It’s early in 2019. The confetti is still falling. Most of us are back to the office. Ready or not it’s time to begin another year in our careers. Another year of our lives.
Looking back at 2018 maybe there was something you didn’t do. Something you didn’t learn. Or something you didn’t accomplish. A project, a habit, a new NLE to master, a documentary to edit. So we look to 2019 as our saving grace. We have a whole fresh calendar for us to get X done. And that fills us with a glimmer of hope. That we can make that change this year. Heck, we have 12 whole months.
As the confetti is swept up and the hangovers from NYE are cured, we head back to the edit bay or cubical or home office. We got this in 2019. Then…we check our email.
A client needs a rough draft of this video two weeks ahead of schedule. A junior editor deleted a card of footage. The freelancer needs their invoice paid. HR needs you to write a new job description for the junior editor that was just fired.
So you get to work.
Before you know it you’ve put out fire after fire and you’re finally ready to tackle your big project in 2019. ::DING:: Another email. Another fire.
You look up and it’s February 25th. Man, wasn’t it just Christmas? Where did the first 15% of 2019 go? What was that big project you wanted to do again?
It happens. Every year. To all of us. The internet gurus will try to sell you books on habits. GaryVee will yell at you to wake up earlier (I’m so sick of this guy btw). Friends will low-key shame you as they post their “hacks” about the new productivity kick they’re on. Instagram will try to pitch you a new paper planner with all the bells and whistles. You can try every method out there (trust me, I’ve tried most of them) to try to succeed with your big plans for the next year. But you’re going to fail without one simple ingredient…
Action.
The word “action” as defined via Google’s dictionary: “The fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim.”
To sum that up into even less words: Action = doing something to achieve a goal.
Action gets your documentary edited. Action gets you a raise. Action teaches you a new language so you can edit videos in a second language and that gets you a raise.
Taking action is the only way to get what you want this year.
For me and the part of my life that is Edit Video Faster, writing wasn’t a priority for me in 2018. Writing for whatever reason became a very painful process mentally. So I decided that making videos on YouTube was the thing I wanted to take action on. And I did. And I’m glad I did. I’m not having the same feelings so far in 2019. YouTube isn’t done for me by any stretch of the imagination but…
Over the past few months I took on a new freelance writing client. I’ve been churning out articles each week. It felt good to be back in the saddle. Pumping out thoughts into words and words into sentences. I feel like I have my momentum back when I sit down in front of a blank Google Doc (like right now).
Taking action is the only way to get what you want this year.
That momentum is key to taking action. Action begets more action. Going from 0 to 1 is the most difficult part. Going from 1 to 2 is easier but it’s not as easy as going from 2 to 3 or 455 to 456.
These actions don’t have to be huge, monumental undertakings. For me, today, it was opening up a Google Doc and writing. I had no real intention of publishing this. The very first line I wrote which I’ll end up editing out was this:
This writing is a to be determined blog post. Or just a freewrite.
The action needed for me to write was to open up the Google Document and press my fingers to the keys. Whatever came out next was the result of the action. And what has come out is what I want to see more of in 2019. More action. More writing. More of the results I want.
I hope you can take action on whatever you have planned in 2019. You should be hearing from me soon with another writing.
Cheers,
Josh
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