I’m not really Superman. I’m not even Clark Kent. But, sometimes I like to put on his cape and pretend.
Growing up, I used to use a towel, pillow case, or small blanket around my shoulders and neck. I would turn myself into Superman. There was even a little while that I had a real, genuine red cape from a costume. With the cape on, I could do anything and everything.
I guess I’m not grown up yet, because I still put a cape on and believe that I can do everything.
I tend to take on too many things. I say “yes” too easily. I fly around the world and make time go backwards. Well, I do 2 out of the 3. Doing the third one would make the other two better.
Back in December, I began sharing my goals for this year. I did pretty good in January. I did okay in February. I’m not sure about March and April.
I’m not saying that I’ve done bad or that I’m disappointed. I know that I am much farther now than I would have been if I never set those goals in the first place. For example, I had planned on losing 50 pounds by this time. This was aggressive, but still attainable for me. But, food and exercise are my kryponite. I’ve got off to a good start, but then went up and down a little bit. I’ve been steady around a 20 pound loss. If I would compare 20 to 50, that’s only 40% of my goal – and that can be depressing. But, I’ve lost 20 pounds – that’s an accomplishment I haven’t done for a long time. I am also trying to get my business off the ground. With everything that I’ve been doing, it’s been difficult to keep my focus on it.
It is time.
There comes a time when you need to refocus. You need to take a step back and get your bearings again. I had lost my focus. As a result, I started to lose my traction. I’m needing to take some time to refocus. So, I need to take my cape off and realize that I can’t do it all.
So what does this mean? It means that I’m going to scale back what I’m doing on this blog – temporarily. I’m still going to continue the weekly podcast, but I may not post much else. I’m going to take a couple weeks – maybe the rest of the month – so I can get my focus back.
I’m going to be getting some professional business coaching (I’ll share more about this later). This should be a huge help getting my business going. He will no doubt step on my toes, tear me up, and spit me out. I don’t know much about business, so it’s likely that I need to redo several things.
When I do come back, there are several things that you should be able to expect:
- Regular postings. I’ll be putting out a survey about your preference on days of the week, but I’m thinking about blog posts on Monday and Friday, and the podcast coming out on Wednesday.
- A better e-mail experience. I plan on working on developing a better e-mail layout. I also plan on providing some more content only for those that subscribe via e-mail (so, you’ll get things that others won’t). If you haven’t subscribed via e-mail yet, please join to enjoy the additional content.
- An e-book covering the subject of Quality Living Made Simple. This will cover my goals and plans for this site, compilation of several posts and podcast topics, and additional tips and resources.
- I’m also working on a book project: “Leave Nothing Undone: 15 Key Lessons from the Life of Joshua.” It will center on the book I’m writing, which I think I’ll have available as paperback as well as a Kindle version. I think I’ll create an audio version as well. I’m also planning on having several other bonus material available. I’ll be looking for some people to help and be part of a launch team, so stay tuned for more details.
In the meantime, I’ll still be available on Twitter and e-mail if you have any questions. During this time, I’ll be sharing some past posts. This particular post marks #110 in the past 12 months. I’ll be sharing these via social media, but definitely feel free to browse through the archives yourself – maybe there are posts you missed or that you’d like to read again!
I do thank you for your faithful support, and I believe that taking this time will help me to give you even better content and support.
Question: Do you need a break to refocus?
Hey Joshua,
You might want to consider doing the Friday post on Thursday. Fridays are usually the worst day for traffic/comments of the weekdays. I’ve found that in my blogs and in general online.
Have seen differently with yours?
Now that you mention it, I think I’ve heard that before. I’d have to look into my stats more. Thanks, Matt!
Joshua! Good for you. You, I am sure, would desire to post daily, but you know your limits and are managing yourself very well to see the reality of your available time you have in proportion to what your priorities are right now to meet some personal and business goals. Personally, your blog schedule changes will help me to not get as flustered as I cant keep up with all my blog reading! 🙂 I am far behind in reading my subscribed blogs. I have scaled down on reading the blog that I am subscribed to down to only one day a week! (I, too, am working on managing myself better!) I will reward myself and read a few extras if time allows on the weekend, but for the most part I have not been able to follow blogs as often as I would like. But, my productivity is stronger, yet I am still learning and being encouraged at least those days (or day) that I can get around to reading blogs and listening to podcast. If I only read and listen to stuff, how will I ever have the time to work on all the things I am learning? See how it works! 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I am trying to get things lined up so I can produce and share more and better things. And not squeeze 30 hours of stuff into 24.
Joshua,
Timely post for me. I’m in a major pause in several different areas of life at once. My blog has cobwebs on it. (On purpose.) I’m trying to find focus.
It’s hard to pause. There is a part of me that wants to scream ‘Failure!’ when I pause. It’s a hard to ignore voice.
I’m also on pause with my work in some ways. Trying to figure out my role as a leader vs doer. Technition vs. Manager vs leader. Hard for me to figure out.
My walk with God is more like…wading through a deep mud puddle and having your boot get stuck. Big pause there, trying to regroup, and rediscover my relationship with the most important person in the world to me.
Family…again…we’re in a tinkering mode right now. Working on improving some stuff that seems to keep breaking on us.
Yeah. Feels like I’ve got more parts in my hands than finished products…but the more I think about it, the more pausing to focus seems like the best thing we can do…..
thanks for the post. Thanks for your hard work. Blessings on you my friend. 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Aaron. I knew things have been hectic for you. I’ll continue to pray for you. God bless!
I like your analogy of the mud puddle – kind of sums up things for me as well. Praying for you my friend.
Great post Joshua, and I am struggling with the same things as well. I have felt stagnant and stuck in several areas, including work and personal relationships, and that’s causing some (ok, a lot) of frustration in my writing. I applaud your decision and pray for clarity and focus for you. Hang in there, and I look forward to even better things.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing. Praying for you as well. Use the frustration to drive you forward!