Making a difference

Woman walking on a path

Sometimes, you don’t know if what you are doing is making a difference. You show up every day but don’t see a change.

Sometimes this is because the work you are doing is creating small changes—nothing you see with your eyes. But over time, others will see the difference. An example of this might be working out, you don’t see the 10 pounds you lost, but others notice it.

Other times, you just do work you believe in and hope someone gets value from it. But honestly, you may never know in your lifetime unless someone tells you.

Today, someone reached out to me through my DMS. My posts on Instagram had inspired her to create today. I have been posting daily for months, hoping someone would get value from what I was posting. I would never have known, but someone took a moment to send a message. It meant everything to me.

So there are two important ways making a difference in this story:
1. Keep showing up and doing the work you believe in. You may feel like you are speaking into a void, but someone is getting value from your work. And honestly, your daily practice is making you better.
2. Let someone know when something moves, inspires, or even makes you laugh. Your kind words may be the difference between someone continuing their work or stoping it.

And doing the first can cause the second, which in turn causes the first. And life is just a little bit better.

Be blessed –
Catherine

What if I am Wrong?

The Thinker

What if I am wrong? I have been thinking about this a lot recently. What if what I believe to be true is wrong?  

How does my thinking and actions affect my life? Is this a significant problem if I am wrong, or will it merely be a setback with my plans?

What if I was wrong to start my company. What was the worse thing which could happen? I left a job, which I had outgrown, but paid me fairly. I would lose this stability, but I was also going to leave anyway. If the company did not/does not work, I will have gained a lot of experience and will go back to working for someone else. Continue reading “What if I am Wrong?”

Rejection Sucks

Sedona before Sunrise

Let’s face it, rejection sucks. It sucks when you are excited about a job, and you don’t hear back. It sucks, even more, when you have an interview for a job, and you don’t get it. I don’t know about you, but I tend to take that personally when I meet someone, and I think things go well, but they don’t.

As much as it sucks getting rejected from a job, it sucks way worse when it is your own company or freelance business. Not getting a job, not getting clients, not gaining traction, well, it is hard.

It is even harder now, with so many businesses struggling to stay open, the budgets they used to have to buy, just aren’t there. Your clients and potential clients may not be in business at the end of the year, even. Continue reading “Rejection Sucks”

Back to Showing Up

Wrist Watch

It seems so simple, show up. Show up for work, your family, your friends, yourself. Yet, I have had a hard time showing up and doing what I need to be doing.

I could blame this on a whole bunch of different reasons. Of course, the ongoing pandemic has caused many to lose their jobs. Schools closed down for the remainder of the school year. My husband’s work shut down for six weeks, so he was around the house. My daughter’s car accident caused her to go on disability for six weeks. 

So, many excuses, yet none of them should have derailed me.

I have never been someone to allow excuses to rule my life.

Continue reading “Back to Showing Up”

Early Morning Quiet

Mug on Dock

It is early on Friday morning, and all is quiet in my home. There are no other sounds, but the sounds of the ceiling fans whirling. The occasional sound of the refrigerator humming and the birds chirping outside.

These moments are all mine.

Mine with a big mug of coffee or two. But they are still all mine. There is no one talking to me. No outside thoughts, at least none that I don’t bring into my mornings. Just quiet.

Some mornings I get right to work. Marking things right off my to-do list. Some mornings I allow myself to get distracted by reading emails. Looking at social media, or plunging into cleaning up the kitchen. (Which somehow looks like a party happened while I was sleeping.)

This morning, the kitchen is clean. The house is quiet. Continue reading “Early Morning Quiet”

The Pause ends in July

Flip Flops at Bottom of Sand Dune

And just like that, it is July.

Reflecting on the first half of the year is hard. At the beginning of 2020, there were goals to be achieved. Days were lived with purpose. Each day I was moving forward on my business plans. To-do lists were written, and daily tasks crossed out.

To be honest, of course, there were days when I rewrote the previous day’s to-do list. Not every day went the way you thought it might, but generally, things were moving in a specific direction.

And then rumors of a virus hit the news. The stories became facts, and life came to a halt. Continue reading “The Pause ends in July”

New Routines

Alarm Clock

New year, new routines?  Or am I still trying to find one which works well for me.

Having been on the road much of the end of 2019, waking up to a home which wasn’t mine, I found it hard to be grounded in routine.  What exactly should I be doing and when?  What was the number one thing I should get done today?

With the lack of routine and no looming deadlines, I found it hard to be as productive as I would like.  Or near as productive as I was when I was working full-time.  Which makes no sense to me. Continue reading “New Routines”

Embracing the Awkward

Cactus from 2020 vacation

Being an entrepreneur means each day brings something new.  The website is down. The constant need to create social media posts, blog posts and should I be doing video?

Some things are fun.  Some, well, I would just rather not do.  Ever. 

There have always been things in my job that I didn’t necessarily enjoy.  It could have been doing collections, expense reports, sorting through a grocery bag filled with receipts on tax day.  But those things are really nothing compared to networking. Continue reading “Embracing the Awkward”

New Year – New Decade

New Year New Decade Planning

It’s a new year and a new decade.  The social feeds are full of pictures of friends, family and celebrities looking back 10 years.  What their lives were like 10 years ago.  Everyone is looking back to look forward, so I thought I would do the same.

My life was completely different 10 years ago.  I was a stay at home mom helping my husband launch his company.  My children were aged 14, 13, 11 and 7.  The pre-high school years – I may have blocked out some of this! Continue reading “New Year – New Decade”