Why you need to define your own rules
On being consistent for the sake of it, how to define your own rules, changes in the newsletter.
Hi friends & new subscribers,
Happy October!
I missed my newsletter last week for a couple of reasons: I got swamped and didn't know what to write about. I mean, I had ideas, but they weren't worth sending an email on.
I could've forced it, but I thought it would be a disservice to you if I spammed your inbox just to "be consistent."
So this week, I'd love to talk about defining your own rules.
Why you need to define your own rules
In a world where everyone tells us what to do, it becomes hard to listen to ourselves.
One might call it your gut or your intuition. Listening to your intuition is quite hard these days when you're bombarded with information you might not even want. And everyone is telling you to be on every single thing they're obsessed with (I'm guilty of this, by the way).
When people are obsessed with NFTs, writing, coaching or becoming a creator, everyone is telling everyone that they should be doing that too.
After some time, you don't know who you should be listening to.
Hence it's so important to define your own rules. You might call them principles as well if you'd like. But these are your guiding principles for things that come up in your life because they're important to you.
For example, I usually give myself at least one month to fully try every project that I take on. When I started writing, I was purely focused on writing. So my latest project this month is getting comfortable with creating short videos. And that is my only focus.
It's tempting to jump onto multiple projects at once, but when you focus on one thing, your life becomes easier.
And you have space to enjoy your journey.
How to do this:
1. Have some guiding principles. Guiding principles are your go-to guide for deciding. You can have principles for starting a new project, a new job, money or anything else you might be struggling with. The principles you come up with need to be aligned with who you are and what you want.
2. Have a list of i-don't-care-about-these-things. People are going crazy about NFTs and crypto these days. And I believe in their power 100%. But is it going to contribute to the thing I want to achieve six months from now? How about a year from now? If the answer is no, then it goes on the list.
3. Stick to your principles to gain self-trust. Trust yourself to make decisions. And you do that by having a decision guideline and sticking to them. Bend your rules if you must, but at least you have something to fall on when you don't know what to do.
Being a creator is more than about creating. It's about learning self-control and the impulses to take 100 actions when you can do it with 10.
🤔 A question for you this week:
Who's driving the bus in your life?
Photo by Leah Kelley from Pexels
💃 Things I'm Up to:
I recently joined Gumroad as a writer, so I'll be working with them for a few months. I'm doing a 30-day short video challenge on Instagram and TikTok. I want to document my journey around being a writer/freelancer/transition to the online world full-time. You can follow me if you'd like.
I recently crossed a $1300 MRR on my freelancing journey last month. My goal is 10k ;). Should I make a series on this? (yes/no/don't care, let me know).
Here are my latest work if you want to catch up on them:
P.S. I'm changing the format and frequency of this newsletter. It will be twice a month, and it will be about one idea, one question for you to reflect on, and a monthly update from me.
Let me know what you think by replying to this email or DM-ing me on any of my socials (Twitter or Instagram).
If you feel that others will appreciate this newsletter, don't hesitate to share it with your friends and families or a stranger.
Appreciate you 💌,
Jerine