Determine a Course of… Inaction; How To Value Your Evaluation to Continue or Not!

Do you trust yourself, to give yourself, an honest assessment of yourself, and your progress?

How many times have you started something new… and it just, kinda, fizzled out?

Have you tried a new diet? A new exercise program? A personal/professional re-branding?

One key ingredient, to any book, blog, or vlog discussing success will be to describe the phenomenon of “quitting to soon.”

I’ve read it a hundred times.

“You never will know, what might have been, if you would have continued on for another six months.” ~ random quote

Part of my re-branding, is learning from my past “failures” trying to own and operate side services.

In every venture there was a “time to call it quits.”

Those times are hard times.

So, I learned, it was better to have never started than to start and have to quit.

I never had a problem starting. Taking an idea an running with it.

My problem was learning how to get it to perpetuate.

I have done four major endeavors outside of my “day job hours,” and they all ran the same course. Each one lasting, a little longer than the previous one, as I did learn a few things.

The similarities of their trajectories have led me to today.

I’m stuck. I need to learn something. I couldn’t put my finger on it. The only thing that kept coming to mind was… “a soap bubble.”

Crazy right.

Do you remember being a kid and playing with soap bubbles? Or, maybe now, you enjoy watching your grandchild play with them for the first time.

I’ve been doing my best Pooh Bear impression… “Think. Think. Think.”

About what the vision of a bubble may represent to my brain.

So I’ve been looking at “How To Value Your Evaluation To Continue or Not!”

Because I feel “inactive” in my writing pursuits.

You can evaluate it as “hitting a wall,” “it was bound to happen,” or “screw it! I give up.”

But is that an accurate evaluation?

Only you would know.

Looking at myself, I asked myself, “Self… why are you comparing your writing lull to a soap bubble?”

What is it about a bubble?

We currently have Covid bubbles; there are investment bubbles; and soap bubbles.

The obvious thing that was obvious about a bubble is that they POP!

But that’s not how I’m looking at it.

Ever really look at a soap bubble? Gently floating on the air, in the summer sunshine?

They’re kinda beautiful. Round, yet undulating. Clear, yet iridescent. Stock still, yet gently swaying, sometimes “kicking up” on an errant breeze.

And we see all of that… from the outside. Watching the action, enthralled. Reaching out… but careful not to touch it. Maybe trying to have it land on your finger like a Monarch Butterfly.

But never truly grasping it.

I think that is where I’m at with my writing.

I’ve determined I’m a communicator.

I’ve determined I like communicating.

I’ve endeavored to learn how to write by “Just Doing It.” To steal a phrase.

I know what my current quality is.

I do get just enough feedback though that lets me know I’m on the proper track.

I struggle learning the nuances of communicating online. Looking for experts that I can “put a face to,” is hard.

I decided to check one out that I actually used to work with.

He is a professional in the online field, I’ve been able to read his content concerning blog articles and how to promote them better.

It’s a start. In learning the things I think I need to learn to keep moving forward.

I’d be lying if I said it was easy.

It may be a simple thing… but having to continually learn; adapt; execute; learn; adapt; execute; learn; adapt…

Yeah, if you don’t have a very clear target, you’d call it quits, and devalue yourself and your capabilities.

And, if another opportunity presents itself, you may not be so gung-ho to dive on into it.

Good thing I’m a glutton for punishment.

Good thing I have a clear goal… ten years away.

Good thing I’ve been actively wrestling my mind, and it’s penchant to shove itself into a dark pit of negativity, throwing body shots like, “You will never be successful at it,” “Why did you even start,” “It’s ok, you knew it wouldn’t work out anyway.”

Good thing I took up boxing.

I know that negative voice. I know it isn’t my voice. I have been able to identify when it likes to throw those body shots… when my guard is down, when I’m tired… and especially… when I’m hungry.

The tired part has been the case in point lately.

The other sneaky, negative connotation to my bubble vision is one of my personal value or worth assessment in regards to the type of work that writing, blogging, and authoring brings up.

My personal experience in life thus far has been one of manual labor… looking at my beautiful bubble I can’t help feeling the gap that seems to be before me… one of, “How can I get over there? Will I ever fit over there? Rubbing elbows with the professionals?”

What I determined is that I am not confident in “what I have to offer,” what is the specific “thing” that I could “sell?”

Are my books enough?

Do I develop stories?

How do I determine my happiness versus what could be “commercially viable?”

Being older now I’ve learned storms pass. You might get wet. But were not made of sugar or soap. And so we won’t melt or pop under a little bit of strain.

The little dips and doodles of my re-branding trip, like the erratic path of that bubble, can’t be scheduled.

The new tools I’ve learned already have been able to help me navigate those dips… with an anticipation.

An anticipation that peers over the edge of “what works,” as a successful “success” strategy.

The number one strategy being “consistent persistence.”

It works.

I’m still tired though.

Maybe instead of waving a plastic little wand to create bubbles, I’ll invest in a bubble machine.

You know… for my granddaughter.