just once a week is that each week’s schedule is different. But this process also gives me the opportunity to look back at the past week and see what worked and what didn’t, and if I was being honest with myself about the amount of time I had to work on any given thing.
Do I have this whole thing figured out? Heck no, but I’ve come a long way in how I manage my time — and implement my ideas — in the past year. I’m more organized and less stressed than I have been in a long time.
If you’ve found this helpful, or want to share how you take your ideas to action, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
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