What do I want to do with my life? (intro)

A question I often ask myself, when I’m going through a difficult or indecisive period, is: what do I want to do with my life? Here's how I then decide...

A question I often ask myself, when I’m going through a difficult or indecisive period, is: what do I want to do with my life?

My thoughts will revolve around where I’m living, the work I’m doing, creative projects, work-life balance, how much I’m seeing friends, how much I’m laughing and having fun (or not).

I like to spend some time evaluating where I’m at and where I’d like to be.

And then I make it happen.

Perhaps you’re in some kind of transitional period right now?

And trying to work out the next steps.

If so, I’m going to be asking you questions and offering exercises to help you to work out what it is you’d like more (and less) of in your life.

We’ll also look at any barriers you might have towards achieving this – and how to break them down.

Then it’s about creating a solid plan for moving forwards.

But first, a note…

When I was in my 20s, I kept thinking about trying different careers. I did lots of courses, training and two degrees. I also dropped out of one university.

I worked in art galleries, on newspapers, as a tutor, in a graffiti shop. I did market research, childminding and I set up multiple businesses.

Although I knew I loved writing, I wasn’t sure if I could have a career in it – or if I wanted to. So I kept going back to the drawing-board.

And sometimes, people made comments like: what, you’re trying something else? When are you going to just stick to one thing?

Ouch.

But you know what? I’m so pleased that I have tried – and continue to try – so many different things in life. Variety is exciting and interesting. It’s trial and error.

Particularly if you become a parent and you’re trying to find work that fits around your parenting duties and your children’s needs.

Suffice to say: if you are also someone who tries lots of things and not all of it sticks: great! You are clearly ambitious and making the most of your life.

Taking matters into your own hands

I started to become more decisive about certain things after having my first baby.

For instance, I knew I wanted to work from home, while she was napping.

I planned on writing articles. After all, I’d trained as a journalist, so I could do it. Except I couldn’t, because I kept reaching dead-ends.

I’d write for free, in the hope it would lead to commissions, but it didn’t. I took a job on a magazine but it folded. I considered re-training as a Pilates teacher.

But then I launched my own digital magazine.

I wanted The Early Hour to become a successful business but that meant learning everything about running a business from scratch.

I needed to learn all about digital content – SEO, using social media to leverage new readers, monetising the content.

Also: branding, employer contractors, networking, doing my own PR.

A year in, I was doing all this stuff.

I’d learnt loads – and it was paying off, in some respects.

But I was also burning out. I now had two young kids, and I couldn’t keep up with the demands of running The Early Hour.

So I cut back the hours I was putting in.

And when I did this, I was offered a book deal. It felt like I’d created space in my life for something else, and having a book published was a mega dream of mine.

From that book (The Freelance Mum), I launched my first online course. And when that took off, I built a business round it. But this time, I knew that I needed to do things differently.

I’d had another baby and couldn’t be working ridiculous hours. Also, I signed another book deal when my third baby was born. So I had to learn how to manage my time better.

This meant making sure I was only doing the work I needed to be doing, and that I wanted to be doing, and as long as the money was flowing – everything was good.

I had to start creating different ‘to-do’ lists that weren’t about listing everything I could be doing but instead, were about listing how little I could get away with.

Now, I’m running my Substack platform, ghostwriting for celebrities, writing more non-fiction books - Raise your SQ came out earlier this year, my agent is currently pitching the next one - and creating content for Instagram.

I have weekends off. And evenings.

So I’m still doing lots of different things, and it’s changing all the time, but I’ve realised that the key to productivity is being selective with the challenges you take on.

And dropping everything that doesn’t absolutely need to be done, so that you can manage your time well.

I’m going to teach you how to do the same…

Annie x