Quote of the Day

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.

 

Johnny Cash

Quote of the Day

Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible – the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.

 

Virginia Satir

Quote of the Day

By taking the time to stop and appreciate who you are and what you’ve achieved – and perhaps learned through a few mistakes, stumbles and losses – you actually can enhance everything about you. Self-acknowledgment and appreciation are what give you the insights and awareness to move forward toward higher goals and accomplishments.

 

Jack Canfield

Life Lessons

Grow, always grow. Don’t stay stunted.

Mistakes can be good

Oh the irony

To write or not to write?

 

I got this. 

Nothing will stand in my way of becoming a freelance copywriter. I had a calling and I answered. End of story.

Over the last week, I have been looking over things to find mistakes. One stands above all others. 

My goals. 

I have not really set down a specific set of goals. Well, I have, just not obtainable. 

Correct that, they are obtainable, the path to them though, is cluttered. O.K., its beyond cluttered, its a trip hazard waiting to happen. If I don’t get it corrected soon, I am going to fall flat on my face. 

I’m just glad its still daylight out and I can see the obstacles in my way. 

I have to turn in an assignment for class, work on a project for Audio Out, and my About page for my website, but tonight, I am going to start the first step of getting my goals in order. 

1) Whats in it for me?

This one is pretty self explanatory. What am I going to get out of it? What am I passionate about? Why do I want this? 

2) WRITE THEM DOWN!!!!

There are many goals in my head. Most have swirled through my head for so long, I didn’t think I needed to write them down. Wrong. Writing them down, helps the chances I will stick to them.

3) Make them manageable.

Make enough money to work for myself is just too broad of a goal. Breaking them down into smaller more achievable goals will help obtain the main goal.

After I have thought about and written down my goals, the next hurdle to overcome is the execution. I will have to stay on track to keep to my goals. 

4) Daily reminders

Put a chart or mind map of your goals up so you can see them daily. Add a comment to each goal on why you want to achieve it. 

5) Commit

Like my commitment to being fit, I need to commit myself to being a writer. No more complaining about how hard something is. No more using “I don’t know how” as an excuse. 

I am in several very helpful, knowledgeable groups on Facebook. They keep me sane and on track most of the time. I will admit, some days are just harder than others. But such is life. 

I would like to see the light at the end of my goal tunnel, but I know I will be reassessing and reevaluating my goals on a daily basis. I think this will be a great motivator also. As I achieve one goal after the other, I know some goals will change. 

Happy writing everyone.

The two worst s…

The two worst strategic mistakes to make are acting prematurely and letting an opportunity slip; to avoid this, the warrior treats each situation as if it were unique and never resorts to formulae, recipes or other people’s opinions.

Paulo Coelho

A man must be b…

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

John C. Maxwell

To write to not to write?

I was looking through the group I’m in on Facebook, Copywriter Cafe, and I realized something, I am not alone in my endeavors. There are over 500 members in the Cafe and we all have different levels of experience. It is a wonderful group to be in. We share tips, successes, failures, fears, and hopes. The other day, I posted in there that I was looking for an accountability partner. I had 4 PM’s and several comments on the thread. One even from the creator of the group, who lives a few hours away from me. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot of responses from a group of 500, but most already have partners. 

I need some accountability to make sure that I am doing what I have put in my schedule for the day. I have a tendency to stray from the schedule. The one thing that I do daily are the rote exercises. I find them relaxing for some reason. When I first started the rote exercises, I hated them. They were so boring, and at first I didn’t understand them. Now a year later, I realize they are the building blocks of what will hopefully soon be a lucrative career. 

The one thing the program and the Cafe are always saying is to write. If you have nothing to say write. Write, write, write. It seems an endless cycle. I write in my journal, I do the rote exercises, I rewrite ads, I rewrite articles. In the last year, I have gone through over 100 notebooks and about 20 pen refills. When I first started, I printed everything. Someone in the Cafe posted something on cursive, and now, I write everything. When I first started to write again, my penmanship was horrible. It reminded me of when I was first learning to write. The nuns would make me write and write and write. This went on until I was in the 6th grade. Now, my penmanship is immaculate. 

I shouldn’t be surprised, out of a 16 hour day, 9 hours of that there’s a pen in my hands. My middle and little finger have the calluses that once adorned them when I was first learning to write. I use a pen instead of a pencil, because I want what I write to be permanent. I want to be able to remember every mistake so that I can learn from it. That is why I believe that everyone tells us to write. You have to make mistakes to learn from it. Everyone I know in the Cafe are writing books. Thank you, but I think I will pass on that for the time being. 

I have noticed when I write, I tend to stray from subject to subject. Eventually, I am sure I will conquer this feat, but this blog is just about writing about writing. I plan on jumping from subject to subject here. Its free writing. I will not hinder my thoughts as I write. I will just let the words flow from my mind, to my fingers, to the page. 

Happy writing everyone. 

To write or not to write?

I don’t know which direction I am going to steer this blog. I have this series in here, and some other posts, but the actual blog site has me confused. Do I post something everyday? Should I show other aspects of my life? Are people really interested in what I am saying? All these questions bother me when I get up and start to write. Than it dawns on me, I don’t care, I am writing.

If I don’t feel like posting, I won’t. When I’m on other social sites, I usually only post once a day. I will like a post or leave a comment, but not too often. Most of my time spent online is doing research. This unfortunately is not helping to build my audience base. Like I said in the first post, marketing is the hardest part in this job. I have read so many conflicting articles about how we should use social media to help build it, I’m usually scratching my head. It is by far the most infuriating aspect of this job. Don’t do this, Don’t do that. Do this, do that. Did I say infuriating?

The only thing I can honestly tell you to do is research. Read, take notes, ask mentors and peers questions, just do your research first. I’ve read so many articles, books, and newsletters about how I should be marketing myself, and the one thing I have found is you have to go about doing it your own way. Don’t turn the advise from others away, just don’t go in doing it the exact same way as someone else. No two people can walk the exact same path and get the same results. Each will take something different out of it.

I’m on marketing today, because I will reiterate, it is the most infuriating part of this job, and the one I struggle with most. I’ve read, that everyone has something different to bring to the table, but when I read these articles, they all saying the same thing. This doesn’t sound different, it sounds like the same thing regurgitated. Follow 3 Simple Steps… Avoid Making these 4 Mistakes… Increase your Online Popularity….

Here’s what I’ve learned. Put yourself out there.

It doesn’t matter what you do, like writing, you just have to do it. You will make mistakes, but you will learn. The really mistake is to give up. You just alter your approach and knowledge for the next time.

Like I stated early, I am not sure where I want this blog to head, but I guarantee you, I will make many mistakes down the road. The only way to know if they are good or bad is to do them. To write or not to write?, maybe I’ll change that to; to do or not to do?

Happy writing everyone.