The outputs

A while ago I took a closer look at the inputs in my life. The things that I consumed, or that consumed me. I feel I have those mostly under control now.

I’ve freed up so much of my time by stopping pointless consumption. I’m a lot more intentional with what I take in. I’m still working on the things like diet and exercise. Sleep has been a rough point for me lately.

But in regards to the information I take in I feel I’m in control.

So now it’s time to consider what to do with the new space available. A lot of it is staying in limbo for 2 weeks because my schedule is going to be getting crazy but there is still a lot to focus on now.

I have a personal brand to build, books to write, a story to share, a community to create…I have people in my life to care for, opportunities to take advantage of, a life to plan for and build…There is responsibilities to take hold of, and experiences to behold.

Today I’m focusing on the creative. The things I do here on Medium, and new avenues to explore.

I’ve grown complacent. I haven’t pushed myself here. I need to be improving my writing to improve the value I bring and my ability to share my story.

I used to think the top writers were too structured and rigid. They followed a format. I thought my writing was different, better because it was more free. That belief limited me.

The format works. It breaks things into sections that are easier to digest. It categorizes the thoughts of the author. It shows the audience that they have a purpose to their article.

But there’s many successful people who don’t follow the format. At least most of the time. There’s many different styles to be used on different occasions for different messages. I need to experiment with each and learn how to use them for when I have a need for them.

There’s also different platforms to be used. My primary interest for January is Quora. I’ll be learning to use it in the next few days and figure out some challenge for myself there.

There’s still a lot of outputs I want to drill into…and I was going to stop here but I thought of my background today. Are you really…finished this post? Are you really…done saying what you need to say? No. I’m not. So I’ll come back to this after work and see what else needs to be said.

My other outputs are going to work on storytelling. It’s something I’m really not the best with, but I would love to write fiction books so it seems like a good skill to have. Storytelling is also incredibly useful for almost every type of interaction with other people.

The way I’m going to improve my storytelling is to write stories. I’m giving myself a week to do the first one as it’s been a long time and I know there will be a lot of kinks to work out. Then I’ll try writing a short story every 2-3 days.

During this I’ll need to remember that quality isn’t the highest priority. The focus is to start, build, and end a story. I’m particularly bad with endings. If I were to write a novel series right now I would most likely never finish it and each book would just be a logical separation more than a complete story.

I’m excited to start dedicating more time and thought to creation. The amount of consumption I’ve done in the last few years compared to creation is phenomenal, and not in a good way.

The strangest part is that I know creating something brings me such a sense of fulfilment. I have no idea what’s taken me so long to just start, and I encourage you to ask yourself the same.

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