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In This Episode
An update on ApexThis and the future.
Show Credits
ApexThis podcast is hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.
Blogscript
Welcome to ApexThis.Podcast. A chronicle of my journey to start a publishing side business. This will be a behind the scenes look at what I’m doing to make that happen. I’ll share tips and best practices that I learn along the way. Tips that you can use to start your very own indie publishing journey and share your voice with the world.
Coming up…An update on ApexThis and the future.
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Those words were spoken into my recorder in Dec 2016, and released to the world Jan 2017. A little over 3 years later, I am here to announce that I have stepped away from the Meetup I started. And here is why…
The Why
As you can tell, we are in a global pandemic, and still suffering it here in the US, there are important protests happening demanding change, millions have been laid off from work, and many may be put out of their homes due to the overwhelming lack of support for workers and small businesses.
BUT, we are not a political podcast. The point is, this has called to my attention and brought forth some thoughts I’ve been surpressing.
If you’ve been listening to this sparsely updated podcast, you can derive a theme, a lack of focus. And you would be right.
Despite my want to focus on ApexThis and my writing, I’ve never been able to truly do so and that is because I started too much, too soon. When I decided to focus on writing, I decided to ALSO start a Meetup and when the Meetup grew with real live people, I gave focus to that. Eventually, podcast episodes would fall out, videos, and writing would die off and I would focus on planning meetups, talks, 1/1’s, etc. More and more it was removing me from my focus. A focus that was lost when I started the Meetup.
With Covid, my anxiety increased, and I started to really rethink my projects and what I wanted out of life.
Focus Realignment
2019 saw a big change in how I worked given that I was coming out of a burnout. I prioritized more self-care days and shrank my “work hours” so that I wasn’t running 100% everyday. The workload didn’t go away and instead increased.
I re-read Atomic Habits by James Clear, I read Getting Things Done, by David Allen as well as many other productivity books and I changed from focusing on goals, to focusing on process. While I had a goal to write and many writing projects, my process in writing was non-existent. I asked myself “If I were to write more, what would I need to leave behind?”
With that question in mind, I came across a blog from Julian Shapiro, founder of Demand Curve and writer. He has several guides and blog pieces that he wrote and one was entitled “What to work on.” In this, he broke down his analysis of finding out what interests or excites him and what he values from his projects. In his writing this line stood out to me:
Determine which path you’d be more regretful not having pursued by the time you’re 80 and are reflecting on your life choices.
And so I asked myself a few questions:
What would I regret not pursuing when I am 80? Writing & Publishing.
What am I doing to not have this regret? Nothing.
If I were to focus on writing & publishing, would I have time for anything else? No.
Would that be bad? No.
The Future
With stepping away from Austin Podcasters, I spent the month of May ramping down on its tasks, giving a talk, relaxing and planning. Hey, I even wrote a 6700 word short story. The first creative writing piece I’ve completed in over a year! And now I am writing Project Dollar for Camp NaNo.
What does this mean?
I have been transported back to 2017. Back to that excitement of finally declaring myself a writer. And back to that lust to write.
And in doing so, I’ve been looking at my plans and revising them to meet my revised focus. As I stated earlier, I am now more interested in the process than I am the goal. I am more interested in writing, and the byproduct of that is publishing said stories, creating podcasts, and more. Granted, I am 3 years behind but it’s never too late to start.
Closing
Thanks for sticking with me as I’ve attempted to juggle multiple responsibilities. With no longer running Austin Podcasters, I’ve freed up over 180hrs per year, according to my time tracking data. I wonder what I can do with that time?
As you’ve noticed, we skipped the corporate meeting episode, but in the next episode we will cover Q3 focus and continue with monthly updates and other supplemental topics regarding writing, publishing, & productivity . Though it would be productivity in how I am applying it to my writing.
For general productivity, I host a podcast with a friend called The Productivity Lab – we test various tips tricks and methods of getting stuff done. Those same tips, I apply to my writing.
I’m excited for the future and I know that I just have to do the work. I’ve been honest with myself where I was lacking. And I’ve removed many, many of those distractions. I love Austin Podcasters and the community but I was on the wrong train. Now I’m back on the right one and I want to get it moving again.
Let’s get this train moving again. Until next time.
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