Does This Support the Life I'm Trying to Create?

 

My wife has this Post-It on her desk, and I think about it all the time—every time I'm trying to figure out where to spend my time and effort. "Does this support the life I'm trying to create?"

I like it because it raises an even more interesting question (related to a previous post)—what is the life I'm trying to create?—and it doesn't leave that question in the realm of pie-in-the-sky dreaming. It forces me to think about what I want and what steps I can take right now to get there.

And I'm thinking about it even more lately because of, well... lots of recent and ongoing changes. I don't know what all the future holds, but I love to imagine a future where my work is all steady* private editing clients (very flexible and fulfilling), I'm able to write at a steady* pace, and I'm—I dunno—GMing tabletop RPGs or writing Twine games or something and playing games with friends and the diaspora that will be my family.

* The word "steady" is doing a lot of work here. I'll take what I can get, so long as my stress remains manageable.

That sounds like a lot of stuff, now that I write it all out like that. But then, that's the other point of the question: to examine things one step at a time.

This is why I started the blog (and continue to figure out a posting cadence that works for me) and why I am open to private clients even while I have a long-term contract. My answers to this question have instigated other stuff behind the scenes too—some of which might even show up here one day.

Why am I talking about this? Well, mostly because I'm thinking about it a lot, but also because I suspect you can benefit from it as well. In my experience, that's usually how this works.

So, what is the life you're trying to create, and what steps are you taking to support that? (And is there anything you're doing that doesn't support it?) I'd love to hear about your own decisions and dreams.