Epiphany – a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
I am exhausted. I only got about 4 hours sleep last night. The problem with having a potentially life-changing epiphany is that it tends to set your mind racing.
This article will be published at 5pm (GMT) on Wednesday 5th October 2011. As I am writing this, the time is 2pm of the same day. I was actually writing this article yesterday (Tuesday). But it was completely different.
Confused? Understandably so. Let me explain.
Analytics…That’ll Help You…
Yesterday I thought it was about time that I published an ‘Analytics’ article – a breakdown of how my site is performing in terms of visitors, bounce rate, average views, and so on. Why would this be of use to you, my loyal and appreciated reader? Oh I don’t know…perhaps I could boast about my low bounce rate and tell you what I was going to do to increase my traffic statistics from here on in. That would help you achieve your goals – right?
I was a good half hour into writing the article before some kind of server side database corruption destroyed my work. Naturally, I was rather irritated. I decided to blow off the post until today, as I wasn’t prepared to spend another half hour at that time just to get back to where I had been.
Penelope Delivers The Proverbial Right Hook
Now let me take you back to Monday (3rd October) – you’re still with me, right? After having the MP3 sit on my desktop for a week, I finally took the time to listen to a podcast produced by my new friend Steve Roy from Ending The Grind.
What an eye opener. For those of you who haven’t listened to the podcast, what is initially a pretty standard interview quickly descends into a very direct and personal critique of Steve’s goals by Penelope Trunk. Having listened to it, the prevailing thought in my head was, “Man, I’m glad I’m not stumbling forward aimlessly like Steve is.”
Really Tom? Really?
Passive Panda Follows Up With A Jab
Fast forward to yesterday evening – after the aforementioned loss of my draft article. I took 30 minutes out to watch an interview with James Clear (from the awesome Passive Panda) by Corbett Barr (from the equally awesome Think Traffic).
This guy blew my mind. He is just 9 months into his internet marketing career, and is already producing a full time income. Here I am, four months in, without two internet marketing pennies to rub together. I don’t say that to feel sorry for myself – I say it to ram home the message that I am not doing enough.
The most poignant feeling I took from the interview was that I saw a lot of myself in James. A lot of myself, plus an extra layer of initiative and hustle that I have not been tapping into. The guy is clearly intelligent and has chops, but above all else, he has clearly taken action on a consistent basis, and for a prolonged period of time.
Where Does This Leave Me?
What have I been doing? I have been working incredibly hard – on this blog, on niche sites, and on learning in general. But now I feel like I have been viewing the whole endeavour from the wrong perspective.
Generally speaking, my attitude towards life is “if that guy can do it, so can I”. Well, “that guy” is doing it, and I am not. So I need to grab hold of “it” with both hands.
I have got 101 ideas rushing through my mind and am still trying to get my head straight, so I’m not ready to reveal how I plan to proceed yet. But one thing is for sure – you will be seeing big changes around here. I need Leaving Work Behind to live up to its name. And no, I’m not talking about literally leaving work behind. This blog is (and always has been) intended to be a beacon for those who wish to be self-employed and work on their own terms. That core message will never change, but the value I offer you certainly will.
An Obituary
This article marks the death of my self-serving attitude.
I am making a public commitment to give you what you want. If at any point I am not giving you what you want, give me a kick up the arse.
I genuinely want to get to know every single one of you, and I look forward to speaking to and helping as many of you as I possibly can.
Stay tuned.
Photo courtesy of T. W. Collins