Happy Monday <<First Name>>. 

I have endless drafts sitting in my Ulysses writing app.

When I get a new idea, I hit "CMD+N" to create a new sheet, write the idea in the title, and more often than not that idea collects digital dust: 

I've been struggling with writing, due to lack of focus. 

I put out a weekly newsletter for UXBeginner.com. I've also been writing about content strategy, which is my "new niche". These topics feel relevant to my career.

But that passionate side of me - probably why you ended up receiving this email - just wants to explore random topics like the ego, ASMR and why people get bored. 

So I end up mentally ping-ponging around "should" and "must". 

Have you ever struggled with the dilemma between passion and practicality? 

Thanks to a recent accountability call, I decided to question assumptions I've made about writing, like...

• How frequently I write - I had an assumption that I need to release a weekly article, because self inflicted pressure and SEO blah blah blah. This assumption led me to make another...
   
• The length of articles - If I were to put out a weekly article, then I'd only have enough time to produce something around 1000 words. I listened to this awesome interview of Tim Urban's writing process, and realized I want to do deeper, long form writing.
   
• How much time to dedicate to each topic - because of the previous two assumptions, I stressed out about not finishing everything I wanted on a weekly basis, between the personal development stuff, UX stuff, content strategy stuff and my full time job. (And I also want to work out and see friends). 

The logic was very flawed, and I was just stressing myself out.

I forgot to take my own advice: fuck balance.

I could just focus a season, let's say 3 months at a time, to a type of writing.

I could also relieve the pressure valve by allowing myself to alternate projects.

Perhaps one week it's writing about content strategy, and the next week it's back to researching + writing long form personal development. 

Typing this out, it seems so simple. 

Are you struggling on what to create? 

Hit "reply" and let me know everything you're working on. Maybe in the process of writing itself a simple solution will appear. 


Warmly,

Oz