Head in the clouds, bum away from desk

"Making honey takes a lot of bees doing a lot of small jobs. But let me tell you about a small job. If you do it well, it makes a big difference." - Barry B. Benson, Bee Movie


It's been two months since my last blog post here. In that time I've learned a lot, and done very little. My standards became too high, the dream too big. Aiming high is a perfectly legitimate approach but it's not for me. This blog is about gentle steps to improvement and now I realise that includes having reasonable goals in the first place. (Or maybe no goals at all, but that's a question for another day).

I allowed myself to become enchanted by grand plans. Suddenly, I wasn't writing blog posts because I was planning the blog launch, then I wasn't planning the blog launch because I was trying to find the perfect domain name.

I was getting nowhere. And it was because I was following the wrong dream.

I started this blog to share my thoughts and maybe help some people along the way. When I began thinking about making this a successful blog, that's when things started to go wrong. True, if this blog were to reach more people I could potentially help more. But that's not why I was trying to be successful. I was chasing success itself.

I had succeeded in factoring out the part of the blog that I enjoyed.

It feels good to admit that. (It's taken me a while.) Now to start thinking in practical, realistic steps again. Like Barry B., I'm going to set my sights on doing a small thing, and aiming to do it well.

Here's what I have learned from looking back at my own actions from the last couple of months. Hopefully, it can save you from similar pain.

• Learning is great but has to be balanced with doing, consuming balanced by producing
• Have attainable goals. If the goal isn't attainable break it down into sub-goals (and repeat) or drop it
• Focus on the day-to-day, humble, gentle steps - don't be distracted by the glam and the glitter of 'big success'