I use writing as a tool to clarify my thinking and find the right pathway forward for me in life. My process looks like this:
Write unedited thoughts. Do a brain dump
Organize the brain dump
Delete redundancies
Make the sentences more concise and precise
Re-order sentences and paragraphs to form a coherent piece of writing
Today, I invite you into my writing process. My hope is that by doing so you’re able to gain an insight yourself on how to use writing as a way to clarify and specify your thinking. I personally find it to be an immensely useful tool.
Without further ado, let’s get started. I’ll continue specifying and clarifying this brain dump over the next few articles. What you read today will be a little muddled and rather disorganized (at least in my eyes.)
Excuse the occasional swearing. It’s literally what words popped into my mind as I wrote.
Brain Dump - Part 1
I want my business to grow
Yeah…not sure what else to add here at the moment.
I’ve re-entered the dating scene
Dating is expensive. Lol. Also, do people date more than 1 person at at time?
So far, dating feels pretty easy and smooth. Am I missing something? People talk about, “how hard it is out there” and yet it’s been smooth sailing so far. I feel like I’m walking forward toward the edge of some cliff with my eyes closed. I was told today on a date though that I’m pretty unusual
On that note: I’ve been wondering more and more to what extent I’m weird.
I think I might be an extremely unusual fellow. I have beliefs that seem like common sense that others I share them with have never even thought about before. This has been happening more and more lately. I’ve actually considered writing a whole bunch of posts sharing the thoughts in my head because I’m realizing that, perhaps, most people really don’t think like me
Do I post content for the attention?
Yuck. That’s an uncomfortable question to face. I think there might be at least some truth in that. I should come up with a philosophy around why I make content. It should be to grow my business, right? I think I make content for myself and the by-product is that my business grows, but that might be bs I tell myself. I’ll examine this later and get to the bottom of it
Should dedicate 80%+ of my working hours to growing my business?
Right now I teach about 20 hours a week. What the hell, how am I back to teaching 20 hours a week?! I’d decided cut back on teaching late in 2023 and was teaching 10 ish hours a week. I then had more time to focus on growing my business
Ah, I see how this happened. I took on more classes myself to create a better teaching methodology + self-study plan for students. I then planned to hire more instructors, train them, and have them teach classes. The thought of growing my business this way sounds exhausting and unexciting. Interesting. I wonder why that is.
The thought of spending my entire day on marketing, sales, and day-to-day operations sounds more appealing to me than teaching.
What a scary thought. If I were to act on this, I’d need to have an identity shift. It’s also scary to write this because I’m afraid of what my students will think if they read this. Will they think I’m letting them down or abandoning them?
Shit - do I need an identity shift?
An identity shift might be needed. Carl Jung said that ideas have people. People don’t have ideas. I think I agree with this and the ideas that I’m possessed by right now are quite possibly not the ones that should be the ones in control. Damn. It might be time for some parts of me to die in order to give birth to something better.
Earning $40,000 a year used to be my definition of running a successful business.
Once I was able to hit that number, I moved the goalpost on myself. This feels relevant for some reason. Not sure why.
Oh, on that note: something else worth mentioning is that my business’ sales in 2023 were only marginally higher than the 2022 sales. My profit was marginally lower. I’m disappointed in myself and a little anxious.
I don’t think this has a connection to the $40,000 a year point. It just popped into my head. One more business-related point: I feel conflicted. I want my business to grow, but at the same time I feel that I don’t have the team I need in place for it to grow.
Thanks for reading this. I plan to keep adding to these thoughts and editing them over the days to come.
Or not - maybe I’ll realize after doing this brain dump what I need to do. Lol. Today’s writing was essentially for my own benefit. I find that knowing it’ll be read was helpful - I know a lot of you may not care much about what I wrote. It’s a bunch of gobbledygook.
I love that word. I should use it more often.
Azren
Owner of the Calgary Language Nerds
https://azrenthelanguagenerd.com
I repeat: I think you are brutally honest. (a good thing, as you are not fooling yourself). It struck me as I read today's post that maybe you write what others would put in a journal/diary, and keep private. Have fun on the dating scene. It shouldn't be hard, smooth sounds about right.
I enjoy reading your thoughts. I think it’s important to analyze things. And good that you’re giving dating a priority. I’m no expert. But I don’t think it has to be expensive. There are so many fun things to do that don’t cost a lot or don’t cost anything at all. I would think at the beginning that you would want to see many people of course before you form a relationship. But by being meeting a lot of people you get to know what’s out there and what you enjoy. And can narrow things down. Just some random thoughts. Also, I don’t know anything about running a business. But would it be worth the expense to hire a consultant for some very specific questions? Maybe a friend where you could do a trade they would consult on the business aspect and you could offer some language teaching?