As I mentioned recently in my post about pressure and resistance, I’ve had a hard time getting started lately. I’ll sit down to work, and then I get distracted. At the end of the day, I’ve accomplished nothing on my to do list.
I feel like an engine that won’t “catch.” Turn the key, it makes the right sounds to indicate that the engine is surely starting. But as soon as you stop turning the key… silence.
Another piece of the resistance, in addition to rebelling against the pressure: I fear doing it wrong or not being able to finish.
I dread writing for a while on a blog post and then losing enthusiasm and giving up.
I’ll think about a section of my book proposal but then worry that it won’t go well or I won’t be able to complete it.
You know what guarantees that I will fail? Not starting.
It makes no sense. Not starting feels safer, even though it guarantees the outcome I don’t want. Why should it feel safer?
And yet, I’ve spent several days this month with the engine turning over but not catching.
Fortunately, yesterday was a good day. Got a (fairly long!) newsletter email written. Yay! And today has been good so far too. Taking the pressure off is helping.
Blank is easy, but not useful
I had to laugh when I saw this. Here are the search engine optimization (SEO) ratings from Yoast for a completely blank blog post:
I had to laugh. That post (or book!) you never write? Sure, as a blank page, it might be incredibly easy to read. And, not having any words, it is unlikely to offend.
But it’s not exactly going to be engaging to your readers. With driving, to get somewhere, you have to actually start the engine. In order to connect through the written word, you must start writing.
I keep reading that there are two keys to connecting to your people online: consistency and content. Show up regularly, and keep creating content people want.
Great, but show up where? Should I be building my Substack audience? Enhancing my creator profile on Kit? Keeping things on my own website?
I’ll tell you where you can find me, in a moment. But where do I find myself?
Where am I?
Key to answering this question, for me, has been the podcast Own Your Impact, by Macy Robison. Macy breaks thought leadership down into ten archetypes. I’m pretty sure the one that fits me best is “Wisdom Writer,” because the written word comes easily to me. Others include, for example, the Resonant Orator, the Experience Facilitator, and the Research Innovator.
Don’t worry, they’re not thought leadership astrological signs. They’re just patterns of what approaches might work best for a given person. It’s a way of finding out what activities might or might not be a good fit for you.
And the archetypes aren’t meant to box you in – I may not be a “Resonant Orator,” but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t bother speaking. I spoke at Enterprise Technology Leadership Summit last year and I loved it, and I’m excited to be speaking at LeadDev StaffPlus in New York this year. Nobody’s 100% one archetype.
But writing, as a primary mode of expression, is going to work out much better for me than making videos on YouTube or running an in person workshop.
The point: don’t just copy what you see other people doing because you think that’s the only way. There are multiple ways. Take the time to figure out what is a good fit for you, and do that.
Macy just unveiled a quiz that can help you determine what your primary archetype is. You can find it on her website, macyrobison.com.
And I’m paying attention to that exhaustion, to what (good or bad) I get in exchange for my efforts.
What works for me and what doesn’t
When I’m writing for my newsletter, it feels good. And I’m often working directly on the book, which is glorious. This week, I’m also going to start sending an additional issue of the newsletter about art.
When I’m writing for my blog, that’s great too, although I don’t think I have many readers on my website. I need to figure out how to get my website blog posts to post automatically to Substack and Medium…
When I’m posting and interacting on social media, I’m often getting ideas for writing from the interactions I have with others. That works.
However, when I’m just reading social media, I have to be careful. It can be a huge waste of time, or it can be draining, or both. There’s interesting content from time to time to be sure, but it’s in a sea of ads, “suggested” content, endless commentary about AI, and upsetting news. Very easy to be overwhelmed.
And trying to keep up with ALL of the social media? Not gonna happen! I need a tool to go fetch just the best content for me from the sites I’m on. And there’s no way I’m cross-posting everything I write to multiple spaces, not unless I can find a tool to do that for me too.
What works for you? Do you have tools that help you manage all this online content?
If you check out Macy Robison’s archetypes, let me know how it goes!
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