Envy? FOMO? Gratefulness? My Reflections On 2022 As A Creator
I wanna take a moment to reflect.
Truly, this year has been incredible, and I have so much to be grateful for.
This newsletter has grown more than 5x since January, I’ve gotten to work with so many hungry/fun/driven creators, and one of my boys is finally getting into Harry Potter so we can read it together at bedtime.
I've never read them either so it's doubly fun.
But there have been struggles too...ones that maybe you’ll relate to as a fellow creator.
What’s been your biggest success and biggest failure this year? Let me know
As creators, we have a highly unique relationship with our “work”.
We’re not necessarily bound by the same obligations as those working a 9-5 (even if it's a side-hustle).
The upside of this is…there isn’t really a ceiling to the opportunities we can create for ourselves.
The downside is…we don’t have anyone telling us to stop.
What this means (and what I’ve found personally) is that it’s hard to know when we’ve "arrived" at the destination we set out for.
📸 The Perfect Snapshot
I watched this show called “Stutz” on Netflix recently and it was absolutely incredible.
One idea that really resonated was the idea of “The Perfect Snapshot”
For a long time, I had this vision in my head of the perfect life & business I wanted to create for myself.
But, as you probably know, sometimes life has other ideas.
Unexpected things happen. Inspiration comes and goes. Plans change.
The problem is, I always wanna do more as a creator.
I beat myself up constantly when I see others who seem to be going faster than me, or doing cool stuff that I wanna do…and honestly?
Sometimes I feel a pang of envy.
Have you ever felt that way? (Hit reply and let me know.) ♂️
Even though my past self would look at everything I have today - my family, my business, my whole life - and be so proud, I find it hard to be as kind to myself in the present.
It’s a constant internal battle to remember that the journey is what I know I’ll look back on most fondly at the end of my life.
So here are my 3 takeaways from this year:
The only path that matters is your own (at your own pace). Stop measuring your worth relative to others.
Imposter syndrome never really goes away. So you may as well go for your dreams.
Effortless work-life balance is not a thing when you work for yourself. You need to be disciplined and make the effort to set your own boundaries.
And this last point is the most important.
Sahil Bloom tweeted this graph recently and… it hit me HARD.
So ask yourself…what would your future self thank you for doing today?
When you love what you do, life and work can easily blend into one.
But we’ve gotta separate the two sometimes. Because while we’re busy striving for the next thing, those golden moments can pass us by.
So I’m gonna try and be incredibly present moving forward, and be grateful for where I’m at in life.
Wanna join me on this gratefulness journey?
Thanks for a tremendous year.