Happy Monday, All! I’m excited to report that I managed to do better this past week with my bedtime routine. I reported my struggles in How Sleep Affected My Monday Report, which was last Monday’s blog post. However, I made a little progress with my scheduling goals last week, not substantial progress but progress nonetheless. I was also more consistent with identifying My Daily Top 5 for the day and managed to actually cross some of them off of my list by the end of each work day.
I’ve noticed that the little incremental actions I’ve taken to work through my schedule are making a positive impact in how I’m functioning day-to-day. You may think getting enough sleep from the night before and starting my day out with an agenda may be productivity child’s play. And, that’s okay; because I’m aiming for consistent toddler steps (not adult New York City strides) anyway.
What I really wanted to share with you is how I plan on directing my daily actions in 2020. You can call the following directives “goals”, of sorts, but I like to refer to them as “guidelines”, because they will govern how I guide everything that I do at Degrees of Maternity (DOM) going forward.
Now, guidelines are not etched in stone; so, I do reserve the right to tweak things as needed. One of the sayings I tend to live by these days is “Flexibility is Key”. There will be those things that I can’t deviate from, such as creating content, because that’s exactly what I do as a creative entrepreneur. So, I won’t be compromising on that one. And, I believe I should be pretty solid on keeping my content posting schedule with Monday through Thursday blog posts and Monday YouTube videos. On the other hand, everything else in my creative world has a little flexibility built in for good measure.
But don’t you worry. I don’t plan on faltering from the overarching goal that brings all of my smaller goals together; and that goal is WRITING. After all, writers write. And, that’s what I plan on doing in every project I take on at Degrees of Maternity. As a matter of fact, I have some exciting project ideas that are in their infancy, but are turning into more of a plan that may take flight soon. And of course, these new project ideas will revolve around writing. (More to come on this subject in the very near future.)
Anyway, let me get back to the discussion at hand. The guidelines that will direct my actions going forward are as follows:
- Because I’m a solopreneur (wearing all the hats at Degrees of Maternity), I have no desire to spread myself too thin by trying to do everything on every platform. Undoubtedly, there’ll always be the have-to tasks. But for those activities that are not have-tos, I will routinely partake of them only if they will keep me aligned with my overarching goal of writing or promoting writing.
- Any activities that will take me away from writing or promoting writing, such as spending too much time on social media, will be avoided or kept to a bare minimum.
- My social media reach will only extend to YouTube and Twitter for the time being. I need to develop both of these platforms before moving on to any new social media outlets. (Again, social media engagement is not one of my priority items, so I don’t want to trade my time on writing content for perusing on social media.)
- I want to concentrate efforts on audience engagement with the blogging community through future guest posting and being active on others’ blogs with reading, commenting, and liking their blog posts. Furthermore, I would like to participate in local volunteer activities that allow me to work one-on-one or in groups with individuals that can utilize personal and professional development learning opportunities. (I’m currently in the beginning stages of establishing volunteer relations with an organization in my local community.)
- My content will focus on personal and professional development in the areas of goal-setting, career development, education, family and relationships, productivity, and health and wellness.
- My main source of content will be distributed through my blog posts. However, I will also have written content created for my YouTube scripts and future books.
- I have determined that book #2 will temporarily be put on hold to make room for the special project ideas that are in the planning phase. (I’ll have more news for you on book #2 in a future Monday report.)
- My son (Little Man) and daughter (Toodlez) will have more creative involvement with Degrees of Maternity in 2020. I’ll be enlisting their assistance with hand-crafting design elements for the blog, books, and special projects.
- My self-published books will be informative, easily-consumable books that will pack a punch in less than 100 pages.
- Audio seems to be the growing method in which people are consuming content nowadays. So, I intend to seek ways in which I can provide audio versions of my content, starting with my books. I eventually want to get Playground Instruction for the Growing Adult out in audio format. I’m also getting great practice with my YouTube videos, which are based on my blog’s content. While the video aspect is highlighted on YouTube, I tend to personally enjoy the audio elements of YouTube. Honestly, I prefer to absorb information from YouTube by listening while I do tasks like cooking, cleaning, or driving in my car. And, I actually emphasize in my videos that they’re currently being made with audio consumption (over visual consumption) in mind.
So, there you have it . . . the guidelines that will keep me focused, on track, and moving forward. It’s always helpful to have some direction for how to attack goals that are still in the making. And for my purposes, the DOM guidelines certainly fit the bill.
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