Why Your Goals Aren’t Good Enough

iStock_000014911902XSmallEarlier this month, I met up with Susan Johnston of the Urban Muse at the Holiday Shops at Bryant Park. We don’t get to see each other often — she lives in Boston, I live in NJ, and the last time we saw each other was at the ASJA conference back in April — but when we do get together, we often end up chatting about where we are with our freelance writing careers. We take stock of where we’ve been and try to figure out where we’re going.

At the time I saw Susan, I was ghost-tweeting for one client, creating a series of blog posts for another, and ghostwriting a book with a couples counselor. I was also collaborating on an ebook with a fellow word nerd, coaching a beginning freelance writer, and revising my book proposal. As busy as I was, though, I felt adrift.

“What are your goals for 2013?” Susan asked me, and it was a tough question. Finally, I settled upon four:

1. Land a book deal.

2. Start writing the type of stuff I could submit to lit mags.

3. Earn my yoga teaching certification and start teaching classes and planning workshops.

4. Get pregnant.

They were good, solid goals but, out of the four, I’d already set out to achieve two of them in 2012. And I’d failed. [Read more…]

Spill It: What’s Your Next Move?

I’ve never been one to make a fuss out of New Year’s Eve, or to saddle myself with once-a-year resolutions. I reevaluate my goals almost every month, allowing each day to be a new beginning.

Still, after the overeating and undersleeping that is the holidays, I admit I feel especially compelled to ask myself: What’s next?

Otherwise, gravity and lack of inertia might keep me from ever resuming work again.

I feel especially dazed and bloated today. Last week, I baked seven pound cakes and six varieties of Christmas cookies. I chopped and pureed six cauliflowers and trimmed and roasted six pounds of Brussels sprouts to bring to Christmas dinner (an affair that lasted 8.5, long hours). Then, the day after Christmas, I hosted a dinner party at my condo. Because — apparently — I wasn’t yet tired of cooking and stuffing my face.

For the love of god, I need something new and exciting to pull me back into my work. So what’ll it be? [Read more…]

Career Stalled? What You’re Doing Wrong

Ever feel… stuck? Wheels spinning? Frustrated because you were desperate to move forward in your career, but were too busy trying to bring in the bucks?

Yeah. That does sound familiar.

Last week, I was feeling overwhelmed by everything on my plate, so I drew up a to-do list on GQueues. Later on, my pal Nicole came over to talk shop. She wanted to pick my brain about products blogging, online shopping, and what different brands are doing right. (Obviously, she came to me because I used to be a products blogger… and because I’m also the poster child for shopping problems.) After plying me with a massive bottle of Chianti, and taking notes, she took a look at my to-do list and determined that it was all wrong.

[Read more…]

Crowdsourcing: Does the Corporate Ladder Still Beckon?

A few weeks ago, one of my YourTango co-workers got a (totally deserved because she’s awesome) promotion.

It got me thinking: What’s the next step for me at this company? And do I even have a future here if I’m unwilling to go full-time?

Because while I love working for this company, and it feels like such a perfect fit for me, I’m a freelancer through and through. I have so many other projects on my plate, large and small. I have a new coaching practice. I plan on having a child soon. I enjoy the flexibility, and the diversity of projects. And I don’t want to have to give up anything!

This led to a late-night conversation with my husband, in which we discussed the fact that neither of us has had any interest in the traditional, corporate “ladder” for quite some time now. Rather, what we both enjoy is the act of creating. Management? A completely unattractive prospect for the both of us.

[Read more…]

Pinpointing Dream Job #328

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a ballerina. I loved the tutus, the leg warmers, and the ’80s dance movies. After a few months of ballet lessons, however, in which I was subjected to an itchy flower costume and an inordinate number of bourrés, it was clear that the American Ballet Academy was not in my future. (I still love the tutus. And the ’80s dance movies.)

In Test-Drive Your Dream Job, Brian Kurth wrote of the fears inherent in throwing yourself into a new career. “What if I pursue the ‘real me’ and then I don’t like it?” he wrote. “Or, scariest of all, what if I pursue the ‘real me’ and then I fail?” A valid fear, but I’ve found that acknowledging the fact that career goals and dream jobs change–and understanding that this is perfectly normal and okay–somehow makes those small leaps less scary.

[Read more…]

Networking With Purpose

After a brief literary detour, I’ve finally returned to my favorite genre — career/self-help — with Megan Hustad’s How To Be Useful.

The book is thus far sporadically useful in itself, but I did find two especially interesting tips worth mentioning in its chapter on networking and “the Master Mind.”

After the jump, make the most of networking events, connecting with the people who can help you eventually take over the world! (or some such thing)

[Read more…]