Experiencing Major Workover

Yesterday I woke up with a foggy head, not because of alcohol, but from a week long work hangover or "workover." I describe it as working too much for your own good, especially when it's not so enjoyable. The past few weeks have been filled with long days at work because of having to meet a tight deadline. But what's made it not so fun are the unreasonable demands made by the client who is unable to manage stakeholders' expectations. As soon as I think that the hard part is over, it just doesn't end. Friday was the worst of all days since the start and believe me, my patience is wearing thin.

All of that tension is polluting the thoughts in my head and as a result I've got a workover. It's got me thinking about a lot of things lately because of it. Mainly how it's not worth spending my time doing something I don't enjoy. So I've decided to focus on what it is I do want to spend my time doing and figure out how I can begin to make those changes happen.

One of the things I feel I need to do is to begin de-cluttering my mind and my life. Getting rid of junk that's not being used will help me focus on what's important. Today I dropped off old computer equipment and electronics at a recycling center. It felt great to get rid of the clutter that had no value to me anymore.

I've also come across a few blogs that provide advice on simple living and how to work on your own terms. Rowdy Kittens is one such blog with a strange name, but has some great resources and links to other sites. The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau is another blog that provides advice on how to do what you love and travel the world at the same time. Chris' goal is to travel to every country in the world and has currently been to 125 of them. Illuminated Mind provides a free ebook called the Zero Hour Work Week, which explains how the author broke free from the 9-to-5 routine and started his own online business.

Some of the commonalities I'm noticing among these bloggers are:

• They earn income by writing on a topic that targets a specific group of people
• They make use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook to market their message and build a following
• They give away a lot of free advice, but also sell ebooks on their site to generate income
• They build relationships with other like-minded people in the online community and cross promote each other's work

These bloggers are producing some really great work that they're sharing with the world. I'm sure a lot of effort goes into generating the attention of the online community in order to build their business and I'd like to explore this idea. But some things I need to think about are:

• What do I want to produce and share
• How will I brand myself
• How do I market my content and create awareness and a following online
• How do I generate income from it

It's a lot to think about and leaves me with lots of homework to do so I better get crackin' if I want to spend my time enjoying what I do.