"Most of the time you manage to fence off an afternoon away from all your dreary domestic and tiresome professional obligations and try to get your head down in front of the laptop, promising yourself that you will come away with a minimum of 4000 words. But then you spend 75% of that precious time titting about with fonts and formats, checking your email, drinking coffee and staring into space. You come away with 500 words, most of which you’re already sure will not make the final draft. And for the rest of the evening you feel like shit...
...It can be brutal. It can be frustrating. But if you’re serious about finishing it, finish it you will: by just carving out bits and bobs of time wherever you can, cranking out out on the days you just don’t feel like it and letting the good days where the muse has hit you take care of themselves....The truth is that we all have busy lives that make sticking to routines and habits extremely difficult and the application of hard and fast ‘rules’ will likely set you up for failure."
I've been a fan of Sam Delaney's writing and podcasts for several years now, especially his writing about men's mental health. His words above resonated because, at the start of the year, I wanted to spend some time developing a new marketing review service as well as more general business development and planning. A few times, I lost patience with myself and gave up, but sometimes work is like this - chaotic, fits and starts rather than the perpetuated image of a High-Performance marketing bro sipping coffee and #CRUSHINGTHECONTENT because #BIZNESS.
Everything is now taking shape with much-needed clarity and energy, partly thanks to Rosie Stanbury's recent coaching. Thank you, Rosie!
Client work has included
Researching and writing a plan for an online peer support space for a rare disease charity
Reviewing annual strategy for a CIC
Developing content ideas for Everyday Plastic
Useful links, tools and resources
5 Chaotic Ways To Write a Book Sam Delaney's article referenced above.
Excellent LinkedIn post from Ethar Alali: A reminder to check the primary source and the data before sharing misleading articles and reports (even when the intentions are good).
A reminder to check the primary source and the data before sharing misleading articles and reports (even when the intentions are good): https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ethar-alali_dear-sustainability-sector-lying-about-activity-7175855568966823936-seGJ
Metricool. I've been using this as a social media scheduler, now across two clients. It works really well, with lots of easy-to-access insights, too. More at https://metricool.com
Eco Send - a low-carbon email platform provider. Has anyone used it? I'd be interested in hearing about people's experiences.
Crewdle. I've been trialling Crewdle for low-impact video conferencing. Overall, it's been positive; there have been just two calls that have had issues. Is anyone else using it or other non-Zoom/Teams alternatives?
Non-work stuff
For the second week in a row, I didn't go to boxing. But that's okay, as I finished painting the bathroom ceiling. Hurrah!
And I managed to find a few hours to noodle on the bass.
My second 100km Audax of the season on Saturday. A fairly flat route. As always, I plan to eat my through another day on the bike.
Since the cat and I moved in with my wonderful partner in Shropshire before Christmas, the cat has become more confident, no longer running away to hide. She even allows us to sit in the same room with her. What a privilege.
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