It's time to do your thing. Now. I mean it.
This Saturday Side Quest is giving tough love.
Welcome to your Saturday Side Quest.
Side Quest (noun), as defined by the Urban Dictionary: An impromptu adventure or diversion undertaken by an individual, typically outside the realm of one’s primary goals or responsibilities, often characterized by spontaneous actions and unconventional activities.
Life has felt incredibly busy for the last few months. Back in September, I wrote about something I call the “time gap” and my desperate need to slow down. I’m chagrined to report that I have not made much progress toward establishing a better balance for myself. As Miranda W, who writes Root Stories, says, “Life just got a bit lifey.” What’s a girl to do, except keep on keeping on?
I’m sure you know the feeling.
With that in mind, I’m going to do us both the favor of keeping this brief and to the point.
This week’s Monday Moxie was the song “MY SZN” by the inimitable Qveen Herby. It’s a song about coming into your own and finding your groove after a difficult time — about surrender and juicy vibes and letting old patterns die. I was feelin’ it so much, I invited you to a little dance party.
On Thursday, I shared the story of the Halloween costume that haunted me for ten (ten!) years, and how *finally* making it felt like a turning point in my creative journey.
Today, I invite you … no, I dare you … to take one step toward doing something you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t yet started.
I don’t care what the thing is. I don’t care why you’ve convinced yourself you can’t/shouldn’t do it.
Here’s what I want you to do:
STEP 1: Identify the thing you’ve always wanted to do.
This can be trickier than you might assume. When you go too long burying your dreams, you can forget what they are. It’s a kind of self-preservation strategy. Get your shovel and start digging. It’s time to resurrect your passion.
STEP 2: Think of one small step you can take toward that thing.
As I said in Thursday’s post, the hardest part is saying, “Yes.” Or, as ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu would say, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with single step.” What’s one step you can take? Make it small and very doable.
Say your dream out loud. (Bonus points if you do this in the mirror.)
Grab a notebook, and write your dream on the cover (or on the inside, if you want to keep it under wraps). You now have a special place to keep your plans and mark your progress.
Go into research mode and learn one thing that might help you or inspire you on your journey. (Google is fine, but also consider a book store, your local library, or any real-world place that has something to do with the dream you’re chasing.)
Gift yourself something in support of your dream. This doesn’t have to be an expensive thing, or even anything directly related to your thing. If you want to be a writer, you could buy a cool pen. But you could also buy a cute stuffed animal to be your writing familiar.
Tell someone about your dream. (There’s a friendly comments section below. Just sayin’)
Reach out to someone who is living your dream. This could be someone you know, or a stranger on the internet. Don’t be shy — people generally love talking about their passion.
Go on one of Julia Cameron’s “artist’s dates” — take a day or an hour, and just follow your curiosity. Alice had quite the adventure just because she followed that white rabbit.
Make a playlist. I love a good playlist. Build your list around a topic, a vibe, or whatever element suits your particular quest. Music is a powerful motivator.
STEP 3: Do the damn thing.
You’ve identified your dream. You’ve honed in on one small step. Now all you have to do is do it! No excuses. No waffling. No putting it on the to-do list for later. If the step you’ve picked is small enough, you should be able to do it today, right now even.
Here’s the thing about taking that first step — it makes it SO much easier to take the second step, and the third, and the fourth, and … you get the gist. Action creates momentum. The first domino falling in a domino run is such a small thing, but it can create an enormous effect.
As Alice Winterhold says, “You’re beautiful, and capable of great things. Like murder. Don’t do that though. Unless it’s completely necessary. Anyway, bye!”
P.S. Because I’m doing a thing this week (finishing up this year’s Halloween costume creation), I’m going to be taking next week off from my regular posting schedule. That’s another important thing to know: You’re never going to find time to do your thing. You have to make time. That means making choices. What will you choose this week?
This was an inspiration and now I’m going to work through every step of this post! Yay! Thank you for giving us permission. I feel like so often I put aside my passions because I feel like I can’t make time for them until all the other boring things are done first. Like I have to earn having a fun life. So silly.
I’m glad you are taking time for your creation and I CANNOT wait to see it! Thank you!!
Whenever I start thinking about long-held dreams I get a bit overwhelmed by the bigness of the thing I want to do, or of the volume of small things that need to be done to achieve the main thing. And then I don't do it. So I read your post yesterday, panicked, went away and got on with the lifey stuff for the day--while mulling over what thing I could reasonably set myself that's a long-held dream but which I might actually follow through on.
It was obvious really. I want to earn a living from my own writing (not from the writing I do for clients and companies). So the obvious first step is to turn on paid here on Substack. And the first step to doing that is to write two new subscriber emails--a free and a paid version. Not massively complicated, eh?
Your breakdown of steps really helped, Jamie. Thank you! So this is me, telling someone (you) that this is my dream and this is the first step I'm going to take this week. (And also sharing this as a Note to make my intention public and to share your wonderful post.)