Challenges. In life you choose challenges, or they will be chosen for you. I may have made some significant strategic errors in life recently.
I had a writing group scheduled for today. It was what I was looking forward to most. It was canceled. If I really pursue leading writing groups for homeschoolers as an avenue of revenue I wonder how often that would happen? I don't really feel like taking the initiative to drive the process forward at the moment, although I've had interest from at least three other mothers.
The illustrator that I'm writing the comic book with is having health issues. I don't know what's happening with that project. I have to have the initiative for this project, and I'm not feeling it right now.
I only have two students to teach this morning. Which is not enough to make enough money for me to live. I also had to cancel classes with the very first student I ever had, from a few years ago, Parker. Everything was great. I had Parker above grade level in math, he was better at math in English than he was in Chinese. I had him at grade level in reading English even if he was going to school in the United States. We were working on writing and making good progress. Then, his mother decided that she didn't like the way that I co-select learning material with students, which Parker and I had been doing for over 2 years together. That was a bummer.
I'm way behind on editing stories for the "Horror Without Borders" project with my friend Oleg in Russia. That needs to get done. We have a publishing date at the end of September.
I'm giving four speeches at a Harry Potter festival in less than a month. I have all four basic ideas down, and most of the details for one. That still leaves three. One will involve another person, so that adds some complexity. I'm borrowing items for one demonstration from two different people. Hopefully that works out.
And last, but the opposite of least, I've decided to resist some of the immoral and illegal activities that township politicians are doing in my area. So, over the last week I've taken the time and effort, and some money, that I would have put towards the business and put it into this grassroots political movement. I've gotten some criticism, and I will get a lot more. But, some of the criticism has come from unexpected places and that threw me for a loop yesterday. My stress levels are about as high as they've ever been, including when I was talking to a guy while we were stuck on a mountain cliff and seriously discussing if that was a stupid place to die, and when I was told I was going to die in Africa.
All of this brings us to the business. It's not getting an important little thing called attention. That's partially because my first little foray into trying to find a product/market fit fell flat and I was a little confused about what to do next. It's also partially because I know that I'm going to get criticism moving forward. I want to help people with chronic pain through meditation without all of the criticism. Just like I want to write without the criticism. That whole idea is impossible. The fear of rejection, ridicule, and criticism is what I think stops most people in most things in life. So... forward, always forward.
Plus, I really want to write some fiction stuff. Art refreshes the soul. Really, my ideal life would primarily involve reading and writing stories.
Plus, I think some of the philosophy projects I'm pursuing are important and could be extremely beneficial to people.
Plus, I want to do some adventures this year, like testing out motorcycle riding, flying in a plane, and riding a horse, and seeing if my spinal deformities will hinder me in these activities. And, I would like to go to several events, and travel to visit the Ark and the Parthenon in the Appalachian area this summer.
Plus, health and romance have to fall in there somewhere.
How can I possibly manage all of these priorities? That's what I need to work out. Now, if you bite off more than you can chew you have exactly one option, spit something out. I don't want to drop any of these things, so... can I chew them? Lol, maybe I carried that metaphor too far. I need to line things up on an importance/urgency scale.
Alright, I can't hold that many things in my mind at once. That's a problem. So, what are the most important things over the long term?
Business, art, philosophy, health.
What are the most important things in the short term?
Politics, "Horror Without Borders", Harry Potter, business, health.
I do not like the way those two groups line up. And I do not like the fact that things like the writing group, comic book, and adventures are not on either list.
Jack Welch calls making tough decisions having "edge." Maybe I just don't have it.
Alright, let's make some tentative plans and see if they seem like they would work.
Let the comic book sit until there is further word on the health issues and he's able to create some artwork.
Let the homeschool parents drive whether or not the creative writing groups will move forward or expand. I would love it, but I'm not going to push it.
I can do very little about my students and teaching. So, let that ride.
Edit, yes, I have to edit. They are short stories. Can I edit at least one story per day until I catch up? And some days I'll do a number of them. Or, is there a day where I can do a bunch of editing? I'll come back to this.
I'll write on the Harry Potter speeches tomorrow. I need to keep that ball rolling because that is only a few weeks away.
Politics. Ah, politics. The bane of my existence at the moment. What shall I do with you? I'm going to press forward. Full court press. Release several articles over the next couple of weeks. Write the appeal for resignation, write the resolution of support, make a speech, write the recall proposal, do it all. F' it. Don't tread on me.
Keep doing art as a hobby essentially, when and where it feels right.
Hold off on the philosophy, because that's intellectually intense.
Try to get the motorcycle riding experiment done, and not worry about the other adventures this week.
Maintain health, maintain health, maintain health. Sleep long, eat well. Sleep long, eat well.
Romance just gets forgotten. Classic.
And... the business. Oh, first I said I would come back to editing. Okay, one story a day at a minimum.
Now, the business. I don't know. Basically, I need to make the website into a sales page and then start reaching out to groups. That's what I need to do. That's all I need to do. If I can get a customer and satisfy them, I have a business. So, that's what I need to focus on there. And that's it.
That plan doesn't explicitly include hanging out with various people for fun and such. That also helps me to relieve some stress. That will probably just happen at points, hopefully.
To be honest, I don't feel good about the plan I just made. That's the point of this series. To honestly and transparently reveal the process of trying to go from nothing to something.
Dr. Dre was the first hip-hop billionaire. There's a great documentary on his journey called "The Defiant Ones". In there he talks about how he's made all of his decisions based purely on feeling. It's hard to move forward when the feeling is wrong. But, alas, I don't know what else to do.
I'm hoping that the FounderCo meeting tonight will help in some way.
You can find more of what I'm doing at http://www.JeffreyAlexanderMartin.com